Many like to think that Private Confession and absolution is not needed. And yet here at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church you are always welcome to come and confess your sins. Why do we see it as important? Because this is what our confessions teach us.
We also keep Confession, especially because of the
Absolution. Absolution is God’s Word
which, by divine authority, the Power of the Keys pronounces upon individuals. Therefore, it would be wicked to remove
private Absolution from the Church. If
anyone despises private Absolution, he does not understand what the forgiveness
of sins or the Power of the Keys is. Ap XIIB (VI) 2-4
Do not begin to think you don’t need this precious
gift. When you are weighed down by the
guilt of your sins, come confess your sins.
But lest you think that is a digging expedition by your pastor, or is
going to be a torture by him weaseling out of you more sins to confess we read,
“The ministry of Absolution is favor or grace; it is not a legal process of
law. Ministers in the Church have command
to forgive sin. They do not have the
command to investigate secret sins.
Indeed they absolve us from those sins that we do not remember. For that reason Absolution, which is the
voice of the Gospel forgiving sins and comforting consciences, does not require
judicial examination. Ap XIIB (VI) 6-9
But what is this confession?
What makes a confession good and right?
We hear from Psalm 32:5, “’I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’
and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Such confession of sin, which is made to God,
is contrition itself…Confession is contrition in which, feeling God’s anger, we
confess that God is justly angry and that He cannot be reconciled by our works. Yet, we seek for mercy because of God’s
promise. Such is the following
confession, “against you, you only have I sinned…so that you may be justified
in Your words and blameless in Your judgment” (Ps. 51:4). This mean, “I confess that I am a sinner and
have merited eternal wrath. Nor can I
set my righteousnesses, my merits against your wrath. So I declare that You are just when You
condmenn and punish us. I declare that
You are clear when hypocrites judge You to be unjust in punishing them or in condemn
the well-deserving. Yes, our merits
cannot satisfy Your judgment. But we
will be justified in this way, namely, if You justify us, if through Your mercy You count us
righteous. Ap XIIB (VI) 10-11
We see this for example in Jonah 3, when the King recognizes
they indeed deserve God’s punishment but that he hoped that God would see
Nineveh’s repentance and spare them, not because they deserve to be spared, but
on account of God being a merciful God.
For this reason you are always invited to set up an appointment
for private confession and absolution and if I am not your pastor and you
desire this precious gift, by all means call up your pastor. Finally there are two fears that often keeps
people away. First is now my pastor
knows my deepest sins. How will he ever
see me as a Christian? The same way that
your heavenly Father does, through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. When we move past expecting people to be
perfect and learn that Christians confess their sins, then we can learn what
God does for us, he forgives us. The
second fear is probably even worse, he is going to tell everyone my sins. A true pastor does not. Pastors are bound by their confessional seal
to not betray you in the confession.
Take comfort, your pastor wants you to unburden yourself of your sin.
Not sure what to think about your first confession? I would encourage you to read this article
below written by someone who did his first confession. It is truly a great confession of faith that
he reveals to you.
The door is open.
Come unburden your conscience, receive and enjoy this precious gift of
Private Absolutuion laid upon your head and spoken into your ears. Contact me (pastor.heinecke@gmail.com), or your pastor today.
