One August morning in Los Angeles, 18 Christian clergy members marched onto the street outside the Cameo Beverly Hills to support hotel workers striking for better pay, invoking Jesus Christ as one who taught that "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Police officers detained them all, among them Rev. Denyse Barnes, a Methodist priest who told Salon that risking arrest on behalf of the striking workers was part of her calling as a Christian leader.
"That's what church is, right? It's not just the building with the rituals and traditions, which is still important, but also walking the walk that Jesus taught us," Barnes said. In following Christ, she explained, it is his mercy and advocacy for the downtrodden — for whom he was anointed to bring "glad tidings" — that she and her fellow marchers look to for guidance.
