The Return to Private Confession
This paper’s primary concern is not the cause of
private confession’s disappearance nor its status as a sacrament; the concern
is to return to the Reformer’s intention for Christians to go to private
confession when needful, for, as Luther famously said, “Therefore, when I urge
you to go to Confession, I am simply urging you to be a Christian.”[1]
Johnson maintains that the return of congregational
private confession begins with the pastor, but not in the form of sermons,
Bible studies, personal entreaties and blogs; the pastor first needs to go to confession.
Only the truly repentant can
convincingly preach repentance. Only the truly penitent can teach penance. Only
the confessor of sins can hear confession…If I as a pastor, desire to lead my
congregation in the recovery of a fruitful penitential practice, there is one
place to begin. I must go and kneel before a confessor, confess my sins to God
and beg for that glorious life-bearing Word: “I forgive you your sins in the
Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.[2]
A
local Lutheran pastor, who has been offering monthly confession for the past 22
years, said it took him thirteen years of preparation before he reinstituted
the sacramental rite in his congregation.[3] Rev. Ronald F. Marshall,
of First Lutheran in Seattle, offers confession from 3 to 5 pm on the third
Saturday of each month. [4] After outlining the
theological background for confession – we are terrible sinners; the wrath of
God is real and not a joke; the proper response by a sinner is contrition and
seeking true repentance; the saving power of Christ’s atonement; and finally
that the pastor is respected as “neither a courtier nor a hired hand, but God’s
servant and slave”[5]
– Marshall laid out a 15-point plan for
the sacrament of absolution.[6] Most Lutheran hymnals have
a form for private personal confession,[7] but Marshall does not
believe it is strong enough, and mandates Luther’s form for the rite;[8] nor was the hymnal’s
absolution powerful enough, so he substituted an Eastern Orthodox formula.[9] He sent this rite to the
congregation, discussed it with the church council and put forth his argument
in the newsletter. He announced he would be receiving absolution from a
neighboring pastor and a consistent time was posted. Marshall always wears his
clerical collar, black cassock and proper liturgical stole, befitting the
sobriety of the rite. He has invited local Episcopalian, Roman Catholic clergy
and laity to the sacrament.[10]
Pieper
simply says that “the public or veiled opposition [to confession] is overcome
if by public instruction from the pulpit or in voters’ meetings.” Piepkorn
claims that Lutherans have positioned themselves to be uniquely qualified to be
the center of a renewed interest in Absolution:
Lutheranism has the sanest and
most scriptural doctrine of confession of any church. We force no one to
enumerate his sins; we make confession contingent upon the individual’s
willingness…;we absolve without condition and without penance; yet, we can
offer personal, individual, operative absolution. We have all of confession’s
blessings, and none of its banes.[11]
Wiecher,
however, states that private confession in American Lutheran churches faces an
uphill battle precisely because of the cultural impasse we’re up against,
because “by its very form and practice, it was entirely antithetical to the
American democratic ideals and the individualistic ethos of established
American evangelical protestantism.”
Conclusion
Most
authors agree that private confession should be retained in the Lutheran
church, even though it may be “unnecessary.” [12] Getting Lutherans to the
point where they desire this is the challenge. In arguing for the inclusion of
Absolution into the Sacramental realm, Klan states:
The sacraments serve the lived
faith, that is, the faith that lives out of forgiveness; they become
crystallization points for a daily exercise in Christianity….[A]bsolution as a
God-given “sign” assists the believer to be sure of his salvation because God’s
self-commitment is carried out in an external and visible way.[13]
I
believe Lutherans will be drawn to confession not because we add it to our list
of sacraments, but because of our desire for an external, visible and audible sign of God’s love for us. While
it may be a “pseudo-sacrament,” it can still be a valuable assistant to the two
that we do have. Many Lutherans take the Lord’s Supper weekly, and of course
are asked to examine their souls and consciences before they do; but how many
use that time to look at what everyone’s wearing instead of examining their
consciences? Luther stated that
confession is “nothing but a way and a return to baptism,” but almost by
definition, Lutherans don’t remember their baptisms. If we follow Christ’s
logic of our own forgetfulness (“do this in remembrance of me”[14]) could not private
confession be that monthly reminder of us being buried and raised with Christ?
While
I appreciate the care and concern Marshall took in establishing private
confession in his Seattle church, I don’t believe the Marshall Plan is the only
way – 13 years preparation, 5 steps of confession, 15 consistent points,
clerical collar only. Likewise, I disagree with Piepkorn that a simple sermon
series on confession preached from the pulpit nor taking a vote in a voter’s
meeting, will also not do the trick.
Clearly,
the confessional pastor needs to go to confession. The next obvious step is to
begin teaching the rite to – and receiving the confession of – our church’s
elders. Our particular group of elders is extremely bonded and would be very
much open to this exercise. With very little training, they could then become
confessors as well. The next group would be the established leadership of both
adults and youth. Pastoral counseling should include an option for the
confessional rite, and by this point, when you have 40-50 people talking about
their changed lives, about the qualitative
difference between hearing a word of absolution corporately and naming your
sins to a fellow Christian and affirming the statement by your confessor: “Do
you believe that my forgiveness is God’s forgiveness?” [15] you have the beginning of
a confessional church.
[1] Gassman and Hendrix,
p. 107.
[3] Ronald
F. Marshall, “Salvation
Within Our Reach,”
in Whatever Happened to Private
Confession, Lutheran Forum, Vol. 31, No. 3, 1997, p.
18.
[4]Ronald F. Marshall, Website for
First Lutheran Church of West Seattle, last modified 2012, accessed April
25, 2014, http://www.flcws.org/worship.htm
[5] Marshall, “Salvation
within Our Reach,” p. 19-20
[7] William
S. Wiecher, “Piepkorn
on the Third Sacrament: An American Lutheran Reconsideration,” in Whatever Happened to Private Confession, Lutheran Forum, Vol. 31, No. 3, 1997,
p. 35.
[8] “Miserable person
that I am, I confess and lament to you before God that I am a sinful and weak
creature. I do not keep God’s commandments; I do not really believe the gospel;
I do nothing good; I cannot bear ill. (Especially have I committed…which
burdens my conscience.) I therefore ask that you, in God’s stead, would declare
to me my sins forgiven me and comfort me with the Word of God.” Marshall,
“Salvation within Our Reach, p. 21.
[9] “May God who
pardoned David through Nathan the prophet when he confessed his sins, and Peter
weeping bitterly for his denial, and the sinful woman weeping at his feet, and
the publican and prodigal son, may that same God forgive you all things,
through me a sinner, both in this world and in the world to come, and set you
uncondemned before his terrible judgment seat. Have no further care for the
sins which you have confessed. Depart in peace.” ibid.
[10] ibid.
[11] Wiecher, p. 34.
[12] “While private
confession and absolution are ‘unnecessary,’ they are a helpful gift that God
has given to us. We know that God has forgiven us all our sins, but Christians
frequently are troubled by specific sins. They need reassurance and confidence
that they are really forgiven. Satan constantly tempts us to doubt our
forgiveness and salvation. Private absolution gives us a powerful weapon and
reassurance as we hear a fellow Christian embody Christ’s commission to forgive.
They forgive us for specific sins in a concrete way. Christians receiving the
gift of absolution often describe it as a liberating and uplifting experience.
Certainly it is, because it is centered in the liberating and uplifting
Gospel.”Stephen P. Mueller, Called to
Believe, Teach, and Confess: An Introduction to Doctrinal Theology, Wipf and Stock, Eugene, Oregon,
2005, p. 322.
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