[Note: We are republishing this Catch to accompany the Podcast that we now have to go with it. (See below)]
by Marti Fischer
Imagine a courtroom. God is asking us to observe not just what is broken, but recognize that God Himself calls us to account — He stands as the Judge, the Prosecutor, and even the Jury. We are summoned to answer the question:
“Who can bring about justice? Who can set things right?”
by Marti Fischer
Imagine a courtroom. God is asking us to observe not just what is broken, but recognize that God Himself calls us to account — He stands as the Judge, the Prosecutor, and even the Jury. We are summoned to answer the question:
“Who can bring about justice? Who can set things right?”
Dear Citizens of the Catch Ministry,
You know how they say, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade?” Well, this week, we’re pretty sure life sent us a whole lemon orchard!
It all started when John’s computer decided it needed a break. Just two hours later, Marti’s computer, not to be outdone, followed suit. After a long and heartfelt stay with Dr. Apple, we have to report… neither device made it. We tried everything—negotiations, promises of upgrades, even tech CPR (Ctrl-Alt-Del)—but the time has come to bid them farewell. Memorial Services are forthcoming.
To add an extra twist to our week, there was also an unexpected emergency dental surgery and a handful of minor issues like our washing machine blowing a leak and flooding our laundry area and refusing to spin unless coaxed enough times… But don’t worry, we’re not down for the count—just taking a short lemonade break to regroup!
We expect to be back up and running by Thursday evening, but definitely by Friday. In the meantime, please know that we miss our regular connections and counseling sessions with each of you and can’t wait to pick up where we left off.
Thank you for your understanding, and we’ll be back in touch soon!
With appreciation (and a bit of citrus humor),
The Vanguard Leadership
on behalf of John, Marti, and the whole team
Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! Isaiah 40:3
Go tell it on the mountain
Over the hill and everywhere. – Traditional spiritual
In this powerful prophecy, we hear the call to prepare the way for the Lord—not by doing His work for Him, but by clearing away the clutter for Him to be heard. Just as John the Baptist announced the coming of the Lord, we now live in the reality of His presence among us. He is here, and it is our calling to make a highway through to Him, to recognize His presence and experience His grace and love.
The words of a priest’s lips should preserve the knowledge of God, and people should go to him for instruction, for the priest is the messenger of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. Malachi 2:7
When Cleveland dropped the name Indians and took up the name Guardians, I thought it was a strange name for a major league baseball team. It’s an even stranger name for the Jesus Movement people, although it is accurate to our purpose. I’m not sure what the Cleveland Guardians are guarding, but we are guarding the integrity of the faith, and preserving the knowledge of God through a proper understanding of the word of God. It is part of our responsibility as believers to be priests.
Today, I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow. Others you must build up and plant. – Jeremiah 1:10
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. – Lord Acton
The concept of pitting truth against power has been around since classical Greece and championed by the likes of Gandhi, Muhammad, and Martin Luther King. The phrase, “speaking truth to power” is commonly attributed to Bayard Rustin, an African American Quaker and leader in the civil rights movement. He popularized the phrase in a 1955 pamphlet, “Speak Truth to Power: A Quaker Search for an Alternative to Violence.”
Now, son of man, I am making you a watchman for the people of Israel. Therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me. Ezekiel 33:7
Many of us are pioneers in the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and early ‘70s when the radical and transformative reality of Jesus Christ broke out of cold cathedrals and came alive on the streets, changing millions of lives worldwide. The historical Jesus — the Son of God — exposed the lies of all systems and rose again, not to make us correct, but to give us Life.
It was a time like no other.
When my generation was in grammar school, America was great, Abraham Lincoln was perfect, George Washington lied only once and that’s so he could teach us all a lesson about telling the truth. We got our first television when I was five and my favorite car, a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 when I was ten. It was a time of peace and prosperity — the time to ask questions based on this new media that open up a world beyond our own back yard. As a result, when we came of age we were full of questions, but there was time to ask them and time to look for answers. We were a generation with the luxury of experimenting with drugs, sex and rock and roll. We hitchhiked around the country, some from evangelical families traveled to Switzerland to learn about existential philosophy and to put their faith to intellectual scrutiny. We bought Eurail passes and traveled all over Europe with nothing but a backpack and a few dollars. It’s as if we took four or five years off and said, “What the heck, let’s explore, and learn, and experience new things, and see what we can figure out about life.”
For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Matthew 24:27
I’ve seen my light come shining from the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now, I shall be released. Bob Dylan
It’s no secret that the return of Christ was a central, driving force in the Jesus Movement. That was, as much as anything, foreshadowed by pre-Jesus Movement apocalyptic popular songs like, “The Very Last Day” by Peter, Paul and Mary, “Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater, “When the Ship Comes in” by Bob Dylan, and, of course, “Eve of Destruction” which we’ve already looked at. All these songs were popular in the mid-sixties. In other words, there was already a sense of unease about the end of the world that was a part of the prevailing culture in America. So when Larry Norman came along with “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” in 1969, followed by Hal Lindsey’s blockbuster book, “Late Great Planet Earth,” in 1970, the soon return of Christ was imbedded in the gospel message for at least a decade. The bottom line was, there’s not much time, better get yourself right with God while you still can. That was the warning part of the message. Of course, the good news was that Christ’s arms were open wide to receive all who came to Him seeking forgiveness, acceptance and love. Those messages went hand in hand.
Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4
Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
There is perhaps no concept in Christianity more misunderstood than faith. For a long time I thought faith was my part of the bargain. God had His promises but I needed to exercise the faith to believe them. I mean, after all, we’ve got to do something, don’t we? Faith seemed to be a reasonable requirement. Until I started looking at Hebrews 11:1 more deeply where faith is “proof of things unseen.” Suddenly I realized that the faith I was thinking about wasn’t proof of anything other than my own efforts at having it. How can faith prove anything if it’s up to me all the time? When faith starts and ends with me, that’s as far as it goes.
John Fischer The Catch 