January 24, 2025 • 20 mins
Tick-Tock... Not the app some of us spend time on! Tick-tock used to refer to the passing of time marked by a second hand on a watch or clock. When Matthew tells his story of Jesus, he often uses a word that points to the rapid elapse of time, “immediately.” “Immediately,” James and John left their family’s fishing business and joined Jesus in his friend making campaign.
In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about the art of time management against the backdrop of faith and life pressures. They discuss the necessity of balancing active faith with self-care to prevent burnout while reclaiming time for meaningful reflection and spiritual growth. Countercultural practices such as observing a Sabbath emerge as pivotal in this conversation as Bishop Wright encourages listeners to live with intention as a means of spiritual growth. Listen in for the full conversation.
Read For Faith, the companion devotional.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bishop Wright (00:00):
When we don't embrace Jesus's way forward.
We're wasting time, this mostprecious thing.
When we do that as we do, itactually costs us time and peace
and joy that can never bereplaced, and so on those things
that are difficult for us.
My invitation is let's notwaste any more time.
(00:21):
I think this is one of thegreatest things is that to bring
intention, maybe to 2025 inways that we've not brought
intention previously.
Melissa (00:40):
Welcome to For People with Bishop Rob Wright.
I'm Melissa Rau and this is aconversation inspired by For
Faith, a weekly devotion sentout every Friday.
You can find a link to thisweek's devotion and a link to
subscribe in the episode'sdescription.
Good morning, bishop.
Bishop Wright (00:55):
Morning, good morning.
Melissa (00:57):
This week's devotion.
You named TikTok and reallyyou're highlighting the
importance of the wordimmediately in the story of when
Jesus recruits his firstdisciples after John the Baptist
had been arrested.
Yes, that James and Johnimmediately dropped everything
(01:19):
that they were doing to followJesus.
Bishop Wright (01:21):
Right, that's what Matthew said.
Melissa (01:23):
Yeah, right, and so I see what you're doing there.
Bishop, you want to say moreabout the timing of things?
Bishop Wright (01:31):
Sure.
Well, you know I listen, likelots of people.
I listen to lots of other folkswho are writing and thinking
about things right now, andright now you know there's a lot
of conversation about you knowthe social media app, tiktok
right, and you know, being agentleman of a certain age, I
(01:55):
remember when TikTok used torefer to you know the second
hand on, you know a watch or aclock, you know the literal
TikTok right.
And so I'm always just sort oflooking for something creative
to catch somebody's attentionand have them look again at
scriptures.
And so when Matthew tells hisstory, one of the signature sort
(02:16):
of words of Matthew is, as hewrites, immediately.
And so that's all that's aboutis just trying to get people's
attention to having to lookingat something differently,
putting a different emphasis ondifferent words that might
invite us to think about faithand Jesus and our own life with
Christ differently.
(02:40):
Jesus is walking down the beachand he invites James and John to
follow him, to become fishersof people, recruiters of others
to join Jesus' friend-makingcampaign, and they did it
immediately.
That's pretty striking for me,knowing a little bit about
(03:01):
church and how people sit andthink, and it takes people a
while sometimes to come to faith.
I'm just struck that it wassomething in Jesus's invitation,
maybe it was something in Jamesand John's life at the time,
that made them really open toleaving.
They left their family business, they left their dad, as it
(03:22):
says, and joined Jesus on hisyou know, in this enterprise, in
his purpose and in his truth,and that's just really striking
for me.
Melissa (03:32):
You know, when I read TikTok, of course I figured you
were referring or making aparallel to the TikTok thing.
But, I also got the imagery ofPeter Pan and the, you know, the
crocodile and the TikTok,tiktok.
Bishop Wright (03:45):
Yeah right, exactly, look at that.
Melissa (03:48):
Well, it just hit me.
You know it's about childrenand adults who are wasting their
time, Like children are seizingtheir opportunity in Peter Pan
to be more of who they are, andyou've got the old dude who is
almost like wasting his time.
I'm just saying right.
So I don't know.
