“I am the church, and this is my confession.  My last confession was 500 years ago.  I have oppressed women and kept them out of leadership positions.  I have oppressed gay and lesbian people.  I have judged people pointlessly for having normal sexual urges and relationships, treating sex like a disease instead of lifting it up as a precious gift from God.  I have failed to see the absurd irony of being the church of Jesus, a humble servant, while pridefully claiming that my religion is the only true faith.  I have twisted the Bible to claim that it endorses slavery, wars, greed, and cruelty.  I have resisted social and scientific progress by claiming to interpret the Bible literally, when it was never intended to be read that way.  I am sorry for these sins and for all the sins of my past life.  I commit myself to turning from the errors of my ways.  I will follow Jesus’ way of unconditional love.  I will joyfully and creatively practice my Christian tradition without claiming that it is the only way to God.  I will praise and worship God as Love, instead of as a capricious, supernatural “guy in the sky”.  I affirm the sexuality of LGBTQ people, and will celebrate their marriages.  I will honor women as equals to men in church and society.  I will work with people of other faiths, or of no faith at all, to protect the planet, promote peace and social justice, and create a heaven of kindness on earth.  More about my commitment to change at ProgressiveChristianity.org. Amen.”
 
Make your own Church Confession! Get a model of a church. And get an EZSound Box with 10 inch extension play button. Record the words above into it. Put sound box inside or near the model of the church, with the button out front. Use at events, coffee hour, or make your own video as a playful way to spread the message of our progressive Christian movement.

Rev. Jim Burklo, Associate Dean of Religious Life, USC
Website: MINDFULCHRISTIANITY.ORG Weblog: MUSINGS Follow me on twitter: @jtburklo
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Associate Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California