This past weekend I saw a video I had ordered for my Dad, one produced by a group from Koinonia Farms in Americus , Georgia. It was titled Briars in the Cotton Patch: The Story of Koinonia Farm. Today, of course, is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and a similar theme and example is observed. Clarence Jordan came back to Georgia in 1942 to begin a Chrsitian Community. He had studied New Testament Greek at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and determined to live out a Christian Community —all of it.

What Clarence Jordan found was that the culture around him, including the Churches, were not focused on the quality of their fellowship, but on the “content” or “appearance” of it, which included a racial mix. This was “taboo”. The cultural mores , in many cases, outweighed any “alternative” reading of the Scriptures which would challenge assumptions about “the way God wants things”.

Many times, Citizens Councils came to Jordan to ask him and Koinonia to leave. They said that since Christianity is about brotherhood and peace, and that their prescence was causing strife and division, they were not really accomplishing their mission.

The video history focused a great deal on the “controversy” they sparked, and the reaction of the Southern culture around them, which was certainly a big part of their story (accenting the reality that seeking to truly live out the teachings of Jesus would elicit opposition from the surrounding culture). The video moved from one “confrontation” to another, highlighting all of the controversies arising from their remaining firm in their affirmation that the Christian fellowship does not exclude on the basis of race.

I would have liked to have seen more “coverage” of the REASONS why they stood firm. After all, the strength and purpose of Koinonia was not to confront, but to LIVE OUT the Christian community. The confrontations that come about are inevitable, and while they certainly form a part of the story and bring a community even closer together, the real meat comes with the things that bind that community together that enable them to STAND UP against efforts to persecute.