(04:08):
This imagery of Peter Pan cameto mind and it's like all right,
what are we doing here, Bishop?
We just had an incredible thinghappen.
We had the inauguration ofPresident Donald Trump, yes, and
the next day he had a serviceat the National Cathedral, of
which it's actually an EpiscopalCathedral.
Bishop Wright (04:28):
That's right.
Melissa (04:29):
And the Right Reverend, Mariann Edgar Buddy, is the
Bishop of Washington and thegreater metropolitan DC area and
there's a lot of controversyright now because of how she
addressed the president from thepulpit in a pleading sort of
way, and some folks are justthinking it was just horrible
(04:49):
that she disrespected him, andothers are saying she seized her
opportunity to address the mostpowerful man in the world and
implored him to be merciful.
Where do you stand on thematter?
Bishop Wright (05:04):
So that is a good and a timely question.
Yeah, I think half of thepeople who heard Bishop Budde's
plea from the pulpit to thepresident and the congregation
thought it was exactly the rightthing to do and half of folks
thought it was perhaps an abuse,perhaps some sort of liberal
talking points woke and allthose kinds of words.
(05:25):
I tell you what we've done inthe Diocese of Atlanta.
You know, we just recently hada Dr.
King holiday and Dr.
King really, if you look at hiswork, he neither excoriates or
idolizes presidents but seems tosee them as partners for the
advance of the work.
I think that tends to be.
My strategy is that I want tomake sure that I leave space
(05:48):
with all kinds of folks so thatwe can have conversation and
maybe I can even come alongsidethem and exert some influence,
gospel influence.
I've learned that fromAmbassador Andrew Young most
profoundly.
But you know, I would say youwould say my sort of
understanding of sermons is thatthey're for the entire group
(06:09):
and I think that we can make ourpleas, which I think are
entirely appropriate.
We can make our pleas for mercy, we can talk about those in our
care who are experiencing fear,et cetera, et cetera, without
an individual conversation withone person in the midst of an
entire congregation.
And so again, I take my cuesfrom Dr.
(06:31):
King and people like AmbassadorYoung and even Desmond Tutu who
, whenever they mounted thepulpit, were always working on
the system.
I know Bishop Budde.
I know her to be a faithful andgood leader.
I've had dinner at her house.
I know her to be a faithful andgood leader.
I've had dinner at her house.
I know her husband, paul.
I think that this was hersincerely trying to care for
(06:51):
folks.
But immediately is what we'retalking about, and immediately
has to do with appreciating time.
And I'm now a gentleman of acertain age.
Looking back, we talk aboutwasting time and killing time
and all those kinds of things,and then it suddenly dawns on us
(07:13):
in life that the most preciousthing that there absolutely is
is time.
You know, the point I make inthe meditation is is that time
is this wonderful thing, that wedon't have a lot of it's
fleeting and that for some of usthere are parts of Jesus's
purpose and truth that we didimmediately embrace, you and I
(07:33):
and others who are listening.
There were parts of it his love, his purpose, his truth, his
kindness, his forgiveness, hisgenerosity of spirit and soul.
There are parts of Jesus's lifethat many of us come to easy.
We seized easy right.
There was no big time betweenwhen we heard and when we tried
to implement.
The point I want to make,however, is at the beginning of
(07:56):
this, still at the beginning ofthis new year, is that we
mustn't rest, you know,self-satisfied in that that
there are other parts of Jesus'spurpose and truth that we are
slow to embrace and embody, andindeed we may even be rejecting,
and so, nevertheless, the clockis still ticking, and not like
(08:20):
a shame and guilt and ominoussort of thing, but the truth of
the matter is is that when wedon't embrace Jesus's way
forward, we're wasting time,this most precious thing.
When we do that as we do, itactually costs us time and peace
and joy that can never bereplaced.
(08:41):
And so, maybe, james and John,when they heard Jesus's
invitation, they realized that,hey, we want to just.
