John Fischer The Catch

The Capitol March for the Dream

Posted on January 21, 2014 by jwfisch

Mike, one of our readers in Sacramento, California, who also leads a high school band, has the distinction of joining me for lunch every day. At least that’s how he describes reading the Catch every day at school on his lunch break. I love thinking about that and often try to imagine being there with him. Except that last night he wrote me this:

“I missed lunch with you today. My high school band marched in the Sacramento MLK Jr. Day ‘Marade’ (March and parade) all 5 miles of it. I tried to emphasize the historical reenactment scenario to them, but it was kind of lost in the thirsty looks, tired complaints, the ‘how much longer’ whines and, ‘Where are the port-a-potties?’ We did provide water, had extra people to carry the heavy instruments for a while, let some of the boys find potty relief at Target and counted down the blocks. They survived. I didn’t lose a one, but they, too, have become a part of history by remembering, through the reenactment, the significance of the vision of Martin Luther King, Jr.”

I thought this was both humorous and poignant, especially when I went to a website about the “Marade” and found this quote from Dr. King: “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

How would Dr. King have known that “the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals” would one day involve thirsty high school band players lugging instruments and praying for port-a-potties over a five mile parade route? But can we blame these kids? No. They’re just being kids. We can marvel, however, that the mundane nature of their sacrifice compared to the much more serious sacrifices of those Dr. King was speaking about — those who were beaten and those who lost their lives — only points to the justice and dignity that those former sacrifices won. Looking for a Target to go to the bathroom in is actually a huge win when you think of the stores and the bathrooms these students would not have been allowed to enter in Dr. King’s day. Maybe they don’t get that now, but maybe, after yesterday, they might start to understand.

This is why it’s important to remember these things. Every freedom we have cost somebody something, right up to the greatest freedom of all — that being the freedom from sin and death that cost the life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I love the fact that these kids had a tough day yesterday. I hope they — we — never forget that, and I hope they blew their horns and beat their drums with passion. And come next year, I hope they’ll do it all again (and maybe with fewer complaints, but then again, they’re just kids).

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Martin Luther King, social justice | Leave a comment

Integrated Bus Suggestions

Posted on January 20, 2014 by jwfisch

Many thanks to our reader who provided us with this unusual slice of history – a list of suggestions provided by Martin Luther King, Jr. for African American bus riders following the Supreme Court ruling in 1956 to desegregate busses. He sent it as a comment to last week’s Catch “Kung fu sheep?” How fitting for us to reflect on this today as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Of all the influential leaders in America in my lifetime who were Christians, none has embodied the spiritual attitudes laid out by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount as has Martin Luther King, Jr.. We celebrate today his memory and accomplishments relying on the power of the kingdom of God in the public square. I have set in bold a few sentences I think are worth special notice. To view a photocopy of the original document, click here.

December 19, 1956 Integrated Bus Suggestions
This is a historic week because segregation on buses has now been declared unconstitutional. Within a few days the Supreme Court Mandate will reach Montgomery and you will be re-boarding integrated buses. This places upon us all a tremendous responsibility of maintaining, in face of what could be some unpleasantness, a calm and loving dignity befitting good citizens and members of our Race. If there is violence in word or deed it must not be our people who commit it.

For your help and convenience the following suggestions are made. Will you read, study and memorize them so that our non-violent determination may not be endangered. First, some general suggestions:

1. Not all white people are opposed to integrated buses. Accept goodwill on the part of many.
2. The whole bus is now for the use of all people. Take a vacant seat.
3. Pray for guidance and commit yourself to complete non-violence in word and action as you enter the bus.
4. Demonstrate the calm dignity of our Montgomery people in your actions.
5. In all things observe ordinary rules of courtesy and good behavior.
6. Remember that this is not a victory for Negroes alone, but for all Montgomery and the South. Do not boast! Do not brag!
7. Be quiet but friendly; proud, but not arrogant; joyous, but not boisterous.
8. Be loving enough to absorb evil and understanding enough to turn an enemy into a friend.

