You have heard many times that this Table is not the time or place for confession of sin. If you have ignored these exhortations, and have come to the Table with unconfessed sin in your life, then confessing sin here is far better than not confessing sin at all. So take care of whatever it is, but at the same time, try to break the pattern of introspective probing as one of the spiritual exercises you do when you should be coming to commune with the Lord and with His people.
This is the Table of the Lord and His people, not the Table of you and your personal problems. One of the great temptations in worship is to make it “all about you.” Of course, if you have not dealt with your problems, if you have not confessed your sin, then that will hinder any attempts to honor and worship the Lord. So dealing with “your” issues is important.
But at the same time, given the sinful bent of our hearts, it does not take much to persuade us to make whatever it is we are doing into a session designed for us. But you are here, at this Table, for the sake of the others. You are to look around in love, discerning the body.
How can you pray for them? How can you minister to them? How can you say something to them after the service that will really strengthen them? How can you make someone’s day?
The Bible says we are being knit together in love. And we should think of the Word and the sacrament as the two knitting needles. Using His Word for you on the one hand, and His covenant love for you on the other, God knits you together with other people. You are growing up, together with them, into a perfect man, as Paul says.
But this is not being done for you while you are in solitary confinement. You are not hermits or monks or reclusives. You are Christians. This is your Table, and it is for all of you.