So, maybe, james and John, whenthey heard Jesus' invitation,
they realized that, hey, we wantto just, we're going with you
and we don't want to waste anymore time, and I think that
Jesus' invitation to them isJesus' invitation to us now, and
so, on those things that aredifficult for us, my invitation
is let's not waste any more time, let's intentionally move
(09:04):
forward.
I think this is one of thegreatest things is that to bring
intention, maybe to 2025 inways that we've not brought
intention previously.
Melissa (09:37):
Yeah, you know that word intention came to mind a
number of times while you weretalking.
I was also reflecting on Jamesand John and what their families
might have thought when theyjust dropped things to follow
this, I just have to say a slowadoption of picking up Jesus's
ways.
And yet Jesus's pace, I don'tknow, was fast, furious and
(09:58):
frenzied, but had kind of aslower a way of being that James
and John and many of thedisciples really felt drawn to.
And yet I wonder what peoplemight have thought when they
dropped everything to go followJesus.
Bishop Wright (10:15):
Well, they probably thought of James and
John, what people think of us,which is, when we're out places
serving the poor, when we'reusing our time to do various
other good, charitable acts,being mindful of other people's
needs and using our time in thatregard, some people might say,
(10:38):
oh, that's nice up to a point.
And then, when they see thatyou really are dedicating your
time to these matters, at somepoint people probably wonder you
know what's come over you?
You know you're wasting time.
Aren't there other things to doin life with your time?
Or they wonder, you know, haveyou become some sort of
religious zealot?
(10:58):
Have you become some sort ofreligious guy or gal?
This, you know, some sort ofantiquated, small-minded
religious kind of person.
And so, yeah, there's always apublic sort of interrogation
when they see us.
You know, sort of giving ourtime to service.
And yet, you know, at somepoint we are always invited to
(11:20):
make a choice, right?
Is that what is real for us,what feels like integrity for us
?
And so, you know, the journeyto integrity when it comes to
our life with Christ, is alwaysabout closing the gap between
what we say on Sunday and how welive on Monday, right, and the
thing about Jesus's pace is thatit does seem natural and
graceful.
(11:40):
I mean, though, matthewdescribed, you know, people's
response to Jesus as immediately, or that Jesus was seemingly to
be in one place and then inanother place.
Immediately, he has this humanpace.
The conversations with peopleare human.
His ability to account forpeople's suffering is human,
(12:03):
it's at the pace of life, and Ithink that's wonderfully
graceful.
He prioritizes relationships,he prioritizes conversations.
All through the gospel lessons,his disciples wonder why does
he waste time talking to peoplewho seem to have no real impact
or import, you know, who are onthe fringes of things, and so,
(12:25):
yeah, at the end look I thinkI've said this before at the end
of the day, I've done lots offunerals, you know.
Just, you know, being a clergyperson, I've done lots of
funerals and in some ways, youknow, it's always instructive to
me to listen when the peoplewho stand up to speak about the
you know, and people who standup to speak about the one who
(12:52):
was recently deceased, to talkabout the way in which they used
time Right, I mean, from thatsame pulpit in the Washington
National Cathedral, we heard howJimmy Carter used time.
In fact, we were baffled to seehow he could be the world's most
powerful man, the President ofthe United States, and at the
same time make time to teachBible study, and we wondered why
he would leave.
You know the prominence ofWashington DC.
(13:14):
Go back to Plains, georgia, andtake the time to make tables
for Sunday school children, Imean.
So you know, there is somethingamazingly holy about, you know,
balance of life.
But a time that says a way tohold time, that says you know
(13:35):
God is truly first, that'sreally worship.
What we do on Sunday, we callit worship and I suppose we
should continue to call itworship.
But how we prioritize thingswith our calendars is really
worship, you know, is reallyworship, because that's, I think
.
When someone stands up to speakover our casket, you know what
(13:56):
will they say about how we usedour time?
I think a lot about that, mepersonally, and I think about
that when I'm with other folksme personally, and I think about
that when I'm with other folksyeah, okay, yes and right.
Melissa (14:13):
So to me it's all about you said balance, which is a
really important word,especially in today's time, when
I think there are a lot ofpeople who are on fire for Jesus
, who do want to do the justicework, and yet they're burning
the candle at both ends, whichleads to burnout, and so how
would you address those folks?
