--- title: Confession, prayer and making amends at church — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Confession, prayer and making amends at church», a lesson of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: In the spring Nathan in Cork pretended to be ill to miss church, lied about his prayers, and drew on the hymn book. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/) / Confession, prayer and making amends a… # Confession, prayer and making amends at church Lesson 365 of the everyday course of Mova's primary school: 29 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/0/) — In the spring Nathan in Cork pretended to be ill to miss church, lied about his prayers, and drew on the hymn book. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/1/) — In the end he owned up to all of it, went to confession, said sorry to the churchwarden (a helper who looks after the church) and paid for a new hymn book from his pocket money. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/2/) — He walked out of church feeling as light as a balloon and was sure he would never do anything wrong again. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/3/) — A few weeks later, bored and lazy after school, he was egged on by older boys and threw a firecracker at old Mrs Doyle's door. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/4/) — Her heart raced, her dog hid under the bed for a whole day, and the porch boards were scorched. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/5/) — A police officer came round and gave Nathan a warning, Dad paid for the repair, and for a while the neighbours looked at him differently. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/6/) — The shame was worse than before. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/7/) — Nathan went to confession again, ashamed that he was back so soon. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/8/) — The priest said: «Everyone slips. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/9/) — Forgiveness doesn't run out. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/10/) — But each time, you must put it right.» Mum said the same in her own way, and added: «Habits change slowly — fewer silly friends, and more to do than to sit about idle.» Nathan said sorry to Mrs Doyle at her door, painted her porch with Dad over two Saturdays, and walked her dog after school for a month. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/11/) — Later he joined the football club. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/12/) — Other children at the same church made smaller slips. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/13/) — Freya said she had said her prayers when she hadn't; when Mum asked what she had prayed for, she could not answer and owned up. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/15/) — Leah sneaked off to the bouncy castle in her turn to help at the church fair, so she said sorry and stayed to clear up at the end. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/16/) — Ruby laughed out loud when the vicar (the priest) mixed up his words; when she said sorry, he laughed and said he does it a lot. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/17/) — Confession brings real relief and forgiveness. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/18/) — It does not make a person perfect, and it never replaces saying sorry and making amends — sometimes with words, sometimes with work. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/19/) — Being forgiven in confession does not mean a person will never do wrong again; most people slip back sometimes. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/20/) — In Christian teaching, God's forgiveness does not run out for someone who is truly sorry. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/21/) — After a second wrong, putting it right still matters as much as the first time. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/22/) — Making amends can be done with work, such as painting, cleaning or helping, not only with words. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/23/) — Fireworks and firecrackers thrown at people or houses can cause burns, fires and great fright, especially to old people and animals. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/24/) — The police can give young people a warning for antisocial behaviour, and parents may have to pay for damage. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/25/) — Idle time with friends who egg you on makes trouble more likely; clubs and hobbies help change habits. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/26/) — Prayer is a quiet talk with God, not a box to tick. - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/27/) — Mocking what someone holds dear, such as their faith, to upset them is unkind. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/28/) — Things borrowed from church, like prayer books or hymn books, are shared and need care. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/365-confession-prayer-and-making-amends-at-church/29/) — Trust lost with neighbours comes back slowly, through steady good behaviour. - ← previous: [Giggles, skipping and the collection plate](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/364-giggles-sunday-school-and-the-collection-plate/) - next →: [Sam is scared: fear is normal](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/366-sam-is-scared-fear-is-normal/) - ↑ back to [Everyday](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/)