Now that we’re a few weeks removed from our Galatians series, Jay dives into another series of talks, this time he’s talking about Paul Tillich. Tillich was both a theologian and a philosopher, so his thoughts and messages are right up our alley! Of all of Tillich’s talks and teachings, Jay is focusing in on one right now—and that’s Tillich’s talk “You Are Accepted.” Along with Galatians, Jay believes this talk of Tillich’s is one of the best things out there when it comes to grace, and he’s not wrong! Tillich raises a lot of good points and good questions. What does he mean when he is talking about The Ground of Being? Is it possible that our theology is leading us in directions we’re not even aware of? Why are we so fixated on division, and separating ourselves from each other? Are Sin and Grace the strangest words that we know of? Are they useless tools? Tillich talks about all of these things in this sermon—and Jay is diving in and helping us take a closer look at these points and questions in hopes that we all can get the most of Tillich’s thoughts on grace and acceptance.

You can hear the sermon in full, read by Peter Rollins, on the Revolution YouTube page, and wherever you listen to your podcasts.

This talk was given on June 2, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.

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Good news everyone! Josh is back to gave a talk…that references Futurama a surprising amount! Which is easy to understand because it is one of the greatest shows ever. But along with that he also talks about Jesus and forgiveness and the Bible. About not ‘othering’ people, and how we can all help each other survive when life starts to feel vaguely like a prison sentence. He also talks about Paul, Peter and what they have to say about the laws that crush us rather than free us! Josh shares his favorite story of the entire Bible, as well as his thoughts on Jonah, goats and sheep, and the X-men, obviously. In this talk Josh uses examples from all walks of life and pop culture—all coming together to help himself and others try to understand more about grace and forgiveness and love, and what it means to go whistling and fishing into heaven.

Due to some technical difficulties with the video stream, we did a little something different for Youtube to try and minimize the impact of the wonky video. It’s a bit of a workaround but we think it works okay! At least for the week. Enjoy!

This talk was given on May 26, 2024 from Long Island, New York.

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We finished our Galatians series—so now what? We’ve dedicated so much time to it it’s hard to move forward. It feels a bit uncomfortable. But Jay is riding that wave of inspiration that comes from finishing up such a long and good study. That’s not the say that Jay isn’t tired. He is. Tired but inspired! This week originally we were going to talk about the sermon You Are Accepted, but it’s pushed back a bit because Jay had something on his mind he wanted to share. It occurred to him that he needs to put his money where his mouth is—or better yet put his grace where his scapegoat is. Because we admit we haven’t been too kind to evangelical Christians as of late. So today Jay wants to fix that. In this talk Jay does a dive back into his life and shares the positive impacts that evangelical Christians have had in his life. And how they even helped shape Revolution and get it on its feet. We get just as tempted as everyone else to scapegoat and knock down, that happens—but recognizing that it’s happening and trying to mindfully steer in the other direction is more than half the battle. Jay also discusses wither co-existing can actually happen or if it’s a fallacy. He also tries to share the bigger picture of non-violence. Because we have to figure something out. Mutual fear is getting us nowhere, and neither is fighting anger with more anger. So, sometimes it’s good to stop, breathe, and take a look into our past,--because if we don’t know where we came from, how can we ever know where we are going?

This talk was given on May 19, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.

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Here we are! We did it! Five months in and we did it, we did the unthinkable!! We reached the end of our Galatians series! Don’t get us wrong, it was great! We loved it! We can’t believe we got to go as in-depth as we did, it really was a treat. But we can’t deny too that it is a relief that it’s over and we can move on. Don’t worry though, because as always, Galatians and the lessons taught in that letter will be in every talk we give here at Revolution. Gone but not forgotten, and always present. But here we are! And it’s Mother’s Day too—A quick happy Mother’s Day to everyone! On a sad, but sincere note, we also know that Mother’s Day isn’t the easiest holiday for some folks and there is a lot of struggling just to get through the day. We’re with you, and you’re not alone. We have the same struggles here at Revolution. Always remember, we’re in this together. There is a lot to say about this talk, but maybe it’s best to leave the talk to do all of…well, the talking. Today covers a lot of ground. Jay talks about restoration and helping people. He talks about weighing the importance of practicing rituals versus following the intensions of our hearts. As always, Jay discusses, and demonstrates in engaging with some unsavory members in chat, that grace covers everyone—even the people we don’t want it to. And Jay also asks some difficult questions, like should we depend on the church or the community? Is it possible that denominations can be seen as a form of mocking God? Is it okay to have selective judgement for people we like and people we dislike? This talk covers all of this and so much more. And it’s a great way to end out the whole study!! We hope you enjoy! May grace be with you all!

This talk was given on May 12, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.

