Augustana Lutheran Church of Hyde Park

This weekend, the Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the ELCA gathers in assembly to elect a new bishop. It’s worth remembering how old, and how humble, that word really is.

“Bishop” comes from the Greek episkopos — “overseer.” In the earliest church it wasn’t a grand office at all; congregations were led by a circle of elders sharing the work. Only gradually, by around the year 110, do we hear of a single bishop for a community — and even then, in the letters of Ignatius of Antioch, the role is less about authority than about holding the church together. For Ignatius, the bishop was a living sign of unity, gathered with the people around one table, one faith. “Where the bishop is, there let the people be,” he wrote, “just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Church.”

So as we pray for those discerning this call, we’re praying for a sign of our unity in Christ, a shepherd.

The quote from Ignatius of Antioch is from chapter 8 of his epistle to the church in Smyrna. You can read the entire letter here. Ignatius was born about thirty years after Jesus’ execution and was taught by the Apostle John – he is one of those we call an Apostolic Father, in that he was taught by John, who was taught by Jesus.