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 .

Almighty

Yesterday, Quinquagesima Sunday, alongside quite a few others, I was shriven in preparation for Lent. I confessed my "manifold sins and wickedness", and I was absolved.The absolution, of course, is from the Holy Communion in the Prayer Book tradition, following the "general Confession".On Sexagesima Sunday, I gave absolution to those who made their confession.Yes, it is the absolution from Mattins , following "a general Confession".In the words of Hooker:VI.4.15.Hooker here sets forth what would be an enduring feature of classical Anglican teaching: that general confession and absolution is no different in essentials and in grace from private confession and absolution. In both, "ministerial absolution" has the same effect:VI.6.5.This understanding is dramatically emphasised in Sparrow's description of the absolution at Mattins and Evensong:He also insists that the three forms of absolution contained in the Book of Common Prayer are one and the same:As Nockles has shown, this "doctrine of ministerial absolution" was a defining characteristic of the pre-1833 High Church tradition. Used to defending this understanding of Anglican practice against Low Church writers, post-1833 the High Church tradition had then to defend it against Tractarian promotion of regular private confession:Even as the Tractarians promoted private confession, however, they could not entirely ignore the classical teaching. Thus Pusey, in his controversial 1846 sermon ' The Entire Absolution of the Penitent ', admitted:And Keble could hardly forget his poem ' The Three Absolutions ', celebrating the traditional High Church insistence that the three forms of absolution in the BCP are equally an exercising of the power of keys. As Keble had said of the absolution at Mattins and Evensong:The High Church critique of the Tractarians had a deep - and enduring - pastoral significance. Nockles quotes one High Church critic declaring that at stake was the teaching that "a real gift is truly bestowed through the office of the priest ... What is before us, at present is the efficacy of absolution itself".And this remains the issue. A belief that private confession and absolution is somehow of greater significance or bestows a deeper grace than general confession and absolution undermines the Anglican experience. For the vast majority of Anglicans, private confession and absolution plays no part in their Christian life. (Indeed, a relatively recent survey has indicated that only 2% of US Roman Catholics regularly use the Sacrament of Reconciliation.) Therefore, to believe that private confession and absolution is a fuller experience of the ministry of keys than general confession and absolution is to cut off vast swathes of Anglicans - both in the present and across the centuries - from a ministry and grace which the Risen Lord bestowed upon the Church.This is the importance of the weighty general confessions at Mattins, Evensong, and Holy Communion, and the accompanying priestly Absolutions, "in sense and virtue" precisely the same as that used in the particular occasions requiring private absolution.So, yes, along with very many other Anglicans on Quinquagesima Sunday, I was shriven. I received the effectual gift of absolution.