Friends

What if the friends you need for today’s troubles include people from yesterday’s pages? Jesus' transfiguration points to a friendship that bridges time. It unites Jesus with Moses and Elijah to steady him for the hard road ahead. From that mountaintop, we explore how spiritual companions—ancestors in faith and the neighbors at our table—help us move through division, loneliness, and the loud churn of public life without losing our center.

In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about the transfiguration and friendship. From that mountaintop, they explore how spiritual companions—ancestors in faith and the neighbors at our table—help us move through division, loneliness, and the loud churn of public life without losing our center. Listen in for the full conversation.

Read For Faith, the companion devotional.

Chapters

• 0:00 Vertical And Horizontal Faith
• 0:58 Friends On The Mountaintop
• 2:44 Why Transfiguration Matters Now
• 5:36 Meeting Friends Across Time
• 9:20 Bridge Between Heaven And Here
• 12:50 Never Alone Even When Lonely
• 16:16 Devices, Isolation, And Real Presence

Transcript

Bishop Wright: 0:00

Relationship with God is both vertical and horizontal. It's vertical in, yes, the upward reach, but it's also in the outward push of one to the other. And you know, we need each other. We think that our devices are enough. They're not. We're looking at our kids now who have who have been for a generation on these devices. I think we're realizing the great harm we've caused. We need each other, both physically and in the spiritual realm.

Melissa: 0:50

Good morning, Bishop.

Bishop Wright: 0:57

Hey, Melissa.

Melissa: 0:58

Your devotion this week is called Friends, and you based it off of Matthew chapter 17, verses 1 through 9. You want to share?

Bishop Wright: 1:06

Sure. So it's entitled Friends. Prayer on a Mountain. That's where they saw Jesus rise and shine. Not a promotion, but a new relationship with the ancestors who lived for God. Moses and Elijah appeared two great pillars of faithful living, imperfect people through whom God performed wonders. We don't know what they said to Jesus on that mountain. Was it general encouragement, a good laugh, or was it the reminder of their friendship? Earthly life with and for God can be at times so very lonely. The world dances to dog eat dog while we attempt to dance to love God, love neighbor. But in and for this dissonance, there are friends available, friends who travel in time and space, friends at mountaintops and friends at low valleys. They were knowing friends who lived the prayers and paid the price. So like Jesus, we are at all times surrounded by such a great cloud of friends.

Melissa: 2:19

So I have to say that the fancy word for this big Sunday is transfiguration Sunday.

Bishop Wright: 2:25

Yeah, that's right. That's right.

Melissa: 2:26

And so transfiguration is where Jesus was kind of even unrecognizable, and of course, is come alongside these spirit friends, if you will.

Bishop Wright: 2:36

Yeah.

Melissa: 2:37

Bishop, why does this matter? Why does the transfiguration of Jesus matter right now?

Bishop Wright: 2:44

Oh, I'm so glad for that question. Well, I mean, Jesus goes up a mountain to pray, and he takes two friends, two embodied earthly friends, just like us two regular folks. He takes them up the mountain to pray, and in Jesus' quiet silence, they fall asleep. Uh sometimes our earthly friends fall asleep, whatever their limitations are. They fall asleep. They're not able to show up for us uh when and how we need it. That's okay. Sometimes that's a part of friendship. But in that quiet time, uh, Moses and Elijah, spiritual friends, show up. Uh uh the gospel tells us. And um, you know, friends, as I have said, who who paid the price themselves for faith, who knew what it was like to feel out of sorts in the world and yet in love with the world and in love with God. And um, I think what I'm trying to do is bring forward this wonderful piece of scripture that we find uh in uh in the Hebrews, the book of Hebrews. We are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. And uh I think the Bible should be read. Uh, I think the Bible uh also has friends for us to meet, uh, people who know what it's like uh across time uh and distance and space and hardship, who uh tried to keep the faith in their in their hour, uh in their suffering, et cetera. And and I think in a funny way, um uh life with Jesus calls us into fellowship, friendship with those folks. And I think that it's a strengthener for us. Uh I think that uh, you know, Sarai and Abraham suffered through um infertility. Uh I think that uh, you know, Peter uh had to live with the fact uh that uh at the critical moment when Jesus needed him most, uh he abandoned and rejected him. Uh and uh not out of, I mean, and not going forward with guilt or shame, but going forward with what it feels like um to have a second chance. We can be friends with Peter. Some of us have missed the mark uh and now have a clarity and a renewed sense of loyalty. So Peter can be a friend. Uh Moses uh had a stutter and a stammer, and God chose uh him to be a deliverer. And so uh none of us are perfect. Uh, some of us have learning differences, uh, some of us uh take a little while to catch on. Um and so again and again and again, there are these wonderful examples in the Bible uh of uh of friends, uh people who we have something in common with, and that uh they have something in common with us, and and we can use them as uh not only exemplars, but but people who can walk beside us, you know, in this sort of mystical fellowship we have through faith.

