Confession/Absolution

[KagomeShuko]

So, I've heard it said that the ELCA doesn't always have confession and absolution. I know my church does and, honestly, so has any other ELCA church I've visited. What about your church? Have you ever visited an ELCA church that doesn't have confession and absolution?

Stein Auf!
Bridget

[RedneckAnglican]

nope...we do it every Sunday...Morning and Evening...

[SemStudent08]

As far as I can remember, every Sunday worship service I have been to (and a few not on Sunday too) has begun with Confession/Absolution. Looking through my MDE (Minister's Desk Edition), it looks as though the only Sunday morning worship that doesn't have a rubric concerning Confession/Absolution is the Service of the Word. And I can remember times when I've been to those and have had Confession/Absolution, so that certainly isn't indicitive.

[Protoevangel]

I am green with envy y'all!

With the temp pastor at my church (our regular pastor in on sabattical) we do have Confession/Absolution every Communion Sunday. With our regular pastor, we would often not have an official Confession, even before Communion! :eek:. If we did, there would still rarely be a word of absolution spoken.

[Melethiel]

Confession...almost always. Absolution? Well, kinda.

[RedneckAnglican]

I am green with envy y'all!

With the temp pastor at my church (our regular pastor in on sabattical) we do have Confession/Absolution every Communion Sunday. With our regular pastor, we would often not have an official Confession, even before Communion! :eek:. If we did, there would still rarely be a word of absolution spoken.

that just doesn't seem right...maybe it's the Anglican in me (I'm still fighting some of those tendencies), but how can you have communion without Confession/absolution?...I don't see where it's right to have one without the other...

[Lutherrunner]

we always have it.....

[Protoevangel]

that just doesn't seem right...maybe it's the Anglican in me (I'm still fighting some of those tendencies), but how can you have communion without Confession/absolution?...I don't see where it's right to have one without the other...
That's not the Anglican in ya, you are quite correct.

[Willy]

Confession and absolution are an optional part of the liturgy, which doesn't mean that they shouldn't be used frequently. The celebration of communion is a "foretaste of the feast to come." It isn't simply a meal about forgiveness and repentance. It is about the final future, a future of joy and complete salvation.. Confession isn't always necessary, therefore. While I believe that people need to examine themselves and admit their brokenness, there is no reason to suggest that worship is firstly and primarily about admitting how bad we are. Sometimes it is simply about how good God and God's creation are. Not having confession every week or allowing it take a different shape helps us realize that.

[Lutherrunner]

Confession and absolution are an optional part of the liturgy, which doesn't mean that they shouldn't be used frequently. The celebration of communion is a "foretaste of the feast to come." It isn't simply a meal about forgiveness and repentance. It is about the final future, a future of joy and complete salvation.. Confession isn't always necessary, therefore. While I believe that people need to examine themselves and admit their brokenness, there is no reason to suggest that worship is firstly and primarily about admitting how bad we are. Sometimes it is simply about how good God and God's creation are. Not having confession every week or allowing it take a different shape helps us realize that.

well then, at the risk of sounding like an idiot....was there a period during Lent where we didn't have it?

[Willy]

I don't get the question. Lent in my opinion is a great time for weekly confession, as is Advent. Both are penitential seasons in the church year.

[ctobola]

As I understand it, absolution is not typically declared between Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday.

During the season of Lent, we confess our sins, but since Christ has not yet died (in terms of the Church year) there is not propitiation for our sins.

So we begin with Ash Wednesday, the whole season of Lent becomes of time of repentence, and then absolution is declared after Christ's death (on the calendar of the Church year) on the Thursday before Easter.

Anyone else can correct me if I'm off-base here, but that's the way I've always understood it.

-Cloy

well then, at the risk of sounding like an idiot....was there a period during Lent where we didn't have it?

[Lutherrunner]

As I understand it, absolution is not typically declared between Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday.

During the season of Lent, we confess our sins, but since Christ has not yet died (in terms of the Church year) there is not propitiation for our sins.

So we begin with Ash Wednesday, the whole season of Lent becomes of time of repentence, and then absolution is declared after Christ's death (on the calendar of the Church year) on the Thursday before Easter.

Anyone else can correct me if I'm off-base here, but that's the way I've always understood it.

-Cloy

That's it Cloy!.....the pastor explained that but my remembery hasn't been working very good lately!....I'm gettin' old.......:o

[Willy]

yes, that is a good understanding of the tradition.

[AngelusSax]

Although technically, if you count Sundays in the days of Lent, there's all of a sudden 47 days of Lent instead of 40... Sunday is technically a "little easter" that precedes the "Big Easter" at the end of the Lenten season.

That's my understanding anyway.

[KagomeShuko]

Although technically, if you count Sundays in the days of Lent, there's all of a sudden 47 days of Lent instead of 40... Sunday is technically a "little easter" that precedes the "Big Easter" at the end of the Lenten season.

That's my understanding anyway.


I don't know where the question of how many days of Lent there are arose, but, yeah, it's 40 days excluding Sundays. (I'm starting to think there's something wrong with the x on this keyboard, as it doesn't always seems to type when I press it.)

Stein Auf!
Bridget

[AngelusSax]

I don't know where the question of how many days of Lent there are arose, but, yeah, it's 40 days excluding Sundays.

The point I was trying to make was that, if Sundays are excluded in the Lent season, being "little easters", why don't we have absolution on Sundays?

[KagomeShuko]

The point I was trying to make was that, if Sundays are excluded in the Lent season, being "little easters", why don't we have absolution on Sundays?

Oh, okay, and if I remember correctly, St. Paul had confession/absolution on Sundays during Lent, just not the Wednesday night services.

Stein Auf!
Bridget

[KagomeShuko]

So, the church where I'm interviewing this weekend - Fellowship Lutheran Church - in Tulsa, OK - there was no confession/absolution. I really feel empty this week. I'm not used to that at all.

I'm not sure if their confirmation really focuses on Luther's Small Catechism. I know it's based on it, but it didn't really sound like a "yes" when one of the parents asked that of the pastor.

If it's where God wants me to serve (and a job, of course), I'll go. There are still two candidates. I don't know if God would send me to a church where I feel empty, though. I've felt weird all day not having confession and absolution.

Stein Auf!
Bridget