March 14, 2025 • 20 mins
To grow up in Christ will make you maladjusted to the world. St. Paul was a Roman citizen - the platinum standard for the age. Yet, in Paul's letter to the Philippians, he reminds us that we are citizens of heaven living on earth. What are the costs of this heavenly citizenship? As we grow up in Jesus, we get a glimpse of how we have adjusted ourselves to a world in open opposition to truth, peace, love and justice.
In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about becoming maladjusted to the world as it is. To become maladjusted, Bishop Wright outlines three essential movements in spiritual formation: the upward reach to God, the inward alignment with God's will, and the outward push toward the world God loves. When we neglect any of these dimensions, our relationship with God becomes deficient. Listen in for the full conversation.
This episode is based on part 2 of Bishop Wright's 5-part Lenten series "Growing Up in Christ!". Learn more about this year's series, watch the weekly videos, and download the reflection guides here.
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Bishop Wright (00:00):
I have to decide that my life is bigger than just
me and I have to decide thatGod wants more than just my
personal relationship with God.
Right, that's a start, but anyreal relationship with God will
find you positioned in yourdevotional life beyond yourself.
I mean.
I always say there's the upwardreach to God, there's the
(00:22):
inward alignment with God andthere's the outward push toward
the world that God loves.
Melissa (00:40):
Welcome to For People.
With Bishop Rob Wright, I'mMelissa Rau and, over the course
of this season of Lent, bishopand I will be having a
conversation based on Growing Upin Christ, a Lenten curriculum
and video series produced by theEpiscopal Diocese of Atlanta.
You can access the videos andaccompanying material at
wwwepiscopalatlanta.
org.
(01:02):
These resources are perfect foryour individual Lenten devotion
or small group study.
Hey, hey, bishop.
Bishop Wright (01:10):
Hey, hey.
Melissa (01:11):
So this week's devotion you called Maladjusted.
Bishop Wright (01:16):
Yeah.
Melissa (01:16):
And it is based off of the citizenship that Paul speaks
about in Philippians.
Bishop Wright (01:23):
Right.
Melissa (01:24):
Yeah, so do you want to just give us a broad overview
about your understanding of whatthe word citizen of the kingdom
of heaven looks like?
Bishop Wright (01:36):
Well, I'll leave.
I'll point to Paul.
Paul was a Roman citizen.
You know, roman citizenshipback in the day was the platinum
standard.
It wasn't even the goldstandard.
It came with protections andprivileges and certainly in the
then world it was an importantdistinction, it was premium.
(02:00):
Here's Paul, you know, lookingout his window and living his
life and thinking aboutcitizenship, and then he begins
to write right, and so he writesbut our citizenship is in
heaven, of course.
So there's the overview.
So I want to know what Paulthinks about citizenship.
And so you know, and I will,you know spoiler alert the end
(02:20):
of this is that our citizenshiphere and now is downstream of
our citizenship which is inheaven, and heaven not meaning
the by and by, but how we liveout heaven, sort of right now.
And so I like that.
Paul is thinking about the PaxRomana, the peace of Rome, and
(02:42):
he's thinking about the peace ofChrist, and he's saying, you
know, he's implying certainly,that the peace that we're able
to conjure up for ourselves isinferior to the peace of Christ
and that any peace that we wantto make here has got to be
informed, influenced and reallytransformed into the peace of
(03:03):
Christ to be sustainable, thePax Romana, of course, was built
on abuse and slavery andextraction from peasants, and
the peace of Christ is not, andso Paul is working on all of
that and he's trying to help us.
He's making this contrast,which should inform the way we
try to live in our citizenshipnow.
Melissa (03:26):
Okay, so being maladjusted then you would say,
or Paul would say, that to bemaladjusted for Christ would be
to not sell out to the statusquo.
Bishop Wright (03:39):
Well, yeah, I mean, I think that's one way to
come at that.
