Oversight

St. Augustine of Canterbury Anglican Church

Bishop Peter F. Hansen

Sermon for the Feast of St. Matthew, September 21, 2025

Oversight

“Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls..” ^{1 Peter 2:24-25}

THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER has three anniversaries for me that all rocked my world. September 11^th, not 2001 but 1983, I was made a deacon in Oakland. Two years later, on the 28^th, I was ordained a priest, in Sacramento, 40 years ago next Sunday. Then a long time later, on St. Matthew’s Day 2017, was I consecrated a bishop of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church with now Archbishop Blair Schultz, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That was 8 years ago today. What have I learned by these landmark dates? What do these three offices do?

The deacon is a servant, and quite literally steps down from the honorable position of layman. He is no longer his own man. He loses his vote in Synod. He serves under other clergy, for the church and its members, and may not absolve, bless or consecrate. Much like being an Army private, no longer a civilian, the deacon takes orders and it’s not his to question why? As bishop I have ordained several deacons and I always warn them about ‘deaconitis’, the tendency to rage against the hierarchy for being so darned slow to recognize his talents and abilities. When he gets over it, he may qualify for the higher calling of priest.

The priest offers his life to God, and he offers the sacrifices of the people to God. In Old Testament days, that meant killing animals, but today we offer bread and wine, lesser oblations, to obtain the blessing of those far more powerful elements of Christ’s Body and Blood, and along with regular preaching, teaching, and administering his local congregation makes any diocese only as great as the quality of its priests. Another bishop once told me that parish priest is the good job in this outfit. Don’t seek to become a bishop – the headaches begin in a mitre.

Bishop, the episcopate, stems from a Greek word meaning Overseer. We have the oversight of several churches that geographically make up a diocese. As St. Paul wrote, “besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?” ^{2 Cor 11:28-29} We bishops have had to save a few churches from bad men at the helms, assemble lists of rescue clergy to serve in sudden absences, answer angry laymen who seek to disrupt the peace of happy parishes, and answer accusations from within and without. You don’t ever hear of these because it doesn’t affect you. But for the most part, my trips out on Southwest Airlines have been to ordain and plant good men into healthy churches, and the results have been good.

Oversight is the key to this office. Since I’ve had this mitre to wear, I’ve had three successive archbishops, but one bishop ordinary, meaning I have a boss in the diocese, Bishop Donald Ashman, and I as his coadjutor help him to run our huge territory, overseeing the Southwest.

Oversight is one of those strange words that mean one thing, and also mean the opposite, depending on how you read it. You may watch carefully over a person, or ignore his existence: both as an oversight. Other words that are called contronyms include to cleave, to sanction, and to ravel. Websters says that a bishop has spiritual or ecclesiastical supervision over others, particularly in Anglican, Orthodox or Roman churches. Being priests already, to us is added the right to ordain, confirm, and to govern a diocese.

The spiritual gifts of the bishop, I have noticed, include tenderizing us for others. That doesn’t always settle in, but with the wider scope of ministry than my one parish, I need to widen my heart of caring to include people I don’t know well. I also need to protect the sheep and under-shepherds in my constituent churches, for wolves do prowl, and do steal, kill and destroy churches. On a chessboard, a bishop may move diagonally as far as he can, a lot like my Southwest Air diocese takes me. And the office of the bishop is conferred on older men, thus a staff or crozier is carried to lean on. Mine was authorized and ordered but will only get in this week. Perhaps we will bless it here next Sunday?

It’s St. Matthew’s Day. The first book we find in our New Testament is called the Holy Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, according to St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. First in order, St. Matthew writes his Gospel account particularly addressing his countrymen of Israel, who have long waited for the Son of God, the Messiah, fulfilling the many prophecies and setting the people free. It is his pleasure to cite the many fulfilments by Jesus of the signs of the Lord’s coming, but with a greater excitement that this arrival was not for the Jews alone, but for all mankind and for all time.

Matthew enters the story while tending his trade, which was to sit at a table in town to collect the people’s taxes paid to the Roman legions garrisoned around Judea and Galilee. The Jews deeply hated their presence, and foul paganism. One might appreciate the Pax Romana, a strong government that defended its member states. They did not. And they hated any fellow Jew who would work for them. Matthew, also called Levi, was hated and called publican. Jesus, knowing all this, and seeing the man’s heart, preached nearby Matthew’s table about the Kingdom of heaven, and then He walked straight over to the publican. Two words only were spoken and the man’s life was undone. Follow me. 

Jesus is speaking close to your life this morning. You may feel fully disqualified, socially awkward, rejected and isolated. You’re stuck and no one sees you. In fact, when they walk by you, they overlook you, on purpose. But something unusual is happening. The man whose powerful teaching stirred something new in your heart moments ago now takes very definite steps in your direction. Now He stands before you. He is not overlooking you but sees you clearly and His full focus is centered upon your face. His expression is joyful, hopeful, expectant, light and maybe just a little amused. Your job, the record keeping, the disdain you feel by both your bosses and the public all seem pretty trivial somehow at this juncture. ‘What am I hanging onto these painful ways for?’ you ask yourself. He speaks two words only, but He speaks them to you.

Follow me.

With that short sermon, your life now means something. You have been chosen, and you will add great value to your life by serving this man, and with Him serving the nation, perhaps the world. You’ve never felt so sure in all your life. This is your moment, your day. There is no hesitation. You turn the table over to an assistant, and you get up and seek out where Jesus has walked next. You’re by His side now. You’ve been seen, not overlooked, at last.

You’ve returned to the shepherd and bishop of your soul who shows you personally that He wants you.

+PFH