For Faith

Whether we’re meeting God for the first time or the eighty-second time there’s a reliable rendezvous available to us. It’s at the intersection of our failing strength, fraying faith, and God’s understanding and power. This crossroad is where God infuses our expiring lives with God’s everlasting-ness; our perpetual weariness with God’s never weariness. This is God’s pattern, to bless us in a place and fashion where we could not boast in anything but God. There’s a rare honesty with God and ourselves that comes with desperation! Somehow, that honesty gets God’s attention. The promise that scripture makes us is that there’s a real-world difference-making power that seeks to renew us. Causes us to soar. And, makes us walk and run without normal natural exhaustion. Somehow, in a place more important than my intellect, I know Isaiah is right.
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The new podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
Cita

As Jesus teaches in the synagogue he is interrupted by a man with an “unclean spirit.” When we see those two words in scripture it means a demonic spirit. A spirit that is not love. A spirit that opposes God. A spirit that harms the community and the host. Unclean spirits have infected the church and the nation. How could Jesus of Nazareth endorse any individual or group that accepts and supports people wearing clothing that says, “6MWE” Six million wasn’t enough” in reference to the Holocaust? How could Jesus of the Bible accept and support people who chanted “hang Mike Pence” when Jesus himself was publicly lynched? The issue here is not politics, it’s Jesus! A mature Christian understands that you cannot put the flag, any flag, higher than the Cross! Who do you say that Jesus is? The bible says that “unclean spirits” are afraid of Jesus. The bible says Jesus rebukes and casts out “unclean spirits,” leaving the hosts, purged, restored, and in their right mind.
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The new podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
“Maligno“

Simon and Andrew “immediately” dropped their net and joined Jesus’ friend making campaign. To my mind, either Jesus was exceedingly compelling, or their discontent with their occupation was peaking or both? Sometimes we can think of these bible stories in too pristine a way to be of good use. Life has so much grey. Life has so much of both. COVID has allowed many of us the space to acknowledge that we weren’t in love with our previous routine anyway. It’s just that the “sounds of our own wheels” drowned out that “still small voice.” Still, Jesus’ invitation persists. I wonder, are you discontent enough to hear Jesus’ offer anew? What would more urgent, more adventurous faith look like for you this year?
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The new podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
“Ambos”

“Hello Darling
Today I find myself a long way from you and the children. I am at the State Prison in Reidsville which is about 230 miles from Atlanta. They picked me up from the DeKalb jail about 4 ’0 clock this morning. I know this whole experience is very difficult for you to adjust to, especially in your condition of pregnancy, but as I said to you yesterday this is the cross that we must bear for the freedom of our people. So I urge you to be strong in faith, and this will in turn strengthen me. I can assure you that it is extremely difficult for me to think of being away from you and my Yoki and Marty for four months, but I am asking God hourly to give me the power of endurance. I have the faith to believe that this excessive suffering that is now coming to our family will in some little way serve to make Atlanta a better city, Georgia a better state, and America a better country. Just how I do not yet know, but I have faith to believe it will. If I am correct then our suffering is not in vain.”
An excerpt from a letter from Dr. King to Coretta King
October 26, 1960
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The new podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
“Hola Cariño”

Be like the wise men who brought Jesus gifts this year.
1. Follow your star. Where is the star of your heart leading you? Yes, I know COVID has complicated everything but really, follow your star.
2. Take a journey. Even if it is virtual, go somewhere new. We are meant for new. New learning. New friendships. New ideas.
3. Ask your questions. Jesus’ birth prompted questions from everyone. What is your question? So often God is nudging us through the questions that live softly and persistently in our spirit.
4. Don’t stop short. We get so close to our epiphany only to give up or get discouraged. Don’t stop short. The wise men traveled so many miles in faith from their home to Jerusalem. But, it was the last ten miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem that gave them their heart’s desire. In the immortal words of Congressman John Lewis, “Don’t give up and Don’t give in. Keep your eyes on the prize.”
Happy New Year!
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The new podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
“Comenzando de Nuevo”

As we say goodbye to 2020 and face 2021 there’s much to grieve and to give thanks for. When I consider where we have been and where we might be headed as a world, nation, and church, the biblical idea of wilderness helps me make sense of things. Wilderness throughout scripture is both that place of desolation and divine intervention. As we face what many have labeled as ‘a wilderness time in our country,’ let me say to you, don’t lose heart! Remember, God is a wilderness God and God delights in making a way in the wilderness. Those two truths fire our hope and direct our steps for the year ahead. Our present challenges are not insurmountable because nothing is impossible for God. In fact, looking at Jesus’ life, death, and Resurrection, we see that God does God’s best work in the wilderness! God has a way forward for us collectively and as individuals right through this present wilderness, accumulating as we travel with God, the faith and joy that is our inheritance.
Happy New Year!
“Behold, I am doing a new thing, now it springs up, Can’t you see it? I put a way in the wilderness.”
“Un Camino”

