Anchored Part 2

This is part two of a two-part conversation centered on Bishop Wright’s teachings at Clergy Conference 2026: Anchored for the Future.

When everything feels like it’s shaking, the real question is, “What can actually hold me?” In Jeremiah 29:11, we get a glimpse of what holds Jeremiah in a world marked by collapse, displacement, and grief. Hope shows up here as more than comfort. 

In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about hope as a disciplined, soul-strengthening tension with suffering, rooted in God’s stubborn liveliness and fidelity. They push back on nostalgia, especially the kind that tries to baptize the “good old days” in politics or in church life. Christian hope doesn’t beg for a preferred past to be restored. It throws an anchor forward, toward where Christ has gone and where Christ invites us to follow. That shift changes everything: instead of building a museum faith that only celebrates what God did long ago, we start asking what God is doing now and what our part is in God’s mission today. Listen in for the full conversation.

Read For Faith, the companion devotional.

Transcript

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Choosing Hope In Daily Work

Bishop Wright 0:00

Everybody gets to make a personal decision. If you're a wealth manager, if you're a school teacher, a school principal, if you're a clergy person, if you're a banker, whatever you are, how can you show up and live out your hope in God as you go about doing the work that you are privileged to be able to do? Um, and and how are you bending your situation and circumstances towards a direction that we would say is an alignment with God?

Jeremiah And The Anchor Ahead

Melissa 0:55

Hey, hey, Bishop.

Bishop Wright 0:56

Hey, Melissa.

Melissa 0:58

So this is part two of Anchored. It's an excerpt from Bishop from your meditation at the Diocese of Atlantis Clergy Conference, and it's based off of Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 11, kind of a famous one.

Bishop Wright 1:13

There you go, very famous. The prophet Jeremiah knew something about being anchored in hope. He lived through societal collapse, disorientation, displacement, violence, and grief. Yet, two-thirds through his book of famous laments and his visions, he interrupts himself to speak of a future and a hope. That's because a godly hope lives in a creative, soul-strengthening tension with suffering and devastation. God's stubborn liveliness and fidelity gave Jeremiah and gives us a basis for our militant hope, a hope that makes every possible version of the future survivable and even thrivable. So hope for us is authoritative allegiance renewing, agency directing, and despair disrupting. Bible-based hope and worship done faithfully and well is the practice of believing backwards and remembering forward. This is not nostalgia. Christian hope doesn't ask God to restore the preferred past version of life. The anchor of hope is not thrown behind us or drop down where we are. The anchor of our hope is thrown ahead of us. So then we find ourselves anchored to where Christ has gone and is inviting us to join him.

Melissa 2:40

So that's kind of fiery, Bishop, because it's both I really love this sign. It's my favorite thing. Uh, you say that it's a practice of believing backward and remembering forward, kind of holding the tension of the past because we can remember what the past was. We have a pattern recognition, but we're really trusting God to provide.

Bishop Wright 3:03

Yeah, right.

Melissa 3:04

Holding intention, right?

Bishop Wright 3:05

Well, yeah, it's holding intention and it's it's the old song. Uh, didn't my Lord deliver Daniel? Didn't my Lord deliver Daniel? Then why not every man? Right. So, in other words, if that is the basis of who God is, God is a delivering God, then it hope asks the question, well, why not me now? Right? And so, and so you you have to be courageous if you're gonna live with hope, if you're gonna be anchored in hope. Because you you have to, you have to be a realist. You have to realize that uh the Bible is a selection

Militant Hope And Realism

Bishop Wright 3:40

of stories uh of some individuals. I mean, yet there are thousands, millions of individuals who don't have the testimony that many of people in the Bible have. And so we're not, this is not a panacea, this is not a fairy tale, this is not leprechauns and unicorns. This is the this is the brutality of real life and uh and and also um the testimony of people who, in the midst of the brutality of life, uh also uh experienced uh an intervention uh on behalf of an intervention by God that changed their future. And so, and so uh I I think our our work then uh as uh as as the people of faith and hope in God is to never let go of that possibility. We talked about last week. I talked about and yet and yeah, but right. So those those are sort of those are sort of hope phrases. And Jeremiah does that uh as as good or better than anybody else, because I mean he's just on a roll, right? About everything that's going wrong and and the ways in which uh this exile, they're they're being exiled to Babylon, um, this exile uh happened, the infidelity of people. Uh, and yet in the midst of talking about the infidelity of people, he interrupts himself to talk about the fidelity, the faithfulness of God. So, so while we may not be as trustworthy as we need to be, uh in terms of our response to a loving, merciful uh God, God is nevertheless. So there are consequences, it's very complicated. So there are consequences to actions. Yes, absolutely. So there's there's no, we're not rescuing that. And yet, uh God has a vote, God has a voice, and uh, and we are not left utterly abandoned. And that's what we that's that's one of the basises of our hope is that somehow uh the character sketch of this God is to always retain a remnant, is to always make provision. Uh uh arbitrarily, it seems. Uh so it comes out of who God is, and it's certainly not based on our behavior or our alleged goodness. Um, it is just that God has decided to provide a future and a hope, uh, even when things are most dire, especially when things are most dire.

