galatian musings

When men and women get their hands on religion, one of the first things they often do is turn it into an instrument for controlling others, either putting or keeping them "in their place." The history of such religious manipulation and coercion is long and tedious.

Saul of Tarsus was doing his diligent best to add yet another chapter to this dreary history when he was converted by Jesus to something radically and entirely different---a free life in God. Through Jesus, Paul learned that God was not an impersonal force to be used to make people behave in certain prescribed ways, but a personal Savior who set us free to live a free life. God did not coerce us from without, but set us free from within.

Paul's letter to the Galatian churches helps them, and us, recover this original freedom. It also gives direction in the nature of God's gift of freedom---most necessary guidance, for freedom is a delicate and subtle gift, easily perverted and often squandered.

(Excerpted from THE MESSAGE REMIX: The Bible in Contemporary Language Copyright © 2003 by Eugene Peterson)

Join us for six weeks in the fall as we explore the book of Galatians and the gift of true freedom.

• September 14 - Galatians 1
• September 21 - Galatians 2
• September 28 - Galatians 3
• October 12 - Galatians 4
• October 19 - Galatians 5 (guest speaker Tom Ward, Jr., Eastpoint Church)
• October 26 - Galatians 6