The almost mystical reverence some people pay the moment of absolution did not ease my conscience. Many evangelical ministers must feel as I have done – judging from the frequent vanishing act of the absolution from our services.
I now happily read the absolution on at least a weekly basis to my congregation, and do so enthusiastically without any reservations. What put me at ease with this most unevangelical part of our communion service? Nothing other than reading the actual words.
After the congregation confess their sins, the minister prays:
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all them that with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto 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.
When this prayer is read carefully it is impossible to avoid the fact that the focus is upon God forgiving those who truly repent. The words were carefully crafted to avoid any idea of automatic forgiveness being ritualistically imparted. The prayer emphasises that it is God who forgives – not the person reading the prayer.
So it is our heavenly Father who ‘hath promised forgiveness’. This is a gift given by him not to all persons without exception, but rather to those who ‘with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto him’. How ironic that popular evangelicalism which fears priestly absolutions is too often guilty of encouraging easy-believism and superficial acceptance without repentance – while the absolution in our Book of Common Prayer actually qualifies and restricts forgiveness stringently.
Absolution is only for those who express ‘hearty’ repentance, and embrace ‘true’ faith. Half-hearted resolutions against sin and merely intellectual or superficial faith should cause thoughtful listeners to doubt the grounds for their comfort.
This tension is heightened in the Morning Service absolution, which reminds the congregation that even though they have just said a prayer of confession, they may not have actually been granted true repentance:
He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel. Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true repentance.
In a powerful reversal of medieval ritualism, Cranmer managed to craft an absolution that included a request for true repentance, undermining easy believism and ritualistic superficiality.
Having read the actual words of our Absolution I am most happy to use it in regular worship. I sometimes introduce it by emphasising the ideas I believe Cranmer was giving voice to by saying, ‘People sometimes think the minister has power to forgive or absolve us from sin. But this prayer reminds us that it is God who forgives…’
If you want to help people take sin and confession more seriously, you could do a lot worse than use the Book of Common Prayer absolution in regular church services. If you are nervous about using it, perhaps you should read what it actually says?
It convinced me.