How to recognise a bishop

Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity

You'd have thought it would be easy to spot a bishop. You just need to look for the pointy hat and fancy robes, and then you're done. However, the fact is that many real bishops have never worn a pointy hat and many pointy hat wearers are not real bishops.

Given that God has given us bishops as a gift to the Church so that we can be encouraged in His Grace, knowing real bishops from fake bishops is important.

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Now we can get technical over the rules of consecrating bishops and talk about the Apostolic Succession, but it's always best to go back to the Source and the words of Our Lord and Saviour Who is the true Bishop of our souls. And it is simple: by their fruits ye shall know them.

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Of course, bishops are human beings and just as fallible as we are, but one thing will be true: a bishop will be dedicated to the working out in the Grace of God of his own holiness and that of every single individual in his diocese.

A true bishop will not deceive you about the state of the church. There are bishops out there who will pretend to be Roman Catholic in order to ride on the backs of a large group of Catholics. However, if you look hard, you will see that the Roman Catholic Church does not know who they are. A true bishop will be like Cuprinol and do exactly what it says on the tin.

A true bishop will exercise humility. He has an important office and it is a good thing to see a bishop dressed in full regalia as he becomes a living ikon of Christ the High Priest at the sacrifice in Heaven. However, a true bishop will remember that he is an ikon painted on his own being which is flawed and broken by the effects of sin. He will seek to serve his diocese, just as Christ served his disciples in the washing of their feet.

A true bishop will be active, not just appearing to be a bishop in a painting. When the cassock comes off, a true bishop will continue to preach the Gospel in his life outside the sanctuary. He will not be a machine for ordinations and confirmations, but his activity will be for God's glory in the whole world. He is not a statue in the sanctuary, but a man sentenced by his own love for God to hard labour.

A true bishop will laugh at himself because he knows his unworthiness to bear the mitre but rejoices in the love and mercy of God at using him in such a quintessentially important way for the Church. He will laugh with people; he will cry with people but he will keep himself under guard so that God in him may increase in the world.

A true bishop will live out the traditional Gospel, changing nothing to suit the world's sensitivities. He (and a true bishop is male) will not allow his diocese to follow the fashionable philosophies or temporary ideas of social justice, but will seek only to bring God's justice into the world which will always be rejected by the world. He will be a controversial figure to secular society and the Devil will groan when he stands up to speak for he will speak the words of God confessing at all times the reality of Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, God Crucified, God risen, and God saving.

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That's how you recognise a true bishop. Now you know, perhaps you wonder why anyone would want to be one.

This is why every bishop needs respect, love and prayers for he has devoted his life to hardship for the sake of God and for the love of God's children.

Make sure, then, that you pray hard for your bishop. Whether you like him or not, he is God's gift to you, so pray that he may be so.