The Kind of Bishop We Need

 

              Since our Bishop announced that she would not be seeking re-election, I’ve been reflecting and praying on that call, both what kind of leader the Synod needs next, and if I might be that leader. I’ve explored my internal sense of call, checked with close friends if they sense an external call upon my life, and reflected on the needs of our Synod. I’ve also paid serious attention to Bishop Bartholomew’s words about the office as she has practiced it and taken some time with the questions in the discernment tool from the Synod as well.

I don’t think it is me. As a leader I am still too reactive, I personalize too much, and default to reflection instead of action; in general, I still have plenty of room to grow and rough edges to tame.

              I do worry that the timing of my growth as a leader and the uncertainties surrounding my heart condition may interact in a way that the office of Bishop will never be my calling. There is certainly a sense of loss in that—I’m a pretty with-it pastor, and believe I could lead well in the church I love—but there is something freeing as well; I’m not Strider or Gandalf, I’m Tom Bombadil or Radagast. Most likely the only thing I’ll ever be the bishop of is whimsy.

              So, freed of all ambition and desiring only the gentle upbuilding of the Kingdom of God and the flourishing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, here is what I believe our Synod needs to look for in a Bishop.

 

They Have a Plan

              As the child of two free spirits and a student of Clausewitz, I know that everything in life is ad libbed and that “no plan survives first contact with the enemy.” That said, having no plan is planning for the status quo and “without vision the people perish.”

              Our next Bishop needs to have a sense of what they would do as Bishop. If their plan begins and ends with “won’t I be a good Bishop” that is a red flag to me. They need to cast a vision and name where they think the Holy Spirit is leading us. Additionally, there will be many congregations closing in the next 6 years; the next Bishop needs to articulate a plan for that!

Here is the vision I developed in my time of discernment; it might be a useful conversation partner for anyone in discernment about the role.

 

They are Sinners and Know the Cross

              Did you know the original quote was not, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” but instead, “The road to hell is paved with the skulls of Bishops.” The office of Word and Sacrament, and the office of the Bishop still more, is a position of leadership where you have to make decisions while publicly struggling against Sin, Death, and the Devil; you make mistakes, and you have to find a way to keep moving. You sin, you fall short in this vocation (and yes, in every other one as well) and cling to God, the God revealed on the cross—no scent of success no pleasant features, only trustworthiness.

              One of the things our current bishop returns to from time to time, and you can tell there are both wounds and scars there, is dealing with misconduct and representing the Synod in court. Having done versions of both within the context of pastoral ministry, I can affirm they lead to sleepless nights and exact a heavy toll. And it is not just your own conscience that assails you, but every naysayer and second guesser comes out of the woodwork and watches and waits to pay you their two cents. There is Anfechtung and tentatio embedded in both of these tasks.

              When I was ordained, Bishop Riley’s sermon included an insistence that part of ministry is finding a way to get to sleep at night; there is always one more task, there is always one more failure that won’t stop bothering you. For me, I keep on keeping on by praying every morning that God would make me faithful and thanking God every evening that Christ is faithful.

              So, what does this mean practically, as we choose a new Bishop? Anyone who peddles and promises success upon success or can’t answer the question: “Name a time in ministry when you’ve failed, and what you did next?” Anyone who lacks a firm faith rooted in the forgiveness found every time we return to the font, or blames someone else when criticism comes their way, is not fit for the office.

             

They Understand the Challenge

              George Orwell famously wrote, “To see what’s right in front of your eyes takes a constant struggle.” I hope and pray our next Bishop will be in that struggle, seeing the challenges of today clearly. Ours is a time of crisis, and has been for years. Our next Bishop needs an existential understanding of the day-to-day challenges of parish ministry, both the mundane and the profound. Our next Bishop needs to be able to focus on that which matters most and navigate the waters in which we do ministry.

              At least for me, my conceptual framework, the 4Ds, do that. There is both the single needful thing—our ability to trust in God at all, and the context in which we do that, one that is dispersed, diverse, and disestablished. We don’t need a 4D Bishop, but we do need one who equips the Synod to navigate the world as it is, and one who never loses sight of our work, the proclamation of the Gospel.

 

They Feel the Oddness of Syn-od

              There is an often unspoken tension within one of our Synod’s core values, interdependence. So too a tension in the very nature of Synod (the etymology of which is odd people next to each other, right?… oh no, sorry, it’s accompanying along the way…). I hope that the next bishop has a heart torn with that tension, the tension of the ELCA’s three expressions. In fact, I hope the whole Bishop’s office publicly wrestles with their role as the bridge between the local and national church, while still being their own unique expression.

              Having seen that tension up close on Synod Council, as a District Dean, Cluster Counselor, and Vice Pastor, I hope a new balance can be struck; I hope the Bishop will woo local congregations near and far from the Synod office into a posture of deeper relationship and responsibility toward the larger church. I hope she or he brings the best of Churchwide to the congregational level, and that their Assistants foster fresh collaboration among congregations and Synod. I hope we can continue to walk together meeting Jesus along the way, the Synod office equipping congregations as only they can, while caring for the whole, upbuilding and bringing together for the sake of the ministry.

              So much of this will only occur if the whole Synod, both office and congregations, are committed to doing the work that makes for healthy, functioning, congregations. There are so many tasks, so many good tasks, required of us, but if we aren’t equipping congregations to do the basics that are foundational to doing complex ministries, we will become a few endowed and flagship congregations attached to a middle judicatory, which is not the same as a Synod. This sort of work is not inspirational, but it is necessary.

 

They Reflect and they Act

              Finally, the next bishop needs to both act and reflect, and then act again. They need to regularly enter into the Hermeneutical Circle in which ideas become concrete, and then those concrete actions lead to deeper thoughts, which in turn lead to new creative acts. They can neither be captured by ideas to the point of immobility, nor can they rely on the manic heat of hyperactivity to “flood the zone” or be a substitute for well thought through actions. We need someone who is comfortable both on the dance floor and the balcony above seeing the big picture.

They need to be a questioner—asking second and third level question… “What then? What then? What then?” Following, like a bloodhound, the logical likely outcomes, and consequences, always aware of the probabilities that they have missed something along the way.

In short, we need the amalgamation of a monk and a scientist, someone who will model for all of us, the whole Synod, a method for becoming something new.

 

Conclusion:

              In conclusion, I hope that our next bishop: has a plan, is comfortable with failure and clear eyed about the challenges of ministry today, is infectiously collaborative and can seed an attitude of experimentation throughout the Synod. Come Holy Spirit Come!