a brief reflection on Absolution in our Lutheran Confessions

From our Lutheran Confessions:

"the preachers on our side diligently teach that confession is to be retained because of absolution...for the comfort of terrified consciences and because of other reasons." (AC XXV.13)

Two things strike me as I reread this today: 

1) The preachers of the Church of the Augsburg Confession (true Lutherans, in other words), they teach the people diligently about Absolution.  It's one thing to teach about something, but it's altogether more intense, more intentional to teach something "diligently".  There was a focus, a plan, there was a goal that the Lutheran preachers had in mind.  Specifically, that goal was the retention of Private Absolution (here called 'confession').  Which brings me to my next reflection on this statement. 

2) The preachers were so intense and intentional about retaining Private Absolution because of: a) "the comfort of terrified consciences," and b) "other reasons."  What were those other reasons?  Just in the short amount of time that we have been posting regular hours for Absolution, I've recognized a few of these "other reasons."  First, the relationship between the pastoral office and parishioner is enriched.  This really can't be helped.  The parishioner is trusting the pastoral office (and so, is trusting Christ) with, not only the secrets of the heart, but the dirty secrets of the heart, the sin.  The penitent is releasing those secrets in a real, tangible way: to a man.  But not only to any man, to the man in the pastoral office.  No matter which specific man is in the pastoral office, those parishioners who make use of this Blessed gift (dare I say "Sacrament", like the Confessions say) are strengthening their relationship with the pastoral office in this place.  And that's a good relationship to have strong.  After all, the pastor is one who is steward of your soul, who also must give an account for your soul on the last great day.  The more you open up to the pastor, the better is He able to do what He is called to do: to care for you individually.  This is certainly a worthy "other reason."  

The other thing I've noticed in the life of those who receive Private Absolution, is the increase of spiritual insight (I don't know what to call it); being "in tune" and focused on things spiritual.  Perhaps this is just more of an observation at this point, rather than a theological point.  Of course, the more 'spiritually observant' you are, the more you see your need for the Savior and the more you are drawn to repentance.  And, as Luther said in the first of the 95 Theses, "the whole life of the Christian is one of repentance." 

And these are just drops in the ocean of the "other reasons", or other blessings that Private Absolution gives to you.  Chief among them, of course, is the absolution, the forgiveness of sins.   Come for the main thing first, seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then see all these other things come to you as well. 

Peace be with you.  

A few wonderful articles for you to read...

The first one is from Dr Paul Grime.  He is currently a professor at Fort Wayne seminary.  He also served as the director for our new hymnal LSB.  This article is a look back over the past 5 years and what effect the hymnal has had on our synod, both positives and negatives (mostly positives).  Enjoy.
Read the article by clicking on the following: http://classic.lcms.org/pages/rpage.asp?NavID=18999

The next one is from a pastor in Illinois, Rev Heath Curtis.  He has done a lot of study and writing on the liturgy.  Here is one of his most recent topics: http://gottesdienstonline.blogspot.com/2011/07/thoughts-on-legacy-of-loehe.html

Enjoy.  Post comments below if you'd like.  Or email me with questions.

Fight and be at peace. Both?

At the same time saint and sinner.  We were reminded of this again in Bible class on Sunday as we're going through the seven letters in Revelation 2-3.  We are reminded of it constantly in our daily lives.  As St Paul diagnoses: "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." (Rom 7.19)  We want to do the good, we want to jump to action and serve and love and bless and pray and worship, but we don't.  We get in the way. 

In the same way, there is also another paradox that looms over us.  St Paul commands to Pr Timothy: "Fight" (1 Tim 6.12), yet in the same letter, just 4 chapters earlier, St Paul commands that we continue steadfast in prayer and supplication so that "we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior." (1 Tim. 2.2-3) 

Two descriptions of the life that is pleasing to our Lord Christ: fight AND lead a peaceful and quiet life.  Fighting and peace, all in the same life.  A mystery.  Here are my thoughts:

• Since we are saint and sinner, there are times when we fight against our own sinfulness (and the sin we find in the world, such as abortion), but there are other times when we remain peaceful and quiet (such as in worship and prayer).  This seems to be the constant tension within us: when do we fight, and when do we endure?  Not only that, but: what do we fight and what do we let go?
•  The cross of Jesus was the ultimate battle.  The eternal war was won there, just as the great Easter hymn confesses: "The fight is o'er the battle won"
• Peace is actually part of the fighting. Ephesians 6 states: "Therefore take up the whole armor of God...as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace."

