'And specially to this congregation': on moderation in prayers for bishops

Give grace, O heavenly Father, to all Bishops and Curates, that they may both by their life and doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word, and rightly and duly administer thy holy Sacraments: And to all thy people give thy heavenly grace; and specially to this congregation here present; that, with meek heart and due reverence, they may hear, and receive thy holy Word; truly serving thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life.

Note what is not said in the Prayer for the Church Militant, what the late Sir Roger Scruton described as "the clearest and most moving of all Anglican invocations". There is no reference to "N. our bishop" or to the diocese, references which tend to be standard in the intercessions in contemporary Anglican eucharistic rites. Rather than this being a lamentable omission in 1662 and related rites, there is surely renewed reason to regard it is a wise recognition that the ecclesial centre of the Christian life is not the administrative unit that is the diocese but, instead, "this congregation". 

We do not gather for common prayer in a diocese: we do so as a congregation. The scriptures are not read and expounded to a diocese, but to a congregation. The holy sacraments are not administered to a diocese, but to a congregation. The diocese serves the congregation and the bishop's ministry is to ensure apostolic ministry, sound doctrine, and right administration of the sacraments in the congregations of the diocese. This episcopal ministry is primarily conducted by means of the relationship - canonical and pastoral - with parish clergy, not with laity.

For most laity, encounters with the bishop are, quite fittingly, rare. Confirmation - whether their own or that of their children - is the one time when laity directly encounter and receive from the bishop's ministry. As the minister of Confirmation, the bishop ministers to the laity of the diocese "after the example of thy holy Apostles", a sign of the wider Church apostolic and catholic to which the congregation belongs. Most laity do not attend ordinations (and there is good reason to suggest that ordination services should be, as in the past, much more modest affairs, rather than the current diocesan jamboree approach). Instead, the institution of an incumbent is, after Confirmation, when most lay people in a parish will encounter the bishop, providing a pastor for the congregation. Confirmation and Institution define the bishop's ministry for the overwhelming majority in the congregation. And this is indeed the focus of the episcopal office in service of the congregation.

Naming the bishop in the solemn intercessions of the holy Eucharist, therefore, can be quite misleading, attributing to the bishop a centrality that is neither required nor helpful. To pray for "Bishops", as 1662 does, is much more appropriate, reflecting the vocation of episcopal ministry to maintain the order and discipline which serves the congregation. The fact that, alongside the bishops, we pray for "Curates" in 1662 - that is parish ministers, who may be presbyters or deacons - is also significant. The term "Curates" indicates that we are not using the language of ecclesiastical order but of pastoral ministry, as also seen in PECUSA BCP 1789's phrase "other Ministers". To name the bishop in this context is to shift the focus from "Bishops and Curates" serving the congregation to placing a particular and unnecessary emphasis on the bishop's ministry, an emphasis not reflected in the congregation's experience of the ministry of Word and Sacrament.

Part of the reason for reflecting on the relevant portion of the Prayer for the Church Militant in this manner is a recognition that bishops have - not to put too fine a point on it - been responsible for much of the disorder and confusion within contemporary Anglicanism. Diocesan overreach, provocative statements or actions by bishops, undermining the ministry of parishes in favour of particular ministries preferred by a bishop or diocese, pronounced failures by bishops (as currently seen in the Church of England), episcopal activism (ecclesial and secular): bishops who should be serving the ministry and witness of congregations have, too often, become an impediment. Exalting episcopal ministry, particularly through inflated 'focus of unity' language, has bestowed an enhanced significance upon episcopal foolishness, stupidity, and incompetence, deepening the disorder and confusion.

A return to the Prayer for the Church Militant's much more modest and moderate reference to the ministry of bishops, rather than the weekly 'N. our bishop' petition, is certainly no ecclesiastical answer to episcopally-generated disorder and confusion, but it might somewhat aid the rest of us in our Christian lives, turning our focus from what can seem like a dysfunctional episcopate to where our vocation and discipleship is nurtured and sustained - "this congregation". We will still be praying for the "Bishops", whether in the Prayer for the Church Militant or the Prayer for the Clergy and People, but we will be doing so without inflating their significance. Nor will we be regarding the administrative unit that is the diocese and its machinations as central. Instead we will be rightly recognising the ministry of Word and Sacraments in the congregation to be central. 

It is this which is the spiritual reality of the current and every context. Bishops come and go. As long as they confirm, as long as they ordain and institute ministers, the life, ministry, and witness of the congregation can continue in apostolic order. All else is, we might be tempted to say, background noise in episcopal ministry - and often unnecessary background noise. It is in the congregation that prayer and praise are offered, the scriptures read and expounded, that we are absolved and blessed, that holy Baptism is administered, that we are fed with the spiritual food of the Lord's Body and Blood in the holy Eucharist, that matrimony is solemnized, that the dead are buried and the bereaved comforted. Our prayers throughout our earthly journey and in the congregation should reflect this life-giving spiritual reality. 

As for the bishops, we pray for them as they serve this reality but, at life's end, as we look back on our Christian journey, it will not not be 'N. our bishop' for whom we will be thankful, but the parish and congregation which has sustained us in life in Christ.