Pregnant and in labor, Mary and Joseph scramble to find shelter. Before these late-night travelers find the stable they were rejected at the inn. “No room,” the innkeeper told them. “No room.” Christmas comes again this year, maybe especially this year, to wonder if there is room for Jesus in our lives? But first, Christmas is about God wanting to room with us. Christmas is God leaving the gated community called Heaven and moving in with a food, finance, and shelter insecure family. Mary made room in her body and in her reputation for the scandal of birthing and mothering Jesus. Joseph made room in his vision of marriage and parenting to accommodate God’s purposes. The wise men showed up to the manger with their gifts, having made room in their schedule, priorities, and wealth to seek, find, and honor Jesus. On and on it goes. You could say that everything Jesus does from his birth to his Resurrection is about room making. Jesus’ entire life is the great reversal of the innkeeper’s words. As friends of Jesus, that’s our invitation, to live lives that reverse the world’s “no room” declarations! What powers us to take this direction and make this commitment? Christmas sentimentality won’t sustain us. Only this will help us and help the world, a deep appreciation of God’s desire and effort to room with us and our genuine response to that elegant generosity by offering an increasing amount of room in our lives to God.
A very Happy Christmas to you!
“Espacio”

They call Mary’s song/poem/rap the “Magnificat.” For many of us, it hits the ear the way hot chocolate hits the throat on a cold day. But, that’s only if we aren’t paying attention. Did you know Mary’s song/poem/rap was outlawed in more than a few countries? Somebody was paying attention. Somehow in Mary’s exchange with an angel, somehow in her faith life before the angel, Mary figured out that a life with God is about magnifying God. Not using God to magnify you! Mary learned that life with God is using your life and all of its circumstances and situations to increase the celebrity of God. Like, having on the tip of your tongue, that life with God has saved your life. That God’s mercy is what generation after generation have in common with one another. Those are the easy parts of the song/poem/rap to ingest. But then there’s the other part of God that Mary magnifies. Conceit and pride will be toppled. The mighty will become the meek and the meek will be elevated. The hungry finally will feast and those accustomed to feasting will learn what it means to be hungry. If you’re paying attention, you recognize that Mary is magnifying a God who has some clear ideas about equity and justice. The God of her song/poem/rap is a God biased in favor of those who fear God, those who are lowly, those who are hungry, and those who have built their lives on God’s promises. That ought to give the majority of us an uneasy pause. But maybe you’ll go a step further. How do you make sense of Mary’s song/poem/rap? How do you magnify a God who identifies with and delights in sharing the dirty corners of our world more than the marble corridors of power?
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
Bishop Wright is joined by special guest Bishop Andy Doyle of The Episcopal Diocese of Texas.
“Magnificar”

I guess I’m getting old. You read something and an image or song comes to mind that’s dated. That dates you. I hear John the Baptist’s story and I think of Perry Mason. Only the old folks will get that, the rest of you, well, thank God for Google. I see him standing there in court, examining the witness. I see him artfully circumvent and dodge all the half-truths of the witness. Incidentally, this is all happening on my 13 inch portable black and white television! Perry Mason was an incredible maker of questions. Questions that probed and prodded until finally, just in time for the show to finish, the witness exhausted and with no more defenses, confesses the truth. In that moment you see both the weight and the freedom of the truth. How did John get to his testimony? Who helped him to stop making excuses and land with concision and clarity on the truth? Can’t you just hear Perry Mason saying to John, “is that your testimony, sir?” And can’t you hear John say back, “that is my testimony. I came to testify to the light and to baptize with water.” In the Episcopal Church, we pride ourselves on being the church where questions are welcome. I’m proud of that. But, the function of questions isn’t simply more information, it’s to gain clarity. And clarity about Jesus and our role in His friend making campaign changes our lives and thereby changes the world. What is your testimony? How did you get to that clarity?
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The new podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
“Claridad”

Being a follower of Jesus is choosing to be foolish. Not a fool, but foolish. A fool is someone who has been duped or ignorant. Being foolish for and with Jesus is neither of those things. It’s the opposite of those things. Foolish is a wisdom that flows from knowing the difference between God’s ways and our ways. It’s a bold interdependence, not a stoic self-sufficiency. Foolishness understands you can only have real life if you give your life away. And that, you can only truly possess if you share liberally. Foolishness is understanding what we build is like sandcastles in a rising tide, so the best use of our lives is to partner with God’s eternally durable purposes. In three instances Paul talks about foolishness: the foolishness of preaching; the foolishness of the Cross, and God’s foolishness being wiser than human wisdom. John, Jesus’ cousin, is a poster child for foolishness. He’s dressed like yesterday, standing in the truth of today, proclaiming a fresh start for tomorrow. His claim to fame is standing in a muddy trickle of a river and asking people to leave their former lives and lies behind. Water and spirit, he said, will change everything. Foolish, some call it, and yet here we are, two thousand years later. Some of us would be more authentic, more liberated, and more truthful followers of Jesus if we chose to be more foolish.
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The new podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.