I think that when I'm thinkingabout maladjusted, I hear Dr
King in my ear who says,basically, to live as a
Christian, therefore, is to bemaladjusted to the society as it
is.
And then Dr King goes on to sayI am proud, I am maladjusted.
(04:02):
And I think that what he'strying to say there is is that I
understand the differencebetween the way the world is now
and how Jesus is calling us tolive.
Look, one of the greatest thingsthat Scripture does for us, as
it helps us to grow up intoheavenly citizenship lived out
(04:22):
on the earth now, is that ithelps us to see the gaps right.
So it's not condemnation, right, but it's loving us enough to
show us the gaps in our commonlife, because we can become
complacent and we can begin tothink that you know, you know,
(04:43):
wherever we find ourselves inthe world is the fullest
expression of democracy orequity, or justice, et cetera.
But that's not the measure ofthe scriptures.
The measure of the scripture ishelping us to see the gaps so
that we can make our union moreso.
But we have to start off withthe courage to see the gaps.
(05:06):
And so Dr King says look, Iunderstand that, you know, the
kingdom of earth is not thekingdom of heaven, and I am
willing to say that there aregaps over which we can make some
progress.
And so, until such time asthere is, you know, symmetry
(05:26):
between the kingdom of heavenand the kingdom of God, I will
live a maladjusted life.
I will acknowledge the factthat people sleeping in the
street and people deniedmedicine, and violence and
hatred and division is not whatGod has in mind, and I will, as
gently as I can, but as boldlyas I can, advocate for those
(05:51):
things that afflict the humanfamily, uh, to be overcome and
defeated.
And so I will live in thattension.
Melissa (05:59):
Yeah, and I think um you quoted, uh, being creative,
um trans like creativelytransformed for good.
Bishop Wright (06:07):
Yeah, all that's Dr King.
Melissa (06:09):
Yes, but I guess you said gaps.
Can you just name a few gapsfor us?
Bishop Wright (06:16):
Of course I can.
Of course I can.
The gaps are, you know, we saywe love our children.
We say we love our children,and yet we haven't taken up any
real, demonstrable action tocombat what kills many of our
(06:37):
children, which is gun violence.
And so it's incumbent on us tostay maladjusted to the status
quo.
Nowhere in the Bible are wetold that thoughts and prayers
are a substitute forjustice-making actions.
So that's one piece.
We live in a society that hasso much, and I love this country
(06:59):
, I serve this country, and atthe same time I love this
country enough to point out thegaps.
And so, you know, we say thatwe love our veterans, we say
that we're grateful for theirservice, and yet they have a
hell of a time getting thebenefits and the medicines and
the care they need when theycome home.
(07:21):
And that's not a Democraticproblem and that's not a
Republican problem.
That has been a consistent andpernicious problem in this
country, whether a Democrat or aRepublican has been in the
White House or has controlledthe Congress.
And so we have to livemaladjusted in that regard.
We have to say something and wehave to do something here in
(07:43):
Georgia right now.
Say something and we have to dosomething.
Here in Georgia right now, wecontinue to put men and women on
death row who have intellectualdisabilities, profound
intellectual disabilities,despite what the Supreme Court
has said Justice in Georgia weare last to begin to have the
(08:04):
conversation about exemptingpeople with demonstrated
intellectual disability from thedeath penalty, and so we have
to speak up.
If we say we believe in thedignity of every human being,
we've got to find our voices.
I mean, I could go on like thisall day and you know I'm not.
You know I don't think theBible is inviting us to be some
(08:25):
sort of religious Debbie Downers, if you will, but I think we've
got to be serious people.
I think the gospel calls us tobe serious people, and that is
to be more than just interestedin our own personal piety.
If we've had experiences of God, it ought to call us out into
the world in amazing ways.
(08:46):
We don't have to condemn otherpeople, we don't have to
disparage other people, but wecan actively, right and even, I
would say, gently andaggressively work towards a day
where these changes take place.
We celebrate the fact that, youknow, women now have the vote in
(09:07):
America.
