Bishop Eric Menees
Dear Friends, last week at the College of Bishops meeting
the 2019 Book of Common Prayer (BCP) was completed and is ready to be presented
to the Provincial Assembly in June for ratification. This makes our examination
of the Service of Holy Eucharist in the 2019 BCP even more timely.
This week we continue to look at the three parts of
Confession and Absolution - today, I’d like to focus on the Absolution.
A couple of years ago my family and I were on vacation in
New York City where we attended a service at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. This
is a famous church that has experienced terrific growth and has even become a
movement. We arrived early and we were welcomed by the ushers and handed a
bulletin. The church meets in a large auditorium at Hunter College and was
packed with a very diverse group of men and women gathered to worship. The music was simple and beautiful, with
members of the New York Philharmonic playing. The sermon was eloquent and
meaningful. Following the sermon, the pastor led the congregation in a
confession of sin. I expected the pastor to pronounce absolution but he went
directly to the offertory and I wondered what had happened. My family and I
just looked at each other and my son said – “didn’t he forget something?” Yes,
he did!
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of the Absolution.
The Bishop or Priest stands and says
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who in his great mercy
has promised forgiveness of sins to all those who sincerely repent and with
true faith turn to him, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all
your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and bring you to
everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Miriam-Webster defines Absolution as: “the act of forgiving
someone for having done something wrong or sinful : the act of absolving
someone or the state of being absolved specifically : a remission of sins
pronounced by a priest (as in the sacrament of reconciliation)”
Absolution is important because in the pronouncement of
absolution the Priest or Bishop speaks for the Lord with the assurance of
forgiveness for all who “sincerely repent and with true faith” turn to God. 1
John 1:9 promises forgiveness to those who are truly repentant and confess
their sins. Absolution is the auditory confirmation of God’s promise in His
Word.
Because we rely upon God’s Grace and Mercy it is important
to hear those words of forgiveness spoken!
It is in that very forgiveness that we come into a state of
Grace that allows us not only to receive the Holy Eucharist but allows the
grace of the sacrament to become effectual in our lives!
I pray you all a very blessed day!
2 comments:
Well stated. I do mourn the change from "hearty" to "sincerely". Something profound is lost in that change. To sincerely repent seems weaker & different from heartily repenting or with hearty repentance.
This commentary does not address the confession to be used in Morning and Evening Prayer. I look forward to seeing how it has been revised
Absolution is underappreciated because sin has been downplayed in modern Anglicanism.
Absolution is an OBJECTIVE manifestation of God's Grace and Forgiveness in real time.
The bishop stated that "in the pronouncement of absolution the Priest or Bishop speaks for the Lord with the assurance of forgiveness for all who 'sincerely repent and with true faith' turn to God." This is a key concept, because what is being provided to the people is an assurance of what takes place at the moment when a person first becomes a believer (when he sincerely repents and with true faith turns to God). The Anglican liturgy is, among other things, a highly structured form of evangelism for any attendees who have not yet become right with God by grace through faith; it shows the way to peace with God by means of the Creed, the confession and absolution, the Eucharist, worship, and praise.
There is a danger, however, when parishioner misunderstand the confession and absolution as being the means, ipso facto, to peace with God. Many people mistakenly think that the absolution is the thing that makes them forgiven. They see the pronouncement as an assurance that they have just been forgiven of certain recent sins for the first time when the pronouncement was made. They forget Article 11's teaching that we were accounted righteous before God by faith; if a person was accounted righteous at the moment when he came to faith in Christ, "there is therefore now no condemnation" for him (Romans 8:1) and God's own righteousness has been bestowed upon him. Thus the pronouncement is declaratory in nature; as Richerd Hooker wrote: "As for the ministerial sentence of private absolution, it can be no more than a declaration what God hath done..."
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