Melissa 5:58

For sure. You know, the word resolve came to mind, and that's one thing I think Jeremiah and Jesus of Nazareth had in common, right? So where is I you talked about a militant hope.

Bishop Wright 6:09

Yeah.

Melissa 6:10

What is that?

Bishop Wright 6:11

Well, it's just I refuse. It's it's it's a refusal, it's a refusal. Well, what I talked about is it's a it's a refusal um to put my hope in things that are you know sinking sand, right? I mean, and uh it's a refusal, uh, and that can be commerce, uh, that can be in our in our uh the beauty of our our young physical forms, uh all those things that are changing. It it you know, it's it's a refusal to put my ultimate hope, ultimate here, ultimate hope in political systems and government. Um, you know, I talked about last week. Hope keeps us uh from accepting uh, you know, empire's definition of what a good life is, right? And so because we hope, we know that this world doesn't have to be a dog eat dog world. We know that the big fish doesn't have to eat up the little fish, as Bob Marley would say. We know that the justice is possible and neighborliness is possible. And and what we have decided based on our hope is we have decided to replicate God's pattern wherever we find ourselves. And so that takes a level of militancy. Um, it creates in us a certain uh specific kind of agency. It means that I have committed to showing up in a certain way. Uh, no matter you know, it's almost what your mother told you when you were a little kid. You know, I remember telling my mother, hey, but you know, these kids in the neighborhood are doing X. And my mother would say to me, Yeah, but uh those are not my children. I have taught you to do X, Y, and Z, right? So if all the kids in the neighborhood are gonna jump off the bridge, are you gonna, you know, I mean, we all have our versions of that. And so so that that continues on in the life with God. And so, and so so hope really is about uh holding on to a mature faith, a mature faith that is that is that is nuanced and clear, uh, and that is uh gentle yet durable. Um, so we're not looking to run roughshod over anybody. Uh and yet, uh, you know, as as Paul St. Paul will say later, I am persuaded. And so I am persuaded that that that that hope, uh, working uh animated by hope and working for better days for all people is the way I want to spend this fragile little life I have. Um, saying these words to people to encourage those who have these glimmers of hope, fanning those embers is how I want to spend my time. And so, you know, everybody gets to make a personal decision. If you're a wealth manager, uh you're a school teacher, a school principal, if you're a clergy person, if you're a banker, whatever you are, how can you show up and live out your hope in God as you go about doing the work that you are privileged to be able to do? Um, and how are you bending your situation and circumstances towards a direction that we would say is in alignment with God.

Escaping Political And Church Nostalgia

Melissa 9:37

Well, that's what I want to ask about next. You know, you you said it very clearly. This is not nostalgia. And it strikes me that there are many people in the church who are lamenting that church is looking a lot differently than it is, right? So can you speak more about that?

Bishop Wright 9:53

Oh, would I love to? Uh, I mean, because look, so we we've been taken over in America at least by political nostalgia, right? And so uh, you know, this this this phrase make America great again is very persuasive, uh, even though it's hard to measure and it doesn't stand up to really any scrutiny because because we are wired for nostalgia, the good old days when life seemed simpler uh and better, and we were better neighbors one to the other, and there was less rancor and division, and there was things were more equitable. But but when you click on that, at least in America, through the political lens, you find out you know, exactly which decade are you talking about? Uh, because it just doesn't stand up to scrutiny. But nostalgia, in a funny way, doesn't have to stand up to scrutiny. It it just you just get to say it, and we kind of know what we mean, uh, but it's not precise. Uh, and so we're not talking about a religious nostalgia. We're not talking about making the church great again. Uh what we're talking about is what we're talking about is that how do we follow Jesus into the future? Right? So, how is hope my anchor for the future? And and you know, and again, I think the best way to say that is that uh, you know, hope does not is not an anchor pulling us backwards. And hope is not an anchor, you know, a heavy anchor uh keeping us uh from being mobile. Uh hope is actually thrown forward. And so we're being, we're being, if we should choose to live this way, uh this hope brings us forward. So, yes, we have the rear view mirror of our tradition and the saints who have gone before us. Uh and so we believe backwards. We say, oh, wow, what didn't God show up mighty mightily in Saint Francis and and uh Martin King and you know, and and you know, on and on and on, all the list of the great saints. Uh and yet uh if we stop there, then we just have a museum faith. It's just like, wow, God, you know, what a kid told me one time, you know, he said to me, you know, Bishop Wright, God seems like God did all the cool stuff a long time ago. So if we have a museum faith, then we should be at least literate enough to know that our faith is really dead and it's just a room full of relics, spiritual relics. Or what I suggest is that given the fact that God did a lot of really cool things among our ancestors who were no better spiritually than we are, uh, then therefore, what will God do now? Because God's mission is not over. So how can we join? Hope drives me, therefore, to join right, God's mission now. And so I take my encouragement from the saints and the ancestors, and I say, What is my part now?

