Armor prayer
The arming prayer (preparatory prayer ) is part of the opening liturgy in the evangelical church service after the opening hymn and before the introit and is about guilt and the forgiveness of sins.
history
In the 9th century, two ways of preparation are provided in the Roman mass. On the one hand in the sacristy by the priest alone, on the other hand in the form of gradual prayer when the clergy enters the church. In the Middle Ages, the clergy took part in the preparation rites for the community in the form of a general confession. This preparation act of the congregation took place before the reception of the sacrament, but was not to be confused with the sacrament of penance and the associated personal confession before the priest or replaced it.
In the Lutheran Mass, Martin Luther took up neither the step prayer nor the open guilt, since these were no longer common in the liturgy of his time. Instead of open guilt, he added a sacrament admonition before receiving the sacraments. During the Enlightenment, numerous liturgical forms in the Lutheran Mass were dropped, including the arming prayer. Today the preparation prayers have found their way back into the agendas . If confession is celebrated at the beginning of or before the Lutheran mass , the arming prayer does not apply.
The relationship between confession and arming prayer
The formulation of the arming prayers makes it clear that the arming prayer is not a confession . Guilt and sin are confessed to God, but there is no promise of the forgiveness of sins with the laying on of hands (common in the independent Evangelical Lutheran Church ). Rather, the liturgy and the congregation ask that God take away the guilt and sin. This becomes clear in a preparation prayer written by Martin Luther (here in a slightly linguistically modified form):
“Since we are gathered here to hear God's word with one another, to invoke him in prayer and hymn of praise, let us first remember our unworthiness and confess before God that we have sinned with thoughts, words and works, also by our own strength cannot redeem our sinful nature. That is why we take refuge in the unfounded mercy of our heavenly Father, desire grace for Christ's sake, and say: God have mercy on me, sinners. "
In response to this vote given by the pastor, pastor and congregation pray that Almighty God will have mercy, that he will forgive sins and lead to eternal life. The pastor then asks that God take away sin.
This makes it clear that the arming prayer is not a confession. The pastor does not promise forgiveness.