For People with Bishop Rob Wright
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
We Confess God is Our Portion
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During the season of Lent, Bishop Wright invites all to a five-week Lenten teaching series, We Confess, with weekly video meditations and study guides that frame Lent as a loving turn toward healing, renewal, and hope through honest confession. You can learn more about the series at episcopalatlanta.org/lent26.
In this week's episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about the second reflection: We Confess God is Our Portion. What if confession started with an inventory of abundance rather than a list of failures? Through the story of Abram and Sarai, they explore how trusting God as our portion reshapes how we understand hardship, delayed timing, and the hidden mercies of “no” and “not yet.” Listen in for the full conversation.
If I confess to God as my portion, then maybe I ought to do an inventory. It's not just count your blessings, but it's to some great depth, realize how fortunate I truly am. We would even say, looking through the lens of faith, I even thank God for the hardships that I've experienced in retrospect, because they called out of me a new faith that I otherwise would not have had, and they called out to me a new sight that I now have.
Melissa:Welcome to For People with Bishop Rob Wright. I'm Melissa Rau, 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, during the season of Lent, Bishop Wright invites all to a five-week Lenten series called We Confess with weekly video meditations and study guides that frame Lent as a loving turn toward healing, renewal, and hope through honest confession. You can learn more about the series at episcopalatlanta.org. Hey, hey, Bishop.
Bishop Wright:Hey, hey.
Melissa:So you named this week's devotion. We confess God is our portion, and it is based off Genesis 12, verses 1 through 4, all about Abram and Sarai.
Bishop Wright:Yeah. An amazing story. Our spiritual ancestors.
Melissa:Indeed.
Bishop Wright:Yeah. So God's first call uh was to call something out of nothing. We call that creation. Uh God called all things into being. God's second call was to an elderly married couple who struggled with infertility. I just think that is just amazing to think about. Uh, first of all. And then God calls them now to trust uh God, to trust God to provide for them, to trust that God is enough for them, and to model that in the earth, right? So in human history, uh, this couple who has real vulnerabilities and real deficits is now called to manifest with their life, their real life, with all of its wonder and with all of its warts, uh, that God is enough. In fact, that what God says I have, I have, and who God says that I am, I am, and that uh that will be enough to build a whole life on.
Melissa:So, you know, the word portion can be misconstrued here. And when I read God is our portion, yeah, I'm a little confused because to me, God is all, and so it's all our portion. Like I know that's a leap, but I'm just curious if you can contextualize that word.
Bishop Wright:Well, sure. So in the meditation, I talk about that. So portion, you know, here's a here's a quick definition. It's it's my destiny, my fulfillment, my fortune, my heritage, my healing, my security, my peace, my sustenance, my satisfaction. Right? And so, and so, in other words, it's like uh uh what if what if the meal, what if God is my portion is sort of uh a meal, and and this meal has everything. It has everything that I need. Uh it is all the nutrients, uh, and it has uh all of the vitamins, uh, it it creates health in me. It is uh luxuriously resourced me, if you will. Um that that's what I mean, is that uh we talk in terms of uh I'm enough, and people like to talk about, you know, they struggle with being enough. Well, here's God saying, I am enough for you. And uh and here Abraham and Sarai are now on uh on a mission. They're they're being called to go and to live uh as if God is uh enough. And uh and God says, Come and test me out, come and find out uh that I am portion enough, uh, that there's no famine, if you will, uh in me spiritually, uh, that I can make a way in the wilderness for you, uh, that I can meet uh your health needs, I can meet your psychic needs, I can meet your spiritual needs, uh, that I am a providing God.
Melissa:And so therein lies the rub for me is uh okay, you you have the very specific caveat that God, you know, the spiritual stuff, the spiritual side. And because my confusion or a little bit is just there are plenty of people who don't have, like many have nots. So therein lies the rub. So what would you say to you know, folks who are just like at the bottom of the peril, who are just scraping to get by, um, who don't have their very physical needs met?