Melissa 12:42

Yes, yes, because I was thinking the posture of looking back, remembering back, you know, behind us. And uh I was thinking, yes, and what about the posture of the present? And so that sounds like we can we don't want to be so far in the future that we aren't present, but perhaps discerning so that we're listening in order to be motivated or moved or called or sent.

Hope As Worship Right Now

Bishop Wright 13:11

It occurs to me as I write, you know, they say if you wanna if you want to be informed, read, if you wanna be clear, write. And it it it it occurs to me that as I write this out that hope is actually a form of worship. Right? It it it is so so what is worship? Work worship is not just where I go and what I do on Sunday, right? Worship is I believe God is worth it all. Right, and so there are practices that follow that belief that if God is worth it all, you know, um, so so so hope in the present is a way to worship God. It is to say, okay, God, uh, I see who you have been, and I've got my ears wide open for who you are right now, because I want to give you all the days that you've given me. Uh so the days going forward, I want to give those to you in service to your righteous purposes. So hope is is is a doorway that we walk through to join God and God's purposes. So we hope in God's purposes, and we hope in God's way uh to do conflict, and we hope in God's way to do money, and we hope in God's way to do neighbor, and we hope in God's way to do mercy and justice. I mean, so so hope is very much alive presently, and yet it has so here's the funny thing about uh about hope. So if hope is based uh specifically on who God is, God is uh in the past, in the present, and in the future simultaneously, right? And what I find so much in the church, tragically, is that we still just want to talk about God in the past tense, slightly in the present tense. So so what I'm going to charge, you know, uh everybody that I get to talk to is that uh let us not talk about God in the past tense uh on Sunday morning. Uh, because I I think what we have done is that we, you know, not to be too dramatic about this, but I I think we've rendered God dead uh uh by talking about God only in the past tense. And I think what you've got to do is change the culture of the church. And I think one of the easiest ways to begin that hard work uh is to be able to talk about God in the present tense. And then begin to raise that expectation, if you happen to be in lay leadership or clergy leadership, about so, so who is God right now where you are? And uh, and who is God, you know, when last have you heard from headquarters? I mean, just to create the expectation wherever we find ourselves about how uh God is moving even right now. Um, and I think this is why scripture helps us. So we look back and we say, well, what's God's pattern? And we say, Ah, I have a sense of that even right now in my own life. And so I can agree, you know, with the woman uh who touches the hem of Jesus' garment that she somehow was healed because I realize as I uh do my walks out in nature and I think uh about scripture and I think about my own life and I think about all my deficits. Uh I think about wow, I see the wisdom of scripture uh trying to heal me. Uh and the way that God heals is uh to for us to increase our appetite for truth and uh our shadow side and all that. This is the way God, and so now I have a hope now in God's look, we go to doctors and we listen to doctors and we get a couple of opinions sometimes, or we're facing medical procedures, and we get a sense from this doctor that we ought to put some confidence in this doctor because this doctor seems like he or she knows what they're talking about, and this is the same journey for life with God. Somehow, somehow I know previously in my journey, and I am hoping going forward that I got the right physician.

Melissa 16:57

Come on, you said the word listen. And I feel like that's super important because the spirit leaves and the faithful follow, and the spirit is already at work, very much alive. And so let's anchor ourselves in that, Bishop.

Bishop Wright 17:11

Uh and and you know, let me just say this last bit here.

Christ As Anchor In Storms

Bishop Wright 17:14

  And and you know, you might say, well, why why anchor? Why anchor? Well, I I think what's important now uh for Christians all over the world, whatever your denomination, is to go down deep in who God is now. Because I I think perhaps, I mean, every generation uh has had its difficulties, uh, no doubt. Um, and it's it's a little bit uh uh self-absorbed to say that we've got it the toughest of anybody, right? This is why Jeremiah is so important. I mean, Jeremiah's whole world collapsed, right? Um so so we have it as tough as other people have had it. Our challenges are different and yet so similar. And so and so how the saints uh of old made it and how we can go forward uh and place our hope securely is to go down deep, right? And to realize that this anchor that we have, Christ Jesus, uh, is anchor enough uh for all the storms. And so that's what I would say to anybody is that you know, we are we are in storms right now, political, economic, uh in terms of healthcare, and you know, I mean, you you name it, there's a storm a brewing if it ain't sort of full full tilt right now. And so what holds us? Uh, you know, will the newspapers hold us? No. Will the media alone hold us? No. Will any any polit political party hold us? No. So I'm betting, I'm betting on the one who holds the future. Uh, and uh, and that's that's where I go. And I I think it may sound simplistic to some, but I uh you have to reach a point, I believe, in life, uh, where you have to say, this is my horse, and this is the horse I'm riding, and uh, and and this is the horse that I'm trusting. And I I think that's part and parcel of this. So this is my anchor to mix a metaphor. This is my anchor, and uh, and and what's what's gives me such joy is to know I ain't the only one. I have brothers and sisters the globe over uh for whom Christ is their anchor. And it feels and that feels great.

Closing Thanks And Ways To Follow

Melissa 19:25

Bishop, thank you, and thank you, listeners, 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.