August 8, 2025 • 18 mins
How do we respond when the winds of division, uncertainty and despair threaten to blow us off our center? We go deep into what we believe! This episode introduces the new series "We Believe!". Bishop Wright chose this series title because belief defines us, consoles us and guides us no matter the seasons of life.
In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation that shifts the understanding of belief itself - moving beyond intellectual agreement to embrace trust as the foundation of faith. "When we say we believe," Bishop Wright explains, "that word is actually better rendered 'trust.' We are the people who say we trust God." This distinction transforms how we approach our spiritual journey, especially in times of division and anxiety. 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):
We Believe is about hey, what are the gaps
between what I say on Sunday andhow I live on Monday?
And, without any shame, how canI chart a course across that
gap between what I say and how Ilive?
That's why I want to talk about, you know, we Believe, because
I think what we're doing here isgiving people an opportunity to
(00:21):
then restate where is my actualheart and where is my actual
treasure.
Melissa (00:40):
Welcome to Four People with Bishop Rob Wright.
I'm Melissa Rao and this is aconversation inspired by For
Faith, a weekly devotion sentout every Friday.
You can find a link to thisweek's For Faith and a link to
subscribe in the episode'sdescription.
Over the course of this nextseason, bishop Wright is framing
his devotions and ourconversations around the theme
(01:02):
we Believe as we make our waythrough the lectionary.
Bishop I trust your July waswell spent learning and growing.
Welcome back.
Bishop Wright (01:16):
Well, thank you, what a gift it is to be able to
take some time away and to beable to have such trustworthy
and wonderful partners to keepthe work going.
And so, yeah, I'm back andgrateful for my time of
reflection, some writing I loveto be in my garage tinkering
(01:37):
with old cars, some of that anda little bit of travel.
So glad to be back.
Melissa (01:42):
Yeah, and so how is God inspiring you most these days?
Bishop Wright (01:47):
The gift of vacation is so you're not
preaching every Sunday, notteaching during the course of
the week, and so you really havea time to reflect a little
deeper and maybe even catch upwith yourself, and so I'm really
grateful to that that.
My life with scripture over thelast month has been just
(02:09):
devotional, just not for anybodyelse's ears or heart other than
my own, and so I've been reallyglad about that.
My wife and I have been doingsome Bible studies, prompted by
an app that we're using, theBible app, and so that's it's
unfamiliar and that's nottypical lectionary stuff that we
(02:34):
use in the Episcopal Church.
So that's wonderful that itcomes at us sort of obliquely
and I can't anticipate it andI'm less familiar with their
approach, and so that's beengreat.
So to hear God, see God, thinkabout God.
You know, coming in differentways.
Certainly, being out in naturehas been wonderful.
(02:54):
I've spent a lot of timeoutdoors fishing and doing other
sorts of things and you know,nature just cries out.
You know the genius of God, thewonder of God.
I was in rural Mississippi lastweek with a friend who has
(03:18):
about 40 acres and is a farmer,is a farmer and just him walking
us around his garden and hischickens and all these other
wonderful projects that he has.
I mean, it's the best seminarylesson I think a person could
(03:38):
have about the ways in which youknow we take God for granted.
We're absolutely enveloped inGod's will and way.
Melissa (03:49):
That's kind of a nice little segue, because this first
devotion you named Treasure,based off of Luke 12, verses 32
to 40.
It's really about storing upour treasure in heaven, right,
and not in worldly stuff, andyou were just talking about a
farmer and lots of nature stuff.
(04:10):
And so how do you make meaningI guess we're going to be
framing, we believe, and do youjust want to kind of give us a
background about where thatmight have come from or what's
on your heart there?
Bishop Wright (04:24):
Yeah, where that might have come from, or what's
on your heart there.
Yeah Well, I mean, you knowbeing away for a little while,
having an opportunity to sort ofthink deeply, and you know my
work is more pastoral, actually,and agricultural, if you will,
than it is a sort of academic.
