Alive!

Easter doesn’t just ask us to believe something happened 2,000 years ago. It challenges the size of our imagination today. 

In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Rob Wright have a conversation about his Easter devotion “Alive". They talk about what it means to live as Easter people who confess, without flinching, that nothing is impossible for God. Together, they unpack how the resurrection is a blueprint for real life and leadership: God’s persistent love that can’t be silenced by soldiers, stones, or collusion with empire. Bishop Wright argues that Jesus isn’t “resurrected” only after the crucifixion, he’s already living a resurrected way before it, restoring dignity, healing old wounds, and telling the kind of truth we often try to deny, soften, or kill. That raises the stakes for how we face fear and mortality, and how we keep pursuing God’s truth even when it costs us. Listen in for the full conversation.

Transcript

Sin And God’s Patience

Bishop Wright 0:00

For me, it does not disprove. Sin does not disprove God. It proves for me some truths about what it means to be human. Sin actually proves that God is a patient God, that God is a loving God. That the way that God must look at the ark of time is very different from the way that we look at the ark of time. And so perhaps us stumbling around for as long as the species have been on the ground here means that God is immensely patient.

Melissa 0:49

Welcome to For People with Bishop Rob Wright. I'm Melissa Rau and this is a conversation inspired by For Faith, Bishop Wright's weekly devotional 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. Happy Easter, Bishop.

Bishop Wright 0:57

Happy Easter. It's still Easter.

Melissa 1:00

Indeed, it is. And your devotion is called Alive based on your 2026 Easter sermon.

Bishop Wright 1:07

Yeah.

Melissa 1:09

So it's it's Easter, and your devotion's all about the ramifications of the fact that Jesus rose again and that with God nothing is impossible.

Bishop Wright 1:20

Yes, that that's our song. That's our song. That's we are Easter people, uh, which means uh we confess, as we have said in previous iterations, we confess that nothing is impossible for God. And uh on that morning, 2,000 years ago, the impossible happened. Uh the tomb was empty. Uh the women uh had their grief lifted. Uh they had their tasks changed. They went from burial to uh now uh making sure that everybody knew no burial was necessary. Um they encouraged the community and uh and they were redirected to where Jesus was already uh back at work. He was back at Galilee already after the resurrection doing those things that he had done previously. So, yeah, so the resurrection uh is not only what God has done in Jesus Christ, the resurrection is also a blueprint for our living.

What The Resurrection Reveals

Melissa 2:17

Okay, so Bishop, what do you believe it means to be an Easter people?

Jesus Lived Resurrection Before Death

Bishop Wright 2:22

Well, the first thing uh an Easter people, uh what that means, I think, is that we live in response to God, right? And so, and so who is God in Easter? Who is God in the resurrection? I think that's first and foremost. So God, uh apparently God is lively all by God's self. Apparently, God doesn't need our advice. Apparently, God is persistent uh after God's purposes. Apparently, God can't be silenced. Uh, apparently, uh, soldiers and tombs and large stones and uh, you know, a religious order that colludes with empire is no match for God. That's what our story says. And so I think first and foremost, the resurrection is about who God is, the person of God. And I think that ends up being the animating factor for our lives. So if God is this, then what does it mean to live in relationship to that kind of God? So if nothing is impossible for that kind of God, then that broadens my horizons and extends and enlarges my imagination about the nature of life, the nature of neighborliness, uh, the nature of faith, the nature of sharing. I mean, it just obliterates the limits, right? And so I I think uh I think in very practical ways, uh, you know, the resurrection to live in the tension and in response of the resurrection, I think begins to give us a definition of life that very few of us can imagine all by ourselves.

Melissa 3:56

Okay, fair. And I have questions.

Bishop Wright 4:00

Of course.

Melissa 4:01

I wonder if I have questions too. I wonder if sometimes we miss the forest through the trees, though, Bishop, because I to live in response to the resurrection is great. It makes a lot of sense because what what happened to the resurrection is just incredibly miraculous.

Bishop Wright 4:15

Yes.

Melissa 4:16

And what would it mean to live in response to the way Jesus lived before he was crucified, died, buried, and rose again?

