For People with Bishop Rob Wright
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
Relationship with Justin Strickland
Have you ever considered the difference between being a tourist and being a pilgrim? Justin Strickland discovered this distinction firsthand during his transformative journey to Ghana and the Anglican Diocese of Cape Coast, the companion diocese of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. His story reveals how true pilgrimage reshapes our understanding of presence, relationship, and spiritual growth.
In this episode, Melissa and Justin have a conversation about Justin's recent pilgrimage and how it mirrors the tension of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42 - the challenge of balancing doing with being. While Martha is busy attending to the practical needs of preparing for Jesus, Mary chooses to sit at his feet, listening to his teachings. Through visits to slave trade sites and immersion in Cape Coast's vibrant Anglican worship, Justin discovered the power of stepping away from constant activity to truly listen and connect.
The journey began as historical exploration but blossomed into something far more meaningful - genuine relationships that continue to flourish across oceans. "We're such a doing people that we get so caught up in the doing that we forget when those holy moments to stop doing are," he reflects. His story challenges us all to recognize when we need to be Martha (doing) and when we need to be Mary (being) - finding those sacred moments where stopping to listen transforms not just our experience but our very selves. Listen in for the full conversation.
Read For Faith, the companion devotional.
Justin Strickland is a lifelong Christian who was raised in the Pentecostal tradition but found his spiritual home in The Episcopal Church. He is an active member of the Cathedral of St. Philip and a passionate advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the life of the church. Recently, Justin deepened his faith journey by participating in a pilgrimage to Ghana. His life reflects a commitment to justice, community, and faithful witness.
We're such a doing people that we get so caught up in the doing that we forget when those holy moments to stop doing are. And so what I really appreciate about this is Jesus recognized that Mary was taking kind of a holy moment of her own to stop and to be present and to learn and to open her heart. And that's really kind of where I'm at with pilgrimage even is it was a holy moment to stop and to listen and learn.
Melissa:Welcome to For People with Bishop Rob Wright. I'm Melissa Rau, your host, 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 For Faith and a link to subscribe in the episode's description. Now, over the course of July, bishop Wright is focusing on continuing education and we have special guests from the Diocese of Atlanta doing our fourth faith devotion and having these conversations with us, and so our guest today is Justin Strickland, and Justin is a parishioner at the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta. Welcome, justin.
Justin Strickland:Hey, Melissa, thank you.
Melissa:You bet Well, okay. So you wrote based on your experience when you traveled to the Diocese of Cape Coast on pilgrimage in Ghana. You named your reflection the presence and relationship and the gifts of pilgrimage Friends. I'd highly recommend reading this devotion. It's so, so well-crafted, it's beautiful. So please take your time to look up the devotion. But, Justin, would you just summarize your overall experience and what really hit you?
Justin Strickland:Yeah, you know. So the pilgrimage to Ghana was a deeply spiritual experience. The first few days we were there were focused really heavily on touring the history of the slave trade sites, and the latter part of the pilgrimage was really focused on being in relationship and meeting the people in the diocese of Cape Coast and going to church with them and experiencing their style of worship and really participating, and so the words that just kept rising in my heart was relationship. Out of that pilgrimage and you know, there were some really deeply heavy historical moments where the weight of history just kind of knocks you in the face. And then there was also a lot of moments of joy and spontaneous prayer and sharing meals together and experiencing another culture and seeing faith through someone else's eyes.
Melissa:Had you ever been on a pilgrimage before?
Justin Strickland:I had not. This was my first journey with pilgrimage. I'm not really sure that I knew what pilgrimage was before this, but yeah, it's a very different experience than tourism. So it was because you're there for a purpose and I think for me. I'm not sure that the word relationship was on my heart until I got there and I was like what is the purpose of pilgrimage? And for me the purpose of pilgrimage was sort of building a relationship with our brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Cape Coast and getting to experience the Anglican communion and all of its beauty in a different place.
Melissa:You know you talked about tourism. I heard a great quote as I was preparing to go on a pilgrimage this past time. It goes something like this a tourist passes through a place, whereas a place passes through a pilgrim.
