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Do you fold your hands when you pray? Is closing your eyes during prayer a prerequisite to receiving God’s answer?

If you’re like me, many of us maintain certain rituals even when we don’t fully understand why. Not all of them are bad. We might say “God bless you” or “Gesundheit” when someone sneezes; what we may not know is that this originated from a belief that a person’s soul might fly out of their body when they person sneezed.

Most religious rituals are comforting and provide a consistency to life. A family tradition might be appropriate for birthdays, but when a religious ritual replaces personal faith in God — then we’ve wandered into dangerous territory.

This weekend we will be exploring the tension between placing our faith in rules and rituals instead of God. I hope you’ll join me as we dig deeper into Romans chapter four!