Say good-bye it is Independence Day.

Psychoanalysis: Confession without absolution. ~G.K. Chesterton

This past Friday evening while having dinner with my wife and friend it became apparent to me that sometimes we need someone to stand and claim for us that we are acquitted and are free to go to live a life in freedom from our past. Have you ever needed someone to name and claim God’s release in your life? I have.

My friend shared with my wife and me a regret and guilt about something she had done nearly 30 years ago. It was something that she claimed that she believed that God had forgiven her but she still carried the weight of her brokenness. After discussing the issue for a few minutes I sensed that what this person needed wasn’t to confess a wrong, to share her sorrow, or to turn away and never repeat her mistake, she had done all of these things. What she needed was someone to claim for her something she was unable to claim for herself—God’s forgiveness and absolution or release.

I think their are alot of folks who are deeply wounded, often by sick theology, who are literally dying to be absolved.

Absolution stems from the word absolvo which means "to set free" and solvo which means to loose. Her heart and soul needed to be set free and loosened from the pain of her past. I think there are numerous folks all over the world hanging out on Sunday mornings who have been left with their soul pain what they need to be is released from their guilt. I suspect one tendency to point out the sin of another originates from not being released from the guilt of our own brokenness. It is only when we are released by and set free by God that we are able to claim it for others. When we have truly been released and set free we lose the need to talk about it so much.

Absolution is remission of sin, or of the punishment due to sin (or whatever word one uses to describe missing the mark.) In some circles people have discounted the role of a priest in absolution, assuming that the priest is the one who forgives, which isn’t correct. The priest, in a sense, claims God’s forgiveness or announces God’s release for the one who is confessing.
Sometimes we need someone, perhaps a priest or even a friend, to claim God’s release for us. To announce our freedom and to proclaim for us God setting us free. Sometimes the guilt or the burden of a past transgression is just too heavy for us and we need to move beyond mere confession; we need absolution--the declaration of forgiveness.

There is a lot of talk in the church about confession and sin, but all too often the church stops there and our messages become mini pop psychological messages based on sin-management. We claim a gospel of grace but many have not yet experienced that grace "lived-out." Maybe all the talk about sin in some churches only keeps people in bondage and chained in a prison of guilt and shame. If you have been walking around for decades with something on your soul that you have confronted, named, and turned away from but have not yet completely accepted God’s forgiveness perhaps you need someone to proclaim God’s release and forgiveness in your life so you can say finally say good-bye to the guilt and hello to Independence Day.

The Priest: The Lord has put away all your sins.
Penitent: Thanks be to God.
The Priest: Go in peace, and pray for me, a sinner.