Nowhere is your pastor more a pastor for you than in private confession and absolution. You must learn to treasure this gift, and then you will rightly treasure your pastor. He is Christ's ear and mouth for you. He is bound by a solemn vow in his ordination never to disclose to anyone what he has heard in confession. Your sins are as far from his lips as the east is from the west.
Many people complain that they never see their pastor.
Just as a good shepherd tends his flock both as a group and each sheep individually, so a good pastor applies the blood-bought gifts of Christ to his congregation as a whole and to each member individually. In fact, individual absolution is the best way to administer this gift. Here the pastor can apply accurately the healing balm of Jesus' blood to those troublesome and annoying spots that may not have been reached by the sermon or the general absolution. Confession humbles us and keeps us as beggars at the receiving end of Christ's gifts. The false pride of our old Adam is crucified.