Well, there was a time that wasnot the case.
And so thank God for the womenand their advocates and allies
who were maladjusted until sucha time that women were fully
embraced as voting members ofthis society.
I'm 61 years old.
In my lifetime as an AfricanAmerican, I have just, you know,
(09:29):
people like me have just begunto enjoy all the rights and
privileges of citizenship 1964,all the rights and privileges of
citizenship 1964, right Civilrights 1965, voting rights.
And so thank God for the menand women, black and white alike
(09:50):
, who advocated for a time whenwe lived out the words of our
Declaration of Independence andour Constitution.
So you get the gist here.
So all along there have beenmen and women who have saw the
gaps and seen it as part oftheir faithful journey with God
to close those gaps.
But they were very clear thatthey were not going to do
(10:11):
violence to their conscience byacting like everything is okay.
What I love about WalterBrueggemann, a great theologian,
a wonderful scholar, he saysthe prophets, the great prophets
of the Old Testament he'sthinking of specifically, and
later maybe even Jesus, he wouldsay is that they refuse to
(10:32):
participate in the cover-upRight.
And so I think that's what itmeans to be maladjusted.
I don't hate my country,therefore I point these things
out.
I love my country, therefore Ipoint these things out.
I love my church, therefore Ipoint out her shortcomings.
I love myself, therefore I cansit and bring myself to
(10:56):
scripture and to church andbegin to acknowledge and
recognize the ways in which Ilive out of step out of
alignment with the gospel.
Melissa (11:46):
pronouns I me and I to we, us and ours, and I was
reminded that, yeah, this workis important on the individual
and the collective level andthat Jesus never did anything by
himself and so tending to thegaps, bishop, is not an
individualized endeavor.
Bishop Wright (12:05):
One of the things that I think that we pick up
from scripture and from all thefreedom fighters in this country
from the beginning of thisnation until now, is that
because they saw the dignity inothers, they acted right and
then they found a way to acttogether.
They figured out a way toorganize with people, they
(12:27):
figured out ways to adapt, theywere resilient in the face of
setbacks.
I mean there's a whole sort ofa masterclass when it comes to
how do you stay motivated whensort of the odds are against you
.
I think what we have done iswe've sharpened individual
appetites such that it makes ithard to even think about, you
(12:50):
know, finding consensus andpurpose and mobilizing groups.
Mobilizing groups, as I've saidbefore, we could not do now
what we have done in the past interms of mobilizing churches
and faith people to get thingsdone.
I mean, think about it theMontgomery bus boycott.
People stayed off the buses forover a year until they broke
(13:10):
the back of segregated publictransportation.
I don't know that we could dothat, but there are things that
we can do and there are thingsthat are being done.
So it's just I have to decidethat my life is bigger than just
me.
I have to decide that, and Ihave to decide that God wants
more than just my personalrelationship with God.
(13:32):
Right, that's a start, but anyreal relationship with God will
find you positioned in yourdevotional life beyond yourself.
I mean, I always say there'sthe upward reach to God, there's
the inward alignment with Godand there's the outward push
toward the world that God loves,and all three of those
(13:52):
movements are part and parcel ofa relationship, a thriving
relationship with God.
The absence of one of those isa deficiency in the relationship
with God.
Right, and so all three are therelationship with God that
actually make not only me betterand more aligned, but also make
the world better.
Melissa (14:12):
Okay, so then how do communities do maladjustment
better together?
Bishop Wright (14:19):
Yeah.
So we have a congregation herein Atlanta that has decided
gently that we're wrong recentlyon how we understand
immigration and how weunderstand our neighbors who
have to flee countries forsafety.
(14:41):
And they have decided legally,they have decided that they're
going to be a congregationthat's going to support refugees
.
And so they have dug downdeeply financially and found
friends who want to makecontributions for them to
support immigrants.
So where the federal aid hasdried up, the Christian aid is
(15:04):
now overflowing so that they cansupport these families.
You know Will Willimon, anothergreat theologian who's been on
this podcast.