Melissa: 5:20

So when you were speaking, I got the idea or the impression of a bridge.

unknown: 5:25

Yeah.

Melissa: 5:32

Right. And I was wondering, I'm like, okay, was Jesus the bridge through which they could see the cloud of witnesses more easily? I don't know. Like, how, how, how is the concept of bridge, I guess, being like a friend?

Bishop Wright: 5:48

Well, I think we have to remember that we uh are limited by time and space and these bodies, uh, but God is not. Um, and I I think that God who created something called time, uh, you know, uh moves back and forth through time. And I think that this reality that we like to call heaven is a reality that doesn't um obey the rules that we know about now. And so it seems to me um uh that those who understand physics and all those phenomenal things say that uh energy can't be destroyed, it converts. And so when I think about that, to me, my mind through the eyes of faith gets to um these great spirits, uh, our ancestors uh are just converted to some new uh other energy form. And I I think sometimes the Bible is trying to help us to understand what science and discovery is just coming upon, which is that there is this energy transfer that happens through faith. There is this energy conversion that happens in death. And uh, to be honest with you, it it I think it should make the universe less um adversarial uh in our approach to it. Um it should make us to believe, uh, I think that we are, as the as the Bible text says, surrounded and enveloped, uh encircled. And um, you know, and this is not uh anything of our doing. It's a it's an extension, I think, of not only the reality of God, but the goodness and grace of God. Um that we were not made for loneliness. We were always made for companionship. We know that God in God's self is a relationship. Uh we like to use the words Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, creator, redeemer, and sustainer. Um uh so I think um, you know, it's David White, the wonderful poet and thinker, who tells us maybe now's the time to put down the loneliness. Um, and you know, so so there's Jesus, and he's uh he's getting ready to go into the low valleys uh and to do the hard work. And this mountaintop moment is what inspires him and encourages him. I mean, it's it's a it's a filling place, a filling up place, uh, so that you can go and do the work. And I want to acknowledge here that sometimes it's actually when we start to serve God with our full heart that loneliness comes for us, or at least the feeling of loneliness. And I think here's an important time to make a distinction between loneliness, the feeling, very real and legitimate feeling, and aloneness. So, so I think what this story, uh, one of the great benefits of this story is that it begins to keep that conversation going. Am I lonely? Sometimes the answer is yes. But am I alone? And I think if we accept the reality that scripture points to, then I am never alone. I think Psalm 139 helps us again. Uh, if I go to hell, there is God. If I if I take uh the wings of the morning and go to the othermost parts of heaven, uh there is God as well. Uh, if I'm trapped in my sins uh and and done all these terrible things, and now the consequences have come for me, God is there as well. And so uh here again, uh I may feel lonely, but I'm not alone. And uh and I'm with fellow travelers. Um, you know, when people talk about spirituality these days, I hear them too often talk about themselves. And I don't hear them enough uh define spirituality as community, as belonging, as being, um uh as being integral part of a larger whole. And in a funny way, when they're saying I'm not religious and spiritual, I know what they mean. They mean that the church, this body, this organization has disappointed them, or perhaps they've suffered some abuse or all those things. Um, but the truth of the matter is that uh, you know, relationship with God is both um vertical and horizontal. It's vertical in, yes, the upward reach, but it's also in the the outward push of one to the other. And, you know, we need each other. We think that our devices are enough, they're not. We think our our our virtual realities are enough, they're not. Uh, and I think, you know, I think that uh we're starting to understand that when we're we're looking at our kids now who have who have been for a generation on these devices and have tried to use these devices as substitutes because we have developed science to keep them addicted to them. I think we're realizing the great harm we've caused. We we need each other, um both physically uh and in the spiritual realm.

Melissa: 10:52

So you're kind of talking about isolation a bit. Like it's so easy for us to be isolated, but sometimes I feel like in today's times with the divisive times we're in, gosh, Bishop, the last couple of weeks have been absolutely wild. The headlines and all that stuff. So I I'm curious, like, how how might we be in community despite the division that so many of our communities embody?

