more fire

The following is an article from the Agape Times, the official newsletter of Radical Living. My wife and I formed the Radical Living Christian Community in August 2007. It is an intentional community in Brooklyn, New York. There are 14 people who live in the community and many others who participate in community with us. We have recently published the second issue of Agape Times. We’ve been blessed to have prominent Christian authors as well as grassroots Christian organizers submit stories. Check out the summer issue here.

Guerilla Theater as Prophetic Expression

The prophets of the Holy Scriptures often performed guerilla theater to get their message to penetrate the hard hearts of an unrepentant people.

Jeremiah wore a yoke of wood, and then of iron, to express the gravity of Israel’s impending exile in Babylon. Isaiah walked naked and barefoot for three years as a witness to the coming slavery of Israel. Ezekiel baked bread on human excrement as a sign to his people that they would eat defiled food when driven into exile.

Today, in rural and urban settings across the nation, a new breed of prophets are using guerilla theater and other tactics to rouse the conscience of a people numbed by empire. In New York City (which happens to be in the Empire State), a handful of Jesus’ followers have begun dumpster diving as a way to get free grub and as a way to point to the unnecessary waste of this nation. While restaurants, delis, and grocery stores throw out tons of good food every day, there are approximately 1.3 million New Yorkers across the five boroughs that rely on emergency food programs to put food on the table for their families.

Another example of guerilla tactics employed by Christ’s followers can be seen in the subway system. Some years back, during Giuliani’s regime, NYC launched an intense campaign against the city’s most vulnerable poor. Posters in the subway state, “Give to charity, just not here,” and in March the city began calling on its residents to call 311 if they see a homeless person. Some radicals began placing stickers that read, “’Give to the one who begs from you,’ Jesus (Matt. 5:42),” on the city’s posters as a way to counter the unjust system that works to further disassociate the haves from the have-nots.

Followers of Christ are longing for justice and mercy, and they are finding creative ways to raise awareness of issues and to meet people’s needs.