He said before you know, theimmigration crisis is really no
crisis at all.
The biblical solution to thatis to baptize people and bring
them into your homes, and sothat's where the bar is for us.
(15:29):
And so if we're going to staymaladjusted to the way things
seem to be going hostilitytoward immigrants, etc.
Now I'm not talking aboutdemonstrated dangerous criminals
, I'm not saying that there's aline to draw here, but I'm
talking about other folks.
If we decide that, as the Biblehas said, that we are to care
(15:49):
for the stranger, that we are tocare for the immigrant, if you
believe that, then that's goingto put you in a maladjusted
position to the way things arebeing sort of spoken about now,
and so then the question is whatto do.
And this congregation hasdecided that we are going to
make you family, and so theyhave welcomed two families now,
(16:11):
and it exceeded the minister'sexpectations.
She had thought that they woulddo one family and that was a
good thing.
But the people of God in thatcongregation said, oh no, we
want to do more.
And they have dug down deeplyfinancially and they just have
all my praise and all my support.
But they're not railing againstany particular political figure
(16:33):
.
It's not about that.
It's about they have decidedthat we are maladjusted to these
executive orders and to thistone in the country, and we see
the dignity in people and we'regoing to help, and I think
that's the way we do it.
There are pastoral what we callpastoral responses to any
(16:55):
political misadventures that wemight want to quote, and I think
that's where the people havegot.
Look, here's a greatopportunity in God's economy.
If you hate the way things aregoing right now, do something
different, right?
I think the imagination, we'reonly limited by our Christian
imagination, and so you know, Ithink that in God's weird kind
(17:18):
of way that, as things arebecoming hard and perhaps even
more hate-filled, some would sayit might be creating the next
generation of real, robustChristian expression.
It may be that this is thecrucible that creates the next
(17:38):
generation of real Christians.
Melissa (17:40):
So tying in last week's lesson of being settled and
then having our doing flow fromour being and then having our
doing flow from our being.
How do we make sure that we aredoing the both and work of
showing up for other and yetalso filling our own cup up
before putting the oxygen maskon another?
Bishop Wright (18:03):
Yeah, I'm not so sure that it works that way.
I mean, I understand theanalogy, I'm not so sure it
works that way.
I think, you know, out ofworship flows service, right.
If service does not flow out ofworship, one wonders if you
just don't have a religioushabit rather than worship right
To worship a living God is goingto put you next to people and
(18:24):
when you're next to people youcan see needs and it's amazing
how the heart grows right.
So I think we do both and Ithink they flow together, and so
I don't know about the middleground.
I think it's a package deal,you know.
I think you know the greatcommission I mean not the great
commission, but the greatcommandment helps us to
understand this in God's mind.
Love the Lord, your God, withall your heart, mind, soul and
(18:47):
strength.
And right.
Linking two ideas conjunctionmind, soul and strength and
right.
Linking two ideas conjunctionneighbor as self.
And so it flows.
I find that my own personalspiritual life becomes more
buoyant when I do the thingsthat I know are extensions of
worship, right, when my mind andmy behind are in line, as I
like to say.
I find that that's where my joystarts to peak, right.
(19:10):
And so you know, as onetheologian has said, we've
arrived at a moment now wherethere's no more middle ground,
where you know we can sort ofhave our cake and eat it too.
Either we sign on uncriticallyfor what he calls totalism right
Totalism he calls totalismright totalism or we take we
(19:31):
take on the task of what hecalls a dangerous oddness, and
that's all dr king is talkingabout.
I have decided that I want to becalled odd by the world.
I have decided that to followjesus.
That means that people aregoing to label me odd because
I'm going to pray for people whohate me, who want to
despitefully use me.
I are going to label me oddbecause I'm going to pray for
people who hate me, who want todespitefully use me.
(19:53):
I'm going to try, at my levelbest to love enemy, and when I
struggle loving enemy, I'm goingto ask Jesus to help me.
