For People with Bishop Rob Wright
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
Witness
Acts 1 shows us how Jesus exemplified the true nature of power—not through dominance but through actions and choices that reflect a true commitment to God and one another. That through the power of Witness, we can change the world.
In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about Acts 1 and bearing witness to the love of God - now more than ever. Bishop Wright unpacks how using faith as a tool for unity and change elevates us above division! Listen in for the full conversation.
This episode is based on an excerpt from Bishop Wright's Sermon "To Be Witnesses" at The 118th Annual Council of The Diocese of Atlanta.
Read For Faith, the written devotional companion.
Right. If Jesus is Lord of Lord and King of Kings, jesus clearly could have had the power, had the power to just wave a wand and do the thing, but we have to look at the way in which Jesus does power. Somehow, it pleases God to work God's power through us, and witness is the chief work of that. How we spend our money, how we spend our time, how we use our power, how we use our platform, who we include.
Melissa:Welcome to For People. With Bishop Rob Wright. I'm Melissa Rau and this is a conversation inspired by For Faith, a weekly devotion sent out every Friday. You can find a link to this week's devotion and a link to subscribe in the episode's description. We are recording the day after our election and you have prepared. The devotion for this week is actually an excerpt out of a sermon that you will be delivering on Friday to your council. Is that correct?
Bishop Wright:That's right.
Melissa:Yeah, so you called it witness. It's based off of Acts 1, and it's really all about the answer to what's going on here. When's the government going to be reestablished? And so I don't know if it's just like serendipity or providential that we're talking about this, but you've got some ideas and thoughts about it you want to share.
Bishop Wright:Well, yeah, well, first of all, you know, for those who are listening in, so the largest gathering of our church is Friday, today, and you know we gather together for worship first and then we go in and do some business. The business has everything to do about how we spend our time and how we spend our money in service to the ministry of Jesus Christ in Middle and North Georgia. So in many ways, before we get to anything that's political, it's all about witness, and what is witness Witness is who we think Jesus witness and what is witness Witness is you know this who we think Jesus is and how we respond to what we have seen of God in Jesus Christ, what we have seen of God in each other, and so that's what I'm using as witness, and I think witness is a wonderful word. It frames up, you know, how we respond to the gospel and witness. You know witness is beyond politics.
Bishop Wright:Witness is beyond gender, which witness is beyond socioeconomics and education. Witness is beyond geography. Witness is what Jesus said we were to do. It's our perennial purpose as a church said we were to do. It's our perennial purpose as a church. It's sort of vicissitude proof in many ways is what I like about the idea and in this wonderful snippet from the first chapter of the book of Acts, it's transnational, it's transpolitical and it's about impact and it's about impact.
Melissa:I have to admit that I'm kind of flummoxed today and I have a sticker on my laptop that says vote faithfully. And I'm pretty sure there are a lot of other people, more than 50% of our country, that voted differently than I did, and I'm kind of baffled how so many of us think we're voting faithfully and yet are completely missing one another. Bishop.
Bishop Wright:Yeah, it's true. You know, what I have said to people is that you know, this is my third election where we've convened a large gathering of Episcopalians immediately after a somewhat controversial election, and what I just try to help people understand is, first, half of us are elated at the results, and half of us are elated at the results and half of us are deflated at the results. And you know, what I hope is is that people did everything they could by voting and getting out the vote and sharing with other people the urgency and the importance of voting. And now the country has made up its mind in this case, um, sweeping, in sweeping fashion, in fact. Um, the popular vote went to, uh, now, president-elect, uh trump, um the electoral college, uh went there, uh, for him in big ways, uh, the um the Senate as well as the House, and so it's a sweeping victory, it's a sweeping message, and many people are rejoicing.
Bishop Wright:Simultaneously, many people are weeping, feeling disoriented, betrayed perhaps, and really are tempted to despair, are really are tempted to despair. And so let's be honest about the context of our work, and so that is true, and what I've been urging people to say is that I'm not a politician and that's not my realm. I'm a person who is baptized, I'm endeavoring to follow Jesus Christ and I regularly speak to people who are baptized and who are endeavoring to follow Jesus Christ. And so, as difficult as this post-election time and space is, in many ways, for us it is just another day. Another day to figure out how to bear witness with our lips and our lives to the reality that transcends politics, and the truth of the matter is is that Jesus is, you know, yesterday, today and forever, and this particular political season is temporal.
Melissa:Well, I'm very painfully aware that a number of folks, myself included, sometimes fall into the trap of putting all of our eggs into the government basket, asking and hoping that the government solves our problems for us, and so this really is kind of an opportunity for us to be witnesses of maybe a new way forward. And so, bishop, how would you have us be witness in this season?
Bishop Wright:Well, you know. More importantly I mean thank you for that question More importantly, how would Jesus have us to be witnesses? And this is why I think that now is the time to go back to founding documents. Now is the time to go back to Jesus's commissioning of his disciples. Now is the time to go back to the things that are our ideals and our values, especially in the difficult times for us. If those who are listening are experiencing some difficult times, now's the time to go back to that. If we're rejoicing, now's the time to go back to our founding values. If we're tempted to despair, now's the time to go back to our founding values. If we're tempted to despair, now is the time to go back to our founding values.
