2008 Peace Award Address
LIVING IN THE FUTURE OF A DREAM
Norris Harris, Chaplain, Koinonia

The word Koinonia is Greek for fellowship - fellowship with God and with each other. And that’s what I found 15 years ago when I was hired at Koinonia in Americus, Georgia. In 1993, Koinonia changed from being an intentional community to being a place of employment, more of a social service business. Now, that didn’t quite work out the way we hoped, but it’s how I got to Koinonia and it’s how my sister, Bren, who you’ll hear from later got there so we give thanks. It always amazes me how God works His wonders of putting us in the right place at the right time, and that is exactly what He did when He sent me to Koinonia. One day I received a call from the Department of Labor saying that there was a position in shipping and receiving open at Koinonia Partners. Then I was one of the three finalists. Then I got the job. This new venture for my life started October 10, 1993.

What I found at Koinonia was a group of people living in community, living in fellowship with God and with one another. People who had been living in intentional community for decades, I also found employees, seasonal workers, I found what I call snowbirds — retired people who came down from the cold country to spend time with us in that good, warm, southern climate, I found volunteers, and visitors from all walks of life. It did not matter who they were, it did not matter where they came from, it did not matter how little they had or how much they had—they were a fellowship. All these people believed in why Clarence and others came to the farm in1942 — to be a demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God. In the work force environment I came from, we didn’t focus on a mission, but we focused on the goal to produce a quality product. But at Koinonia, there were farmers, daycare workers, bakers, office personnel, soul seekers, gardeners, environmentalists, pastors, young and old, trying to live out a mission for a life time or coming to participate in the mission for awhile.

Most people probably would think that this concept would not work—that it is too idealistic. But I stand here to tell you today that it does work. Koinonia is like a “piece of heaven” right here on earth. As I reflect back on God’s providence in taking me to Koinonia, it appears that either the place was waiting for me or I was waiting for the place. After the first two weeks of witnessing the community activities, it seemed that the metamorphosis was taking place. I was able to see Koinonia thru the eyes of God and not thru the eyes of man. I was able to see Koinonia the way God would see it – a community of His people from all walks of life, living together, working together, serving together, and worshiping together. Although other job opportunities came available to me, I was at Koinonia to stay. This place called Koinonia had claimed me as one of its own. Even when we went through some tough times later in that decade of the 90s that did not change for me — Koinonia claimed me as its own.

Just as Koinonia is the mother of Habitat for Humanity, Jubilee Partners, and the Fuller Center for Housing, this place becomes a mother for you. There are two publications at Koinonia that I suggest that you buy, and if you have already read them, then read them again. They are The Cotton Patch Evidence and Koinonia Remembered. I want you to read the Cotton Patch Evidence because of its detailed history, from the introduction to the epilogue. I want you to read the Koinonia Remembered because you can get to know the patriarchs and matriarchs who kept the Koinonia Demonstration alive in difficult times. But then that wouldn’t be enough, because there is still Koinonia today. That is Koinonia in the present. It is not the Jordan’s, the Englands, the Wittikampers, the Browne’s, the Worth’s or the Fuller’s watch. It is now our watch. You see, today Koinonia is still demonstrating God’s Kingdom on earth. Today I am what we call a steward. We came back to our roots in 2005 and recommitted ourselves to being an intentional community. Being a steward means that I have made a life commitment to God and the koinonia. I don’t have any doubts that God called me there and that is where I aim to stay unless God calls me elsewhere … and I hope He doesn’t.

Yes, Koinonia is a demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God. We are a diverse group of people, and sometimes that’s the mission within itself. I say that because when you have a Quaker, a Congregationalist, a United Methodist, an African Methodist Episcopal, a Pentecostal, an Episcopal, a Catholic, a Lutheran, a Presbyterian, and others coming to the same place and being together for a common cause, what else can you call it but community? What else can you call it but fellowship? What else can you call it but love? What else can you call it but a little piece of heaven? And not only Christians — we welcome all our brothers and sisters to come spend time with us: Muslims and Jews, Hindus and Buddhist, people who believe and people who don’t. It doesn’t matter — we love all the same. Isn’t that what Jesus asked us to do?

Clarence once said that “faith is the turning of dreams into deeds; it is betting your life on the unseen realities.” At Koinonia, that’s what we do. During the last fifteen years I have seen adults that were illiterate become readers and learners at Koinonia, I have seen people with little or no education do jobs that a person with a Masters degree would normally do, simply because they were given the opportunity at Koinonia. I have witnessed persons with little or no education influence the lives of lawyers, doctors, and people of prestige.

Now let me explain the reason I say we are living in the future of a dream. It has been stated by some that Clarence Jordan was a man before his time, but I say he was a man for his time. His time brought recognition to the ungodly actions of man. He was living in the dream of someone else before him. He wanted to teach the farmers a better way of using their land and increasing its yield. We are living that dream today. The civil rights movement is not as prominent as it was then; things have gotten better in the south. Black and white pastors are going in and out of each other churches now and nobody is being asked to leave if they are from Koinonia, or if their skin is a different color. Yours truly has been the president of the local ministerial association for the past five years, which includes both white and black pastors and laity. Clarence brought awareness to what was wrong in the past to making it right in the future. We are indeed living in the future of something that was dreamed in the past. Clarence also said and I quote, “The Scriptures should be taken out of the classrooms and stained glass sanctuary and put out under God’s skies where people are toiling and crying and wondering, where the mighty events, of the good news first happened, and where alone they feel at home.” We couldn’t do that in the fifties and sixties, but we can do it now.

In the famous “I have a dream speech,” the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King stood bravely and said that he had a dream. He said that he had been to the mountaintop and had seen the promise land. Today I feel privileged to be living in that dream and witnessing the events that were actually dreamed and have become a reality. In this election year, the dream is being brought to fruition through Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. We speak of peace every day and we stand for it when the need arises, but to me peace has to begin with each individual. And I think that this peace can come about if we do as we are commanded: to Love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. One of the songs that we sing at Koinonia is “Seek you first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Hallelujah.” So I say to you today “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King once said “The new world is a world of togetherness. This means that no Individual or nation can live alone. We must learn to live together or we will be forced to die together.”

The question has been asked, “How can Koinonia be a model community for other communities across the country?” The answer I give is that you must come to Koinonia and be a witness to what goes on in this community. Come and see the fellowship, come and see the comradeship, come and see God’s people putting the needs of others before the needs of self, come and see that we may not all believe the same or worship the same, but we can all love the same.

Today, I say thank you Clarence Jordan, thank you Florence Jordan, thank you Martin England, thank you Mabel England for having the courage and the mind to dream. Thank you for the founding of Koinonia. And thank you Community of Christ for choosing Koinonia to received the International Peace Award. You’ve honored us. We are truly grateful.

Norris