What I mean by that is is thatif you think of yourself as
(04:45):
pastor, that is, someone caringfor souls, then you've got to
pay attention to, you know, theintersections at which people
are struggling, the complexity,the you know sort of velocity,
the volatility of life, and whatyou want to do is offer them or
refresh their connection with,in as much as anyone can.
(05:06):
Our resource and our resourceis scripture, tradition and
reason.
In our tradition we call it thethree-legged stool.
Our resource is God creator andGod redeemer in the person of
Jesus, and God sustainer andcompanion, you know, in the Holy
(05:27):
Spirit.
And so as I watch the news,just like everybody else, and I
read the papers just likeeverybody else, and I feel the
pinch of all of it, just as aperson, as a dad, as a husband,
as a friend, as a brother, youknow I as a brother, you know I,
(05:49):
you know the spirit calls me toask the question you know, what
do we have in our toolkit asbelievers that can help us at
these intersections?
And then, as someone who has aplatform as an ordained person,
you know, I just want to be aresource to people, good folks
of every stripe, who findthemselves at intersections and
(06:11):
need the resources.
I believe and want theresources.
So, yeah, that's where I'mcoming from and so how I get to
we believe is that, you know,sort of just given the tone and
tenor of our country at thistime of the state of Georgia,
where I am given divisions ofall kinds, given fears and
(06:35):
anxieties that I understand, ofall kinds by all kinds of folks,
you know, I think our bestresponse, you know, I think our
best response to all thatvolatility is to center down on
and to remember our tether, tostrengthen even our tether, to
what we say we believe, who wesay we are.
(06:56):
And and of course, as you you'llsee in the meditation, I make
the case that believing is notjust intellectual assent to an
idea, right, it's just not sortof sitting in a room and say,
yeah, that sounds about right tome.
No, that's not what we meanwhen we say we believe.
When we say we believe thatword believe is actually better
rendered trust.
(07:18):
So we are the people who say wetrust God and so I want to call
folks back to that, want tocall myself back to that and
really sort of open up and offerthat resource again to us as we
begin the fall and close thisyear and embark on 2026.
Melissa (07:38):
So, bishop, I mean, it's pretty easy to agree that
God is wondrous, that God isgood, that God is trustworthy
and that God provides.
Where do we go wrong in such aneasy thing to believe?
Bishop Wright (07:56):
Well, you know, as I say, what we, what we would
prefer to do, is then controlthat.
We would prefer.
I mean, what's the old adage?
You know, we're made in God'simage.
And then we decided that wewould return the favor, which is
to sort of make God in ourimage.
I think where we go wrong is isthat, you know well, I mean,
(08:18):
think about our design flaws.
I mean we're sort of made to gowrong, right?
I mean we're sort of we can getreally tribal really fast and
think that the beauty of God isonly for one part of our human
family, or one gender in ourhuman family, or one
socioeconomic class of our humanfamily.
(08:40):
You know we can do that.
I mean, why is it that, youknow, a country that is as
wealthy as ours, you know, haslengthening lines for basics to
live in?
Why is a country as wealthy andas brilliant as ours can't
figure out housing?
Why is a country as brilliantas ours, who knows that it needs
(09:01):
the labor from people of allover the world, from people of
all over the world, has decidedto sort of disparage folks and,
rather than be really creativeand think about ways in which we
can secure our borders as wellas use the labor from other
folks, issue some sort of reallysmart pass system where people
(09:24):
come and do seasonal work, etcetera.
I mean.
So the whys are as long as myleg, and so I think the whys
point to a short-sightedness,perhaps even a selfishness, an
arrogance, an abuse of power.
So this is our design flaw.
We do this at home, we do thiswhen we're together, we do this
(09:45):
in the church, we do this in theworld, and so that's what goes
wrong all the time.
You know, this is why Jesus,what Jesus has to say, is so
dangerous, because he reallywants us to name that.
Where is your heart?
He says where is your heart?
