Pastor's Page - November 2008

Dear members of Trinity;
This month we are continuing our series on Worship. Last month we talked about the invocation, and how it reminds us of our Baptism. Isn’t it wonderful that we have such a strong tradition that we are often reminded of the time when God reached out and touched us, and made us His very own children?
This month we are going to talk about confession / absolution. In reality the confession and absolution are not part of the “Divine Service” at all. Really they are something we do to prepare for worship. The worship service properly begins with the Introit (which we’ll talk about next month). In the old days there wasn’t a “public” confession, because everyone who was going to come to the Lord’s Supper attended a private confession. But as private confession became a less used part of church life in the United States, public confession was added to the corporate worship of the church. There are some very strong disadvantages to public confession. First and foremost is that it is general. “Most merciful God we confess that we are sinful and unclean.” It’s a one-size-fits-all phrase. The confession does describe our state before God very accurately; we have indeed sinned against Him in all the ways we say here. And it accurately spells out what we deserve, death and hell. And the forgiveness we receive is just as sure as if you received it privately. The disadvantage comes in if we are burdened by a particular sin. Sometimes a particular sin may not want to leave us alone. Sometimes, we are plagued with guilt from some action we’ve done that hurt someone. In cases like this it may help to hear that God forgives that sin. “Dear Pastor,” the private confession begins, “I have sinned against God in these ways…” and the pastor answers, “…in the name of Jesus, and by His command you are forgiven for those very sins!” It’s not a matter of the sureness of the forgiveness; it’s a matter of our needing to hear it in a very specific way. I am available for Private Confession, just stop by and talk any time.
Why do we confess our sins? We do it because God calls us to do it. We even repeat the command from God’s Word to remind ourselves why we do it. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9) Confession is about God’s promises. We confess because God promises to forgive. We need forgiveness because we are sinful people. But, it’s also important to remember that God doesn’t forgive us because we confess, He forgives us when we confess. You might say that when we “keep on confessing,” God continues to forgive. It is a way of saying that as long as we continue to have faith, God continues to forgive. As long as we continue to look to Him for forgiveness we are forgiven. You see God’s forgiveness is His gift to us because of what Jesus has done, because Jesus was born, lived, died and rose again. He has done everything necessary to earn our forgiveness. All we do is look in faith for that forgiveness, because we know that we need it. That’s what faith is all about; trusting in what God has done, not depending on what we have done, or do. As the passage says; If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and don’t know the truth. God forgives us because of Jesus when we trust that He will do so.
God’s richest blessings as you worship this month.
Pastor Watt