Justin Strickland:Absolutely. And then it stays on your heart and so I've gotten some relationships with people that I've developed there that I'm still in kind of regular prayer and contact with, and so it was just a really cool experience. I was very happy and then just the relationship that I got with the 20 some odd other pilgrims from the diocese who went. So these are friendships that will last a lifetime.
Melissa:Yeah Well, I love the fact that you talk's feet and Martha is doing, doing, doing, she's going, going, going. A lot of people don't realize too that the word that describes what Martha is doing is ministry actually. So she was doing not just doing just for doing sake, but was doing active ministry. Jesus recognized that and yet still highlighted the fact that Mary chose to sit and to be, and you highlighted being versus doing in your devotion. What would you have to say more about that?
Justin Strickland:You know, I think that it's really, you know, Martha is doing what so many of us do she's preparing, she's serving, she's managing the moment. And there's kind of a holiness to that busyness when you're serving other people. But there are times in life when I think that we can get so caught up in the doing that we get distracted, and we get so distracted that we miss the presence of the moment and the learning opportunities that are in front of us. And so, you know, I think in this chapter in the gospel, you know, it's not that we want to fault Mary for doing those things, but we want to recognize what Martha did by choosing to be present in that moment and to sit at Jesus's feet and to recognize the weight of the moment and to share an experience with him. And so I think sometimes people get so caught up in the doing for someone that they get, they miss the opportunity to actually be present with them.
Melissa:Right. I think people overlook the fact that it wasn't so much anybody admonishing Martha, but it was that Martha was admonishing Mary for being.
Justin Strickland:Yes.
Melissa:Right, and so he said no, no, no, actually she's got, she's, she's doing something really important Right. And so I'm curious, based upon your, your experience with the pilgrimage, um, um, how has that shaped you post-pilgrimage? Where have you been taking the time to really reflect and lean into relationship with I think you were saying presence over performance? How has that kind of helped you maybe live differently?
Justin Strickland:You know, I think it's definitely made me become a better listener no-transcript perspective. So I think it's an experience that definitely changed me and it you know I spent a lot of time with our brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Cape Coast and you know they're aware of all the talk lately about. You know, it's almost like we live in a moment where we want to revise history, sometimes in this country, and they're deeply aware of that, and so it's like listening to history from their perspective was a very spiritual gift for me, I think.
Melissa:Oh, wow. Are you able to share some of that with us? Like you know some of their perspective.
Justin Strickland:Yeah, you know they're really aware of critical race theory and how there are a lot of initiatives right now to stop diversity, equity and inclusion in the United States, and you know that's something that's, I think, probably hurtful for them because there's a lot of real work that needs to be done. You know, it's not like the slave trade ended and everything got 100% better. We still have a lot of work to do on racial reconciliation and, you know, in the Diocese of Cape Coast they're very aware of that, and so it was just something to listen to, and it was more of a moment for me to listen to them than to speak, and that's something that's hard for me is I'm usually a speaker. I'm not naturally a good listener.
Melissa:Yeah, I'm sure that experience is very profound. I don't mean to compare and contrast. I'm struck by the fact that the folks in the Diocese of Cape Coast, they have a story that is often untold, because we in America, I think, focus on the tragedy of taking people from their native lands and enslaving them for our gain in America, and now they're Americans and forced upon them, and yet we rarely talk about the villages from which folks were actually taken and the hole or the gaping hole that left, I think in the Diocese of Cape Coast.
Justin Strickland:Right.
Melissa:Were you able to talk or learn about that Cape Coast?
Justin Strickland:pilgrims on our pilgrimage who were from African descent, and so for them this was kind of like a homecoming right. And just to be a witness to that homecoming and to get to be present and watch people return to set foot on their native land for the first time, to go to the last bath, which is now kind of being reached out as the bath of return, and to touch the water for the first time in the Diocese of Cape Coast, and how deeply moving and spiritual it is for our brothers and sisters who are returning to their home for the first time, who are returning to their home for the first time, and then to hear the stories in Cape Coast on the lasting effects of the slave trade and slavery for them, and yet to see how much joy there is and the strength and the resilience in the people there. It was something that you truly have to experience it firsthand to really understand. But it was an experience that I think will shape the rest of my faith journey.