A mystery, a paradox.  Fight...and be at peace.  God grant it.

reciting the Faith

First: is memorizing the Faith even possible?  Faith is expressed in belief, how can it be recited?  Can we memorize what we believe?  In other words: is it possible to formulate a set of statements that summarizes things that are meant for believing (more than understanding)?

Well, yes!  To say otherwise would do harm to the Faith on a number of fronts, but perhaps most dramatically it would make the Faith (and it's corresponding believing) internal and subjective.  In other words, we could never talk about "the" Faith, but only "my" faith or "your" faith.  But just the opposite is true.  We believe in something that is external to us, that is not dependent upon us or whether we believe it or not.  The Faith is true by itself, without my help, even despite me and what I think.  I cannot add anything to the Faith because it is already defined.

So, because it is external to us AND because it is already defined, therefore, not only is it possible to formulate a set of statements about it (like Scripture and catechisms), but it's necessary to do so.  And if the Faith is expressed in statements, then yes! those statements can be memorized and recited. 

The reason I write about this today is because I read a blog recently that made the following statement about using a catechism:

Don’t allow memorization to occur without understanding.

The gentleman who writes this blog is a modern evangelical-type (generic, American Christianity).  He has written a few books and blogs on the side. 

This statement that he makes is really not much of a surprise.  Many modern evangelicals are descendents of a movement called Rationalism (whether they know it or not).  The goal and main purpose of rationalism was to set faith/believing aside and  .  So even when these individuals (I'm sure you have friends in this camp) speak of faith and belief, what they mean is 'understanding'.  They are not speaking of the true Faith, the connection to God through which God gives His gifts to us, that absolute trust and confidence like a child.  They may even say "trust", "confidence", perhaps even "gifts" (probably not though), but if you dig a bit deeper into what they really mean, you'll find that the faith/believing that they are talking about is the work/action of man.  So, again, it's not surprising to hear a statement like the one above "Don't allow memorization to occur without understanding." 

As opposed to this, we believe the opposite.  Memorize first!  Why?  Because the child already believes the "statements" of the faith.  Baptism gives you the Faith.  The child (including you adults) already believe the 10 Commandments, Apostles' Creed, and Lord's Prayer.  The child already believes that Baptism saves, that the Lord's Supper is the true Body and Blood of Christ, that the pastor's forgiveness in Holy Absolution is God's forgiveness.  What we are doing (in having them memorize and recite Scripture passages and the Catechism) is giving them the words to express what they already believe. 

See how different this is between the Lutherans and the modern evangelicals?  In summary, we take Jesus at His Word.  They don't--they add stuff, like human understanding.  *Blach*!!  I'll take Lutheranism over that any day.  We'll have our kids memorize the Faith first.

By the way, if you would like an example of how this memorization is possible watch this.  This was Cade when He was 3 years old.

forgiveness through man

The following is an excerpt from the Higher Things Daily Reflection for today:

One of the objections you will often hear from non-Lutherans is that “no man can forgive sins.” Or “I don't need the pastor to forgive me my sins; I can just ask God myself.” But what does Jesus say? He commands His apostles to forgive sins. If someone thinks pastors don't forgive sins, they're calling Jesus a liar or else they don't know what Jesus' said.

One of the main blunders of heresy is that it tries to understand the Gospel, God's gifts.  What this devotion does so well is explain the Doctrine in light of faith rather than reason.  How?  It points us to the Words of Jesus.  Jesus' Words are to be believed.  It's not a problem if we don't understand them.  It's not a problem if we think one thing contradicts another thing in Scripture.  Jesus' Words are eternal and true--He is the Truth.

So, pastor, how is possible that man can forgive sins?  Isn't it ONLY between me and God?  

My response (as always): Listen to Jesus.  What does He say?  

Jesus breathed on the disciples and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld."

