The counterculture landscape of the ‘60s teemed
with radicals, extremists, idealists, and revolutionaries
lurking around every corner. Mainstream society hated these
troublemakers, these communists, but we loved their passion
for peace and justice. Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin jumping
up and down on the table in the Chicago courtroom in 1968
didn’t rankle us; they had bucked the system and won
a great victory. Hope welled up within us that maybe we
could change the Establishment. We demonstrated in the streets
for an end to the war in Vietnam, a nuclear freeze, the
dismantling of nuclear reactors, and justice in South Africa.
Inspired by the teachings of Ghandi, Martin Luther King,
Jr., Scott Nearing, the Chicago Seven, and the Berrigans,
we put all our heart into demonstrating for peace, organizing
rallies, getting arrested, and writing letters to the editors
and our Congressmen. Still, the unjust system churned on.
Looking back now, it’s hard to see any lasting results
from all our radical hoopla.
But were we truly radicals? The word
radical, like its etymological counterpart, radicle, comes
from the Latin word, radix, which means root. A radicle is the first young root put forth from a seed, the first
carrier of life-giving nutrients to the young plant. Without
this radicle, the seed doesn’t have a chance, lacking
its most basic root. So, too, any so-called radical or extremist
can only bring about a lasting positive change in society
if he himself is rooted in a life-sustaining source.
So were we truly radicals? Did our roots go down into
a life-giving source that could sustain us and bring about
the goals of the Movement? No! Time and time again we went
home dismayed and frustrated ał our efforts to organize
peace coalitions had come to nothing and the peace groups
we belonged to had divided into warring factions. Eventually
we left the Movement and fell back into the same system
from which we had tried to escape. Instead of changing the
world, the world had changed us. At one time our hero, Jerry
Rubin, had railed against the Establishment and demanded
its violent overthrow. Now he is a New York socialite, hob-nobbing
with politicians and Wall Street businessmen. The swords
have yet to be beaten into plowshares or the bombers to
turn into butterflies over our nation as Joni predicted.
The radicals of the ’60s had roots that went only
as deep as the society which they attempted to change. According
to David Dellinger, one of the Chicago Seven, “[The
Peace Movement is] a movement whose members are still being
crippled by the society from which we are trying to free
ourselves and others. Contrary to some interpretations,
the Movement’s erraticism and inconsistency tell us
more about the sickness of the society against which we
are in revolt...” He believed that it was worthwhile
to continue to be involved in the Movement in spite of its
weakness. At least in that way one’s suffocating human
passions would be able to flower from time to time. But
wouldn’t it be better if our lives could flower continually,
actually bringing about justice and lasting peace?
For a radical movement to blossom and bear abundant fruit,
it has to be rooted in good soil, not in the barren soil
of selfishness, compromise, and division. There was once
such a movement, an uncompromising people who were in total
unity. They spoke to their generation with one voice, a
voice so clear and exposing that the established institutions
were shaken to their foundations. They came together some
two thousand years ago while the iron might of Rome ruled
all of the known world. Despite its brutal strength, the
Roman state came to be greatly threatened by this gentle
people and their stirring message.
These radicals were called together from every segment
of society. One of them was a revolutionary guerrilla who
advocated the violent overthrow of the hated Roman oppressors.
Another was a tax collector who collaborated with the occupying
army and even lined his own pockets by overtaxing his fellow
countrymen. These two, a guerrilla and a tax collector,
would have hated each other unless a greater power had bound
them together. Still others in the group were simple fishermen.
What held them together was their devotion to one man, the
Radical of all radicals. His spirit and his teaching were
like nothing they had ever heard before. He so captured
the imaginations of his followers that they all left everything
behind to follow him.
After his death and resurrection, he gave them his Spirit
to empower them to live a radical life together that would
astound the whole world. Within days, over three thousand
men and women had committed themselves lock, stock, and
barrel to their Master and to the teachings of those who
had been taught by him. Banding together out of love for
one another, they threw all they had into a common pot,
giving no thought to their own needs. Their passionate message
to come out of the perverse society — backed up by their
daily lives of loving and caring for one another a — spoke
louder and clearer than all the hollow rhetoric of the false
prophets of their time. Heart by yielding heart, a new nation
was born, as these radicals abandoned their jobs and old
lives to be healed of the crippling effects of the society
they left.
Sadly,
this new nation did not endure long enough to bring about
their Master’s return and the establishment of his
good government on the earth. Like a tree that stops bearing
good fruit and is cut down, the life of that nation ceased.
However, the root remained, and now, at the scent of water,
it is starting to sprout once again. Its radical life has
returned. There is once again a people who are putting the
crippling effects of society’s sickness under their
feet. In our communities, men, women, and children are being
given one heart and one way. At last we are home. The Radical
of all radicals, whose name is Yahshua, the Son of God,
has brought us home. We responded to his call to give up
our lives and all our possessions, and having died to our
old lives, we received his life. Because we no longer live
for ourselves, we are able to live together in peace and
justice. We invite you to come and see this radical life!
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