Melissa:I love that. So was there anything surprising? You know you talk about the power of moments. Actually, that's the book that's a book name the Power of Moments. I'm a big fan of that book. But being able to be present and having the wherewithal to be present like, okay, I'm witnessing something right now, Was there something that jumped out at you or surprised you?
Justin Strickland:You know I grew up Pentecostal and so I think one of the things that really surprised me was how charismatic and Pentecostal worship can be in other parts of the Anglican communion. And Pentecostal worship can be in other parts of the Anglican communion and, I think, the service in Cape Coast on Sunday. I went to Christ Church Cathedral and I went to church with them on Sunday and it was so Pentecostal and joyful and there was so much dancing and shouting and singing and I think I was surprised how at home I felt, and so it was a really cool experience for me to get to share that with them, because it felt like on some level I was returning to my spiritual roots in the diocese of Cape Coast and I don't think I expected it to be a homecoming for me.
Melissa:So, justin, I'm struck by the fact that pilgrimages are often mountaintop experiences and I'm also wondering how we might live day to day or operate kind of like from a place of pilgrimage, that every day is a pilgrimage, because we're showing up to something through relationship with either a people or a place, and I'm curious if you have any insight into how we might do that.
Justin Strickland:You know, for me this pilgrimage wasn't just a one-time experience.
Justin Strickland:I mean, I really got a relationship out of it and so for me, I'm in fairly regular contact with the dean at Christ Church Cathedral and Archdeacon Theo, who is my buddy, and you know I'm in regular prayer with them. I listen to their needs and you know when I'm saying my prayers. Now these are people that I'm praying for, who I've met. I've held their hands, I've shared a meal with them and as I continue the work of pilgrimage and I begin to tell the story of that relationship at the Cathedral of St Philip, I'm creating kind of a companion connection between our parishes, creating kind of a companion connection between our parishes. So I'm really thinking about how can we have a continuing relationship so that it wasn't just a one-time mountaintop experience. It really develops into an opportunity to tell the story of their parish to our parish and for our parish to tell our story to theirs and to create a true link across the ocean and the Anglican communion and to have the real fruit of pilgrimage truly be a relationship.
Melissa:Wow, that's really great. So what's next then? What do you see maybe coming out of that?
Justin Strickland:Well, on August 10th I'm going to be doing a presentation at the cathedral where I'm going to be doing a presentation at the cathedral where I, you know, I'm presenting the story of Cape Coast to our cathedral community for the first time, and so I'm really looking forward to that. And, you know, I think there'll be a lot of opportunities to continue to share stories in the future and to pray and to prayerfully consider how we can help meet some of the needs in the diocese of Cape Coast.
Melissa:That's pretty awesome. So do you know when the Diocese is doing another pilgrimage? Is it an annual thing that?
Justin Strickland:Atlanta does. It is an annual thing and I highly encourage you, if you even remotely think it should be, for you submit an application, apply and go, because it will change your life.
Melissa:Justin, I am grateful for you and for the time that you've taken to write your devotion as it pertains to Martha and Mary. Any last insight regarding Martha and or Mary, you know.
Justin Strickland:I think that there are times in life where we need to be Martha and there are times in life when we need to be Mary, and I think it's just we're such a doing people that we get so caught up in the doing that we forget when those holy moments to stop doing are. And so what I really appreciate about this is Jesus recognized that Mary was taking kind of a holy moment of her own to stop and to be present and to learn and to open her heart and to learn and to open her heart. And so I think that's really kind of where I'm at with pilgrimage even is it was a holy moment to stop doing and to listen and learn and all the fruits of the Spirit that you get from that the love, the joy, the relationship, the connection. And if I had just been focused on doing and not listening on the pilgrimage, I would have missed some of those moments.
Melissa:Justin, thank you so much for your wisdom and listeners. We're grateful to you for tuning in to For People. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook at Bishop Rob Wright, or by visiting wwwforpeople. digital. Please subscribe, leave a review and we'll be back with you next week.