Who owns Christmas?

Posted on January 24, 2019 by jwfisch

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I tried to make it — I really did. But Candlemas (February 2) is nine days away and our Christmas tree is beyond dead. (Some of you might remember that Christmas was last month.)

For those of you who are in the dark about this, I was trying to make it to February 2, traditionally the last day to dismantle Christmas decorations that also corresponds with Candlemas, a traditional Blessing of the Candles for the year. I tried to make it, but I caved under the pressure of having a huge unlit torch in our living room, and the need to finally get on with life.

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Posted in Christmas, grace turned outward | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Putting Christ back in Christianity

Posted on January 23, 2019 by jwfisch

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Bob, our good friend and frequent commentator from Seattle, raised some very excellent questions about the Jesus Movement, circa 1968-72, after yesterday’s Catch. The following two sentences capture the essence of his speculations. “Did we ever concern ourselves with looking toward the future with God’s endgame in our sights or were we simply content to “live one day at a time,” sing Maranatha songs, and let God handle the details down the road? Do any of us vaguely recall seeing forward 50 years into the possibility that, if the second coming hadn’t already happened by 2019, then our lives and messages (guided by the Holy Spirit) would result in a world where His love, joy, and revelation would prevail because we were His instruments of peace and messengers of His wisdom?”

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Posted in grace turned outward | Tagged | 8 Comments

The Sequel

Posted on January 22, 2019 by jwfisch

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People get ready there’s a train a-comin’

Pickin’ up passengers coast to coast

All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin’

Don’t need no ticket you just thank the Lord

                –  Curtis Mayfield, 1965

The Jesus Movement, circa 1968-1972, was the last great spiritual/cultural revolution in this country. It completely reshaped the church in America, led primarily by the growing significance of popular music for worship in the church which the Jesus Movement ushered in. As a result, the typical church service in America today is virtually unrecognizable from its counterpart 50 years ago. Not to mention a Christian subculture and a Christian politic.

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Posted in Millennials, Uncategorized | 6 Comments

From fear to eternity

Posted on January 21, 2019 by jwfisch

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People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.        – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I sought to prepare a Catch today surrounded by quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I was overwhelmed. My first attempt tried to capture too much and as a result didn’t capture much of anything. So I’ve chosen one quote that applies the most to where I think people are at right now. It has to do with fear, and it begins with this: “People fail to get along because they fear each other.”

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Posted in relationships | Tagged | 4 Comments

Christmas lives on

Posted on January 18, 2019 by jwfisch

 

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Well I can’t believe we’ve made it this far, but I’m beginning to doubt our Christmas tree’s ability to make it to Candlemas (February 2). That’s two more weeks. It’s getting to be too close to a fire hazard. Where its arms were once out with palms up, they are all now drooping, palms down. It’s like it’s standing with its arms at its sides. It still looks beautiful; it still has its perfect shape, it just looks tired. Even the tippity top lists a little to the side. It’s a Christmas tree with low-grade depression. Maybe I should consider getting some serotonin in the water except our Chihuahuas would end up with it and God knows they don’t need to be any happier; they are the only ones drinking the Christmas tree water now.

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Posted in Christmas | Tagged | 4 Comments

Katy Perry’s ‘ROAR’

Posted on January 17, 2019 by jwfisch

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So I think I’m going to need some help from you, or some sympathy — I can’t decide which — maybe both, but Marti has discovered she can program songs into her phone for various signals and notifications. So now her phone rings to the theme from the Pirates of the Caribbean 3; or if it’s a text, it will be “Tonight’s gonna be a good night” (I’m really sick of that one); and then for general alarms (such as first thing in the morning) there is Katy Perry singing “You’re gonna hear me ROAR!” (How would you like to wake up to that every morning?); oh yes, and then there’s Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major for I don’t know what, and a Glockenspiel version of the “Carol of the Bells” which (yes) plays year round. See what I mean? Tell me, how long could you live with this?

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Posted in relationships | Tagged | 9 Comments

Never stop learning

Posted on January 16, 2019 by jwfisch

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Los Angeles schoolteachers are on strike. They say it’s for the students, and hopefully it can be resolved soon, or it’s going to start to be bad for everybody. The strike prompted a violin teacher in Los Angeles to write an article for the Los Angeles Times about what happened to her when there was a teacher’s strike in New York city in 1968 when she was 16 and a student at the High School of Music and Art there. She first saw the strike as an opportunity to practice her violin, but then her older brother, who had just graduated from college, decided to take it upon himself to teach her about opera. She says she was reluctant at the beginning, knowing nothing about it, but then her brother put the needle down on a recording of “Musetta’s Waltz” from Puccini’s “La Boheme,” and she said she felt like her heart was going to explode. So during that strike, her brother taught her about opera and about Shakespeare, complete with quizzes and exams. “Clearly you haven’t read the question carefully,” he wrote on one of her answers. Sounds like he filled in pretty well for her teachers.

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Posted in Worldview | Tagged | 10 Comments

Practicing what you (don’t) preach

Posted on January 15, 2019 by jwfisch

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Practice what you (don’t) preach.

I saw this saying the other day and immediately liked it. It makes sense — much more sense than “Practice what you preach,” mainly because most of us are not preachers, and even if we are, we are rarely on a platform where we are expected to preach. That’s something that people don’t like about preachers is that they have a tendency to preach all the time. They like to speak loudly and make a point about everything. They carry around a portable pulpit. Most of the time we are in relationship with people, not in church, and preaching just doesn’t work in a relationship.

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Posted in relationships | Tagged | 11 Comments

Born and born again

Posted on January 14, 2019 by jwfisch

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I am finding out that Christmas is a lot more fun after December 25 than before. Before, there is so much angst. It’s a time well known for the stress of shopping, trying to anticipate expectations, planning, missing deadlines, packages that don’t come, last-minute pulling rabbits out of hats, and the inevitable disappointment of someone. Even in church, we celebrate the advent — the coming of the savior of the world. It’s a longing — a waiting. Each Sunday we light another candle leading to that final one on Christmas Eve. That’s all well and good, but is it ever going to get here?

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Posted in Christmas | Tagged | 3 Comments

Forced slowdown

Posted on January 11, 2019 by jwfisch

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It’s great to hear from a number of you who still have your tree up. We’re not the only ones. I’m gathering strength over that. And most of you have the same reason — it went by too fast and you didn’t get a chance to enjoy it. If you have a fireplace, building a fire is a good way to force you to slow down. Especially if it’s a real fire since you don’t want to leave it unattended. We don’t have that many fires over the rest of the year for the very reason that a fire says you’re going to sit there for a while. With the tree still up, there’s more of an incentive to do that.

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Posted in Christmas, relationships | Tagged , | 3 Comments