So if our heart is in my tribeor my kin over yours, then my
treasure will be in sort ofstepping on your neck, so to
(10:08):
speak, and putting myself first.
If my treasure, however, is inGod and the fact that every
human person is my sibling andthat all creation bears the
marks of the divine, then Imight organize myself
differently.
And you know, it really isinteresting.
(10:28):
Our biggest blunders throughouthistory have been the violation
of that simple idea that theearth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof, and you are myneighbor.
Therefore you are entitled tothat which I desire for my own
children.
When we get that wrong, thingsgo tragically, terribly wrong.
When we get that right, youknow all creation sings, god
(10:53):
smiles, and we prove that wesort of are above the beasts.
Melissa (11:24):
Okay.
So I mean, that was greatBishop, and what don't we
believe?
Like, does it matter?
Like I'm looking at this in myinterpretation, I'm reading the
NRSVUE where it's saying bewatchful slaves.
And says be dressed for actionand have your lamps lit and I
know there are a lot of peoplewho will interpret that as being
(11:45):
ready for when the secondcoming of Christ comes.
Be ready to go to heaven, don'tbe left behind.
You know literally.
And yet it also says be dressedfor action.
Action for what?
So are there things when we'retalking about what we believe it
doesn't matter, like what webelieve don't believe?
(12:06):
I'm just curious what yourthoughts are on that.
Bishop Wright (12:10):
Well, I think now's the time, especially given
this sort of tsunami ofpolitics and economic adversity
and various other things.
Now's the time to sort of getreally clear about what we
believe, and I think obviously,as I've said, belief has to
become action.
You know, faith without worksis dead, right, faith without
(12:35):
works is just fooling ourselves.
So I think then, the next partis so what are the actions?
So I think that's dressed andready for action.
So what are those actions?
So there's an urgency to this,I think.
And I think here's that otherword too witnesses.
What we believe should bereadily apparent to the people
(12:56):
around us, based on how we live,before we ever open our mouth.
I think that's also true.
So to me, you know the depth ofbelief, and the best expression
of belief is action.
Right, but I think what I'mwanting to do now is just pause
a second here and to actuallyrefine and clarify for ourselves
(13:17):
what do we actually believe?
Because I think that's where itis.
I trust people, and I thinkthat scripture brings us into
what I call a creative tension,and so it's about how we manage
ourselves in that creativetension, if I'm honest with
myself, and we need to be honestwith ourselves, and all of us
have deluded ourselves to somedegree, you know.
(13:39):
But if we are willing to stopsquinting and look at ourselves
through, you know, in the mirrorof God's eyes, which are
represented in scripture, youknow, truth is healing to our
souls, it's healing to ourbodies, it's healing to our
communities.
And so we believe is about hey,what are the gaps between what
(13:59):
I say on Sunday and how I liveon Monday?
And, without any shame, how canI chart a course across that
gap between what I say and how Ilive?
That's why I want to talk about, you know, we believe, because
I think what we're doing here isgiving people an opportunity to
then restate where is my actualheart and where is my actual
(14:22):
treasure.
And again, Jesus respected thedignity of people by giving them
questions right and notcommands.
He didn't dictate and he wasn'tan authoritarian.
He loved enough to give thespace, and that's what we see in
the prodigal son story Lovingenough to give the space.
(14:45):
And you know, that story wouldbe much less profound if the dad
would have chased after the kid, you know, and sort of tied him
up and drug him home, but thefact that the child came to
himself and that precipitatedthe change of mind and heart and
direction.
I think this is where it is, andso what I think we should be
(15:07):
doing here is offering peoplesome clarity.
This is what we say.
This is who Jesus was.
This is who Jesus is.
This is Jesus's invitation.
You decide, and I think that'sthe best way to live, and I
think our treasure has got to beat least in that.
That's the good news of thegospel.
It's not coercion, and everytime the church does that, and
(15:31):
every time we as believers, asindividuals, begin to coerce in
God's name, we do violence tothe gospel.
