June 13, 2010
Luke 7.36-8.3
+ Each Sunday as we gather here together, we use that little red book in our pews. The Book of Common Prayer is a book we take for granted for the most part. We think of it as nice little quaint book which contains our worship services. But the book actually contains more than just our Sunday Eucharist and a few prayers.
One part of the Prayer Book most of us probably have never even ventured to look at is found on page 447. The service for “The Reconciliation of a Penitent” is a service very few of us here this morning has probably taken advantage of. But it is an important service and it is one that certainly deserves our attention, even if we have no desire to take advantage of that service. And it’s nice to take a look at it at a time other than Lent, when we are almost overwhelmed with talk of sin and forgiveness.
The service of Reconciliation is service in which a person seeking to ask forgiveness of whatever shortcomings they have goes to a priest (and in the Episcopal Church only a priest can grant absolution) and having prayerfully and thoughtfully shared these sins, received words of comfort and counsel and then is given absolution by the priest. It really is just like Confession is in the Roman Catholic Church, though for us we don’t go into a little cubicle and whisper our sins through a screen to a priest.
So, on those occasions when we describe the Episcopal Church as “Catholic lite,” and we get the inevitable question of whether or not we have “Confession,” we can say yes, we do, but then quickly add that it’s not a requirement.
I think few of us want to take advantage of this service, but, occasionally, we sometimes do find the need. And, as I said, it is not a requirement for any of us, though it is a very vital and, at times, helpful service Not a lot of people know that I take advantage of it on a fairly regular basis.
I go every few months to an Episcopal priest I know who is my confessor. Although I usually go dragging my heels a bit, I feel good once I have done it. I come away from Confession feeling better. There really is something very positive and good about being open and honest about one’s shortcomings, about sharing those shortcomings with someone else, about getting some practical and helpful council and advice and then hearing from that person that I am forgiven for the wrongs I have done.
When I was in seminary I read two books on confession. One was a book for priests who would serve as confessors. It was the classic text for Anglicans entitled A Manual for Confessors by “the Honorable Canon of Birmingham” Francis George Belton, originally published in 1916.
The other was more modern and much more helpful for all people (not just priests) seeking the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The book is called Reconciliation: Preparing for Confession in the Episcopal Church, by Martin L. Smith, a priest and former member of the Episcopal order of the Society of St. John the Evangelist.
Both of these books discuss in detail what we find summarized on page 446 in our Prayer Book:
The ministry of reconciliation, which has been committed by Christ to his Church, is exercised through the care each Christian has for others, through the common prayer of Christians assembled for public worship, and through the priesthood of Christ and his ministers declaring absolution.
So, as we’ve just heard, we realize that Confession is not something the Church and bunch of male priests invented. It was something commended to us by Jesus, who knew full well how important it was for us to confess and to hear the words of forgiveness.
As most of you know, Friday was the 6th anniversary of my ordination to the Priesthood. Before I was ordained, I went on retreat and I made a point of taking advantage of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It was good for me to shed some of the failings I had done during my training, to ask forgiveness for some of the resentments I had felt for others during that often very difficult time and to head into my new life as a priest feeling renewed.
As a priest, one of most important responsibilities has been to be a confessor. On that night that I was ordained, as part of the ordination service, the Bishop declared to me that among my responsibilities as a priest was “to declare God’s forgiveness to penitent sinners…” And in these years since, my responsibly as confessor has been an important and consistent one. I have heard more confessions and granted more absolution than I can count. I have heard confessions not just here in church, but at restaurants, in bars, in hospitals, on airplanes from absolute strangers (which has made me wary of wearing my clericals on the plane when I fly), in cars on long trips.
In all these situations—whether I am seeking out Confession in my own personal life or whether I am being a confessor to someone else—what I have discovered again and again is how important it is for us to hear those words of forgiveness It is important of us, at times, when we have failed in our relationships—either with God or with one another—to be like the penitent women in our Gospel reading for today. It is good for us to humble ourselves, to kneel down and to seek pardon and forgiveness. And in those moments, we NEED to hear those words of forgiveness.
In the Prayer Book, those words of forgiveness are described as “Absolution” and there are a few different forms given in the Rite for Reconciliation. One goes like this:
The Priest, laying hands upon the penitent’s head says:
“Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has left power to his Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in him, of his great mercy forgive you all your offenses; and by his authority committed to me, I absolve you from all your sins: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Those are important words to hear. Having both given absolution and having received absolution, I can say that it is a truly powerful experience. There is a sense of a weight being lifted. There is a sense that something which was bound up has been loosened and released. To hear those words of pardon and forgiveness are important to us because we sometimes do need to hear that we are forgiven. Without those words of forgiveness, we continue on in our self-pitying and our self-loathing. Those words of pardon and absolution restore us. They help us rise above the wrongs we have done so we can live fully and completely.