Bishop Wright (14:30):
How would I address it is I would invite
people to read a book called theAttention Merchants the
Attention Merchants, andbasically what this book is all
about is the development processof you know advertising and you
know sort of some of thecoordinates that social media
(14:53):
and advertising is still usingand the commodification of
distraction, right, and it'sinteresting.
People know that our attentionmatters and now they've figured
out how to monetize it right,and so I think what we're
invited to do is really hardcountercultural work.
And so I still, you know, everyweek I think it's on Sunday
(15:18):
usually I get a weeklyaccounting of my time on my
iPhone.
It tells me how many hours Ispent, and I'm always mystified
at you know how many hours.
But we say to each other I haveno time.
And then we look at our iPhonesand our iPhones tell us we
spent five, six, seven hours onour phone and we've picked up
our phone so many times.
You know, I think we're goingto have to just do some
(15:41):
counter-cultural work all of us,and turn off the TV and put
down the phone.
You know, I like the practice ofSabbath.
Sabbath day is that holypractice that we get from our
Jewish brothers and sistersabout not engaging in work.
Sunday is not a time to catchup on emails.
Sunday is a time for food andfor family and for marriage and
(16:04):
even for intimacy, as weunderstand Sabbath.
It's a time to get outside.
It's a time to be human again.
It's a time to fend off all theother definitions of what it
means to be human and get backto what God called us to be,
which is human in this way.
It's to slow down, and Iunderstand that that's
(16:25):
countercultural.
You know, at my age, that stillis enlivening for me to do that
.
But I look at young people inparticular and this kind of a
conversation sounds likeMandarin Chinese to them.
It's like what do you mean?
Number one, go outside.
But then what do you mean by?
You know not using all thesesocial media resources?
(16:45):
You know to be part of my dayand life, but I think this is
what worries me most aboutmodern life is that you know to
be part of my day in life?
But I think this is what worriesme most about modern life is is
that you know God does time ina way?
Seasons, uh, those sorts ofthings.
There's a, there's a movementthere and I think part of a
faith.
Life is getting in touch withum, the way God does time, um,
(17:08):
and but yet we I think what'sthe word I would use so utterly
sort of enfolded into the waythat we have decided to do time,
and I think it has negativeeffects.
Look, the doctors and all thesmart people know this already,
(17:29):
and it's interesting to me thatsome people who are actually
even in the internet businessand so on and so forth, they
don't even want their childrento be involved in the very
product that they are selling.
So clearly, one of the thingswe've got to do is to try to get
back to a way to do time thatfortifies the very best of who
(17:56):
we are Reflection, conversation,friendship, listening, quiet,
all those sorts of thingsservice.
I think these are the betterways to use time, and this is
what Matthew is trying to pointout that Jesus is doing this,
(18:16):
and there's something aboutJesus and the way that he does
time, as recorded in Matthew,mark, luke and John, that is
enigmatic to people, that isenthralling and compelling to
people.
That is enthralling andcompelling to people.
Melissa (18:28):
Well, one thing that you have said in the past that
has really helped me, bishop,and it's a question I ask myself
a lot because of the way youarticulated it.
You asked me one time well,it's not, or I think you said
one time like it's not so muchwhat we're going to do about it,
but how are we going to beabout it.
And I think it's kind of a bothand that happy medium of doing
(18:49):
and being and being intentionalabout both.
Bishop Wright (18:53):
Yeah, I think that's right.
I think that's right.
I think the immediate is today.
Look, what we have is today,that's what we have, that's what
we can be certain of we havetoday for right, now, right.
And so how can we take upagency to make today look like
the words we pray, that we havetime for each other, that we
(19:15):
have time for ourselves, ourmarriages, our loved ones, that
we have time for those people onthe margins, that we have time
to engage the word of God, thatwe have time to speak to God.
I mean whether you're speakingfor you, to God is sitting in a
church with your hands folded orwhether it's walking the dog
(19:36):
out in our cold January weatherright now, but it is.