Fear, Mortality, And Truth Rising

Bishop Wright 4:24

Yeah, well, you know, it's interesting, those two aren't separate things. I mean, Jesus was living the resurrected life prior to the crucifixion. I mean, he was restoring, you know, old uh historic, uh uh ethnic and cultural uh disagreements and wounds. He was re-establishing or establishing an order whereby women and children and those who were infirmed, uh even the demon-possessed, had dignity and standing in the community. So he was already making us more alive than we already wanted to be. You know, we can't metabolize truth uh in the way that Jesus was inviting us to metabolize truth. And that's why we killed him, because, you know, when the truth becomes too much, uh, we deny it, we euphemi it, uh uh sometimes we'll go into despair about it, uh, and sometimes we'll just murder it such that we can if we can't uh co-opt it. And so then Jesus' risen life before the crucifixion uh then becomes his risen life after the crucifixion, right? Uh according to the gospel that we use for Easter, uh, you know, the women come to the tomb, they meet the angel, the angel tells her, tells them uh that he's not here, and that they should go and encourage the community and go beyond, go back to Galilee, go to Galilee, where Jesus has resumed all the acts that he had taken up prior. So, yes, there, so it's a flow, right? It's a it's an amazing kind of flow that God will not be outdone, that God's purposes will get achieved, and that our puny efforts to murder God's truth uh may look successful for a time, but eventually, uh ultimately uh they will not, just because those things uh that we throw at God, which are inferior to love, uh just uh are just made of uh in you know not durable things. Uh love is the most durable force in the universe. So I think that's our story. And that's a hard story because in the interim, and you know, sometimes in a snapshot, uh, you know, crucifixion looked tragic and terrible. It looks like brutality had the last word. And so, yeah, so so then comes God, and then comes the response, and then comes the new possibility of life. And I think what we have to say here too is that what the what the uh crucifixion and resurrection uh give us is a new relationship with fear and mortality. And and that's pretty immense um in that um uh you can crush the truth, uh, but it will rise again. Uh and uh and so therefore I can be uh forthright in my pursuit of of God's truth in the earth, knowing that even if you crush my body, uh that work which I had pledged myself to will continue, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Melissa 7:56

Yeah, and sin remains, right?

Bishop Wright 8:00

Sure does, because we remain.

Melissa 8:02

Indeed. So I saw I saw a great awakening over the weekend, and I was struck by the difference between the Reverend George Whitfield and Benjamin Franklin. And I'm I'm also struck by the way a lot of people today seem to focus more about the way people believe or what people believe rather than how they live. And so I'm curious how you make sense of believing that Jesus died and rose again in order for our salvation.

Bishop Wright 8:33

Yeah. Well, well, first of all, you know, what what's your litmus test here uh for your for your uh you know your your your thesis? If if flaky human beings uh is your is your sort of standard, then oh my God, we're we're in a whole lot of trouble. Um, you know, the truth of the matter is that all of us, uh our our race, our species, uh has this uh this um perennial gift of uh of uh missing the mark, uh tragically, extravagantly, uh, and that's it, that's what it is to be human. That's true for us at home, uh, that's true with us when we get together and we make systems. Um we we make systems and we make our reality, we cobble together what we call reality uh based on limited information, very narrow viewpoints, uh, and frankly, selfishness. And this is what we have done to each other time and time again. You want to talk about the American project here uh and how this nation was founded imperfectly. Um uh uh, you know, in terms of we have freedom for all except for indigenous people, except for the sons and daughters of Africa, uh and later on some other other groups, certain, most notably perhaps women, and to say nothing of the poor. And so, and so, and so I would agree with you 100%. We have flamboyantly missed the mark and continue to miss the mark as individuals uh and as a society. And does that now disprove that God is still at work through the Holy Spirit and through the ministry of Jesus to us to bring us into a more excellent way of relationship with one another? For me, it does not disprove. Sin does not disprove God. Uh, what it proves, however, is that it proves for me some truths about what it means to be human. In fact, in fact, the truth of the matter is that sin actually proves that God is a patient God, that God is a loving God, that the way that God must look at the ark of time is very different from the way that we look at the ark of time. And so perhaps uh us stumbling around for as long as the species have been on the ground here means that God is immensely patient. Now, some will say that it means that the whole Christian enterprise and Christian story is uh, you know, is not worth the paper it's written on. Well, I certainly understand that viewpoint. That's not my viewpoint, because the truth of the matter is, too, what little good that we have done in this nation uh by going back and then charting a new way forward has been inspired by grace undeserved, unearned, uh has been led uh by men and women of many races and cultures, languages, um uh, you know, who had at the core of them a godly hope, who were able to see and imagine a way forward for our species that was kinder, gentler, uh more equitable, more just, et cetera. And so um uh, you know, that that that for me at least uh affirms the fact. I mean, well, it's like the quote that I used in my Easter sermon. Henry David Thoreau uh went out and was walking by a pond, and he saw, you know, was overtaken by the stench of the pond and the muck of it all. And uh, you know, he sort of recoiled. And then as he kept on looking, he saw some lily come right up out of the mud and out of the muck. And, you know, despite the stench, it had a fragrance and it absolutely took him over. And he said, ah, that fragrant little lily coming up out of the muck actually is the is the confirmation of our hopes. And so I I tend to see um the resurrected life uh as, first of all, as always a remnant community, as always a numerical and societal minority. Um, yeah, we say that we're a Christian nation, and uh one wonders what we mean by that. Um, you know, are we Christian in numbers or are we Christian in character? Uh, and and how how would we measure that? Well, we would measure that by the policies uh that have been sort of uh, and so one uh looks at our policies, present and beyond and past, and it looks like we're trying to move in that direction, sometimes not so much, sometimes quite a bit. So, yeah, we're we continue to be a democratic project, we continue to be Christian projects individually and societally.