Bishop Wright:Yeah, well, I mean, that's a prickly thing, isn't it? Um, and and here uh you're taking uh a specific promise to a specific couple uh and then wondering about you know our sort of global phenomena. Uh and and so I think we always have to proceed with caution about that. Um, but I I think your point is a fair point, or your question is a fair point. Yeah, what do we say about that? Well, I I think if if I were going to sort of talk a little bit about that, I would say uh for the Abrams and Saris of the world, like you and I, and like so many people, uh, we actually have enough to share. And so I think that that's the way I would I would come at your question. I would say that uh, yeah, Abraham and Sarai were given enough. Uh, it didn't excuse their life from hardship. There was no protective hedge built around them. In fact, when you read the details of the story, um, you know, they find many intersections uh when uh provision is not apparent. Um and so uh and yet even in that hardship, somehow God makes a way. Um, but as to the world's have nots, and we're surrounded by them, I think that um look, uh how many people claim you know belief in God uh around the globe? And and how many people uh live uh in uh really embarrassing excess uh and and don't find it within themselves to share out of their portion? Uh so I think that's the more interesting conversation. So, you know, Dr. King, you know, we quote Dr. King Dr. King a lot, and he inspires us um to this day. But Dr. King said some things with real sharp edges on them as well, less quoted. He said that uh, you know, America spends so much money on storage these days and so much uh money on storage of foodstuffs. And he said, I I know where we could store uh some of those foodstuffs for free. It's in the bloated bellies of the children who go to bed every night hungry. And so I and so to address that, I I think we're talking about um for those of us who have enough, uh more than enough, more than we can use ourselves, um, are we as extensions of God's ministry in the in the earth um sharing our portion given to us with others whose portion is really anemic in comparison?
Melissa:Which is like God is the world's portion. God has lavished God's self on the world, and it really has been some people who have taken a whole bunch and left others. So, like to me, it is like God's done the portion stuff and we have rationed it out very inequitably.
Bishop Wright:Well we have, we have, and um, you know, I I think that uh for those of us uh like in America here, we really have to um we have to think about our model uh and is our model a good model uh for the earth. Uh you know, in the Episcopal Church, we talk about, we have this wonderful prayer about uh this planet, our island home, this earth, our island home. Well, the truth of the matter is that it's an island home uh and uh it is a neighborhood, if you will, uh, and we have we have not made it uh the fellowship uh that it could be. We have not made it a worldhouse uh with a pantry uh open to everybody. Uh and so I think that's some of the work that we have to do is to share the portion uh that we enjoy with others who don't enjoy. I think that would please God. Um uh but again, this story, this story is about two people uh called uh to live abundantly and to model that in the earth.
Melissa:Yeah, therein lies the rub. That's another rub for me, though, too, right? Like you're talking about a more global thing, at least that's how I'm receiving it. And this is a very specific story where there are truths that transcend Abram and Sarai. And yet I think so many people blame God for not giving them what they want.
Bishop Wright:We can talk about it a lot of ways, but I I think that the idea I'm really trying to drill home this week uh is that to reframe confession. Uh, and confession is not just a confession of our misdeeds, it's also the confession of what I have, uh, the resources available to me. Um, so so that's why this story really grabbed my imagination. God is saying, make public uh that I can be trusted. Make public, he's saying to Abraham and Sarai, that I will meet you in various hardships uh and uh and provide for you. Uh and that provision is not always exactly what we wish for. Uh, you know, life with God is not a make-a-wish. Um, life with God is, you know, St. Paul will say much later that God can uh give infinitely more than I can ask or imagine. Uh the truth of the matter is for a mature uh Christian life, uh there's a portion of our life with God that we did not think to ask for. We couldn't have ever imagined, and yet it came to us uh as a resource in a relationship with God, and uh and it has really humbled us because we didn't know how to ask. And in fact, when we asked, uh, we asked out of selfishness, uh, out of ego, out of ignorance. And so I think that's the the way back to your question is that uh what we ask, sure, uh the Bible tells us to make your petitions uh and supplications to God, to make your requests known. But there is no exact promise that everything you ask for will be given. And in fact, it may be given uh in oblique ways. Uh and um and thank God, in if we really want to get into the deep water of this, and thank God, or at least I can say thank God, for some of the no's that I got, some of the not yets that I got, when I asked an ego or ignorance. Uh, and then, you know, what we usually do sometimes when we don't get what we want, so to speak, uh, is that then we pick up our ball and we walk off and we pout, uh, and uh and we have really a childish relationship with God rather than interrogating the no's or the not yets. You know, this is a complicated subject, really, isn't it? Because uh the Bible also talks about let patience have her perfect work. And so if God is our portion, then we're also saying God's timing on meeting requests and exceeding requests is also that we're gonna something that we're gonna submit ourselves to. Yeah. And and that's that's also a thing.