How are you using time toembrace it, enjoy it, because
this part of life on this sideof heaven is fleeting, but it's
all gift.
Melissa (19:56):
And tick tock to that Bishop.
Thank you and listeners.
Thank you for listening to FrPeople.
You can follow us on Instagramand Facebook at Bishop Rob
Wright.
Please subscribe, leave areview and we'll be back with
you next week.
When we don't embrace Jesus's way forward.
We're wasting time, this mostprecious thing.
When we do that as we do, itactually costs us time and peace
and joy that can never bereplaced, and so on those things
that are difficult for us.
My invitation is let's notwaste any more time.
(00:21):
I think this is one of thegreatest things is that to bring
intention, maybe to 2025 inways that we've not brought
intention previously.
Melissa (00:40):
Welcome to For People with Bishop Rob Wright.
I'm Melissa Rau and this is aconversation inspired by For
Faith, a weekly devotion sentout every Friday.
You can find a link to thisweek's devotion and a link to
subscribe in the episode'sdescription.
Good morning, bishop.
Bishop Wright (00:55):
Morning, good morning.
Melissa (00:57):
This week's devotion.
You named TikTok and reallyyou're highlighting the
importance of the wordimmediately in the story of when
Jesus recruits his firstdisciples after John the Baptist
had been arrested.
Yes, that James and Johnimmediately dropped everything
(01:19):
that they were doing to followJesus.
Bishop Wright (01:21):
Right, that's what Matthew said.
Melissa (01:23):
Yeah, right, and so I see what you're doing there.
Bishop, you want to say moreabout the timing of things?
Bishop Wright (01:31):
Sure.
Well, you know I listen, likelots of people.
I listen to lots of other folkswho are writing and thinking
about things right now, andright now you know there's a lot
of conversation about you knowthe social media app, tiktok
right, and you know, being agentleman of a certain age, I
(01:55):
remember when TikTok used torefer to you know the second
hand on, you know a watch or aclock, you know the literal
TikTok right.
And so I'm always just sort oflooking for something creative
to catch somebody's attentionand have them look again at
scriptures.
And so when Matthew tells hisstory, one of the signature sort
(02:16):
of words of Matthew is, as hewrites, immediately.
And so that's all that's aboutis just trying to get people's
attention to having to lookingat something differently,
putting a different emphasis ondifferent words that might
invite us to think about faithand Jesus and our own life with
Christ differently.
(02:40):
Jesus is walking down the beachand he invites James and John to
follow him, to become fishersof people, recruiters of others
to join Jesus' friend-makingcampaign, and they did it
immediately.
That's pretty striking for me,knowing a little bit about
(03:01):
church and how people sit andthink, and it takes people a
while sometimes to come to faith.
I'm just struck that it wassomething in Jesus's invitation,
maybe it was something in Jamesand John's life at the time,
that made them really open toleaving.
They left their family business, they left their dad, as it
(03:22):
says, and joined Jesus on hisyou know, in this enterprise, in
his purpose and in his truth,and that's just really striking
for me.
Melissa (03:32):
You know, when I read TikTok, of course I figured you
were referring or making aparallel to the TikTok thing.
But, I also got the imagery ofPeter Pan and the, you know, the
crocodile and the TikTok,tiktok.
Bishop Wright (03:45):
Yeah right, exactly, look at that.
Melissa (03:48):
Well, it just hit me.
You know it's about childrenand adults who are wasting their
time, Like children are seizingtheir opportunity in Peter Pan
to be more of who they are, andyou've got the old dude who is
almost like wasting his time.
I'm just saying right.
So I don't know.
(04:08):
This imagery of Peter Pan cameto mind and it's like all right,
what are we doing here, Bishop?
We just had an incredible thinghappen.
We had the inauguration ofPresident Donald Trump, yes, and
the next day he had a serviceat the National Cathedral, of
which it's actually an EpiscopalCathedral.
Bishop Wright (04:28):
That's right.