I'm going to try to be generousbeyond my small definitions of
generous.
I'm going to try to live thatlife, and if the world calls me
odd, that may be the indicatorthat I'm doing something right.
Melissa (20:15):
How very maladjusted of you, bishop.
Thank you, and thank you forlistening to For People.
You can follow us on Instagramand Facebook at Bishop Rob
Wright, or by visiting www.
for www.4peopledigital.
Please subscribe, leave areview and we'll be back with
you next week.
I have to decide that my life is bigger than just
me and I have to decide thatGod wants more than just my
personal relationship with God.
Right, that's a start, but anyreal relationship with God will
find you positioned in yourdevotional life beyond yourself.
I mean.
I always say there's the upwardreach to God, there's the
(00:22):
inward alignment with God andthere's the outward push toward
the world that God loves.
Melissa (00:40):
Welcome to For People.
With Bishop Rob Wright, I'mMelissa Rau and, over the course
of this season of Lent, bishopand I will be having a
conversation based on Growing Upin Christ, a Lenten curriculum
and video series produced by theEpiscopal Diocese of Atlanta.
You can access the videos andaccompanying material at
wwwepiscopalatlanta.
org.
(01:02):
These resources are perfect foryour individual Lenten devotion
or small group study.
Hey, hey, bishop.
Bishop Wright (01:10):
Hey, hey.
Melissa (01:11):
So this week's devotion you called Maladjusted.
Bishop Wright (01:16):
Yeah.
Melissa (01:16):
And it is based off of the citizenship that Paul speaks
about in Philippians.
Bishop Wright (01:23):
Right.
Melissa (01:24):
Yeah, so do you want to just give us a broad overview
about your understanding of whatthe word citizen of the kingdom
of heaven looks like?
Bishop Wright (01:36):
Well, I'll leave.
I'll point to Paul.
Paul was a Roman citizen.
You know, roman citizenshipback in the day was the platinum
standard.
It wasn't even the goldstandard.
It came with protections andprivileges and certainly in the
then world it was an importantdistinction, it was premium.
(02:00):
Here's Paul, you know, lookingout his window and living his
life and thinking aboutcitizenship, and then he begins
to write right, and so he writesbut our citizenship is in
heaven, of course.
So there's the overview.
So I want to know what Paulthinks about citizenship.
And so you know, and I will,you know spoiler alert the end
(02:20):
of this is that our citizenshiphere and now is downstream of
our citizenship which is inheaven, and heaven not meaning
the by and by, but how we liveout heaven, sort of right now.
And so I like that.
Paul is thinking about the PaxRomana, the peace of Rome, and
(02:42):
he's thinking about the peace ofChrist, and he's saying, you
know, he's implying certainly,that the peace that we're able
to conjure up for ourselves isinferior to the peace of Christ
and that any peace that we wantto make here has got to be
informed, influenced and reallytransformed into the peace of
(03:03):
Christ to be sustainable, thePax Romana, of course, was built
on abuse and slavery andextraction from peasants, and
the peace of Christ is not, andso Paul is working on all of
that and he's trying to help us.
He's making this contrast,which should inform the way we
try to live in our citizenshipnow.
Melissa (03:26):
Okay, so being maladjusted then you would say,
or Paul would say, that to bemaladjusted for Christ would be
to not sell out to the statusquo.
Bishop Wright (03:39):
Well, yeah, I mean, I think that's one way to
come at that.
I think that when I'm thinkingabout maladjusted, I hear Dr
King in my ear who says,basically, to live as a
Christian, therefore, is to bemaladjusted to the society as it
is.
And then Dr King goes on to sayI am proud, I am maladjusted.
(04:02):
And I think that what he'strying to say there is is that I
understand the differencebetween the way the world is now
and how Jesus is calling us tolive.
Look, one of the greatest thingsthat Scripture does for us, as
it helps us to grow up intoheavenly citizenship lived out
(04:22):
on the earth now, is that ithelps us to see the gaps right.