Come to Holy Absolution: Fridays 1-3 and 6-8.  Receive God's true gift to you in this tangible way.   

the discipline of prayer

In order to give the greatest benefit, the discipline of Daily Prayer
needs to be carried out whether we feel like it or not, whether our heart is in it or not.

This is from a book I read recently called Praying with the Church; an introduction to prayer in daily life by Rev Phillip Pfatteicher. His words ring true in all of life, really, but especially so in our individual and corporate life of prayer. If we are Christ's disciples, then we pray. It is just who we are--we were made for this activity, this speaking with our heavenly Father.

It's kind of like eating. Your body was made for eating, it's just who you are as a human being. You don't eat, you will soon cease to have physical, human life. We eat whether we want to or not, whether or not we "feel like it".

So also we pray, as Pr Pfatteicher explains, "whether we feel like it or not". Luther also said similar things about prayer. I'm paraphrasing him, but it was something like this: "the moment we least feel the desire or need to pray, is the very moment when we most need to pray."

So, pray. Pray in the morning when you rise and in the evening when you lay down. (See the catechism for a short form of prayer to use at these times; and don't forget to make the sign of the cross in remembrance of your baptism--it's what Lutherans do, we remember our baptism!) Pray also with your family or those in your household (if you live alone now, know that you are praying with Jesus and the Holy Spirit is praying in you, and the saints and angels in heaven are praying for you, not to mention that your pastor is praying for you each week). And come also and pray with us, often--weekly, and even more often than that if there is the opportunity.

Pray; whether you feel like it or not. Make it a constant in your life, whether it is meaningful or not. It is meaningful and real.

+PH

Ordination

The ordination today of Samuel Beltz in Oskaloosa was absolutely beautiful.

A few of the highlights:
-Holy Communion
-Pr Joel Picard's sermon based upon St John the Baptist's saying: "I must decrease that He [Jesus] might increase".  It was fabulous...and a good reminder!
-about 15 pastors present, including Pr Beltz's father AND grandfather (both are pastors)
-the beautiful chancel area at St John, Oskaloosa
-Pr Beltz's beautiful stole and chasuble (although, I admit that I am biased on this because he has the same set we have at St John's)
-Pr Beltz's wonderful voice as he chanted the Service of the Sacrament
-and, of course, the ordaining of Pr Beltz.

The verse I used in the laying on of hands is one that won't be such a surprise: Colossians 3.16 'Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly' 

One last reflection: It's great to see a man come out of the St Louis seminary who is so well versed and comfortable in the historic liturgy.  I'm looking forward to meeting with him regularly in our Tuesday Greek study in Grinnell.  He'll be a great asset to the group and a fine pastor to the people of Oskaloosa.  (OK, so maybe that was 2 last reflections)

The Lord almighty grant us a quiet night and Peace at the last.

The Gospel is real, really!

The following is from one of my devotional readings from today (Friday after the Fourth Sunday after Trinity). This is from Bo Giertz, who was baptized as an infant in the Swedish Lutheran Church, then became atheist, then stopped rejecting Christ as his baptism held stronger to him than his faulty intellect and was eventually called as bishop of Gothenburg. 
He writes:

It is now obvious that the talk about the cross is God's power of salvation for those who receive it in faith. It's something that affects us, something that shows it's a reality by intervening in our lives. We can't see God. However, we can encounter Him in such a way that there is no doubt who we're dealing with. That happens through the Gospel.

The Christian experience IS truly an experience. Faith is not the adult way of playing make-believe, and Jesus is not our imaginary friend.  He is real.  He really was born, suffered under a specific Roman prefect, truly died and yes, He even rose from the dead.  There were witnesses to all of that.  Those witnesses have recorded what they saw and heard with their own senses.  The Holy Scripture, and specifically the Gospels, are those very recordings.  And because they are the truth, they are God's Word, and because they are God's Word they have power.  They have the power to kill (Law) and they have the power to raise up again (Gospel).   This is how God intervenes in our lives.  Is it mystical?  Yes, in a way.  But that doesn't make it any less real.  In fact, because it is God's Word, it is the most REAL thing we possess here in this life.