For People with Bishop Rob Wright
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
#4 We Believe!
What does it really mean to be a sinner? When stripped to its Greek roots, sin simply means "missing the mark."
In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about sin and what Jesus' approach. The religious elite's biggest complaint against Jesus? That he dined with and welcomed those who missed the mark. "Now that's my kind of God," Bishop Wright reflects. This divine comfort with imperfect people creates a powerful invitation for all of us to bring our whole selves to faith.
Read For Faith, the companion devotional.
So Jesus is doing us a great service. And now this was the biggest complaint that they had with Jesus, all the fine religious people that he whined and dined with them and he welcomed them. Right, Think about it for a second right. He whined and dined with them, he welcomed them. He found himself comfortable with people who missed the mark. Now, that's my kind of God.
Melissa:Welcome to For People with Bishop Rob Wright. I'm Melissa Rau and this is a conversation inspired by Four Faith, a weekly devotion sent out every Friday. You can find a link to this week's Four Faith and a link to subscribe in the episode's description. Today we are having our fourth conversation on what Bishop Wright is framing his devotions and conversations on the theme We Believe, and our fourth topic is we Believe we Are All Sinners, based on Luke, chapter 15, verses 1 through 10. Bishop, that's a big, bold statement right there.
Melissa:mean to be a sinner.
Bishop Wright:Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Well, let me just say at the beginning I think it's important to establish this as sort of a level, set right as the ground underneath our feet, because from that ground, you know, we get to be with one another in new ways, we get to be for one another in new ways, one another in new ways, you know. So, when the Bible talks about sin and sinners, it's talking about in the Greek, it's just talking about that we miss right. And I mean, come on, I mean, can we get that honest? I mean that's not that hard.
Bishop Wright:It doesn't seem to say I miss, I miss at things that I think I'm actually, you know, winning at. I miss, I have blind spots, I have biases, I have ignorance in the literal sense of that word. There are things that I don't know. I have ego needs, I have pride, and maybe I'm not the only sinner who's listening today. I have all these sorts of things and I'm not a terrible person, and I don't have all these sorts of things and I'm not a terrible person and I don't have, as far as I can tell, I don't have terrible self-worth.
Bishop Wright:But what's really generative about saying that I'm a sinner is it's just descriptive. I also have 10 toes, I also have 10 fingers, I also have two ears. You know, it's just descriptive. It's what makes up a human, I think. And so you know you won't be surprised that while some people want to duck or, you know, sort of evade this language, I think at a time like we find ourselves in now, we have to center this language. But maybe we need to bring some lightness to it and maybe we need to bring a little sunshine to it. But at the end of the day, you know, this word is just trying to help us describe the condition that we find ourselves in.
Melissa:Yeah, you know, I have to say, when I read this I actually felt relief, Bishop. I was like oh dang, that means everybody else is, that means I am, we all are. And whoo, isn't there some relief in that?
Bishop Wright:Perfect people make me nervous, right? I mean, I have nothing. If you're a perfect person, god bless you. I just have nothing in common with you. Right, I'd like to be seated in the center section of the church. Right, that's my section. Right? It's not that the in the way that I I injure others or I injure myself, or or my pride or my greed, it's not that I bask in it. But I think we've got to start by naming it Right. You know the way to control, begin to control something is to name it. We know that Right. And to you know, to name it is to begin to start to have power over it. And so Jesus is doing us a great service. And now, this was the biggest complaint that they had with Jesus, all the fine religious people, that he whined and dined with them, and he welcomed them. Right, think about it for a second right. He whined and dined with them, he welcomed them. He found himself comfortable with people who missed the mark. Now, that's my kind of God, right.
Melissa:Yeah Well, as I was thinking about this Bishop, it's interesting to me. I was thinking of the imagery of an archery like a target and it's like all right to win, you got to hit the bullseye, right. That's nailing it, Nailing it right.
Bishop Wright:Yeah right.
Melissa:And yet sometimes I think we all get caught up by how far we miss, yeah, and we compare like, oh well, you're closer or you're not, and I don't know. What do you think Jesus would have to say about how far we miss the mark?
Bishop Wright:Oh my gosh. Well, I think is absolutely critical, and that is even in our sinfulness. We sin. Let me tell you what I mean. Let me tell you what I mean Sometimes.
Bishop Wright:Sometimes we can get so despairing about the fact that we miss right. It's like a deep hole that we don't ever want to get ourselves out of. Sometimes, part of sinfulness is the need to punish ourselves for our sin. But here comes Jesus saying you're forgiven. I mean, in this wonderful lesson from Luke, the 15th chapter, he said that there's a rejoicing in heaven when you and I sort of name it and begin to find our way back through the glory, through the goodness of God and through the grace of the Holy Spirit, way back through the glory, you know, through the goodness of God and through the grace of the Holy Spirit. So I think that one of the things we've got to do for ourselves is decide that we are not judge and jury. And so I've got to decide in my sinfulness, maybe even in my need to punish myself for doing some things or saying some things or not saying some things, or not doing some things, I've got to say that I'm going to latch myself to how Jesus thinks about sinning right and how Jesus thinks about sinners. And so it's an interesting thing that sin can mean that we put ourselves in the judge and jury seat. It's always with the de-centering judge and jury seat rather than it's always with the decentering, rather than saying God, what is your view, through Jesus's life, his ways, his words, about how we handle this moment and how I handle this moment is is that I realize that and I've said this again and again that I am in Jesus's eyes more than any debt, my worst day, my worst decision or my worst deed. So if I am those things in Jesus's eyes, even in my worst, as I sin, then in Jesus. Jesus is then therefore the one that I can trust with my sin Right, and it's not that I get a pass and we can talk about consequences, if we want to, to wrongheaded behavior. We can talk about that.
