Hello Rupert’s Land Anglicans! Allow me to introduce myself. I am The Right Reverend Rachael Parker (aka “just call me Bishop Rachael”) and I am the 8th Bishop of Brandon. As I write this article, I am 3 days away from the first anniversary of my consecration as bishop, so I truly am a “newbie” at this episcopal role. I also have the distinct privilege of serving on your Episcopal Search Committee as you make your faithful journey toward May 31st and prayerfully discerning who your next Bishop of the Diocese of Rupert’s Land will be.
Your Search Committee is an excellent, committed, and very talented group of clergy and laity who have been working very hard to ensure the process of gathering at the end of May allows you the opportunity to walk with the Holy Spirit in electing the person who will live with you, pray with you, and serve with you for many years to come. The Search Committee has some extra folks attached to assist your local group. An advisory panel consisting of a lay person, a clergy, and a bishop from within the Ecclesiastical Province of The Northern Lights are assigned by the Metropolitan to provide “fresh eyes,” outside advice, and extra hands to make the work lighter. I was given the privilege of becoming your Advisor Bishop. Thank you for the opportunity to serve and to learn!
As you continue in prayer and hope during this search process, I have been asked to share with you a bit of my perspective as a new bishop on the block. As I am brand spanking new, and as I am still learning new things every day, I trust that you will take what I share with an open heart and a willing mind. Bishops are just like you. We must learn as we work. We must pray always for discernment and humility, and be open to asking lots of questions. Most importantly, we need to love and be loved by the people within our diocese. If your new bishop begins this way, and you respond in like manner, all shall be well. This need for mutual love and respect comes directly from our call to be followers of Jesus, which is at the heart of everything a bishop should be doing.
As a bishop elected “from away” and not having lived and worked within the Diocese of Brandon before, I found that I was truly learning everything from the beginning — new people, new places, new expectations. It has been a humbling year. Yet it has also been an exhilarating year. If someone were to ask me what the greatest gift of year one of “bishoping” has been, I would immediately say it has been meeting the people. I have had the privilege of travelling from the southernmost parts of my diocese to the northernmost community (Churchill). I have led worship at several First Nations and have come to understand that while Anglicans eat well, our First Nations siblings know how to throw a feast! I have been invited into communities where I found myself crying and sharing the Kleenex box within minutes as stories of heartbreak in the Church – and sometimes because of the Church – have been generously shared with me. I have likewise had opportunities to laugh so hard with people that I thought I would never be able to breathe again. Being a bishop is an open invitation to become part of a greater community and intimately part of many smaller communities. It is an honour and a privilege I could never before have imagined. It has changed my life for the better, and thanks be to God for that!
While I am blessed to have a strong, loving, and encouraging spouse who knows me well enough to bring me down when I get too high-falutin’, and how to raise me up when I seem to be struggling, there are challenges that arise for new bishops as they begin this lifelong discovery of a new way to serve Christ. For most of our Canadian dioceses, the Diocesan Bishop is the only bishop. While there are a few assisting or suffragan bishops out there, the reality is that bishops are the one and only of that particular Order within their diocese. We do have a healthy and helpful House of Bishops to learn from, but in the day-to-day working of episcopal life, there is a risk that we can become lone wolves. We need to be aware of this reality and own the gift that this can offer, but we also need to intentionally develop relationships around us that we can lean on for support and then offer support to them as well.
I have an excellent group of clergy and lay leaders in the Diocese of Brandon. My office staff is essentially only just a few people, but they are fabulous individuals who have worked hard to help me find my footing over the past year. I have come to lean on a few as they are intimately aware of those situations and people which need to be held in confidentiality for pastoral and practical reasons. The risk of having a small group of people close to the bishop is the perception that there is an “in crowd,” which implies that others are on the outside. To be quite frank, this is the reality of working as a bishop: part priest to the priests, part shepherd to the congregations and people, part administrator, part employer/boss. My advice to your new bishop and to all of you is to be aware and patient. The bishop will need to hold things in confidence, and they will also need support in the form of staff, archdeacons, chancellors, etc., who will form that “in group” — but it will not be for nefarious purposes! I promise.
Your new bishop should also be looking to form relationships with the people who are the Diocese of Rupert’s Land. Every Sunday for a year, I have come home from church and congregation visits saying, “I have the best job ever!” Those words don’t come from every visit being a walk in the park. I have had many hard conversations, and my ear has been bent by lots of grumbling about “fair share” and perceived lack of support from the Diocese. However, every single one of these conversations in Parish Halls, coffee shops, and even Chicken Chefs, has given me the gift of listening to the hearts of God’s people placed in my trust. Many of the conversations have made me laugh so hard I almost choked on my coffee. Several have had me reaching for my hankie. Some have had me frustrated with perceptions of the Office of Bishop, but it is these ones which challenge me to listen more deeply, pray more fervently, and grow in my role as Shepherd to all of them. It is in meeting with the people where they are, in their own churches and communities, that I am realizing the importance of building relationships for the good of the Diocese and the good of their bishop.
The relationships a bishop must create and nurture must grow beyond that “inner circle” and the congregations within the diocese itself. Over the past year, collaborating with your own Bishop Geoff, Ryan Turnbull, other Rupert’s Land folks, and members of the Lutheran MNO Synod, I am just beginning to appreciate the truth that we are all called to be followers of Jesus together. The Diocese of Brandon is intentionally trying to grow in relationship with your Diocese of Rupert’s Land and the MNO Synod because these new relationships are lifegiving. It is in forming and nurturing these connections that I, as a bishop, find support, encouragement, mentors, inspiration, and most importantly, more people in whom to see Jesus. As you move toward the 31st of May and the beginning of a new and divinely inspired relationship with your new bishop, I encourage you to help them build relationships with you, with all your congregations, and with all your partners in ministry. Remember that relationship building is a two-way street. You can’t expect your new bishop to do all the work while you sit back and “wait and see what they will do.” Nope, you need to bake those brownies, reach out to your new bishop, and honestly offer your assistance to them as they begin a whole new aspect of their vocation. If I have learned nothing else this past year of new episcopal ministry, it is this: everything is about relationships. Relationships with Jesus, with His Church, with congregations, with individuals, and with myself as I continue to learn what it is to be a bishop. Be patient. Pray ceaselessly. Be humble. Expect the same.