Melissa (04:29):
And the Right Reverend, Mariann Edgar Buddy, is the
Bishop of Washington and thegreater metropolitan DC area and
there's a lot of controversyright now because of how she
addressed the president from thepulpit in a pleading sort of
way, and some folks are justthinking it was just horrible
(04:49):
that she disrespected him, andothers are saying she seized her
opportunity to address the mostpowerful man in the world and
implored him to be merciful.
Where do you stand on thematter?
Bishop Wright (05:04):
So that is a good and a timely question.
Yeah, I think half of thepeople who heard Bishop Budde's
plea from the pulpit to thepresident and the congregation
thought it was exactly the rightthing to do and half of folks
thought it was perhaps an abuse,perhaps some sort of liberal
talking points woke and allthose kinds of words.
(05:25):
I tell you what we've done inthe Diocese of Atlanta.
You know, we just recently hada Dr.
King holiday and Dr.
King really, if you look at hiswork, he neither excoriates or
idolizes presidents but seems tosee them as partners for the
advance of the work.
I think that tends to be.
My strategy is that I want tomake sure that I leave space
(05:48):
with all kinds of folks so thatwe can have conversation and
maybe I can even come alongsidethem and exert some influence,
gospel influence.
I've learned that fromAmbassador Andrew Young most
profoundly.
But you know, I would say youwould say my sort of
understanding of sermons is thatthey're for the entire group
(06:09):
and I think that we can make ourpleas, which I think are
entirely appropriate.
We can make our pleas for mercy, we can talk about those in our
care who are experiencing fear,et cetera, et cetera, without
an individual conversation withone person in the midst of an
entire congregation.
And so again, I take my cuesfrom Dr.
(06:31):
King and people like AmbassadorYoung and even Desmond Tutu who
, whenever they mounted thepulpit, were always working on
the system.
I know Bishop Budde.
I know her to be a faithful andgood leader.
I've had dinner at her house.
I know her to be a faithful andgood leader.
I've had dinner at her house.
I know her husband, paul.
I think that this was hersincerely trying to care for
(06:51):
folks.
But immediately is what we'retalking about, and immediately
has to do with appreciating time.
And I'm now a gentleman of acertain age.
Looking back, we talk aboutwasting time and killing time
and all those kinds of things,and then it suddenly dawns on us
(07:13):
in life that the most preciousthing that there absolutely is
is time.
You know, the point I make inthe meditation is is that time
is this wonderful thing, that wedon't have a lot of it's
fleeting and that for some of usthere are parts of Jesus's
purpose and truth that we didimmediately embrace, you and I
(07:33):
and others who are listening.
There were parts of it his love, his purpose, his truth, his
kindness, his forgiveness, hisgenerosity of spirit and soul.
There are parts of Jesus's lifethat many of us come to easy.
We seized easy right.
There was no big time betweenwhen we heard and when we tried
to implement.
The point I want to make,however, is at the beginning of
(07:56):
this, still at the beginning ofthis new year, is that we
mustn't rest, you know,self-satisfied in that that
there are other parts of Jesus'spurpose and truth that we are
slow to embrace and embody, andindeed we may even be rejecting,
and so, nevertheless, the clockis still ticking, and not like
(08:20):
a shame and guilt and ominoussort of thing, but the truth of
the matter is is that when wedon't embrace Jesus's way
forward, we're wasting time,this most precious thing.
When we do that as we do, itactually costs us time and peace
and joy that can never bereplaced.
(08:41):
And so, maybe, james and John,when they heard Jesus's
invitation, they realized that,hey, we want to just.
So, maybe, james and John, whenthey heard Jesus' invitation,
they realized that, hey, we wantto just, we're going with you
and we don't want to waste anymore time, and I think that
Jesus' invitation to them isJesus' invitation to us now, and
so, on those things that aredifficult for us, my invitation
is let's not waste any more time, let's intentionally move
(09:04):
forward.
I think this is one of thegreatest things is that to bring
intention, maybe to 2025 inways that we've not brought
intention previously.
Melissa (09:37):
Yeah, you know that word intention came to mind a
number of times while you weretalking.
