Absolution is counted by Lutherans as one of the sacraments of the Church. The Corporate Absolution contained in the LBW is kind of a shorthand way to get a lot of people absolved of their sins in a hurry. This isn't all that great from a sociological point of view, but it doesn't really hold problems from a theological point of view in the abstract. That is if it is done correctly.
The LBW has it's own little spin on the topic, however, by the Evangelical Catholic crowd in one major and subtle way
First, we can talk about the general paragraph that you, as a pew sitter, are supposed to recite. For the sake of interest, let's contrast the primary LBW version with the old Black hymnal version
| LBW | Black Hymnal |
| we confess we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against you in though, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name. Amen. | Almighty God, our Maker and Redeemer, we poor sinners confess unto thee that we are by nature sinful and unclean, and that we have sinned against Thee by thought, word and deed. Wherefore we flee for refuge to Thine infinite mercy, seeking and imploring Thy grace, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. |
Notice the subtle distinction here between the two concerning your status as a sinner. In the LBW it places you in bondage to sin whereas the old hymnal places you squarely defined by sin (i.e. it's ingrained in your being). The LBW places you sort of at the mercy of sin -- as something that happened to you whereas the black hymnal puts it as part and parcel of being human. This is rather a subtle deal but significant, I think.
While your relationship to the universe is a subtle thing, the actual absolution spoken by the pastor is not. It is a piece of fiction with significant spin placed on it.
Almighty God, in his mercy as given his Son to die for us and, for his sake, forgives us all our sins. As a called and ordained minister in the Church of Christ, and by his authority, I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
This is true to a point and this is the backing lie of this statement: That you MUST be called AND ordained to be doing this and also that the pastor, personally, is doing that as clergy -- essentially transcending from being a pastor to a priest.
Technically, in the narrow sense, this is correct, but what is this full statement, at the bottom of it saying?
A) In the Church of Christ, a person MUST be called (and ordained) to pronounce absolution. As Lutherans we use the traditional call process for the sake of Good Order, but that has nothing to do with theology as implied by the statement.
B) You must be ordained to do this. Ordination means nothing from a theological sense in that we are all ordained into clergy by our baptism so, again, if the statement is a do nothing, why is it there? Well, specifically to bamboozle the laity into thinking that clergy is important to your salvation (i.e. move from the idea of a pastor to the idea of a priest).
C) If I ask you to absolve me, then you are, by definition, called. We are ALL called to be a pastor to someone at some point. When someone fills in for the pastor, they are, by definition, called to do so by someone (assuming they don't just walk in off the street and start with the service, I suppose)
D) If you look at prior usage's (say in the black hymnal) You will never find the word "I" used in the absolution. It is always "God" or "Christ" or some such thing.
E) That ordination is important to the Church. This badly confuses the institutional church with the True Church (they are only tacitly connected)
Taken word for word, the statement in the absolution is essentially technically true but look at the underlying assumptions of the words and their usage therein (by selection and juxtaposition): It assumes that clergy is a priest, not a pastor and further that the Church and the church are the same thing -- that the Church is organically founded, and that is flat wrong (Roman) theology; it is a lie.
So, I assert again that the underlying problems in the LBW are, at the core, a deep, earth moving, fundamental shift in theology and a complete misunderstanding of the nature of the Church.