Melissa:Yeah, so I the word partnership keeps coming to mind, and I don't know why, but clearly it's not like God is just bestowing stuff on Abram and Sarai, but that God is expecting something in return. And so God has invited them into partnership for God and with God. And so, how do we posture ourselves in relationship with God according to God's portion?
Bishop Wright:Well, I I think why this uh this uh sort of meditation strikes me uh and re about reframing confession is um it starts off with what do I presently have? I I think you know, especially in America, um, where next and new and improved is sort of the theology of a lot of us, you know, our lived theology, uh, is you know, 2.0 and 5.0, and as soon as we learn 5.0, here's 7.0 and so on and so forth. And I I think this this develops a real numbness to blessing. And I and I think that if I confess to God as my portion, then maybe I ought to do an inventory. Uh and if I confess to God as my portion, then maybe I ought to do an inventory. Uh, and and maybe we do that for this season of Lent. Uh it's not just count your blessings, um, but it's to some great depth, realize how fortunate I truly am. And and, you know, we would even say, you know, looking through the lens of faith, I even thank God for the hardships that I have experienced in retrospect, because they called out of me uh a new faith that I otherwise would not have had, and they called out to me uh a new sight that I now have because God met me in those dry seasons, God met me uh in those places, God was with me when I thought I was getting a no, or when I thought that heaven was silent, God was standing right there. It was just that I did not see. Abram and Sarai uh are called now to model uh this relationship. And partnership is always a good word, I think. Uh, but but before we get to partnership with God, I think what we've got to celebrate uh and acknowledge is uh that the resources that we need best and most and most deeply are already there for us. So the posture uh that's a wonderful question. The posture is one of pilgrim. I mean, Abram and Sarai don't just get this great announcement, I'll be your portion, I'll bless you, I'll care for you, I got your back, and then they go return to their couch, right? They get an address change, they have to now go road test this promise. They have to like take it on the road and see how it holds up, uh, you know, to all of you know the vicissitudes of life. Uh, and that is when you really get to know uh who God is. So, so it is pilgrim is the posture. And then what's the upshot of pilgrimage? The upshot of pilgrimage is that somehow I know that God is trustworthy. Somehow I know that God is the architect of a better life than I could architect for myself. Uh, and somehow that there is a reliance that has come to me through a gift that I now have. I'm not a good boy or not a good girl. It's not based on that. Abraham and Sarai were not spiritual super athletes. Um, I mean, how how how regular uh an elderly couple, you know, and uh struggling with infirmity in a world where there were no real options for infirm for uh for infertility. Um, I mean, if you were going to give God some advice, uh you might have given God some different advice than to pick those two. And and yet God uh picks these folks, I think, uh, to do what St. Paul will say later, so that the boast, if there's any boasting, has to be in the provision of God and not in our ability to sort of achieve or uh or construct things for ourselves. So I think that's the gift. The gift is we're a pilgrim people. Uh we're making our way through this wilderness. We've got God in front of us, in back of us, above us, and beneath us, and what an adventure we find ourselves on.
Melissa:A pilgrim people with plenty of portion. Bishop, thank you so much. 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.