Melissa 13:32

Okay, so you know the book of James says faith without works is dead.

Bishop Wright 13:37

Right.

Melissa 13:37

How would you take your devotion at your part of your sermon and say, all right, for such a time as this, for what's going on in the world and how our nation might be engaged or disengaged with its neighbors, how might we apply this to our everyday life?

Coffee Conversations And Human Dignity

Bishop Wright 13:54

Well, I think that's actually easy. That's easier than it looks. I mean, again, we should remember that uh that Jesus was not a global phenomenon when he was walking around Galilee. He was a local guy uh trying to live out this radical vision of love that was inclusive, that had to do with forgiving enemies, sitting at table with all kinds of people, even friends who were betrayers, of seeing people who were otherwise unseen, of uh living out, you know, loving God with heart, mind, soul, and strengthened neighbor uh as self. And so so we can do that locally. Look, the truth of the matter is that you don't and I don't control Washington, D.C. You and I don't control the straits of Hormuz. Uh, we don't control the price of gas. Uh there's so much we don't control, and yet we overwhelm ourselves with this, right? And it it just gives us this sinking sense of despair. So the better question is what can you control? What is within your purview to control? Now, I I I uh I put out a pastoral letter to my diocese uh called Dignity, uh, Solidarity and Support, where we just wanted to affirm uh the dignity of our brothers and sisters who live amongst us, uh, who are immigrants, some refugees, uh, et cetera. And and uh as a general matter, that went well. Um, however, there were people who had really strong reactions to that. They wondered if I had overstepped my boundary as a religious leader. Uh, they wondered if I was just being, you know, sort of partisan with my politics. They wondered if I was even a good American. And uh, and what I have decided to do is to have coffee with every single person who uh who wrote uh a sort of spirited, we'll call it spirited to be polite, spirited letter or email back to me, calling me all kinds of names. Um and and so today I have a coffee with the first gentleman. And so I only say that to say what I can control on the way to the beloved community is to sit with people, to have a cup of coffee with them, and to simply and gently, right, and gently listen and then reaffirm that we are a human family, right? And not my agenda, and certainly no agenda from any political party, but this is what the gospel says. And I think I I I what I intend to do also with this particular gentleman and the other folks that I'm going to meet with is I'm gonna apologize to them. And here's here's what I'm gonna say. I apologize to you if you've been able to sit in our church for X amount of decades, and somehow you think that the message of human dignity and solidarity and support is somehow a political message or a politically partisan message. Somehow we as a church have failed you if we have not had you on a constant drip, right, of what it means to be the beloved community which is founded in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And and I won't I don't say that condescendingly or anything, but I think it's I think it's it's true. How is it that you can sit in the church at the foot of the cross, right, and receive the body and the blood for X amount of decades? These are good and faithful people, I suppose, right? Good and faithful people for decades, and somehow think that a message that affirms the dignity of other members of the human family above everything, right? Because we are baptized people into his life, Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, is somehow politically offensive. Or somehow that the church ought to be the place where I can go that affirms all my politics already. So they deserve an apology from every religious leader as far as I'm concerned, because they've been able to be in this ecosystem and not be invited gently, respectfully, into a conversation about my politics should be resurrection, my politics should be human dignity, my politics should be equity, right? That's what my politics should be. And then everything else is downstream of that. Rather than I'm going to try to fit in my uh local politics, in I'm gonna try to make Jesus some shapeshifter and push all my agenda on him and have him to conform. We owe people an apology.

Melissa 18:43

Well, Bishop, thank you for showing up to your people in that way. And I'll pray that they have the spirit of Nicodemus. Happy Easter Bishop.

Bishop Wright 18:53

I pray we both do. Yeah, amen.

Easter Blessing And How To Follow

Melissa 18:55

And thank you. 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.