Then the leader, Byron, said something unexpected. He stated that we received the grace of God in the sacraments. This shocked and offended me. I was a good Lutheran and I knew that God’s grace was a free gift. The idea that some work, like baptism or communion, could communicate God’s grace to me sounded like “work’s righteousness” and I spoke up challenging Byron. He graciously told me that we could talk about it more after the meeting.