When we hear Jesus say to that penitent woman in today’s Gospel, “Your sins are forgiven…Your faith has saved you. Go in peace,” we can almost feel a weight being lifted from her. Whatever shortcomings that woman brought with her into that place, we know are gone from her as she leaves. This is the power of confession.
At the end of “Form Two” in the Prayer Book, the service is concluded when the priest, echoing this very Gospel reading, says,
“Now there is rejoicing in heaven; for you were lost, and are found; you were dead, and are now alive in Christ Jesus our Lord. Go in peace. The Lord has put away all your sins.”
To which the penitent replies, “Thanks be to God.”
Those are words that cause us to continue on, despite the things we have done. The forgiveness of our sins transforms us and changes us. It frees us from whatever might hold us down.
So, let us together strive, when we have done wrong, to seek those words of forgiveness. Some of us might actually wish to seek out the Sacrament of Reconciliation as found in the Book of Common Prayer. I encourage you to do so. It is good to have a regular confessor—to take time to confess your faults and failings to some one. It is good psychologically and it is good spiritually. Certainly I am always available for this service, but any priest will do. Any priest can grant absolution and forgiveness.
But more importantly, let us all carry those words of forgiveness from Jesus close to our hearts when we do fail and we do fall short in our relationships. Let us humble ourselves, but let’s not despair in those moments. Let us come before Jesus and seek that forgiveness that lifts us up from our tears. Let us unloose from within us whatever is holding us captive so that we may be truly free to love God and love others with no regrets, no recriminations, no undue guilt.
Jesus’ words to us are “go in peace.” That peace we find in this forgiveness is truly a liberating peace. It is a peace that destroys not only what others do to us, but we do to ourselves and to others, which sometimes can be much worse. That peace we find in reconciliation truly does liberate.
So, let us take the peace offered to us by Jesus and go forth in that peace. And doing so, let us rejoice in the freedom that peace gives us. Amen.
Luke 7.36-8.3
+ Each Sunday as we gather here together, we use that little red book in our pews. The Book of Common Prayer is a book we take for granted for the most part. We think of it as nice little quaint book which contains our worship services. But the book actually contains more than just our Sunday Eucharist and a few prayers.
One part of the Prayer Book most of us probably have never even ventured to look at is found on page 447. The service for “The Reconciliation of a Penitent” is a service very few of us here this morning has probably taken advantage of. But it is an important service and it is one that certainly deserves our attention, even if we have no desire to take advantage of that service. And it’s nice to take a look at it at a time other than Lent, when we are almost overwhelmed with talk of sin and forgiveness.
The service of Reconciliation is service in which a person seeking to ask forgiveness of whatever shortcomings they have goes to a priest (and in the Episcopal Church only a priest can grant absolution) and having prayerfully and thoughtfully shared these sins, received words of comfort and counsel and then is given absolution by the priest. It really is just like Confession is in the Roman Catholic Church, though for us we don’t go into a little cubicle and whisper our sins through a screen to a priest.
So, on those occasions when we describe the Episcopal Church as “Catholic lite,” and we get the inevitable question of whether or not we have “Confession,” we can say yes, we do, but then quickly add that it’s not a requirement.
I think few of us want to take advantage of this service, but, occasionally, we sometimes do find the need. And, as I said, it is not a requirement for any of us, though it is a very vital and, at times, helpful service Not a lot of people know that I take advantage of it on a fairly regular basis.
I go every few months to an Episcopal priest I know who is my confessor. Although I usually go dragging my heels a bit, I feel good once I have done it. I come away from Confession feeling better. There really is something very positive and good about being open and honest about one’s shortcomings, about sharing those shortcomings with someone else, about getting some practical and helpful council and advice and then hearing from that person that I am forgiven for the wrongs I have done.
When I was in seminary I read two books on confession. One was a book for priests who would serve as confessors. It was the classic text for Anglicans entitled A Manual for Confessors by “the Honorable Canon of Birmingham” Francis George Belton, originally published in 1916.
The other was more modern and much more helpful for all people (not just priests) seeking the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The book is called Reconciliation: Preparing for Confession in the Episcopal Church, by Martin L. Smith, a priest and former member of the Episcopal order of the Society of St. John the Evangelist.