I was also reflecting on Jamesand John and what their families
might have thought when theyjust dropped things to follow
this, I just have to say a slowadoption of picking up Jesus's
ways.
And yet Jesus's pace, I don'tknow, was fast, furious and
(09:58):
frenzied, but had kind of aslower a way of being that James
and John and many of thedisciples really felt drawn to.
And yet I wonder what peoplemight have thought when they
dropped everything to go followJesus.
Bishop Wright (10:15):
Well, they probably thought of James and
John, what people think of us,which is, when we're out places
serving the poor, when we'reusing our time to do various
other good, charitable acts,being mindful of other people's
needs and using our time in thatregard, some people might say,
(10:38):
oh, that's nice up to a point.
And then, when they see thatyou really are dedicating your
time to these matters, at somepoint people probably wonder you
know what's come over you?
You know you're wasting time.
Aren't there other things to doin life with your time?
Or they wonder, you know, haveyou become some sort of
religious zealot?
(10:58):
Have you become some sort ofreligious guy or gal?
This, you know, some sort ofantiquated, small-minded
religious kind of person.
And so, yeah, there's always apublic sort of interrogation
when they see us.
You know, sort of giving ourtime to service.
And yet, you know, at somepoint we are always invited to
(11:20):
make a choice, right?
Is that what is real for us,what feels like integrity for us
?
And so, you know, the journeyto integrity when it comes to
our life with Christ, is alwaysabout closing the gap between
what we say on Sunday and how welive on Monday, right, and the
thing about Jesus's pace is thatit does seem natural and
graceful.
(11:40):
I mean, though, matthewdescribed, you know, people's
response to Jesus as immediately, or that Jesus was seemingly to
be in one place and then inanother place.
Immediately, he has this humanpace.
The conversations with peopleare human.
His ability to account forpeople's suffering is human,
(12:03):
it's at the pace of life, and Ithink that's wonderfully
graceful.
He prioritizes relationships,he prioritizes conversations.
All through the gospel lessons,his disciples wonder why does
he waste time talking to peoplewho seem to have no real impact
or import, you know, who are onthe fringes of things, and so,
(12:25):
yeah, at the end look I thinkI've said this before at the end
of the day, I've done lots offunerals, you know.
Just, you know, being a clergyperson, I've done lots of
funerals and in some ways, youknow, it's always instructive to
me to listen when the peoplewho stand up to speak about the
you know, and people who standup to speak about the one who
(12:52):
was recently deceased, to talkabout the way in which they used
time Right, I mean, from thatsame pulpit in the Washington
National Cathedral, we heard howJimmy Carter used time.
In fact, we were baffled to seehow he could be the world's most
powerful man, the President ofthe United States, and at the
same time make time to teachBible study, and we wondered why
he would leave.
You know the prominence ofWashington DC.
(13:14):
Go back to Plains, georgia, andtake the time to make tables
for Sunday school children, Imean.
So you know, there is somethingamazingly holy about, you know,
balance of life.
But a time that says a way tohold time, that says you know
(13:35):
God is truly first, that'sreally worship.
What we do on Sunday, we callit worship and I suppose we
should continue to call itworship.
But how we prioritize thingswith our calendars is really
worship, you know, is reallyworship, because that's, I think
.
When someone stands up to speakover our casket, you know what
(13:56):
will they say about how we usedour time?
I think a lot about that, mepersonally, and I think about
that when I'm with other folksme personally, and I think about
that when I'm with other folksyeah, okay, yes and right.
Melissa (14:13):
So to me it's all about you said balance, which is a
really important word,especially in today's time, when
I think there are a lot ofpeople who are on fire for Jesus
, who do want to do the justicework, and yet they're burning
the candle at both ends, whichleads to burnout, and so how
would you address those folks?
Bishop Wright (14:30):
How would I address it is I would invite
people to read a book called theAttention Merchants the
Attention Merchants, andbasically what this book is all
about is the development processof you know advertising and you
know sort of some of thecoordinates that social media
(14:53):
and advertising is still usingand the commodification of
distraction, right, and it'sinteresting.