So it's not condemnation, right, but it's loving us enough to
show us the gaps in our commonlife, because we can become
complacent and we can begin tothink that you know, you know,
(04:43):
wherever we find ourselves inthe world is the fullest
expression of democracy orequity, or justice, et cetera.
But that's not the measure ofthe scriptures.
The measure of the scripture ishelping us to see the gaps so
that we can make our union moreso.
But we have to start off withthe courage to see the gaps.
(05:06):
And so Dr King says look, Iunderstand that, you know, the
kingdom of earth is not thekingdom of heaven, and I am
willing to say that there aregaps over which we can make some
progress.
And so, until such time asthere is, you know, symmetry
(05:26):
between the kingdom of heavenand the kingdom of God, I will
live a maladjusted life.
I will acknowledge the factthat people sleeping in the
street and people deniedmedicine, and violence and
hatred and division is not whatGod has in mind, and I will, as
gently as I can, but as boldlyas I can, advocate for those
(05:51):
things that afflict the humanfamily, uh, to be overcome and
defeated.
And so I will live in thattension.
Melissa (05:59):
Yeah, and I think um you quoted, uh, being creative,
um trans like creativelytransformed for good.
Bishop Wright (06:07):
Yeah, all that's Dr King.
Melissa (06:09):
Yes, but I guess you said gaps.
Can you just name a few gapsfor us?
Bishop Wright (06:16):
Of course I can.
Of course I can.
The gaps are, you know, we saywe love our children.
We say we love our children,and yet we haven't taken up any
real, demonstrable action tocombat what kills many of our
(06:37):
children, which is gun violence.
And so it's incumbent on us tostay maladjusted to the status
quo.
Nowhere in the Bible are wetold that thoughts and prayers
are a substitute forjustice-making actions.
So that's one piece.
We live in a society that hasso much, and I love this country
(06:59):
, I serve this country, and atthe same time I love this
country enough to point out thegaps.
And so, you know, we say thatwe love our veterans, we say
that we're grateful for theirservice, and yet they have a
hell of a time getting thebenefits and the medicines and
the care they need when theycome home.
(07:21):
And that's not a Democraticproblem and that's not a
Republican problem.
That has been a consistent andpernicious problem in this
country, whether a Democrat or aRepublican has been in the
White House or has controlledthe Congress.
And so we have to livemaladjusted in that regard.
We have to say something and wehave to do something here in
(07:43):
Georgia right now.
Say something and we have to dosomething.
Here in Georgia right now, wecontinue to put men and women on
death row who have intellectualdisabilities, profound
intellectual disabilities,despite what the Supreme Court
has said Justice in Georgia weare last to begin to have the
(08:04):
conversation about exemptingpeople with demonstrated
intellectual disability from thedeath penalty, and so we have
to speak up.
If we say we believe in thedignity of every human being,
we've got to find our voices.
I mean, I could go on like thisall day and you know I'm not.
You know I don't think theBible is inviting us to be some
(08:25):
sort of religious Debbie Downers, if you will, but I think we've
got to be serious people.
I think the gospel calls us tobe serious people, and that is
to be more than just interestedin our own personal piety.
If we've had experiences of God, it ought to call us out into
the world in amazing ways.
(08:46):
We don't have to condemn otherpeople, we don't have to
disparage other people, but wecan actively, right and even, I
would say, gently andaggressively work towards a day
where these changes take place.
We celebrate the fact that, youknow, women now have the vote in
(09:07):
America.
Well, there was a time that wasnot the case.
And so thank God for the womenand their advocates and allies
who were maladjusted until sucha time that women were fully
embraced as voting members ofthis society.
I'm 61 years old.
In my lifetime as an AfricanAmerican, I have just, you know,
(09:29):
people like me have just begunto enjoy all the rights and
privileges of citizenship 1964,all the rights and privileges of
citizenship 1964, right Civilrights 1965, voting rights.
