The setting is Louisville, Kentucky, late 1930s.
"If a white man must die for this. . . let it be me. Do it now." The room grows silent. The man was Clarence Jordan.
Born 1912 in Talbotton, Georgia. Southern Baptist family Accepted Christ at age 10 Studied Ag at the University of Georgia, then Master of Dinvity and Doctor of Philosophy from Southern Baptist Theological seminary in Louisville.
The question arose in my mind, "Were the little black children precious in God'ssight just like the little white children?" The song said they were. Then why werethey always so ragged, so dirty and hungry? Did God have favorite children?
In 1942, Koinonia Farm. .. . An interracial farming community.. started several controversial practices.. paid black and white workers the same and had them eat the noon meal together. Through 1950’s and early 1960’s, persecuted for being Anti-American and communist. Frequent attacks by the Klan…repeated bombing of their roadside markets. Local feed stores refused to sell fertilizer or seed or Jordan and other members. Local grain elevators boycotted their produce. Started a mail order business, which is still today their main source of income. Jordan excommunicated from the local Baptist church for allowing the races to mix.
Registered as a pacifist. An old farmer stated to him with obvious distaste: "I heard you won't fight." Clarence replied: "Who told you that? We sure will fight." Surprised, the farmer said: "Well, you won't go in the Army, will you?" Clarence said: "No, we don't fight that way. Let me explain. You see that mule over there? Well, if that mule bit you, you wouldn't bite it back, would you?" "Nope," the farmer allowed, "I'd hit him with a two-by-four."
"Exactly," Clarence replied. "You wouldn't let that mule set the level of your encounter with him. Youwould get a weapon a mule couldn't use and knock his brains out. That's what Christians are supposed to do--they are supposed to use weapons of love and peace and goodwill, weapons that the enemy can't handle."
The Cotton Patch Gospel
From the mid-1950s until his death in 1969, Jordan wrote his Cotton Patch versions of the NewTestament, Christ today in rural Georgia.
Asked his congregation if he could put his "Christianity on hold for 15 minutes and beat the tar" out of some racist person.
A year before Jordan’s death, Millard Fuller, a disillusioned millionaire from Alabama, came to Koinania Farm for lunch. Lunch turned into weeks. Their partnership established Habitat for Humanity.
"The rich will sit down at the same table with the poor and learn how good cornbread andcollard greens are, and the poor will find out what a T-bone steak taste like. Neither willshiver in a drafty house, nor have to move furniture when it rains. Both will rejoice in therobust health of their children, who are not listless from having too little nor bored fromhaving too much.
New York Times: “The words explode in your ears.” True.. some are shocked.
Often labeled Harry Chapin’s musical and it was the last thing he wrote before he was killed in1981.. car accident.. ruled a heart attack while driving. Deeply committed to humanitarian causes, notably Pres. Carter’s Commission on World Hunger. Devoted over half of this annual concerts to benefitting others.
Eleven albums.. C. Patch was his last completed music. Tom Key performed a one-man show portraying Matthew in a fifty city tour the joined forces with Rulley Treyz and Harry Chapin to produce tonight’s show.
The Bible onstage.. Morality plays, among the first Western drama The Musicals: most famous Godspell Jesus Christ Superstar ….many in my generation can still remember the impact those lyrics had on us..a turning point for some.
Old Testament is more often portrayed onstage.. perhaps because the characters are bigger, the stories better known, and they are less offensive.
Two by Two.. Rodgers and Hammerstein Children of Eden Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Doing Christian Drama onstage… Jesus Christ Superstar.. lady walked out.. Mary Magdalene a Prostitute! Ran the show for ten nights.. on night five I called cast together at intermission.. “Come on, nobody’s walked out. You must not be trying tonight.”
Did this show 10 years ago or so.. Man refused to come.. let out his family. “Christ should not be portrayed onstage.” Went uptown to the tavern and drank until the show was over.”
Each generation attempts to make the story of Christ fresh and relevant. . . sometimes successfully and always with controversy.
Tonight: a very fresh version of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
QUESTIONS?
Tonight’s cast: two teachers, a management trainer, a high school principal, a Jr. High student, a college student, a banker, the head of the Illinois Women’s Abuse Center, and the director of a home for the mentally ill. The main thing we have in common: We mean what we’re saying. Enjoy the show.