Melissa (15:39):
So you're using some pretty big words like we and I
and us and individual.
Bishop Wright (15:46):
Sure.
Melissa (15:46):
And so how do we hold that intention?
Because you said go deep withinyourself to really you know.
So, bishop, can you kind oflike unpack that a little bit
that?
How do we walk?
Because you know the prodigalson and that brother, you know
the self-righteous one who wasall judgmental, was all about
what what the other did ordidn't do, or what the other
believed or didn't believe.
(16:07):
And so how do we hold those?
Bishop Wright (16:10):
well, Well, you know, the title of this little
series is called we Believe, butevery we starts with an I right
.
And so I mean, I think that wecannot delegate out, and perhaps
that is a part of the problemis that we are looking for other
(16:31):
people to deliver to us somesort of righteousness, some sort
of grace, etc.
And it seems that Jesus startswith individuals.
It seems that Jesus wants tostart with individual hearts and
behaviors and people's way tomanage truth, and so that's
where we start.
Look, you know, one of the most,I think, pregnant moments when
(16:55):
we gather in worship is that weare a collection of ragtag
individuals and then we aretogether for an hour in our
tradition, hour, hour and a halfand then after one person
preaches in our tradition, andafter we've heard the scripture,
after one person preaches inour tradition and after we've
heard the scripture, we stand upas best we can and we say we
believe.
(17:16):
And that's a pretty powerfulmoment because in that one
moment, while we may haveaffiliations with lots of
different groups, we're sort ofsaying we believe, and then, of
course, the doing of that iseverything.
And so I want to call us backto, you know, the.
(17:38):
We is made up of individuals,and the strongest we we can ever
assemble is individuals whohave a clarity of purpose and a
clarity of commitment and adepth of connection to
compassion.
So all of these ingredients are, I think, a great starting
point for us to begin toconsider again what we actually
believe.
How do we want to live?
(17:58):
Who is God in my life and whatdoes that mean?
Melissa (18:04):
Well, bishop, I'm looking forward to the next few
weeks.
Thank you, and thank you,listeners, for tuning in to For
People.
You can follow us on Instagramand Facebook at Bishop Rob
Wright, or by visiting www.
forpeople.
digital.
Please subscribe, leave areview and we'll be back with
you next week.
We Believe is about hey, what are the gaps
between what I say on Sunday andhow I live on Monday?
And, without any shame, how canI chart a course across that
gap between what I say and how Ilive?
That's why I want to talk about, you know, we Believe, because
I think what we're doing here isgiving people an opportunity to
(00:21):
then restate where is my actualheart and where is my actual
treasure.
Melissa (00:40):
Welcome to Four People with Bishop Rob Wright.
I'm Melissa Rao and this is aconversation inspired by For
Faith, a weekly devotion sentout every Friday.
You can find a link to thisweek's For Faith and a link to
subscribe in the episode'sdescription.
Over the course of this nextseason, bishop Wright is framing
his devotions and ourconversations around the theme
(01:02):
we Believe as we make our waythrough the lectionary.
Bishop I trust your July waswell spent learning and growing.
Welcome back.
Bishop Wright (01:16):
Well, thank you, what a gift it is to be able to
take some time away and to beable to have such trustworthy
and wonderful partners to keepthe work going.
And so, yeah, I'm back andgrateful for my time of
reflection, some writing I loveto be in my garage tinkering
(01:37):
with old cars, some of that anda little bit of travel.
So glad to be back.
Melissa (01:42):
Yeah, and so how is God inspiring you most these days?
Bishop Wright (01:47):
The gift of vacation is so you're not
preaching every Sunday, notteaching during the course of
the week, and so you really havea time to reflect a little
deeper and maybe even catch upwith yourself, and so I'm really
grateful to that that.
My life with scripture over thelast month has been just
(02:09):
devotional, just not for anybodyelse's ears or heart other than
my own, and so I've been reallyglad about that.
