No. 20 I have a new member�a convert from another denomination�who asked me an intriguing question the other day. She said: �I believe I get forgiveness of sins when I pray to God. So, why do we have absolution at the beginning of our service? Doesn�t it just make the pastor out to be a special, superior being?� I really don�t think she meant to be rude. I think she was trying to understand if she somehow needed the pastor to declare her forgiven. What should I have said to her? >>PROFESSOR ROLAND ZIEGLER: Yeah, that's one of those things, again, where it seems that the Lutherans have some remnants of Roman Catholicism. It's like the priest and the confessional booth. The pastor stands in front and says: I by virtue of my office as a called and ordained servant of the Word hereby forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And people say "Well, okay. Why is it so kind of almost pompous?" "I, as a called and ordained servant of the Word." It seems almost like "I, the king." And there's a strong feeling that this makes the pastor some kind of superior being. He can forgive sins but I can't forgive sins. And do we really need that? Again back almost at the beginning about the discussion of the means of grace. Do you really need that? First let's remember when I pray for the forgiveness of sins, why do I receive the forgiveness of sins? It is because I apprehend the promise of the Gospel by faith. It's not that prayer is a means of grace. But what I say in my prayer is essentially: Oh, Lord, I have sinned. And because you have said whoever confesses his sins, his sins are forgiven or because you have said: I am your child and you are a merciful and loving God, therefore, I trust that you have forgiven my sins. I mean, that's what we really pray. So our prayer is an expression of our faith in the promise which we have heard before or which has been applied to us before, baptism or the preaching of the Word. So the forgiveness of sins I receive, so to speak, by myself, is still tied to these forms of the Gospel, these means of grace, which I have received before the Word and Baptism. In that sense, I always depend that somebody tells me the Word of God. That somebody applies the Gospel to me. Even if reading the Bible. These are the apostles, the prophets, the chosen instruments of God who are speaking to me and through them the Holy Spirit. It's never unmediated. Forgiveness of sins comes to me always mediated by human beings. It is a strong tendency in Protestantism to say: Well, I have an unmediated relationship, a direct relationship, a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. Yes. But this personal relationship to Jesus Christ we only have through men who tell us about Jesus Christ or who have told us. Again, without the apostles we wouldn't know anything about Christ. So we can't push to the side men who tell us about Christ, who tell us the Gospel. Now, absolution is a pretty obvious or blatant sign of that. In absolution the pastor stands there and pronounces the forgiveness of sins. How can he do that? Does he think he's somebody better? Well, the very words he used show, no, it's not because he's so wise or he's so spiritual or he's so knowledgeable. It's because he is a called and ordained servant of the Word. It's because he's a messenger. That's why he does it. Absolution in a way is a concentrated proclamation of the Gospel. And there is nothing more worshiping of men in that than that he stands in the pulpit and preaches to you. If you really are opposed to absolution, you also have to be opposed to preaching. Because afterall, who is that guy up there that he thinks that he can preach to me? So absolution, even though it seems to be a glorification of the office of the pastor is rather simply another way through which Christ brings his gifts to us. And it's not about the pastor. It's about the message. And again, that's emphasized that the pastor says: I stand here as a messenger, as somebody who is called to do that. He says that so that it is obvious that he didn't think that out. He didn't invent that. It's the not his idea that he says: You know, people, I feel it would be a good thing if I just tell you all your sins are forgiven. Wouldn't that make you feel much better? He stands there because Christ has commissioned the absolution of sins when he told his apostles: What you loose shall be loosened. And what you bind shall be bound. Whosoever you forgive the sins, their sins are forgiven. And whomsoever you bind those sins, their sins are bound. So Jesus himself institutes the Office of the Keys as it is also called. Or confession and absolution. That's why Lutherans also retained private confession and absolution. Now, private confession and absolution never fared very well in the Lutheran Church since at least the 18th century. Before that it was an institution in the Lutheran Church. And before you went to Communion, you always went to the pastor, announced that you were going to commune and received individual confession and absolution. Later on and probably