And so thank God for the menand women, black and white alike
(09:50):
, who advocated for a time whenwe lived out the words of our
Declaration of Independence andour Constitution.
So you get the gist here.
So all along there have beenmen and women who have saw the
gaps and seen it as part oftheir faithful journey with God
to close those gaps.
But they were very clear thatthey were not going to do
(10:11):
violence to their conscience byacting like everything is okay.
What I love about WalterBrueggemann, a great theologian,
a wonderful scholar, he saysthe prophets, the great prophets
of the Old Testament he'sthinking of specifically, and
later maybe even Jesus, he wouldsay is that they refuse to
(10:32):
participate in the cover-upRight.
And so I think that's what itmeans to be maladjusted.
I don't hate my country,therefore I point these things
out.
I love my country, therefore Ipoint these things out.
I love my church, therefore Ipoint out her shortcomings.
I love myself, therefore I cansit and bring myself to
(10:56):
scripture and to church andbegin to acknowledge and
recognize the ways in which Ilive out of step out of
alignment with the gospel.
Melissa (11:46):
pronouns I me and I to we, us and ours, and I was
reminded that, yeah, this workis important on the individual
and the collective level andthat Jesus never did anything by
himself and so tending to thegaps, bishop, is not an
individualized endeavor.
Bishop Wright (12:05):
One of the things that I think that we pick up
from scripture and from all thefreedom fighters in this country
from the beginning of thisnation until now, is that
because they saw the dignity inothers, they acted right and
then they found a way to acttogether.
They figured out a way toorganize with people, they
(12:27):
figured out ways to adapt, theywere resilient in the face of
setbacks.
I mean there's a whole sort ofa masterclass when it comes to
how do you stay motivated whensort of the odds are against you
.
I think what we have done iswe've sharpened individual
appetites such that it makes ithard to even think about, you
(12:50):
know, finding consensus andpurpose and mobilizing groups.
Mobilizing groups, as I've saidbefore, we could not do now
what we have done in the past interms of mobilizing churches
and faith people to get thingsdone.
I mean, think about it theMontgomery bus boycott.
People stayed off the buses forover a year until they broke
(13:10):
the back of segregated publictransportation.
I don't know that we could dothat, but there are things that
we can do and there are thingsthat are being done.
So it's just I have to decidethat my life is bigger than just
me.
I have to decide that, and Ihave to decide that God wants
more than just my personalrelationship with God.
(13:32):
Right, that's a start, but anyreal relationship with God will
find you positioned in yourdevotional life beyond yourself.
I mean, I always say there'sthe upward reach to God, there's
the inward alignment with Godand there's the outward push
toward the world that God loves,and all three of those
(13:52):
movements are part and parcel ofa relationship, a thriving
relationship with God.
The absence of one of those isa deficiency in the relationship
with God.
Right, and so all three are therelationship with God that
actually make not only me betterand more aligned, but also make
the world better.
Melissa (14:12):
Okay, so then how do communities do maladjustment
better together?
Bishop Wright (14:19):
Yeah.
So we have a congregation herein Atlanta that has decided
gently that we're wrong recentlyon how we understand
immigration and how weunderstand our neighbors who
have to flee countries forsafety.
(14:41):
And they have decided legally,they have decided that they're
going to be a congregationthat's going to support refugees
.
And so they have dug downdeeply financially and found
friends who want to makecontributions for them to
support immigrants.
So where the federal aid hasdried up, the Christian aid is
(15:04):
now overflowing so that they cansupport these families.
You know Will Willimon, anothergreat theologian who's been on
this podcast.
He said before you know, theimmigration crisis is really no
crisis at all.
The biblical solution to thatis to baptize people and bring
them into your homes, and sothat's where the bar is for us.
(15:29):
And so if we're going to staymaladjusted to the way things
seem to be going hostilitytoward immigrants, etc.
Now I'm not talking aboutdemonstrated dangerous criminals
, I'm not saying that there's aline to draw here, but I'm
talking about other folks.