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We’re back on the Galatians train—and today we’re talking about Galatians 5. Which works since this is our fifth month in Galatians, can you believe that?! It’s got to be some sort of a record. Today since we’re diving into chapter 5, Jay will be talking about vices and virtues. And more specifically vices and virtues through the lens of Galatians and Paul’s writings. One thing to keep in mind is that the Bible is a collection of writings over time—it really isn’t a rulebook or a textbook. Because Truth is always Truth, regardless of what any majority of people believe. Outweighing something doesn’t mean your take is the Truth. And that goes for everyone, including ourselves. It’s not just about others. Because when we forget that, and when we treat the Bible as a rulebook we tend to make sin bigger than it really is. That’s not clickbait or anything, it’s just a pretty matter of fact thing. Maybe we blow things out of proportion when it comes to church and sin and vices and virtues. That possibility is at least worth exploring. Because so often we’re using the ‘rules’ of the Bible to bite and devour each other, but generosity goes such a long way. We have to remember that we are called to love each other, and love doesn’t demand its own way. It takes time and it takes understanding and it takes patience. If we want to see change, real change, we need patience. So let’s do this and do it together. Let’s be citizens of a community rather than just a group of people!

This talk was given on May 5, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.

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Is it possible to be Galatians’d out? We didn’t think so either—but we admit we needed a break this week. But don’t worry though, this talk is still all about Paul and Jesus. What brings up this pause in our Galatians series is that Jay had some other topics on his mind, and those topics are grace, and nuance. Are we losing our understanding and nuance when it comes to communication? All of us have difference experiences and stories from each other, we have different understandings and different paths we all walk—that is why we need to always remember that nothing is cut-and-dry. Things are complicated and we all come from different walks of life, different upbringings, different journeys. This is why we need grace with each other, and ourselves. We have to remember to think of things in grey terms, not just simple black and white thinking. Binary thinking. Boiling everything down into just black and white is something we did as children, now that we’re grown ups shouldn’t we put that type of thinking away? We have to remember to be patient with others and patient with ourselves. We preach grace not only because we believe in it, but because we’re not always the best at it. So this talk is just as much for us as it is for you. We’re all in this together.

This talk was given on April 28, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.

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Galatians, Galatians, Galatians. We’ve been in Galatians for months now—with even more to come. We love it, but we’re okay with coming to an end soon. The main reason for how long this study has been is because of all the new scholarship Jay has been learning about this letter. Context is not only valuable, but it is needed. But it’s tricky, because do we only like scholarship until it causes us to have to inspect our own faith and beliefs? Paul has always had his fair share of critics. Usually, these critics find that Paul and his message of grace is just simply people pleasing and just giving everyone the okay to sin. Jay at one point in his life was even told that he made Christ’s death in vain—harsh words, yes, but it led him to finding Galatians and learning about grace. Is it people pleasing to dive deeper into the Bible and try to learn more about the faith you love and devoted your life to? Why do we have this need to constantly bite and devour each other? We used to do it in church, but now it seems like social media is where we do all of our biting and devouring. Why is this? Can’t we find a common humanity with each other? Because after all what do we truly love when we say we love God? And who do we truly love when we say we love God? These are the real questions we should be asking ourselves, but instead we find devouring each other to just be easier, and apparently more rewarding. We should really, really stop doing that.

This talk was given on April 21, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.

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We finally made it to Galatians 5! This study is never ending this year, but we’re not complaining! Is Galatians the greatest letter on grace? We certainly think so! Something very strange happened in this talk, well not strange maybe, since it’s not strange for people to pop up in chat to troll or argue—so maybe kismet is the better word to use. Why we say that is we had some viewers in chat that were very much all about the law and following the law, especially those found in Leviticus. Laws that have been fulfilled if you believe in the New Testament and the Jesus story. What makes it so kismet is that Galatians 5 is about freedom from the Law and how Jesus sets us free from that yoke of slavery! We couldn’t tell you why these people waited until today, maybe they were waiting for this chapter? Maybe it’s coincidence? But either way kismet describes it best. Remember that Revolution is a place for everyone, and everyone is welcome! All walks of life, political beliefs, orientations, creeds, races…and the list goes on. But we do have to also remember that the safety of the community is paramount to all things, and so we have to show grace and humility and remember that arguing solves nothing…and also that arguing and disagreeing are not the same thing. You can do one without the other. There is a lot to say about this talk because it is very good, and it’s really interesting how the topic and the current reality Jay found himself in while giving the talk really coincided—so, even though there is a lot to be written in the description, maybe we just leave it here and let the talk speak for itself!

This talk was given on April 14, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.

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We’re back!...and we’re still in Galatians 4! Can you believe it? Out of any chapter, we’re still here. It’s been quite the journey from a section of the letter that we used to rush through to now being a part of the letter that we are enjoying enough to devote a few weeks to it—We’ll finish it up today so that next week we can start on Chapter 5! In today’s talk Jay spends some time talking about the importance of context when it comes to Biblical scholarship--Knowing when things were written, to whom, why was it written, and what the cultural dynamics of the time were. We live in different times now. Or course this doesn’t mean everything Paul said was okay. We have to remember that it is okay to disagree with Paul! Agreeing or disagreeing, it doesn’t change the fact that context is important. What does Paul mean when he says to die to our flesh, and to pick up our cross? Did it mean something different back then than it does today? Is salvation a miracle? Does who we are play any role in our salvation? This talk addresses these and more! This year our Galatians series has really been cooking, and we’re so very excited about it!

This talk was given on April 7, 2024 from Seattle, Washington.

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