Revolution Church

We made it through Galatians! And while we’re always a bit bummed to finish up that study, this year we’re immediately moving onto something just as great. Paul Tillich’s talk You Are Accepted. In this first week of the study, Jay dives into some backstory onto who Tillich is and walks us through some of his credentials. Then we go right on in! There isn’t much to say in this write-up because it’s all in the talk today. It’s all about learning what Tillich has to say on grace, and also try to sort out what ideas we might need to reject in order to better understand it. Because grace isn’t always the easiest thing to explain. In fact, Tillich argues that it is just as hard to describe as sin is. It’s a great talk that really pushes for a diversity of thought and the dangers of Christianity becoming more of a separator rather than a unifier. But, hey, nobody’s perfect, we’re all human and we’re all flawed–we’re working on it though! So, thank goodness for Paul TillichHere is a link to Paul Tillich’s “You Are Accepted”. Revolution is sticking around and there are some great things to come.https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/20810.pdfThis talk was given on March 12, 2023 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

We’re at the end of Galatians, and now we’re sad. But next week the discussion of Grace continues with Paul Tillich’s talk “You Are Accepted.” But before we get to that, let’s finish up Galatians. A lot of this talk is about trying to find a safe space for unsafe conversations. Jay makes reference to two Jon Stewart interviews that he feels encompasses a cross-section of society today. And like many other interviews or news reports, these cross-sections fit right into what Paul is talking about in his letter to the Galatians. It’s interesting how timeless this letter is…but also very frustrating with how little things seemed to have changed since this was written. Galatians really deals with the fact that we’re all human–and all humans are nuanced beings. So why are we not acting that way? Why do we insist on legalism and binary thinking? Paul tells us to restore people with a spirit of gentleness. Why then do we tend to act more like an army that shoots it’s hurt and wounded? We need to find a place where we can share our burdens with each other but at the same time not give these burdens and struggles to others. We need to focus on our own burdens, and love everyone else. Otherwise nothing grows. Worse than that, nothing grows because the ground is so toxic. So how can we navigate this? What is this other way? A third way? A way of nuance and grace. That is what we’re discussing today. And how we need to do our best to never tire of taking the high ground, never tire of showing grace. It’s very very hard. But in walking this path we know we’re doing the right thing. We know we are loving others the best we can.Here is a link to Paul Tillich’s “You Are Accepted”. Revolution is sticking around and there are some great things to come.https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/20810.pdfThis talk was given on March 5, 2023 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donatewww.youtube.com/revolutionbroadcasting@jaybakker@revolution1994@revolution94

Galatians series is back! This week we finish up chapter 5! Before the talk starts Jay shares some news about Revolution and where it is going, and some epiphanies he’s discovered. Then we dive right in–Two weeks ago, when we left Paul and his letter, he was discussing the current state of the people he was writing to–they were divided, clashing, and tearing each other apart. They were being consumed by each other. There was no love and there was no peace. Why does this sound familiar? Why does this sound like Paul is writing to us today? Has anything even changed? In this chapter Paul summarizes the whole of the Law, and what it amounts to: Love. Loving each other. Are we so divided now that it’s impossible to have peace and community? People are full of nuance and there really is no blanket way to deal with everyone. We need to accept each other and ourselves radically. We need to learn to live with the lack. We need to radically accept the lack. We need kindness and gentleness. We can’t allow ourselves to fall victim to this hierarchy of suffering where we base our grace on who we like more, and take them more seriously. Seeing them as more human than we do others. Paul addresses all of this and more in these last few verses of chapter 5, and has us asking the question: What is the kingdom of Heaven?This talk was given on February 26, 2023 from Seattle, Washington.www.facebook.com/revolutionchurchmnwww.revolutionchurch.com/donate