Putting the Episcopal in Episcopal Church
FROM THE RECTOR
When you identify yourself as an Episcopalian—a member of the Episcopal Church—how often do you stop to think about the role that your bishop has in that self-definition? The word episcopal comes from the Greek word episkopos, which literally means overseer. Germanic forms of the same word include biscop and biscof, which eventually became the modern English word bishop. That means that bishops are inextricably stitched into the name of our denomination. Even though we may only see our bishop once a year, we invoke his authority every time we call ourselves Episcopalians.
We may take the role of bishops in our church for granted, but their place in the Anglican tradition and in its American manifestation was not always guaranteed. Most of the denominations that were established during the Protestant Reformation abolished episcopal authority. Largely fueled by dissatisfaction with abuses of power in the Roman Catholic Church, the reformers whose work led to the Congregationalist, Baptist, Quaker, and Presbyterian traditions pursued a church structure that emphasized leadership at the local level. Even Lutherans were indifferent about the role of bishops, with some national churches maintaining episcopal leadership and others foregoing it.
As I wrote about in the series on Episcopal Identity during the last three weeks, the English Reformation was different. Although Protestant in identity, the Church of England maintained the importance of bishops, claiming a catholic heritage as well. Both during the Reformation and the English Civil War, because of political and theological disagreements, the English Church almost lost its connection with bishops, but compromise and internal reform allowed Episcopalians to maintain their place in the Anglican Church.
A similar debate over the relevance of bishops took place in this country not long after the American Revolution. Having severed their ties with the Church of England and George III, American Anglicans needed to establish their own independent church. With congregationalist majorities in most of the New England states, there was no expectation of an established church, yet Anglicanism had always been an expression of the country’s political identity. Again, suspicious of centralized authority, the church’s leaders questioned whether an American instantiation of Anglicanism should invest such power in bishops.
Some leaders, like Samuel Seabury, argued that bishops were an integral part of the true church and must be maintained. Others, like William White, wrote that bishops, while not altogether problematic, would always become corrupt if given unchecked authority. Yet again, compromise was achieved, and the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America—the full name of our church—was established as a church with bishops whose authority was balanced by the authority of its other clergy and lay members. As such, we are a church that has bishops but is not ruled by them—a democratic institution that values shared leadership among bishops, priests, deacons, and lay persons.
This Sunday, Bishop Harmon will be at St. Paul’s for his first visitation as our Diocesan Bishop. Last summer he was here as a candidate for bishop, and now he comes to us as the person whom we have elected and whom God has set apart to fill that role as the overseer of our diocese. Although his identity and authority shape our worship every Sunday, when the bishop is physically present with us, we are able to live more fully into our identity not only as Episcopalians but also as members of the one holy, catholic, and apostolic church. The bishop is a link for us with the historic church of the apostles and the universal church as it is manifested around the world today.
Nevertheless, Bishop Harmon cannot truly be our bishop unless we share with him in the ministry that he exercises. No, it is not our responsibility to lay hands on individuals to confirm or ordain them, but we are called to share in the work and ministry of the diocese in many ways. We share in the executive leadership of the diocese through our participation in Diocesan Convention and as we elect individuals to serve on Executive Council and Standing Committee. Members of our parish offer their vision for the diocese in groups like the Camp Mitchell Board of Directors and the Commission on Ministry. And all of us are called to pray for Bishop Harmon every day.
This Sunday, as Bishop Harmon comes to St. Paul’s, we have the opportunity to renew our connection with the catholic church and our identity as products of the English and American Revolutions. When we celebrate the authority given to our bishop by God and the church, we proclaim our identity as members of the church catholic, and, when we remember that the ministry of a bishop is incomplete without the support and participation of the congregation, we proclaim our identity as American Anglicans. In effect, that means that this weekend all of us have the opportunity to be who we are every time we call ourselves Episcopalians.
Yours faithfully,
Evan D. Garner