Introduction and Thesis
In
our church, members may go years without saying, “I am a sinner” out loud, much
less naming particular sins that trouble them to another.
Our
Savior Lutheran Tacoma is a contemporary and progressive Lutheran church which
uses a liturgical format, but does not follow the traditional corporate
confession outlined in the Lutheran Service Book.[1] Instead, our Pastor
expertly employs the theme for the day into a very specific confession of sins,
thinking that this is much more effective in getting his congregation to hear
and think about particular sins they have committed, rather than the corporate
form, which he has found ineffective.[2]
Nevertheless,
members may go years without saying, “I am a sinner” out loud, much less naming
particular sins that trouble them to another.
Few Lutherans would argue that the most significant
event in Christian history in the past 500 years was Luther’s Reformation of
the Western Church. Few Lutherans would argue, upon reflection, that the
catalyst for the Reformation had to do with absolution. Few rue, however, the
fading in prominence of a key component of absolution in Luther’s time, private
personal confession of one’s sins. For a variety of reasons – but especially because
early Lutheran reformers could not agree on its place inside or outside the
sacramental realm – private confession is rarely practiced today. Analysis of
select passages that identify the disintegration of the practice of private
confession reveals its erosion is of secondary importance to its failure to be
practiced today. I will argue that the Lutheran priesthood of all believers should
consider returning private confession from obscurity to its rightful place: not
as a Third Sacrament, but as one of many tools in our Absolution Toolbox.
[1] “Most merciful God,
we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left
undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart, we have not loved our
neighbor as ourselves. We justly deserve your temporal and eternal punishment.
For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us,
and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in Your ways to the
glory of Your holy name. Amen.” Lutheran
Service Book, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, 2006, p. 151.
[2] private conversation
with Rev. Brian Banke.
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