My wife and I have been doingsome Bible studies, prompted by
an app that we're using, theBible app, and so that's it's
unfamiliar and that's nottypical lectionary stuff that we
(02:34):
use in the Episcopal Church.
So that's wonderful that itcomes at us sort of obliquely
and I can't anticipate it andI'm less familiar with their
approach, and so that's beengreat.
So to hear God, see God, thinkabout God.
You know, coming in differentways.
Certainly, being out in naturehas been wonderful.
(02:54):
I've spent a lot of timeoutdoors fishing and doing other
sorts of things and you know,nature just cries out.
You know the genius of God, thewonder of God.
I was in rural Mississippi lastweek with a friend who has
(03:18):
about 40 acres and is a farmer,is a farmer and just him walking
us around his garden and hischickens and all these other
wonderful projects that he has.
I mean, it's the best seminarylesson I think a person could
(03:38):
have about the ways in which youknow we take God for granted.
We're absolutely enveloped inGod's will and way.
Melissa (03:49):
That's kind of a nice little segue, because this first
devotion you named Treasure,based off of Luke 12, verses 32
to 40.
It's really about storing upour treasure in heaven, right,
and not in worldly stuff, andyou were just talking about a
farmer and lots of nature stuff.
(04:10):
And so how do you make meaningI guess we're going to be
framing, we believe, and do youjust want to kind of give us a
background about where thatmight have come from or what's
on your heart there?
Bishop Wright (04:24):
Yeah, where that might have come from, or what's
on your heart there.
Yeah Well, I mean, you knowbeing away for a little while,
having an opportunity to sort ofthink deeply, and you know my
work is more pastoral, actually,and agricultural, if you will,
than it is a sort of academic.
What I mean by that is is thatif you think of yourself as
(04:45):
pastor, that is, someone caringfor souls, then you've got to
pay attention to, you know, theintersections at which people
are struggling, the complexity,the you know sort of velocity,
the volatility of life, and whatyou want to do is offer them or
refresh their connection with,in as much as anyone can.
(05:06):
Our resource and our resourceis scripture, tradition and
reason.
In our tradition we call it thethree-legged stool.
Our resource is God creator andGod redeemer in the person of
Jesus, and God sustainer andcompanion, you know, in the Holy
(05:27):
Spirit.
And so as I watch the news,just like everybody else, and I
read the papers just likeeverybody else, and I feel the
pinch of all of it, just as aperson, as a dad, as a husband,
as a friend, as a brother, youknow I as a brother, you know I,
(05:49):
you know the spirit calls me toask the question you know, what
do we have in our toolkit asbelievers that can help us at
these intersections?
And then, as someone who has aplatform as an ordained person,
you know, I just want to be aresource to people, good folks
of every stripe, who findthemselves at intersections and
(06:11):
need the resources.
I believe and want theresources.
So, yeah, that's where I'mcoming from and so how I get to
we believe is that, you know,sort of just given the tone and
tenor of our country at thistime of the state of Georgia,
where I am given divisions ofall kinds, given fears and
(06:35):
anxieties that I understand, ofall kinds by all kinds of folks,
you know, I think our bestresponse, you know, I think our
best response to all thatvolatility is to center down on
and to remember our tether, tostrengthen even our tether, to
what we say we believe, who wesay we are.
(06:56):
And and of course, as you you'llsee in the meditation, I make
the case that believing is notjust intellectual assent to an
idea, right, it's just not sortof sitting in a room and say,
yeah, that sounds about right tome.
No, that's not what we meanwhen we say we believe.
When we say we believe thatword believe is actually better
rendered trust.
(07:18):
So we are the people who say wetrust God and so I want to call
folks back to that, want tocall myself back to that and
really sort of open up and offerthat resource again to us as we
begin the fall and close thisyear and embark on 2026.
Melissa (07:38):
So, bishop, I mean, it's pretty easy to agree that
God is wondrous, that God isgood, that God is trustworthy
and that God provides.