Bishop Wright:The disciples in the first chapter of Acts. Jesus is ascending to heaven, he finishes earthly ministry, and yet they shoehorn one more question into Jesus. I mean, jesus has been pummeled by questions, his whole ministry and now he's trying to ascend to heaven, and they just want to squeeze one more question in there. And they're asking Jesus a political question When's the restoration of the kingdom of Israel? That's the question they ask and Jesus does an amazing. He gives an amazing answer. They ask a when question and Jesus gives them a what answer and a how answer. So in many ways and this is what I love about the Bible you start off you bring yourself to scripture thinking one thing, but if you sit with it long enough, it tells you something that you did not expect. There's a surprise, and the surprise is that the story is very much about restoration. When will restoration come? And Jesus tells us how restoration comes. How restoration comes is if you and I will receive the power that he promises the Holy Spirit power, and be his witnesses in Jerusalem, judea, samaria and even to the ends of the world. So you know, with Jesus, you know there's no sugarcoating things. Also, with Jesus, there's not a whole lot of hand-wringing and lamenting about the odds and the difficulties. You know there's a straight line with Jesus. This is the work. You know there's a straight line with Jesus. This is the work.
Bishop Wright:And I would remind people too that Jesus was born under difficult political circumstances.
Bishop Wright:It may be a good Bible study for somebody to go back and look at the way in which men and women have bore witness to a loving God and a God of hope, especially in difficult and dire political circumstances.
Bishop Wright:Right, and I would say there's also a Bible study to be done for believers who are tempted to go too far in the political direction. You know, this story, this Jesus story in Acts, also tells us that we are not to over-depend on government and we are not to look to government for godly solutions. And so the message is whatever the political climate, whoever occupies the White House or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the Statehouse, our work continues, and our work is clear, and that is to proclaim that, in Jesus Christ, we have met a dazzling alternative to what the world offers. There is a way to do power that Jesus bears witness to that we are now the stewards of. We are the stewards of his ways, his words, his examples, et cetera. And so our work is clear. As I said, it's a perennial purpose, and the perennial purpose, yeah, go ahead.
Melissa:No well, I'm just curious about to whom right my big beef right now is. I think a lot of people will justify to whom they're showing up as a witness and then withhold certain people, because I think there are a number of folks that blame their problems on people rather than systems, and I feel like often who are blamed for some problems are typically the ones who really need the most witness, the witnessing of love and light.
Bishop Wright:Well, you know, remember what witness is really. Witness is not. You know, I am witnessing now to you. Witness is more about being than it is doing in some way. Right, and so you know, I think what Jesus was saying to us is that I'm deploying you first and foremost as members of the second chance club, right, so I give you power, jesus says, to be my witnesses, locally and globally, Right, and so remember who he's giving this power to. He's giving this power to the guys, and you know, the story tells us about guys, gives us a story to these guys who have utterly failed him, who have utterly missed the mark, and these are the very same people that Jesus has to sort of unlock doors, even to go and forgive, and these are the very same people that he endows with this new power. And these are the very same people that he endows with this new power. And so what I've said, and what I'm going to say on Friday and continue to say, is that what I hope Jesus, what I think Jesus is saying, is that I can now trust you with power, because now you have new humility. You have missed the mark and you know you've missed the mark.
Bishop Wright:Forgiveness has come to you a forgiveness beyond your asking and your imagination, and now, in the spirit of humility, go out into the world and offer an alternative to the way that we do things, to the status quo. I think that that is what we're talking about here. And look nowhere does Jesus ever say that we are to take over the political system one way or the other. There's nowhere that Jesus ever says that we are actually supposed to change the world as such. What we are called to do is offer an alternative to the world and to let that be persuasive right. If Jesus is Lord of Lord and King of Kings, jesus clearly could have had the power, had the power to just wave a wand and do the thing, but we have to look at the way in which Jesus does power. Somehow, it pleases God to work God's power through us, and witness is the chief work of that how we spend our money, how we spend our time, how we use our power, how we use our platform, who we include.
Bishop Wright:And so this is the trouble part. The most troubling part of following Jesus is that his time is not our time. His ways are not necessarily our ways. We wish that Jesus would figure out a much more efficient model than the one that he seems to favor. And yet this is what we have. And so we were never called to all agree on politics, we were never all called to agree on various amendments to the Constitution. We were called to go to places for Jesus, on Jesus' behalf, to do the things that Jesus have invited us to do, and so I'm sorry if that sounds so straightforward and maybe unvarnished, but I think we can do with some of this straightforward and unvarnished these days, when feelings either of one kind or the other can take us over Back to our purpose. Why should church exist?
Melissa:I think there are a number of folks who should church exist. I think there are a number of folks who are have been really kind of like retreating and going into prayer, and I think there is something Jesus did a whole heck of a lot of.
Bishop Wright:He sure did.
Melissa:And yet there are a number of folks are saying, yeah, it's, we're done with praying and thoughts, thoughts and prayers. We got to do something and I feel like it's a both and Bishop. So your final thoughts with prayer.
Bishop Wright:It is a both and it is a both and Prayer is our brave space. Prayer is where we go to God. Prayer is where we seek God's mind. Prayer is where we seek God's direction. Prayer is where we tell our truth, where we tell our pain. So it's a false dichotomy. So prayer is what we use and where we go to steal our spine, to get off our knees ultimately and go do and be the things that we are outlined with God in prayer. So it's both ends. So if people need a little time right now, that's fine. If people want to do some celebrating, that's fine. But at the end of the day, once all of that is done, you know ours is to do the work of making Jesus real in the world, and that privilege lives way beyond political partisanship.
Melissa:Indeed Well. Bishop, thank you for your wisdom and we're grateful for your devotion and listeners. We're grateful to you for tuning into For People. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook at Bishop Rob Wright. Please subscribe, leave a review and we'll be back with you next week.