As a non-Lutheran follower of this Forum, I'd like to make the following comments about Individual Confession and Absolution, from a Russian Orthodox perspective:
1. No one "likes" individual confession and absolution. Its a rather bitter and unpleasant pill to swallow for the sickness of sin. However, it is remarkably effective in its curative properties. My godmother describes it this way: "Its kind of like throwing up all over yourself. There is no graceful way to do it. Nevertheless, I always feel better after I've done it."
2. If it is made optional, almost no one except the uber-pious will avail themselves of it.
3. You have to make it MANDATORY in order to get people to do it. (This alone is going to make it exceedingly difficult for Lutherans to do, because in my experience Lutherans don't like rules and requirements. Such rules are usually dismissed with a wave of the hand and talk of the "freedom of the Gospel.")
4. When and if you make it mandatory, you have to be willing to stand your ground in regard to Eucharistic discipline, otherwise no one in the parish will take you seriously and you'll be viewed as "Pastor Milquetoast." You have to decide how often your people are going to confess, and what you are going to do if they don't. (Again, for Lutherans, this is going to be exceedingly difficult because you don't have bishops that priests have to obey.) A Russian Orthodox priest doesn't have to be the "heavy" in regard to confessional frequency. If his bishop demands a minimum of once a month confession to partake of the Eucharist, then he simply announces that and enforces it. The people can't fire him. They didn't hire him. The bishop is his boss and he will obey his boss. If his people approach the Chalice without having gone to Confession, he will politely turn them away and tell them they are not prepared. But, he has his bishop to back him up in that regard. A Lutheran pastor has no such backup.
5. As long as American Lutheranism has congregational gov't (and I don't ever see that going away), I don't think private confession and absolution will ever be revived here. American Lutherans just don't have the support structure to keep it in place.
Nevertheless, I think it is good that Lutherans teach people about the value of private confession and absolution, and that some Lutherans do avail themselves of it. But I don't ever see it becoming widespread amongst Lutherans unless Lutherans make LOTS of changes in their church governance, and I just don't see that happening.
A Lutheran pastor can't require private confession and absolution. If he did, he would cease to be a Lutheran pastor.
That said, it may be that confession was required by Lutherans before communing; but I remember reading that Luther would sometimes commune without confessing in order to not allow the devil to harangue his conscience.
I am not sure I revived individual confession and absolution here in the best way. I simply started offering it before Vespers one Lent. I think one person came that year. I make myself available to hear confession in the church every Saturday from 6 pm to 6:30. I also offer it on Wednesdays in Advent and Lent after vespers. I think that no one has ever come during stated hours on Saturday. I have had a few people come by appointment, and a few who have come more repeatedly. Many people go once and then never come back again, which tells me that people feel the need to confess but tend to think of it as something that is valuable only for "big" sins, instead of a gift of grace that pronounces us clean again and again.
I think it will change though. I preached about it during Advent. I am preaching on it during Matins in the school. I make catechumens go to private confession during class and go through the rite, but do not allow them to confess specific sins, hoping that eventually they will ask me to let them confess the sins that trouble them (i got this idea from someone else.) I regularly mention it in adult catechesis and Sunday morning Bible class.
I sort of agree with Boris that there will be a lot of people that don't go if it's not compulsory. Certainly the old people who were usually told that they could confess privately if something troubled them--and often weren't even taught then--probably will never go. But my hope in sitting alone for a half hour each Saturday is that the kids will grow up knowing that it is a normal part of life in a Lutheran church, rather than something you have to make an appointment to do.
But I wouldn't want to force people to go. The reality is that it is not commanded by God, but as I said in the other thread, it is a church tradition that is pure Gospel. And it would be wicked to allow traditions that give the Gospel so clearly to fall into disuse. Just as in Luther's day, communion was offered weekly, and the pastors preached that people should commune often, even though on most Sundays only the uber pious communed, so we do best when we extol the benefits and the gift of absolution, rather than forcing people to go and making a law out of it. If you don't want to receive Christ's body and blood, and I force you to go once a year, I pervert the gift. You are showing that you do not believe when you never desire the Lord's Supper, so should I require you to go when you don't desire it?
With private confession and absolution, the situation requires a little more patience. We are not dealing with people who were familiar with the practice but simply used their Christian freedom as an excuse to treat the forgiveness given there with contempt. We are dealing with people who were essentially taught that Lutherans don't do this, and we don't have to because we can confess our sins directly to God and receive forgiveness. The problem is that people have not been taught about this gift, and it requires time to overcome the years of prejudice against it. Rather than force sinners to receive a gift they don't want, we have to preach and teach in such a way that they hunger and thirst for the free pardon that God is giving there. They stay away because of prejudice and because they focus on the confessing, their shame and humiliation in front of the pastor, their fear that he will judge them or look down on them. When they are more focused on the free gift of pardon that God wants to give them in the absolution, then we will see if not the whole congregation there, at least a great many of them.
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