Bishop Wright:But I just want to get established that there is creative possibility with this word, and what I like about this word is that it puts me with everybody. It condemns this word sin, condemns my superiority complexes If we are those people who bear those complexes or my need to be superior or separate. It condemns that just by holding up the word, because it says that we all fall short. Now, that's a party I want to go to, where everybody in the room knows that they fall short, and this is why I think going to church is important.
Bishop Wright:Let me just say that Going to church is important because we are gathered with other people who fall short, and that may be the best thing that we have to offer the world. In the church, which is here, is a space intentionally constructed for all of us who miss the mark, so that we can hear again that Jesus loves and forgives us and that we can give it another try in the week ahead. And so I still think that that is a unique purpose for our church, and I think people need to go there now, maybe more than ever, because that I mean, where else do you go that holds up that banner? There's nowhere that comes to mind for me where I can go, and I can acknowledge other places. I have to go, or we go, choose to go. We have to project a manicured life.
Melissa:Well, okay, so the theme forgiveness is popping up and bubbling up in me.
Bishop Wright:Sure.
Melissa:Kind of like what you said. And yet how can we forgive if there's not a bit of an interrogation aka judgment towards oneself and others or others? Do you have any thoughts about that, because that's a little complicated.
Bishop Wright:Well, yeah, you're moving forward into forgiveness, and what I want to do is I want to stop a minute and center the word sin, because I think when we realize who we are, then we start to realize what's the next step in the sequence of events. But, yeah, I mean, if I'm a sinner and this is why the last line of this meditation, I think, is important you know, once I realize what my condition is right, when I realize, you know that you know I'm a decent person but I failed to do the good that I should do or I continue to practice the wrong that I know I should shun, you know, then I start to understand that life is more than logic and there's something about this human condition that poets and authors and songwriters have tried to describe for millennia. And if we have this three-letter word, that begins to help us right, begins to help us realize who we are. That's reflection, that's a depth of reflection, and I think that the best movement into forgiveness for us is to actually realize the ways in which I've offended God and the ways in which I have offended others, and the ways in which I have offended my own self, my own dignity, etc. And so to me.
Bishop Wright:What I like about the word sin is that this is grown-up stuff. This is stuff for thinking people, people who are not afraid of the quiet that can consider their life, who are not addicted to innocence. James Baldwin's famous quote If you're not addicted to always playing the victim or needing to be innocent, then you can let things be as they are and you can hear the ways in which you have missed and realize that that lays beside all the days that you didn't miss and that we are actually both right. Jesus gives us in this wonderful little story about heaven rejoicing at sinners, you know, turning around, making a U-turn, this notion that this is a cosmic thing and that the way forward for all of us that ends up being a communal thing for us is for us to acknowledge the fact that we missed the mark and then take all of that to a loving God.
Melissa:So would you say, levels of sin is irrelevant?
Bishop Wright:No, Well, I wouldn't say that it's irrelevant. I mean, if that's the kind of conversation we want to have about a hierarchy of sin, okay, that's fine, we can do that, and we spend some time on that in the church. We talk about that a little bit in Lent purposes. I think what I really want people to do this is an invitation is just to be able to lay claim to all the parts of your life. Look the smart people, the therapists and the psychiatrists. They want to talk about, you know, an integration of all of our experiences in life.
Bishop Wright:You know, we don't have to keep things you know in a metaphorical sort of lockbox, thrown into the outer darkness of our psyche. You know, the good news is is that, you know, as we give these things to God, as we reflect on these things and offer them to God and view ourselves through God's loving eyes, then we can integrate all of who we have been. Look, the best ambassadors for God are people who can embrace all of who they've been, all of who they've been, and I think when we do that, we are whole W-H-O-L-E, and I think that's the way towards holiness is realizing in God's eyes I have dignity, worth and value and it's not predicated upon me having a perfect record book. That's not the way that God seems to be judging. God seems to be judging with the full knowledge that we will miss. But the question is now that you've missed, what do you want to do?
Melissa:And therein lies the liberation.
Bishop Wright:Yes, precisely right. What I like to to say is you mentioned last week about freedom. Well, the real freedom and health is acknowledging that we fall short and accepting this love, this welcome home love, as you walk down the new path.
Melissa:And we believe we are all sinners.
Bishop Wright:We believe we are all sinners and hallelujah, god loves sinners.
Melissa:Indeed. Thank goodness for that Bishop thank you for such a great conversation and listeners. Thank you for listening to For People. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook at Bishop Rob Wright, or by visiting www. forpeople. digital. Please subscribe, leave a review and we'll be back with you next week.