Bishop Wright: 11:20

Yeah, so I mean, I I guess we have to attack the the assumption here. Whoever said the community is a place where uh division is is absent from? I mean, nowhere can I find in the 66 books of the Bible is there is there a place uh where there's not division. Um, you know, I I think that um that makes this story so important today, um, where uh Jesus finds community. Um and uh, you know, and that community that he finds, that fellowship with those um those spiritual time travelers is enough. And I think that's what we have to say is that I'm resourced enough to handle division. Um, you know, we we're not going to ever, it seems to me, eradicate division. Um, you know, my joke in the Episcopal Church is that if there are 30 Episcopalians in one room, then there are 42 opinions. So, so there there is there's there's no way I think is we're as so long as we're human, uh, that we're going to eradicate uh different viewpoints, um, different perspectives, different uh areas of emphasis. I I think the the thing to focus on is that uh am I well resourced? Have I developed the skills as much as I can to be able to navigate division? Um, you know, Jesus doesn't ever promise us that. Um when he teaches us to pray, uh, you know, he he holds out this aspirational goal for us uh on earth as it is in heaven, but he doesn't say that in the praying of all of that, and even in the working of all that, uh, will that happen uh, you know, magically, mystically, or in some sort of uh time certain uh sort of um timestamp. Um and so that is the work. That is part of the work. And you know, we may say also, I think, that faith is actually perfected, refined uh in hardship. It's a it's an unhappy truth, um, but it is nevertheless a truth. Is that uh I've never met people who have been kept from the harm of life, who I would say strike me as uh very spiritually deep. Um it there is there is something to this business about um having to go deep in the reality of God, finding resources in the reality of God that then make hardship um manageable. Not only manageable, but actually that transfigure, we can use that word, that transfigures hardship into now resource and not only resource for me, but resource for community. Um, you know, again and again I've referred to the alcoholic, uh, alcoholics anonymous community, um, who are the sort of uh living witness of what I'm trying to say. People's darkest chapters uh get shared, and then that energy gets transferred uh in large part into something that is a resource for others. Um and and and shame is put to flight and guilt is managed, uh, and then people end up with something that that they can use um, you know, to handle real hardship. And I think that that's where depth comes in. And I think the story of the cross and the Christian religion is trying to point us there. Nobody is in a hurry to get to the cross, but it sure is good news that we have friends who have borne the cross and that in the cross we can find life.

Melissa: 14:44

So, last question then. It's kind of a big one. What do we do? Like differences of opinion is one thing.

Bishop Wright: 14:50

Yeah.

Melissa: 14:50

But when we are witness to other people or even ourselves uh having their dignity questioned.

Bishop Wright: 14:58

Sure.

Melissa: 14:58

Where does friendship or how do our friends come alongside to help restore dignity?

Bishop Wright: 15:04

Well, I mean, you're sort of obliquely referring to this uh really sad uh week that we've had where uh our president decided to use uh racist images, uh historically racist tropes, um, and then lobbed them at uh uh our former uh president uh and former first lady, the Obamas. And um, you know, as a member of the African American community, it is terribly hurtful, but sadly I have to say, not surprising. Uh what we know is that people use these kinds of images and words um because they get uh a rise out of people. They use those things to mobilize people, um, they use those things to mobilize hatred. Um and uh, you know, I I think what what I what my what I hope happens uh is that people finally realize that this is a bridge too far for us. Um this may be who we have been, but it doesn't need to be who we will be going forward. What I'm hoping uh is that people uh from all walks of life uh say a resounding no, uh, and that that's too far. Um, you know, but I I think what helps us too, and I think this is what happens in that conversation on the mountain, as I use my uh my spiritual imagination. Uh I'm hoping that in the conversation between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, Jesus gets really settled down into who he really is. Uh and I think when you get settled down into who you really are, it in in one manner of speaking, it doesn't matter what other people say about you. Um and uh yeah, they say some things about you, but you keep moving. Uh, and it's not about being better than anybody or going high and going low or whatever it is. It's just a really you understand the absurdity of that, uh, of these kinds of dignity injuries, and you realize that these are words and behaviors of really desperate people. And so maybe, maybe Jesus is able to manage uh a narrow-minded religious community once he comes off the mountain because Moses and Elijah coached him about how to handle that. And and and maybe they shared, you know, their wounds and all the wondrous things that they saw. And that was enough to keep him buoyed as he dealt with the um uh all the uh, well, I won't use those words, but as they dealt with, as he dealt with all the things, because remember, it was the religious community uh and the nationalist community that really were the ones who criticized Jesus the most. Uh, you know, Jesus had a real resonance with the people who had fallen short and were on the margins and who couldn't get things right, even the demon-possessed, they all regarded him. But but it was the people in authority who wanted to diminish him. Uh, and so uh I'm hoping that what Jesus uh got off of that mountaintop experience, his transfiguration, was realizing that his dignity is settled, uh, that his connection to God is sacrosanct, uh, and that nobody gets to comment on that uh but God. And God was clear. This is my well-beloved son, in whom I am pleased.

Melissa: 18:16

Thank God for that. Thank God for friends, and thank God for that cloud of witnesses.

Bishop Wright: 18:20

Amen.

Melissa: 18:21

Bishop, thank you, and listeners, thank you for tuning in 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.