People know that our attentionmatters and now they've figured
out how to monetize it right,and so I think what we're
invited to do is really hardcountercultural work.
And so I still, you know, everyweek I think it's on Sunday
(15:18):
usually I get a weeklyaccounting of my time on my
iPhone.
It tells me how many hours Ispent, and I'm always mystified
at you know how many hours.
But we say to each other I haveno time.
And then we look at our iPhonesand our iPhones tell us we
spent five, six, seven hours onour phone and we've picked up
our phone so many times.
You know, I think we're goingto have to just do some
(15:41):
counter-cultural work all of us,and turn off the TV and put
down the phone.
You know, I like the practice ofSabbath.
Sabbath day is that holypractice that we get from our
Jewish brothers and sistersabout not engaging in work.
Sunday is not a time to catchup on emails.
Sunday is a time for food andfor family and for marriage and
(16:04):
even for intimacy, as weunderstand Sabbath.
It's a time to get outside.
It's a time to be human again.
It's a time to fend off all theother definitions of what it
means to be human and get backto what God called us to be,
which is human in this way.
It's to slow down, and Iunderstand that that's
(16:25):
countercultural.
You know, at my age, that stillis enlivening for me to do that
.
But I look at young people inparticular and this kind of a
conversation sounds likeMandarin Chinese to them.
It's like what do you mean?
Number one, go outside.
But then what do you mean by?
You know not using all thesesocial media resources?
(16:45):
You know to be part of my dayand life, but I think this is
what worries me most aboutmodern life is that you know to
be part of my day in life?
But I think this is what worriesme most about modern life is is
that you know God does time ina way?
Seasons, uh, those sorts ofthings.
There's a, there's a movementthere and I think part of a
faith.
Life is getting in touch withum, the way God does time, um,
(17:08):
and but yet we I think what'sthe word I would use so utterly
sort of enfolded into the waythat we have decided to do time,
and I think it has negativeeffects.
Look, the doctors and all thesmart people know this already,
(17:29):
and it's interesting to me thatsome people who are actually
even in the internet businessand so on and so forth, they
don't even want their childrento be involved in the very
product that they are selling.
So clearly, one of the thingswe've got to do is to try to get
back to a way to do time thatfortifies the very best of who
(17:56):
we are Reflection, conversation,friendship, listening, quiet,
all those sorts of thingsservice.
I think these are the betterways to use time, and this is
what Matthew is trying to pointout that Jesus is doing this,
(18:16):
and there's something aboutJesus and the way that he does
time, as recorded in Matthew,mark, luke and John, that is
enigmatic to people, that isenthralling and compelling to
people.
That is enthralling andcompelling to people.
Melissa (18:28):
Well, one thing that you have said in the past that
has really helped me, bishop,and it's a question I ask myself
a lot because of the way youarticulated it.
You asked me one time well,it's not, or I think you said
one time like it's not so muchwhat we're going to do about it,
but how are we going to beabout it.
And I think it's kind of a bothand that happy medium of doing
(18:49):
and being and being intentionalabout both.
Bishop Wright (18:53):
Yeah, I think that's right.
I think that's right.
I think the immediate is today.
Look, what we have is today,that's what we have, that's what
we can be certain of we havetoday for right, now, right.
And so how can we take upagency to make today look like
the words we pray, that we havetime for each other, that we
(19:15):
have time for ourselves, ourmarriages, our loved ones, that
we have time for those people onthe margins, that we have time
to engage the word of God, thatwe have time to speak to God.
I mean whether you're speakingfor you, to God is sitting in a
church with your hands folded orwhether it's walking the dog
(19:36):
out in our cold January weatherright now, but it is.
How are you using time toembrace it, enjoy it, because
this part of life on this sideof heaven is fleeting, but it's
all gift.
Melissa (19:56):
And tick tock to that Bishop.
Thank you and listeners.
Thank you for listening to FrPeople.
You can follow us on Instagramand Facebook at Bishop Rob
Wright.
Please subscribe, leave areview and we'll be back with
you next week.
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