Where do we go wrong in such aneasy thing to believe?
Bishop Wright (07:56):
Well, you know, as I say, what we, what we would
prefer to do, is then controlthat.
We would prefer.
I mean, what's the old adage?
You know, we're made in God'simage.
And then we decided that wewould return the favor, which is
to sort of make God in ourimage.
I think where we go wrong is isthat, you know well, I mean,
(08:18):
think about our design flaws.
I mean we're sort of made to gowrong, right?
I mean we're sort of we can getreally tribal really fast and
think that the beauty of God isonly for one part of our human
family, or one gender in ourhuman family, or one
socioeconomic class of our humanfamily.
(08:40):
You know we can do that.
I mean, why is it that, youknow, a country that is as
wealthy as ours, you know, haslengthening lines for basics to
live in?
Why is a country as wealthy andas brilliant as ours can't
figure out housing?
Why is a country as brilliantas ours, who knows that it needs
(09:01):
the labor from people of allover the world, from people of
all over the world, has decidedto sort of disparage folks and,
rather than be really creativeand think about ways in which we
can secure our borders as wellas use the labor from other
folks, issue some sort of reallysmart pass system where people
(09:24):
come and do seasonal work, etcetera.
I mean.
So the whys are as long as myleg, and so I think the whys
point to a short-sightedness,perhaps even a selfishness, an
arrogance, an abuse of power.
So this is our design flaw.
We do this at home, we do thiswhen we're together, we do this
(09:45):
in the church, we do this in theworld, and so that's what goes
wrong all the time.
You know, this is why Jesus,what Jesus has to say, is so
dangerous, because he reallywants us to name that.
Where is your heart?
He says where is your heart?
So if our heart is in my tribeor my kin over yours, then my
treasure will be in sort ofstepping on your neck, so to
(10:08):
speak, and putting myself first.
If my treasure, however, is inGod and the fact that every
human person is my sibling andthat all creation bears the
marks of the divine, then Imight organize myself
differently.
And you know, it really isinteresting.
(10:28):
Our biggest blunders throughouthistory have been the violation
of that simple idea that theearth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof, and you are myneighbor.
Therefore you are entitled tothat which I desire for my own
children.
When we get that wrong, thingsgo tragically, terribly wrong.
When we get that right, youknow all creation sings, god
(10:53):
smiles, and we prove that wesort of are above the beasts.
Melissa (11:24):
Okay.
So I mean, that was greatBishop, and what don't we
believe?
Like, does it matter?
Like I'm looking at this in myinterpretation, I'm reading the
NRSVUE where it's saying bewatchful slaves.
And says be dressed for actionand have your lamps lit and I
know there are a lot of peoplewho will interpret that as being
(11:45):
ready for when the secondcoming of Christ comes.
Be ready to go to heaven, don'tbe left behind.
You know literally.
And yet it also says be dressedfor action.
Action for what?
So are there things when we'retalking about what we believe it
doesn't matter, like what webelieve don't believe?
(12:06):
I'm just curious what yourthoughts are on that.
Bishop Wright (12:10):
Well, I think now's the time, especially given
this sort of tsunami ofpolitics and economic adversity
and various other things.
Now's the time to sort of getreally clear about what we
believe, and I think obviously,as I've said, belief has to
become action.
You know, faith without worksis dead, right, faith without
(12:35):
works is just fooling ourselves.
So I think then, the next partis so what are the actions?
So I think that's dressed andready for action.
So what are those actions?
So there's an urgency to this,I think.
And I think here's that otherword too witnesses.
What we believe should bereadily apparent to the people
(12:56):
around us, based on how we live,before we ever open our mouth.
I think that's also true.
So to me, you know the depth ofbelief, and the best expression
of belief is action.
Right, but I think what I'mwanting to do now is just pause
a second here and to actuallyrefine and clarify for ourselves
(13:17):
what do we actually believe?
Because I think that's where itis.
