Lived Contrast

It's been a while since my last post, but this is honestly one of my first real breaks since I last posted. Right now I'm sitting in Racklin, in Sean's office on Paul Kane's computer - these last few days have been nuts. I spent last week in MN catching up with folks while Nick/Brian were in Phoenix and Jon celebrated his sisters' graduations. Coming back to Indianapolis I got stuck in South Bend, but have stayed busy researching for Budget Meetings, helping with the move into the Colfax house and reading.

I just finished reading the Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. Shane is part of a stream termed the New Monasticism and lives in a something similar to a hospitality house -think Dorthy Day's Catholic Worker Movement - in North Philidelphia, called the Simple Way community.

The book talks about Shane's desire to know Jesus the guy and where this leads him. It is quite interesting, and Shane is a good writer. Of his stories one really grabed me as we've explored preaching. A few months ago, we heard the Lord ask us to preach. Though we'd heard street preachers before, and the 'turn-or-burn' tactic seemed to do more damage than conviction and converstion. So, we did it differently and since then I've been wondering about how else we might spread the Gospel.

After coming into some money, folks at Simple Way decided to throw a Jubilee Celebration (Lev 25) on Wall Street. They wanted to give the money away and thought they'd have some fun doing it. Jubilee was celebrated every 50 years by the people Israel and during which all slaves had to be liberated, and all mortgaged fields/hosues would return to their owners without payment involved. It was a time for reconcilliation not only among the Israelites but also with God, who was also invited to cancel our debts - Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. It's really quite remarkable.

On the appointed day folks gathered from all around the country, other house communities had been notified and jumped in to help plan and participate. Folks came dressed as business men and women, beggars, tourists and some were - you couldn't tell who was who. Until Sister Margaret and Shane stepped out and in a loud voice, said:

Some of us have worked on Wall Street, and some of us have slept on Wall Street. We are a community of struggle. Some of us are rich people trying to escape our loneliness. Some of us are poor folks trying to escape the cold. Some of us are addicted to drugs and others are addicted to money. We are a broken people who need each other and God, for we have come to recognize the mess that we have created of our world and how deeply we suffer for that mess. Now we are working together to give birth to a new society within the shell of the old. Another world is possible. Another world is necessary. Another world is already here.

And with that Sister Margatet blew the ram's horn to annouce the beginning of the Jubilee Celebration. It had been working for months to set it all up. Using Wall Street as a contrast, folks in the balconies began raining down paper bills, while "the streets turned silver" as everyone invited began pouring out their change. It was contagious. Some folks brought out sidewalk chalk and bubbles, and everyone joined in. This Jubilee Block Party on Wall Street was a lot of fun, gave directly to many folks in need, and provided a contrast. It was a big 'what if' for a lot of people.

Augusto Boal is big on this Street Theater. A contemporary of Paulo Friere in Brazil, Boal worked in Theater as an educational tool where folks could analyze their world. His Street Pieces were sometimes done without anyone knowing it was acting - called Invisible Theater - and was bent on bringing into folks normal routines the opportunities to reflect on the problems of society. On Wall Street it was about the ills of money and what if we really did share, at IUPUI is extreme isolation - what if we waltzed in one afternoon and threw a Lord's Day Celebration right there - invited everyone to join us for lunch, said a modified version of the prayer and ate together. It's not theater in the sense that we're acting - we're just being us in a different place, but it's also preaching in a sense. Ultimately, that's what it's all about. Friendship is an experience and words don't always cut it.