As we now embark on the daunting task of receiving and sorting nominations for the tenth bishop of Georgia, we may find it both useful and wise to turn to the ordination rite itself for clarity and guidance. Above all others, one word in the Ordination of a Bishop may be particularly instructive, and that word is “persuade.”

In the ordination rites for both priest and deacon, the ordinand is addressed by the bishop and given an outline of the several duties of the order to which he or she is being ordained. Thereafter comes the examination, within which the first question is similar for both priest and deacon: “My brother/sister, do you believe that you are truly called by God and his Church to this priesthood?” Or, “my brother/sister, do you believe that you are truly called by God and his Church to the life and work of a deacon?” In both cases, the operative word is “believe,” and the answer is the same for both rites: “I believe I am so called.” The onus of discernment is on the ordinand.

The question is different, however, in the examination of one being ordained to the episcopate. Rather than asking if the ordinand believes he or she is called, the Presiding Bishop asks, “Are you persuaded that God has called you to the office of Bishop?” The answer, unlike the case in the other two rites, is, “I am so persuaded.”

This striking and perhaps theologically critical difference has existed since Thomas Cranmer’s prayer book, yet it remains curiously unparsed and undiscussed in any of today’s major prayer book commentaries. Hatchett, Michno, Mitchell, Price, Stuhlman, and Weil all leave this difference untreated, leaving us to our own devices to discover Cranmer’s motivation behind the word “persuade.”

Yet that motivation may be painfully intuitive after just one look at the address which precedes the question. Hear what the Presiding Bishop will say to the soul whom you and I will elect in just a few short months. She says:

Your heritage is the faith of patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and those of every generation who have looked to God in hope. Your joy will be to follow him who came, not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Lest we be fooled into thinking that the pattern for a bishop’s life is that of a tested administrator, or an imaginative guru, or even merely a very fine priest, the ordination rite tells us differently. No, the true pattern for the bishop’s life is none other than the Christ of the Cross–the Lamb who was slain–and the hundreds of saints and martyrs whose blood paints a scarlet road to the holiness of God and the consummation of all our hope. The ordination rite calls this the bishop’s “heritage” and “joy.” Who in their right mind would want this job?

Thus it makes sense that “persuasion” would enter into our vocabulary of discernment. Of course, this does not mean that we will have to do all of the persuading of that we should look for a particularly resistant candidate. It simply means that the utter humility of Christ—the humility of the one who emptied himself completely for the sake of our souls—should be close at heart for both us and for the nominees with whom we move forward. It also means that there is little need to ask questions such as, “Why do you want to be bishop?” or “what qualifies you to be bishop?” He or she simply may not know. And so our task is one of vulnerable, mutual discernment.

The good news, however, is that the persuasion is not ours to wield. It is the Holy Spirit’s, who will—if we say our prayers and remain in love—do all that is required to persuade both us and our future bishop of the humble, good road that lies ahead for us.

And thus a good question for us today is this: Are we persuaded that God has called us to this table, and to the awesome task of discerning the identity of our next bishop? And are we persuaded that the Holy Spirit will provide us with every humble gift necessary to find that person through a process paved in love, vulnerability, and mutual discovery?

The answer, God willing, is “We are so persuaded.”

Amen, and let it be so.

The Rev. Lonnie Lacy
Epiphany 2009