I trust people, and I thinkthat scripture brings us into
what I call a creative tension,and so it's about how we manage
ourselves in that creativetension, if I'm honest with
myself, and we need to be honestwith ourselves, and all of us
have deluded ourselves to somedegree, you know.
(13:39):
But if we are willing to stopsquinting and look at ourselves
through, you know, in the mirrorof God's eyes, which are
represented in scripture, youknow, truth is healing to our
souls, it's healing to ourbodies, it's healing to our
communities.
And so we believe is about hey,what are the gaps between what
(13:59):
I say on Sunday and how I liveon Monday?
And, without any shame, how canI chart a course across that
gap between what I say and how Ilive?
That's why I want to talk about, you know, we believe, because
I think what we're doing here isgiving people an opportunity to
then restate where is my actualheart and where is my actual
(14:22):
treasure.
And again, Jesus respected thedignity of people by giving them
questions right and notcommands.
He didn't dictate and he wasn'tan authoritarian.
He loved enough to give thespace, and that's what we see in
the prodigal son story Lovingenough to give the space.
(14:45):
And you know, that story wouldbe much less profound if the dad
would have chased after the kid, you know, and sort of tied him
up and drug him home, but thefact that the child came to
himself and that precipitatedthe change of mind and heart and
direction.
I think this is where it is, andso what I think we should be
(15:07):
doing here is offering peoplesome clarity.
This is what we say.
This is who Jesus was.
This is who Jesus is.
This is Jesus's invitation.
You decide, and I think that'sthe best way to live, and I
think our treasure has got to beat least in that.
That's the good news of thegospel.
It's not coercion, and everytime the church does that, and
(15:31):
every time we as believers, asindividuals, begin to coerce in
God's name, we do violence tothe gospel.
Melissa (15:39):
So you're using some pretty big words like we and I
and us and individual.
Bishop Wright (15:46):
Sure.
Melissa (15:46):
And so how do we hold that intention?
Because you said go deep withinyourself to really you know.
So, bishop, can you kind oflike unpack that a little bit
that?
How do we walk?
Because you know the prodigalson and that brother, you know
the self-righteous one who wasall judgmental, was all about
what what the other did ordidn't do, or what the other
believed or didn't believe.
(16:07):
And so how do we hold those?
Bishop Wright (16:10):
well, Well, you know, the title of this little
series is called we Believe, butevery we starts with an I right
.
And so I mean, I think that wecannot delegate out, and perhaps
that is a part of the problemis that we are looking for other
(16:31):
people to deliver to us somesort of righteousness, some sort
of grace, etc.
And it seems that Jesus startswith individuals.
It seems that Jesus wants tostart with individual hearts and
behaviors and people's way tomanage truth, and so that's
where we start.
Look, you know, one of the most,I think, pregnant moments when
(16:55):
we gather in worship is that weare a collection of ragtag
individuals and then we aretogether for an hour in our
tradition, hour, hour and a halfand then after one person
preaches in our tradition, andafter we've heard the scripture,
after one person preaches inour tradition and after we've
heard the scripture, we stand upas best we can and we say we
believe.
(17:16):
And that's a pretty powerfulmoment because in that one
moment, while we may haveaffiliations with lots of
different groups, we're sort ofsaying we believe, and then, of
course, the doing of that iseverything.
And so I want to call us backto, you know, the.
(17:38):
We is made up of individuals,and the strongest we we can ever
assemble is individuals whohave a clarity of purpose and a
clarity of commitment and adepth of connection to
compassion.
So all of these ingredients are, I think, a great starting
point for us to begin toconsider again what we actually
believe.
How do we want to live?
(17:58):
Who is God in my life and whatdoes that mean?
Melissa (18:04):
Well, bishop, I'm looking forward to the next few
weeks.
Thank you, and thank you,listeners, for tuning in to For
People.
You can follow us on Instagramand Facebook at Bishop Rob
Wright, or by visiting www.
forpeople.
digital.
Please subscribe, leave areview and we'll be back with
you next week.
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