Then they move on to "that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life."
What's missing isn't the second half but the first half. Man is a sinner. The wages of sin is death. Then and only then do you get to the free gift of God. And you can't leave out repentance and faith. The free gift is only free to those who repent and believe. Half a gospel is a false gospel. It is deceptive to imply that God forgives before we repent. The unrepentant still stand under His judgement.
Agree completely. When I go to other churches I miss the repentence of sins part of the liturgy before communion.
I am an oldster who needs the liturgy. The music isn't so important to me.