Should I Go to Confession?

"Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed" (James 5:16). "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2).

The Church of Jesus Christ has always provided a means by which Christians burdened by sin may confess and find the healing grace of personal forgiveness. Jesus forgave sins as a part of healing and charged his disciples to do the same (Luke 5:17-26; John 20:22-23).

Martin Luther regarded private confession as a "precious and comforting treasure' (Large Catechism 457:7), because it "strengthens and consoles the conscience" (Apology to the Augsburg Confession XII:39).

Should I go to private confession? Examine yourself and your relationship with God and with others. Is there something in the way? Is there something you have trouble forgetting? Private confession is an exercise in complete honesty about ourselves that seeks to remove obstacles to our spiritual growth in Christ. Read the rite of "Individual Confession and Forgiveness" on p.196 in the Lutheran Book of Worship and decide for yourself.

Other topics in the Handbook Of Lent:

• An Invitation to Lent 
• What Is Lent?
• The Discipline of Lent
  • Lent and Repentance
  • Lent and Prayer
  • Lent and Fasting
  • Lent and Works of Love
  • Lent and Beginning Your Discipline
  • Lent and Keeping Your Discipline
• Lent And How To Make the Sign of the Cross
• Lent and Confession: Should I Go to Confession?
• How to Go to Confession During Lent
  • from Martin Luther's Small Catechism
• Lent and The Tradition of the Stations of the Cross
• Lent and The Triduum - The Three Sacred Days
  • Lent and Maundy Thursday
  • Lent and Good Friday
  • Lent and The Great Vigil of Easter
• Lent and Blessings over Food at Easter

Source: The Rev. Thomas L. Weitzel - Evangelical Church in America

• Handbook For Lent - Should I Go to Confession?