Page:Book of common prayer (TEC, 1979).pdf/514

 Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, you have heard testimony given that N.N. has been duly and lawfully elected to be a bishop of the Church of God to serve in the Diocese of N. You have been assured of his suitability and that the Church has approved him for this sacred responsibility. Nevertheless, if any of you know any reason why we should not proceed,  let it now be made known.

Is it your will that we ordain N. a bishop?

That is our will.

Will you uphold N. as bishop?

We will.

The Scriptures tell us that our Savior Christ spent the whole night in prayer before he chose and sent forth his twelve  apostles. Likewise, the apostles prayed before they appointed Matthias to be one of their number. Let us, therefore, follow their examples, and offer our prayers to Almighty God before  we ordain N. for the work to which we trust the Holy Spirit has called him.