Later this month, we will gather to choose your next Bishop of the Diocese of Rupert’s Land. (I say “we” because I will be joining you as a prayer partner and observer for the Synod.) At that time, we will be recognizing and acknowledging the priest whom God has known would be a bishop from before they were in their mother’s womb. All the nominees have been preparing for this day throughout their entire vocations. They have faithfully been adorning themselves, with the Spirit’s guidance, in the vestments of Christian leadership for the roles they have been fulfilling and those yet to come.
While only one of the nominees will be selected, each of these priests has been gently — and not so gently — preparing for this crossroads of ministry for a very long time. They have ministered to their people. They have prayed through celebrations and grief. They have laughed with joy, cried out in sorrow, and quite possibly the most telling task — they have had to face off against spiritual enemies in their pursuit of preaching and living the Gospel Truth.
As a bishop, I can attest to the many times in my own ministry as deacon, priest, and bishop when I have felt the weight of responsibility of being the “David” up against the “Goliath.” So often I have been forced to my knees, begging God to clothe me better than David was, that I may be able to withstand what is surely coming. The answer is invariably, “you are already clothed as you need. Have faith.” In that faith, I have always found that the whole armour of God has been given to me as is needed. That armour is not something I can slide down to the local clothing store and purchase. It isn’t even something I can look online for a Christian supply store to have delivered. Indeed, it is right before me – in my own prayer closet.
There is a great irony in the truth that the most powerful vestments (or clothing) that we can wear as Christians are not the most expensive, best-stitched, enduring coverings we have in our closets. The most powerful vestments we have are those in which we are vested in our Baptisms. Through that initiating sacrament, we are washed clean of all the old “skins,” and we are given a new “skin” within which we carry every single gift of God which we will need along our own particular journey. As we are anointed and marked with the sign of the cross, sealed as Christ’s own forever, we are garmented in the whole armour of God once and for all.
It would be lovely if we could honestly say that we wear the entire armour of God all the time. However, we just don’t. We get distracted. Sometimes it’s just too cumbersome. Other times, they feel unnecessary. (Beware those times!) Truth be told, most days we treat like a hot summer day. We only don the bare minimum and hope for clear skies. We have those seasons in our lives when we treat our faith, and the tools (vestments) God provides us more like seasonal clothing. When the summer and good times approach, we hang the heavier, more cumbersome things in the closet until winter. When the air chills off and we can feel the temperature plummeting, we pack up the lighter things and drag out the heavy. The same can be said in our spiritual lives. Times are good? Prayer and study might get set aside just a little bit. Times get tough? We hit our knees and get serious. The key is that the clothing we need – that whole armour of God – has always been right there, within reach. The question is, do we remember to reach for it?
During this month of May, we are all preparing for our “summer” closets. We are choosing what to keep close at hand and what can be tucked in the back for a while. Unlike the weather patterns of Manitoba that make the “summer closet” a questionable endeavour, as Christians, we should never tuck those vestments we received at baptism away. Quite to the contrary, they should be the garments we dress in every single day. They may seem cumbersome at first, but soon we will begin to recognize them as a second skin. We will become so accustomed to their protection, truth, wisdom, courage, and strengthening of faith that we won’t know how to live without them. And when that realization kicks in, then we will know that we are ready, willing, and able to face whatever “Goliaths” may cross our path.
Your whole armour of God is a gift that is not only for you, though. Yes, it has the benefit of guarding and protecting you, but it is also provided to you that you may protect and guard others. Who, you may ask, are you currently tasked with protecting and guarding? The nominees for your Episcopal election!
There are seasons in all our lives when the adversary will come calling. We don’t often speak of such things in the Anglican Church, but it is to our peril that we don’t. Why else would God go to such lengths to provide us with the whole armour of God’s self were it not that we would find ourselves in need of defense from an adversary? We know from experience that we all have those seasons of doubt, confusion, and even outright attack when we fall on our knees calling for God’s mercy and protection.
You are all called, in this season, to wear the whole armour of God on behalf of each of those priests who are discerning, and being discerned, whether they are called to become a bishop, and hence a frontline soldier in a world in which the adversary is well at work. It is a known fact that as we open ourselves the most to hear God’s word and feel God’s call, we become even more vulnerable to the attacks of our enemies. Each of your nominees has laid bare their souls in a sincere desire to serve their Lord. They have been called to lay down their personal armour that they might be truly seen and known by all of you, that you might be best able to discern God’s will about them. In doing so, they have made themselves so very vulnerable, and they have entrusted you with the responsibility of surrounding them in prayer and presence with your armour of God. That is your role in the days and weeks ahead.
On May 31st, you will pray together knowing you are protected by the whole armour of God, and you will corporately, with each of the nominees, become very vulnerable in God’s presence. You will be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit. When the day is over and God has called the name of your Bishop-Elect, in their hearts they will reply, “Here I am, Lord. Send me.” And when that has been done, they will understand that the armour which has been protecting them will shift. They will become armour-bearers whose role will be to protect all of you, with God’s help. As bishop, they will discover that there is no summer or winter closet. They will indeed feel the weight of that new armour, but it will not be a hindrance. It will be a privilege as well as a responsibility.
As the days leading up to your Episcopal election pass by, become aware of the whole armour of God which adorns you. Throw open your arms that you might better protect these servants of God who are placing themselves within you with a great deal of necessary vulnerability. Grant them the gift of knowing that those whom they might soon lead and protect are, in this moment, willing to protect them. Adorn yourselves in the whole armour of God and serve as you are all called to serve. And may God bless you all.
