Sermon: Appointment of a Bishop

 

The Very Revd Victor Stock is Dean of Guildford Photograph of Victor Stock

Preacher:
Victor Stock
Date:
Sunday 1st August 2010
Service:
Eucharist

Those of you who know your Trollope will be aware that Bishops were appointed in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries by the Whig or Tory administration in power.  Some of these political placemen were great magnates with incomes from land and coalmines, some beyond the dreams of avarice; beyond the dreams, even, of the Chairman of BP.  Of course there were poor little dioceses, like St David’s, that nobody wanted, or if you were given one, you got out of it as quickly as possible by pulling the right strings at Court, in order to advance to one with great emoluments: the Prince Palatinate of Durham or the great Diocese of Winchester, let alone the Archbishopric of Canterbury with its palaces and revenues and position.  The Archbishop of Canterbury is still the first commoner in the Kingdom and the first person to congratulate him upon the confirmation of his election in St Mary-le-Bow is always the Lord Mayor of London representing the common people of the Realm, bowing over the hand of the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England.  The Archbishop of York has to make do with the simple title of Primate of England, but there you go!

The position of a Bishop in parts of Lutheranism: the great Lutheran Church of Germany, the great Lutheran Church of Sweden, parts of Anglicanism, like the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, the Anglican Church in New Zealand and Canada, bring us women to pray for in the cycle of prayer, for they have long joined men in those countries in the exercise of Episcopal oversight.  An old-fashioned Anglo-Catholic view of Bishops has always been (and this is the school which formed me and to which I still largely subscribe) is that Bishops are of the esse of the Church - essential, vital and fundamental, but should be avoided at all costs.  Hence, in the Church of England the life of the Dean is a happier one than that of a Bishop.  If you see a group of Bishops together, they can look rather harassed and nervous and got-at, whereas Deans on the whole belong to a jollier club.

In the Book of Common Prayer there is the form of Ordaining or Consecrating of an Archbishop or Bishop and its beautiful Collect goes thus:  ‘Almighty God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst give to thy holy Apostles many excellent gifts, and didst charge them to feed thy flock; Give grace, we beseech thee, to all Bishops, the Pastors of thy Church, that they may diligently preach thy Word, and duly administer the godly Discipline thereof ...’  Well, that’s just the beginning of it, but how we project on to those who hold Episcopal office our own inadequacies, desires and party politics, which is why we are in duty bound to pray regularly and earnestly for our Archbishop of Canterbury in his impossible task, though because it is nigh impossible, not one whit less godly.

At a personal level, Bishops hardly come our way.  They’re so remote, we don’t know their families, they haven’t been our colleagues, we don’t know what they’ve been like to work with before they’ve become Bishops, and so they’re fit objects for projection and fantasy, except that very occasionally the veil is lifted.  Here is a note for editors of the national press, and it was issued on Friday:

‘A graduate of the universities of Aberdeen and Nottingham ... age 45, prepared for the Ordained Ministry at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, he served his first curacy at West Bridgford in Southall, a Nottingham Diocese, from 1993 to 1997; from 1994 to 1997 he was a Police Chaplain in the Trent division; from 1997 to 2002 he was Rector of Ash in Guildford Diocese.  Since 1999 he’s been tutor for Christian doctrine on the local ministry programme, since 2002 he’s been a Residentiary Canon at Guildford Cathedral and Anglican Chaplain to the University of Surrey, Co-ordinating Chaplain from 2007.  In 2007 he was appointed Bishop’s Advisor for Inter-faith Relations.  He’s been a member of General Synod’.  And then at the top of the page, preceded by heavy print, ‘Not for release until 7.30 am on Friday 30 July 2010 – Suffragan See of Southampton.  The Queen has approved the nomination of The Revd Canon Jonathan Hugh Frost BD MTh FRSA, Co-ordinating Chaplain to the University of Surrey and Residentiary Canon of Guildford Cathedral, to the Suffragan See of Southampton in the Diocese of Winchester in succession to The Rt Revd Paul Roger Butler BA on his translation to the See of Southwell and Nottingham on 15 October 2009’.

That’s the big official bit of this fantastic news, this man for whom we beseech Almighty God that He may give him grace to ‘diligently preach God’s Word and duly administer the godly Discipline thereof’.  And why, why is our Jonathan called to this service for the Church?  The Collect gives the answer: ‘Grant to thy people, that they may obediently follow the same; that all may receive the crown of everlasting glory’.  Bishops exist that we may receive the crown of everlasting glory by following the diligent preaching of the Word that they administer to us.

The Friday press release ends with this:

‘Jonathan Frost is married to Christine, a teacher.  They have three teenage children.  Jonathan is keen on sport, although more from the perspective of the armchair and touchline these days.  He’s a season ticket holder at Fulham Football Club.  Jonathan completed two London Marathons for Water Aid in 2006 and 2008.  He enjoys music, wherever possible live, reading, West Wing and time spent with friends’.  He won’t have time to spend with all his friends, but should West Wing ever pall, Jonathan – we’re here.  God give you joy in His service.