Both of these books discuss in detail what we find summarized on page 446 in our Prayer Book:
The ministry of reconciliation, which has been committed by Christ to his Church, is exercised through the care each Christian has for others, through the common prayer of Christians assembled for public worship, and through the priesthood of Christ and his ministers declaring absolution.
So, as we’ve just heard, we realize that Confession is not something the Church and bunch of male priests invented. It was something commended to us by Jesus, who knew full well how important it was for us to confess and to hear the words of forgiveness.
As most of you know, Friday was the 6th anniversary of my ordination to the Priesthood. Before I was ordained, I went on retreat and I made a point of taking advantage of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It was good for me to shed some of the failings I had done during my training, to ask forgiveness for some of the resentments I had felt for others during that often very difficult time and to head into my new life as a priest feeling renewed.
As a priest, one of most important responsibilities has been to be a confessor. On that night that I was ordained, as part of the ordination service, the Bishop declared to me that among my responsibilities as a priest was “to declare God’s forgiveness to penitent sinners…” And in these years since, my responsibly as confessor has been an important and consistent one. I have heard more confessions and granted more absolution than I can count. I have heard confessions not just here in church, but at restaurants, in bars, in hospitals, on airplanes from absolute strangers (which has made me wary of wearing my clericals on the plane when I fly), in cars on long trips.
In all these situations—whether I am seeking out Confession in my own personal life or whether I am being a confessor to someone else—what I have discovered again and again is how important it is for us to hear those words of forgiveness It is important of us, at times, when we have failed in our relationships—either with God or with one another—to be like the penitent women in our Gospel reading for today. It is good for us to humble ourselves, to kneel down and to seek pardon and forgiveness. And in those moments, we NEED to hear those words of forgiveness.
In the Prayer Book, those words of forgiveness are described as “Absolution” and there are a few different forms given in the Rite for Reconciliation. One goes like this:
The Priest, laying hands upon the penitent’s head says:
“Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has left power to his Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in him, of his great mercy forgive you all your offenses; and by his authority committed to me, I absolve you from all your sins: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Those are important words to hear. Having both given absolution and having received absolution, I can say that it is a truly powerful experience. There is a sense of a weight being lifted. There is a sense that something which was bound up has been loosened and released. To hear those words of pardon and forgiveness are important to us because we sometimes do need to hear that we are forgiven. Without those words of forgiveness, we continue on in our self-pitying and our self-loathing. Those words of pardon and absolution restore us. They help us rise above the wrongs we have done so we can live fully and completely.
When we hear Jesus say to that penitent woman in today’s Gospel, “Your sins are forgiven…Your faith has saved you. Go in peace,” we can almost feel a weight being lifted from her. Whatever shortcomings that woman brought with her into that place, we know are gone from her as she leaves. This is the power of confession.
At the end of “Form Two” in the Prayer Book, the service is concluded when the priest, echoing this very Gospel reading, says,
“Now there is rejoicing in heaven; for you were lost, and are found; you were dead, and are now alive in Christ Jesus our Lord. Go in peace. The Lord has put away all your sins.”
To which the penitent replies, “Thanks be to God.”
Those are words that cause us to continue on, despite the things we have done. The forgiveness of our sins transforms us and changes us. It frees us from whatever might hold us down.
So, let us together strive, when we have done wrong, to seek those words of forgiveness. Some of us might actually wish to seek out the Sacrament of Reconciliation as found in the Book of Common Prayer. I encourage you to do so. It is good to have a regular confessor—to take time to confess your faults and failings to some one. It is good psychologically and it is good spiritually. Certainly I am always available for this service, but any priest will do. Any priest can grant absolution and forgiveness.
But more importantly, let us all carry those words of forgiveness from Jesus close to our hearts when we do fail and we do fall short in our relationships. Let us humble ourselves, but let’s not despair in those moments. Let us come before Jesus and seek that forgiveness that lifts us up from our tears. Let us unloose from within us whatever is holding us captive so that we may be truly free to love God and love others with no regrets, no recriminations, no undue guilt.
Jesus’ words to us are “go in peace.” That peace we find in this forgiveness is truly a liberating peace. It is a peace that destroys not only what others do to us, but we do to ourselves and to others, which sometimes can be much worse. That peace we find in reconciliation truly does liberate.
So, let us take the peace offered to us by Jesus and go forth in that peace. And doing so, let us rejoice in the freedom that peace gives us. Amen.
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