Judges 5:1–2 (ESV): 5 Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day:

2  “That the leaders took the lead in Israel,

that the people offered themselves willingly,
bless the Lord!

Verses mean what they mean in their literary, historical, and spiritual contexts, in this case the rout of Jabin the king of Canaan and Sisera, the commander of his army, under the onslaught of the people of Zebulun and Naphtali led by Deborah and Barak. The leaders — these two Judges and Jael, the tent-dwelling wife of Heber the Kenite — took the lead, the people offered themselves willingly, and God blessed this rightly ordered schema for the deliverance of his people. That it was so, bless the Lord!

But such verses also mean what they mean in social and current contexts, as well. Even as I read this verse in Morning Prayer (22 June 2024) the College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) was meeting in conclave to elect the next Archbishop for the Province. By the time this is posted, the decision may have been made. No matter: the principle holds beyond the conclave. The leaders — the bishops — are leading in the Province. Now it falls to the people — clergy and lay — to offer themselves willingly first to the Lord, but also to their ecclesiastical leadership, to accept the decision made or to be made as from God, and to acknowledge that God can work through the decision even if it was made wrongly.

Hebrews 13:17 (ESV): 17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

I suspect there will be much parsing of the College of Bishops’ vote, a reading of the tea leaves to see what it portends for the future and direction of the ACNA. This is all beyond me, at a rarefied stratum of knowledge. I trust — What faithful option do I have? — that the bishops are keeping watch over our souls, as those who will have to give account, and that that responsibility weighs so heavily upon them that they are diligent in discerning the will of the Lord. They should and must lead. Then, as a priest and as part of the people of God, I should offer myself willingly to serve where and as God has called me.

Judges 5:1–2 (ESV): 5 Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day:

2  “That the leaders took the lead in Israel,

that the people offered themselves willingly,
bless the Lord!