Monday, January 28, 2008

Two Punks Under God

Cloudy days and Mondays always get me...looking for the Sun...for light...today it was found in the inspiration of Jay Baker, One Punk Under God.

We had a wonderful tour through Missouri, Illinois & Indiana this week and just returned home last night around 3 am. After 4 late night shows in a row we were ready for a slow, savory Monday to unload the road. Today we found a pace of grace... We watched a marathon of "One Punk Under God", a 6 episode documentary that was featured on Sundance.

It is the story of Jay Baker, the son of Jim & Tammy Faye and his incomparable mission to start a revolution of grace. It is the story of his journey, of the detours that led him down a different road and off the beaten path into the alley of the alternative.

The billboard of his vision reads "show all people the unconditional love and grace of Jesus without any reservations due to their lifestyle or religious background, past or future".

We pulled off the "road" at the drive-in of the divine, started the marathon & began to unwind. The unwinding was more than a physical one...it was a emotional and spiritual journey into the unchartered territory of grace.

Like Jay, and many of you, we found that "religion kills" and spirituality heals. We were given the gift of having our hearts opened to God in the church. Likewise, we had the heartbreak of seeing the law of the church overrule love many times. We experienced the judgement and holier-than-thou law crucify Christ's law of love...that you "love your neighbor as yourself".

This has been the deadend for so many seekers who have given up on God, because the church gave up on them. The doors of the church have often been shut in judgement of a person's lifestyle, religious background or spiritual struggle. That air of holiness has slammed shut the hearts of many who have truly hungered for acceptance, community and to fulfil their calling.

Jay's ministry is giving heart & home to those who feel abandoned by the church. In one part of the documentary, a women tells Jay that before she came to his church, Revolution, she was giving God "one more chance". She was ready to tell God to F**K off. Jay visits a transgender woman who had her pastor ask her to never return to church again. Both of them were about to give up on God and their life purpose until they found a community that truly revealed to her the incomparable compassion of God's grace & unconditional love.

How many others has the church not chosen to save? How many has it cast into hell here on earth?

Jay's vision, his story, his gifts of grace are truly divine inspiration to live the law of love. So many people feel like outcasts and feel unworthy...they need a revolution.

We all need a revolution, and need to continue to keep that revived in our community of love at Church on the Rocks. We can continue to be ambassadors of unconditional love & grace. We can continue to accept & embrace and welcome into our community those who have never found their place.

A heartfelt thank you to Jay for his good works of grace. Please check out his website at:
http://revolutionnyc.com/
Buy or Rent the documentary "One Punk Under God"
Listen to messages here:
http://www.revolutionnyc.com/media.htour m#Audio

Let your heart be inspired to give more grace to yourself and to others. Long live the spirit! Long live the revolution!!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I remember Jay from his coffee shop ministry in Atlanta.

I'm really grateful that he and others are doing the hard work to combat the fear based messages being spread by some institutions with the truths that come from love.

There still alot of work to do.

Angie Impellizzeri said...

this guy is fascinating....
i've started listening to his podcasts and well... finally, someone that doesn't preach fear... :)