5 March 2025
This Lent we will have two visitations of the Bishop. On Friday, March 14, Bishop Fitzpatrick will be at St. Mark’s to ordain two deacons who will eventually be ordained priests. The mass is at 11:00 am, and one of the ordinands is Erin Richardson Severin. Erin went through discernment at St. Mark’s, and she is in her final year of seminary studies at the School of Theology at Sewanee. All are most welcome to attend the mass.
It is fitting that the ordination is occurring on an Ember Day. Ember Days happen four times a year - the week after Ash Wednesday, the week of the Day of Pentecost, the week after Holy Cross Day (September 14), and the week after St. Lucy Day (December 13). Each of these sets of Ember Days mark a change in the seasons, and historically they have been days of fasting. Ember Days always fall on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday within the aforementioned weeks. The current practice of the Episcopal Church is that Ember Days are set aside to pray for the ministries of the church. Seminarians must write their bishops on these days, giving updates about their formation and studies. See page 256 in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer for the Ember Day Collects, and view page 929 for the scripture readings for the Eucharist.
Bishop Bob will also be with us for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, April 6. In our diocese, it is customary that the bishop visits every church once every two years on a Sunday, although because we are a small diocese, we typically have access to the bishop for liturgical celebrations every year. If you desire to be confirmed or received at the High Mass, please let me know.
I frequently refer to the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral when preaching and teaching. (See the historical documents section in the Prayer Book beginning on page 876 for reference.) The Quadrilateral outlines the four distinguishing marks of the Church for the restoration of unity among all Christians. In a nutshell they are: 1.) the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments; 2.) the Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith; 3.) the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as ordained by Christ; 4.) and the Historic Episcopate. When all four are flourishing, the Church of Jesus Christ is alive and well.
When the Bishop comes to St. Mark’s for his visitation, we receive the ministry of the Church that has been handed down faithfully from the beginning through Jesus Christ and his Holy Apostles - through the Historic Episcopate. Because bishops ordain priests, and because bishops and priests administer the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, every Christian becomes a part of the family tree that is rooted in Jesus Christ and his Apostles. This is the most excellent genealogy that exists.
The four markers of the Quadrilateral distinguish a truly vibrant Christianity. Such a system will not allow us to idolize Scripture, and such a system will not allow us to become prayer book fundamentalists. Moving us beyond the surface meaning of texts, we are pointed to a living tradition of faith that has been received throughout the ages by the Christian community. We have the teaching ministry of bishops shepherding the way, and we have the affirmations of the Nicene Creed bestowing true doctrine. We have the Scriptures pointing us to the Living Word, and we have the Prayer Book, rooted in the ancient worship of the Church, forming us to be a Sacramental People. All four of these blessings weave a symphony for the thriving of the Church, and all four are crucial if the Church is to be one as our Lord Jesus prayed.
The word for bishop is episcopus in Latin and episkopus in Greek. Even though we are the Episcopal Church, sometimes Episcopalians lack an awareness of the Historic Episcopate. Nevertheless, this ministry handed down through the ages, originating from Jesus Christ and his Apostles, is a vital charism of our identity. It is a ministry that continues to develop and flourish in modern times through the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, as the full diversity of humanity is further welcomed into this unique expression of Christ’s ministry within the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
Father Paul Lillie +