also at the same time you had special services of confession and absolution, sometimes Saturday evenings where people would go in preparation for going to the Lord's Supper. In modern time that has shrunk to about three minutes at the beginning of the service. So we have a kind of -- almost an informal confession and absolution. Which on the one hand is better than nothing. Otherwise we wouldn't have it at all. On the other hand it's kind of: Okay, that's one of the things we have to get through before the service really starts. And that's unfortunate. Confession and absolution should be individualized. That's what it's all about. That a person who is troubled about his or her sins can go to the pastor and say: Pastor, these sins trouble me. Tell me -- tell me. Not general. But tell me that these sins -- not sins in general -- but these sins are covered by the blood of Christ. That's what confession and absolution is all about. And that's why individual confession and absolution or as it is sometimes done in a service of confession and absolution, absolution and the laying on of hands is actually a good thing. Because it is this individualized proclamation of the Gospel. It's not a different Gospel. It's not more forgiveness of sins than when the Gospel is preached to you. But it is individualized. Because you might think when you hear Jesus died for your sins, yeah, but what about that thing I did and which torments me? That confession and absolution almost disappeared from the life of the church in a way is a sign that our consciences are not quite as tender as maybe they were in the past. That our sins don't really afflict us that much. And that is sadly to say I think a feature that is pretty prevalent in Christianity, that the question of sin seems to be solved. Okay. Because God is good. And how can God be against me? It's not -- it's as Voltaire said: Well, forgiving, that's God's job. That's a given. What torments people are other things. Personal problems. Or they go into these questions of personal growth. And the church becomes some kind of a therapeutic community. The preaching of the law serves to tenderize consciences. Now, if you ever look at the meat tenderizer, that can be a rather fearsome thing. You don't want to use the meat tenderizer on yourself. In a way that's what the law is. It hits you and it's not pleasant. But it is necessary because you are such a tough guy or a tough girl. Not you but every one of us. We harden our consciences pretty quickly. So if you do not feel like going to confession and absolution, that's okay. It's like not feeling like going to the Lord's Supper. You're not forcing anybody to go to the Lord's Supper. You shouldn't do it as a good work. But realize that at the bottom there's the problem that you do not feel your sins. And that's the basic problem. You are not aware that you do need that. The need for confession and absolution in our churches can only grow when people really are more aware of the law and of their sins. It's not a law -- another law we put on people. So if you want to introduce, for example, private confession and absolution, it's the wrong way to say: Well, you're a Lutheran. It's in the Confessions. Therefore, you should do it. That makes confession and absolution into a law. And that's not what it is. It's not a law. It is one of those gracious channels through which Christ imparts forgiveness to those who are heavy laden and burdened. It's not another burden on you. It's not law and has to be remembered. It's a way through which you can get freed from the past that burdens you. So instead of making confession and absolution smaller and smaller and smaller, we really should think about creative ways how we can offer it in an individual or in a corporate setting even more. Where I come from in Germany from the independent Evangelical Lutheran Church, there is still the custom that you have services of corporate public confession and absolution. So in Berlin where I did my vicarage every Sunday at 9:30 we had a service of confession and absolution. And then at 10:00 o'clock was the divine service. Which meant by the way you had to have a little homily for your confessional service and then the main sermon at 10:00 o'clock. And it was a good thing because it was an institutionalized occasion where you sat there. You sat for confession of sins. And before you had some time to think about your sins. And then you go forward to the rail and received absolution under the laying -- with the laying on of hands. I don't know if it's feasible to introduce anything like that in the Missouri Synod. We do not have to have a certain liturgical form of rites. But they certainly are helpful. It's a little bit more difficult here because in Germany you don't have Sunday school. So you actually have time before the service. Whereas here you have Sunday school before or in between the services. But it's really worthwhile to think: How can we create an opportunity where people can unburden their sins and receive this individualized comfort of the Gospel.