Every so often, someone who knows me reasonably well – as opposed to extremely well – will either ask me if I want to be, or suggest that I will end up being, a bishop. The trouble comes when they don’t take my denials at face value and think I’m coming on all Heseltiney, but I really don’t think it’s an attractive job, and I don’t feel any particular vocational call in that direction (for which I am most grateful, thanks boss). I am an ambitious person, but my ambitions lie in different directions, partly all the material associated with my book, partly in (and this is my real deep dark secret) a desire to one day run a theological college and train priests for the ministry. The sort of priests I most admire tend to be like John Keble who turned down a Bishopric (and whose feast we celebrate today – which partly provoked this post) and David Hope who gave up being an Archbishop in order to return to parish ministry.

However….

Having said all that, I do occasionally see things that make me question my certainty on the topic – and this post from Nick Baines is one such. Perhaps being a Bishop is not the muzzle that I perceive it to be!!