The Election of a Bishop

I come from a long line of teachers on my father’s side. And for those of us who are the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, this is a teachable moment. So settle in for a lecture about Bishops and the process for electing Bishops in the Episcopal Church. There’s a lot more to it than can be contained in a newspaper headline.

First, all Bishops are elected. And, to become a Bishop, first you must be a priest. You must have gone through the ordination discernment and approval process in some diocese and have been ordained as a priest. Then to become a bishop you must be elected bishop by the people of a diocese. No one in the Episcopal Church has the power to make someone a bishop by appointment or to consecrate a bishop who has not been elected by the people of a diocese. It gets a little more complicated because sometimes someone who is already a Bishop will shift to a new Diocese. But still, always: In the Episcopal Church to become a Bishop, you must already be ordained a priest, and you must be elected by the people of a diocese.

Which is where we are right now in the Diocese of Chicago. This will be the third Bishop’s election in which I have voted. The first two were in the Diocese of Texas. In neither of those did my favored candidate win. I was not on the winning side of very many votes in the Diocese of Texas. And yet the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Texas continued strong in mission; I stayed in the church and I had a rich ministry there. Winning diocesan votes isn’t everything.

I do not yet have my own favored candidate in the election for the next Bishop of Chicago. How could I? So much of the process has yet to evolve. Most of you probably know that five candidates were announced this past week by the Bishop Search Committee. And I’ll come back to that. Even for those candidates who have been named, we know very little about them yet. Then there is a petition process by which other names may be added, and I expect some will be. We’ll know those names in a few more weeks. At that time we will get much fuller descriptions of all of the candidates’ perspectives, their experience, their hopes and vision for this diocese. In late October all of the candidates will be present in the diocese for meet-and-greet, face-to-face forums with us, the people of the Diocese of Chicago.

When a diocese seeks a new Bishop a process begins not unlike the process of a parish seeking a new Rector. A Bishop search committee is appointed by the Standing Committee, given a charge and then entrusted to the Holy Spirit. In this case a lay and clergy representative were elected or chosen by each of the eleven deaneries in the Diocese. Additional members of the search committee were appointed by the Standing Committee to represent other organizations and interests within the diocese, for a total membership of 30. The current bishop and diocesan staff are not involved in the search at all. One of the first elements in the search was the preparation of a questionnaire. In early summer 2006, everyone in the diocese was given the opportunity to respond. Evidently 3,495 people responded. Those results were part of the diocesan profile that was prepared. And, if you are interested in this process, you should read the profile. I imagine a lot of you didn’t pay too much attention to this process until this week. You can catch up if you want to.

Based upon written material submitted, references, and interviews, the Search Committee presented five candidates to the Standing Committee. Those names were made public on Tuesday along with narrative biographical statements of not more than 250 words written in the first person by the candidates themselves.

Only one candidate gave his date of birth. As best I can deduce, at 48 or 49, he is probably the youngest of the group; the rest seem to be 50-something. Based only on their photos, all appear to be white; none mentions a second language. All five have evidently been ordained at least 20 years. All five have parish experience although only four are currently serving as Rectors of parishes. The fifth is currently serving in the offices of the national church. None of the five is from the Diocese of Chicago. That’s very interesting although I’m not sure what it means. The Diocese of Texas has never and probably will never elect anyone from outside the Diocese of Texas. That’s not in the diocesan laws anywhere; it’s just the way things are in Texas. And it’s not a good custom, but it makes me all the more attentive to the fact that all of the current candidates here are from outside the Diocese of Chicago. Three of the candidates are women; two are men. Evidently, this is the first time any women have been candidates here. Chicago is behind Texas in that regard. Among clergy canonically resident in the Diocese of Chicago, of 63 deacons 55% are women; of 366 priests 25% are women. (Those numbers include a significant number of retired priests.)

None of the five explicitly names a sexual orientation in their biographical statements. One gives no clues at all; two are presumably heterosexual, mentioning spouses and children; and one mentions children but does not name a spouse. And the fifth identifies herself as living with a same-sex partner. Hence the newspaper headlines. There are no hard statistics on the number of gay and lesbian clergy currently affiliated with the Diocese of Chicago, but just among those I know, the percentage is significant. Since at least the early 90’s, during Bishop Griswold’s tenure as Bishop of Chicago, diocesan leadership has openly welcomed gay clergy, although as the diocesan profile states, the diocese overall is not of one mind on the practice.

When the so-called Windsor report was published three years ago I spoke one Sunday on human sexuality, on the nature of the Anglican Communion, and provided some perspective on the tensions that existed then within the Episcopal Church and, of course, continue to exist. Most of what I said then is still relevant. I don’t want to repeat the whole sermon, but I have copies available if you are interested. And I want to stress that the intersection of faith and human sexuality is broad and complex, and cannot be conveyed in a headline or a slogan or a handout. If it is a significant issue for you, please let me know and we will find ways, individually or in a small group, to talk and think and read and listen and pray together.

I do want to repeat a few things. First, I believe the discussions on human sexuality are necessary and ultimately life-giving for the church. Maybe not fun or comfortable, but necessary, faith-full and life-giving. And remember it’s not just us. The Lutherans and the Methodists and the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists are all in exactly the same place. Be a bit wary of the doomsayers; they seem to be particularly adept at spinning the secular press. And remember that unity in diversity has always been, and continues to be, an Anglican trait that is a great strength and blessing of the Episcopal Church. Unity in diversity. 

