Loyal readers of this lofty blog no doubt recall that I am a believer in the radical Jesus, and that I am also a minister practicing in that vein, even while my divinity education was conservative and traditional.
Since I almost never wear my white collar and black shirt, even people who know me reasonably well forget that I’m a minister. I love when people suddenly remember that I am one and they say, “Wow, does this mean you can marry me?!”
Yes, if I love you, I can. Hahaha
But, seriously, yes I can marry you, but I’m only registered in the State of Ohio.
But that’s not what I wanted to post here about today. I wanted to talk about how amazing the Christian Healthcare Ministries are. it’s a Christian healthcare cooperative, which means, we don’t believe in health insurance. We follow Christ’s mandate to carry one another’s burdens, and we voluntarily contribute whatever amount of money we want to help pay one another’s medical bills. Even the catastrophic ones.
And it works. Above and beyond paying our monthly contribution, which is always a set amount (which is a FRACTION of what health insurance costs), the amount we end up contributing each month to pay for the medical bills of other members is just kind of staggering.
For instance, I send in an additional check of anywhere between $9 to $13 each month, to help cover a specific person’s hospital bill – a total stranger, whom I will never know and they will never know me. We all do this every month, until everybody’s bills are paid. We also pray for each other – strangers. (And we go to our own doctors, there is never any “network” we have to stay within.)
This is from December. Yes. What we chose to voluntarily contribute to strangers last month. It just astounds me, the power of Christ in people’s lives.
Marilyn's Room 
Many years ago (at least 28), I participated in a similar non-insurance mutual care plan among Christians (and generally pacifists, if I recall… may have been started by the “peace” churches). I really loved the experience… the feeling of directly helping other members. Though money was tight, I didn’t resent having to contribute in the way one easily can with insurance premiums.
As to your “radical Christianity” mention, I’ve been gradually getting through a wonderful book compiled by a couple great students/teachers from Claremont School of Theology. I think it’s a book you’d love, and maybe many of your readers. I’m working on a summary-style review that will go on my blog, one by one of the co-editors, and on Amazon. But since it may get further notice from here, I’ll give the title and why I think it’s a unique and valuable contribution. It is “How I Found God Everywhere and in Everyone”. Called “An Anthology of Spiritual Memoirs” – by a variety of contributors, some of whom are widely-known figures such as Deepak Chopra, Matthew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake. Semi-spoiler: none of them are “orthodox” or “conservative” Christians.
Their common radicality is not actually around Jesus for all of them (one is a Rabbi, for instance, and most know Chopra is not Christian) but around the discovery of a God who they both experience and reason to be intimately relational and passionately involved with people and with all processes of the universe. Yet “he” doesn’t intervene as we normally mean that word (miracles, for example). In fact, “Process” (theology and philosophy) is the moniker for the broad system or paradigm most of the contributors operate from. Or, more broadly, and often used in the book: “panentheism”, as set apart from both supernatural (or classic) theism and pantheism… a sort of sensible “middle road”. I’m hoping to get the review posted about Jan. 21 or 22.