It is being widely repeated that the church is misogynistic to deny women access to the “top” posts. Let us accept the charge of misogyny, but the rhetoric about “top” posts must be challenged. Any woman (or man for that matter) who might become a bishop is first and foremost a deacon (which means a servant). Church hierarchy is not a parallel of the world’s hierarchies. There is no “career progression” in the church.

I hereby submit that a far better word than “hierarchy” would be “lowerarchy”. Jesus tells us that whoever wants to be first in the kingdom must be the servant of all. Bishops do not occupy the top jobs, they occupy the bottom jobs. Just look at the vituperative invective levelled at ++Rowan, or the pressure on +Justin – I would not wish the “highest” post of archbishop on my worst enemy. We do not have a “glass ceiling”, we have a glass floor. And this betrays the true problem with barring women from the episcopate: that the church and the world are robbed of their service (which is destructive) and that their calling is frustrated (which is very painful).

This is a message the world desperately needs to hear. It is one of the linchpins of the Christian message: it is found across the New Testament, from Jesus and his first/last sayings, to Paul and his brilliant hymn about Jesus emptying himself in Philippians 2. This is a message the world needs to hear because it is so obsessed with success – and so plagued by failure. This is a message which would transform our economy (which we now know to be desperately broken). This is a message which would heal the deep, deep pain in Israel/Palestine.

For too long, the church has fallen into the same trap as the world. For too long we’ve been obsessed with status. For too long we’ve spoken of “senior” posts. For too long, we’ve insisted that Father knows best.

In Durham Diocese, where I serve, we have a visual metaphor which captures what I’m trying to say. The bishop’s seat in the Cathedral sits on a platform some four metres above floor level. At one point this was the highest bishop’s chair in all Christendom – a sign for all to see of the vainglory of the Prince Bishops. These days, on Maundy Thursday the bishop kneels to wash feet below the foot of his seat – humbling himself below all. This is the message the world needs to hear.

But how? Well, currently the church has the interest of the media – let us use it. When asked about the glass ceiling, let us respond by saying it’s far worse than that. That women are not desiring to be bishops because they want success but because they want to serve. That, in fact, even presently men do not seek this post – it seeks them. And let us point out that the world might learn something from the servant hearts of the women who are already “senior” in the church. Let us be clear that we don’t have a political challenge on our hands, so much as one of mission. And let us speak, always, of Jesus, the servant king.