Secondly, I do want to repeat my own position, a position I shared with the parish search committee when I interviewed here. I personally welcome and celebrate the full inclusion and participation of gays and lesbians in the church. That is my faithful position. I hope I can maintain it with integrity. It is my position; but it is not the primary motivating agenda of my ministry or activity within the church, including this election.

When I vote for the next Bishop of Chicago, I will vote for whomever I feel will be the best bishop for the diocese and for me, as a priest of the diocese. The bishop is the priest’s pastor. I will look for pastoral skills and sensitivity. I will look for administrative skills; this is a large and cumbersome diocese. I will look for someone who I hope will be able to bring connection between all the disparate pieces, a shared sense of mission and a positive sense of diocesan identity.

All of the candidates, both those already presented by the Search Committee and Standing Committee and any that may be added by petition, have been asked to respond to 5 essay questions. For each question they have up to seven single-spaced letter sized pages in 12 point font. The questions cover their call to ordained ministry; their sense of the promise inherent in the ministry of a bishop in the church today, especially in Chicago; their theology and practice of leadership; their assessment of the critical issues facing the church today and means for addressing them; their own practices for maintaining physical and spiritual health in balance with the demands of ordained ministry. We will be given those essays later in September.

The Bishop of Maine sends what she calls a lemonade letter to her clergy every summer. The letter is always long and the name implies that it is meant to be read while relaxed under a tree with a large glass of lemonade. At least five candidates, five questions, seven pages each… The candidates’ essays are going to be long, but I am eager to read them, to really learn something about them. The reading may take several glasses of lemonade, or hot cocoa, as the case may be. And I also look forward, in October, to hearing and seeing and meeting the candidates in person.

The election will take place at the Diocesan Convention on November 10. To be elected a candidate must receive a majority of votes in each order. Clergy and laity vote separately. A candidate must receive a majority of clergy votes and a majority of lay votes on the same ballot. Each parish has three lay voting delegates; each mission congregation has two. We will have opportunity over the next few months, as we learn more about the candidates, to be in conversation as a parish community. Ultimately, each lay delegate, like I, must vote their conscience guided by the Holy Spirit, for the candidate he or she faithfully feels has the most to offer to this diocese. Certainly the perspective of parishioners is an important part of that consideration, but it is not the only one, and impressions may also be formed and changed at convention itself where the diocese is assembled in conversation and worship.

Assuming a successful election, which often takes multiple ballots, and assuming the candidate accepts, the election must be consented to by the larger church, the national church. Bishops serve the national church in addition to leading a particular diocese. A majority of the 100 or so diocesan bishops and diocesan standing committees throughout the Episcopal Church must consent to the election. (Unless the election takes place right before a General Convention, in which case General Convention has the task of consent.)

General Convention is the governing body of the Episcopal Church. Made up of bishops and clergy and laity representing every diocese, it meets every three years. At the end of the most recent General Convention, which took place last summer, a resolution passed asking Bishops and Standing Committees to "exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion." For a variety of reasons many people who seek and support the full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the church supported this resolution as the best course for the church at this particular point in time. Given the existence of this General Convention resolution, I think it is very unlikely… I obviously cannot predict for sure what other bishops and standing committees will do… but I personally think it is very unlikely that anyone living in a same sex relationship at this time, even if duly elected, would receive the necessary consents from the bishops and standing committees in other dioceses, and therefore could not be consecrated, and another election would have to be held. Whether that speculation, and it is just my speculation, is a source for you of relief or sadness, triumph or anger, or indifference and fatigue… whatever your personal feeling, pray! Pray for yourselves, for all of us who are the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, that we may faithfully continue our journey through this time. It will be a bruising time for some. Yet even more importantly, during this time raise your hands and raise your voices for the Gospel. Live the Good News. Share the Good News of God’s love made known in Jesus Christ. Whoever you are, you are loved by God and you are empowered to share that love with others. I hope we get a bishop who will help us know and share God’s love. That’s what matters most.

An election like this inevitably forces us to notice the church beyond our congregation. We are part of a diocese; we are part of the Protestant Episcopal Church. We derive a lot from those affiliations. The Book of Common Prayer, the history and theology of our roots in the Protestant Reformation and the American Revolution (both, incidentally, times of significant upheaval and change). We are part of a vast network of fellowship and prayer; we benefit from shared resources for education and evangelism; and we are enriched by the gift of diversity beyond what we may encounter in our daily experiences. We are given much by being part of a diocese and a national church.

But our Christian vocation is lived out in this community, this parish family. And as a parish we have much to be thankful for and much to be hopeful about. You can see and be a part of a lot of it next Sunday at our Jubilation, Homecoming, Rally Day, Ministry Fair, Fall Program Kick-off. The bishop’s election is important, but in many ways the Cookie Walk, Children’s Chapel, parish Bible study groups, a growing parish commitment to the mission of the Millennium Development Goals are more important. These are the substance of our Christian lives. We have much to be thankful for and much to be hopeful about. Especially in one another.

That Bishop of Texas for whom I did not vote, but who was elected, had a favorite phrase from Scripture that was one of the touchstones of his episcopacy.

"Glory to God whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation in the church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever." [Ephesians 3:20, 21]

Amen.