It started out as just another gathering. The little family of faith that Katrina and I meet with had plans to meet at our new apartment to share what Jesus had been up to in our lives. Little did we know that he would wait until we had all gathered to show us!
A few weeks earlier we had all prayed about becoming less of a “church” (regular worship time, devotional/Bible study, closing prayer, etc) and more of Christ’s body (eyes open to the needs of the world, sharing abundant life, etc). This meant big changes in how we operated, and even how we identified our “congregation” (I don’t think we’ve used the word “church” since). We began plotting and prayerfully planning how we might be Jesus by caring about what he cared about. It only took one or two weeks for our first assignment to fall into our laps!
Our friend Mary came to us last night with something weighing on her heart. Earlier that day she had met three travelers whose radiator had busted and were now broken down in the Wal-Mart parking lot. We prayed about it and several of us decided to head out to do what we could to help them.
At first I was a little nervous; one guy was really big and wore a dirty hooded sweatshirt, and had two dogs (one was a pit bull!). But as I began hearing their story, the walls began to come down. These people were kind, thoughtful and just as interested in us as they were in getting their car running again. They said they were driving to New Mexico to scout out the next gathering for a group that call themselves the “Rainbow Family of the Traveling Light” (take a look at their Glossary, which I found to be quite amusing and informative).
Apparently, Rainbow Family is a diverse group that meets regularly out in the woods to pray for peace (in whatever religious angle they happen to hold, or not hold) and to welcome others “home” who have left their jobs, cars, and civilization behind (”Babylon” as they call it). I had always heard about “hippies” (I’m not sure they would claim the term), but until last night I had never actually met any…so I was very curious.
Secretly, I have always been fascinated with their lifestyle, and their ability to rely on the earth and each other for all that they need. Their focus was on peace and healing from destructive forces. They took a huge group down to New Orleans to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina, they continually feed the poor and homeless, even as they are homeless themselves, and make sure no one is left without.
After strumming together on their mandolins (I need to pull mine out again SOON!), we went for coffee. For being so resistant against “mainline lifestyles”, they seemed pretty comfortable in a yuppie coffee shop. I asked them pretty frank questions, and assured them that I meant no offense. We talked about their past, their families, and why they would choose such a radical lifestyle. It was so strange because it all sounded so much like the words of Jesus critiquing the kingdoms of earth and the Prince of the Air.
They asked what I wanted to do with my life, and I told them that I wanted to share the lifestyle of Christ - one that was radically prophetic against the prevailing cultures of comfort and injustice that they found so oppressive. I told them that it might mean living simply, in a home that didn’t hurt the earth, and in a job that didn’t hurt my family. It might mean helping someone out of addiction, or rescuing someone from abuse. They Good News was a lifestyle to be lived, not a track to be passed out.
I told them that Jesus Christ had been castrated and domesticated to fit our lifestyles, rather than the other way around. They seemed pretty pumped up about that, and they realized in our conversation that in many ways they followed Jesus already. I told them that the Kingdom of God was closer than they thought. The whole dialog was pretty surreal, but I give thanks to Father for speaking through me.
If Christians want to learn a thing or two from others, its not going to be from the business world (as so many best-selling church growth books would have you believe) - it might just come from a wooded lot in New Mexico. Here’s a few things I learned from my new hippie friend:
When asked about staying motivated to practice my mandolin, he responded: “If it doesn’t sound good the first time you play it, don’t play it again. And, if you don’t catch yourself smiling every now and again as you play, you’re probably doing something wrong. In fact, that goes for life too.”
“Humans have three lower functions and three higher functions. The three lower functions are to eat, sleep and poop. Anyone can do these. The three higher functions are listening, learning and creating. You MUST be able to share and work with others peacefully to get to the higher functions.”
“Our culture doesn’t love because we don’t trust each other. That’s why its so hard to find help when we’re stranded on the highway. Whatever happened to hospitality that Christians showed thousands of years ago? I guess we can all blame Hitcher for our problems…”
I pray fervently for more opportunities to BE CHRIST together as a spiritual community; nothing nourishes me more - no worship song, no sermon topic, nothing. This for me is the Good News, that the Kingdom of God came near last night, and we’ll never be the same.
