A bishop is a Prime Minister – Monarch – Speaker – Scapegoat.

A bishop is more than a presbyter: the shepherd’s crook, pastoral staff, which is given to the bishop at the consecration service speaks of the bishop’s role of nourishment and cautioning. 

And what of a bishop’s rootlessness,  isolation and digestion!?

The above diverse aspects of episcopal leadership in the Anglican Church come via the Bishop of Bendigo and Primate’s letter:

Bishop Andrew Curnow recently referred me to an article in the Church Times, September 4, 2009 by the Rt Rev’d Kenneth Stevenson, outgoing Bishop of Portsmouth, about  being a bishop. I believe +Kenneth’s observations are thought-provoking, and I trust might prompt our own reflections on the nature and challenges of the episcopal office.

 The text of the article is available to download from the Church Times website. The article itself is an edited extract from +Kenneth’s farewell address to his diocesan synod in June of this year is at The Business of Bishoping – a Bottom Up Theology.