If we decide that, as the Biblehas said, that we are to care
(15:49):
for the stranger, that we are tocare for the immigrant, if you
believe that, then that's goingto put you in a maladjusted
position to the way things arebeing sort of spoken about now,
and so then the question is whatto do.
And this congregation hasdecided that we are going to
make you family, and so theyhave welcomed two families now,
(16:11):
and it exceeded the minister'sexpectations.
She had thought that they woulddo one family and that was a
good thing.
But the people of God in thatcongregation said, oh no, we
want to do more.
And they have dug down deeplyfinancially and they just have
all my praise and all my support.
But they're not railing againstany particular political figure
(16:33):
.
It's not about that.
It's about they have decidedthat we are maladjusted to these
executive orders and to thistone in the country, and we see
the dignity in people and we'regoing to help, and I think
that's the way we do it.
There are pastoral what we callpastoral responses to any
(16:55):
political misadventures that wemight want to quote, and I think
that's where the people havegot.
Look, here's a greatopportunity in God's economy.
If you hate the way things aregoing right now, do something
different, right?
I think the imagination, we'reonly limited by our Christian
imagination, and so you know, Ithink that in God's weird kind
(17:18):
of way that, as things arebecoming hard and perhaps even
more hate-filled, some would sayit might be creating the next
generation of real, robustChristian expression.
It may be that this is thecrucible that creates the next
(17:38):
generation of real Christians.
Melissa (17:40):
So tying in last week's lesson of being settled and
then having our doing flow fromour being and then having our
doing flow from our being.
How do we make sure that we aredoing the both and work of
showing up for other and yetalso filling our own cup up
before putting the oxygen maskon another?
Bishop Wright (18:03):
Yeah, I'm not so sure that it works that way.
I mean, I understand theanalogy, I'm not so sure it
works that way.
I think, you know, out ofworship flows service, right.
If service does not flow out ofworship, one wonders if you
just don't have a religioushabit rather than worship right
To worship a living God is goingto put you next to people and
(18:24):
when you're next to people youcan see needs and it's amazing
how the heart grows right.
So I think we do both and Ithink they flow together, and so
I don't know about the middleground.
I think it's a package deal,you know.
I think you know the greatcommission I mean not the great
commission, but the greatcommandment helps us to
understand this in God's mind.
Love the Lord, your God, withall your heart, mind, soul and
(18:47):
strength.
And right.
Linking two ideas conjunctionmind, soul and strength and
right.
Linking two ideas conjunctionneighbor as self.
And so it flows.
I find that my own personalspiritual life becomes more
buoyant when I do the thingsthat I know are extensions of
worship, right, when my mind andmy behind are in line, as I
like to say.
I find that that's where my joystarts to peak, right.
(19:10):
And so you know, as onetheologian has said, we've
arrived at a moment now wherethere's no more middle ground,
where you know we can sort ofhave our cake and eat it too.
Either we sign on uncriticallyfor what he calls totalism right
Totalism he calls totalismright totalism or we take we
(19:31):
take on the task of what hecalls a dangerous oddness, and
that's all dr king is talkingabout.
I have decided that I want to becalled odd by the world.
I have decided that to followjesus.
That means that people aregoing to label me odd because
I'm going to pray for people whohate me, who want to
despitefully use me.
I are going to label me oddbecause I'm going to pray for
people who hate me, who want todespitefully use me.
(19:53):
I'm going to try, at my levelbest to love enemy, and when I
struggle loving enemy, I'm goingto ask Jesus to help me.
I'm going to try to be generousbeyond my small definitions of
generous.
I'm going to try to live thatlife, and if the world calls me
odd, that may be the indicatorthat I'm doing something right.
Melissa (20:15):
How very maladjusted of you, bishop.
Thank you, and thank you forlistening to For People.
You can follow us on Instagramand Facebook at Bishop Rob
Wright, or by visiting www.
for www.4peopledigital.
Please subscribe, leave areview and we'll be back with
you next week.
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