NOW FOR SOME SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS:

1. The bus driver is in charge of the bus and has been instructed to obey the law. Assume that he will cooperate in helping you occupy any vacant seat.
2. Do not deliberately sit by a white person, unless there is no other seat.
3. In sitting down by a person, white or colored, say “May I” or “Pardon me” as you sit. This is a common courtesy.
4. If cursed, do not curse back. If pushed, do not push back. If struck, do not strike back, but evidence love and goodwill at all times.
5. In case of an incident, talk as little as possible, and always in a quiet tone. Do not get up from your seat! Report all serious incidents to the bus driver.
6. For the first few days try to get on the bus with a friend in whose non-violence you have confidence. You can uphold one another by a glance or a prayer.
7. If another person is being molested, do not arise to go to his defense, but pray for the oppressor and use moral and spiritual force to carry on the struggle for justice.
8. According to your own ability and personality, do not be afraid to experiment with new and creative techniques for achieving reconciliation and social change.
9. If you feel you cannot take it, walk for another week or two. We have confidence in our people. GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

THE MONTGOMERY IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION
THE REV. M. L. KING, JR., PRESIDENT
THE REV. W. J. POWELL, SECRETARY

Thanks to bobbobs60

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Martin Luther King, social justice | 5 Comments

Man in Black

Posted on January 17, 2014 by jwfisch

Two evangelists.

Last night Marti and I were privileged to enjoy a little bit of musical theater around the songs and the memory of Johnny Cash. I say “little bit” to mean that the production and performance level of the play was less than it could be, but it hardly mattered, because the songs were so strong that they carried everything. It was a tribute to the shear power of the music. There was so much of Johnny’s life and struggles in his songs that it was hardly necessary to tell any other story than the songs themselves.

From “We got married in a fever,” to “I fell into a burning ring of fire,” to “Sunday morning coming down,” to “Why Me Lord?”, we experienced the man’s loves, loses, his demons and his redemption and on right into heaven where June Carter was waiting for him on the banks of the Jordan.

Johnny Cash was a poor man’s Billy Graham. He preached the gospel from the bottom of life. If you couldn’t hear it from Billy, you could hear it from Johnny. They both were evangelists and both from an era when culture was not diversified as it is today. One man – one song – could reach everybody.

On a Sunday morning sidewalk,
Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
‘Cause there’s something in a Sunday,
Makes a body feel alone.
And there’s nothin’ short of dyin’,
Half as lonesome as the sound,
Of the sleepin’ city sidewalks:
And Sunday mornin’ comin’ down.

He captured the worst of us:

I shot a man in Reno
Just to watch him die

and reached for the best

The taste of love is sweet
When hearts like ours meet

As to his place in life and the purpose of his art, nothing says it quite as well as “The Man in Black.”

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down
Living in the hopeless, hungry side of town
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime
But is there because he’s a victim of the times

I wear the black for those who’ve never read
Or listened to the words that Jesus said
About the road to happiness through love and charity
Why, you’d think He’s talking straight to you and me

I wear it for the sick and lonely old
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold
I wear the black in mourning for the lives that could have been
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men

Ah, I’d love to wear a rainbow every day
And tell the world that everything’s okay
But I’ll try to carry off a little darkness on my back
Till things are brighter, I’m the Man In Black

We’ve all got to touch this somehow. It’s not that the bottom is for a few people who have to fall that far before they get it; it’s that the bottom is where we all get it. Actually, you can’t find Him anywhere else. Not that He isn’t everywhere, you just can’t see him any other way. There will always be some people for whom positive thinking just won’t do it. “Up with People” may say it for a few, but “Sunday morning coming down” says it for a few thousand more.

Lord help me, Jesus, I’ve wasted it so
Help me Jesus, I know what I am
Now that I know that I needed you so
Help me, Jesus, my soul’s in your hand

These were the fitting last words of the show, and what a sendoff. No better place for your soul and mine to be than in the hands for Jesus.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged evangelism, Johnny Cash | 1 Comment

Something to look forward to

Posted on January 16, 2014 by jwfisch

Somebody gave me the coolest Christmas gift this year: three spring training games in Tempe, Arizona for my team, the Los Angeles Angels (I don’t think you have to say “of Anaheim” any more – it’s official). The package includes a hotel for two nights. The only thing it doesn’t cover is transportation which for me spells almost the best part of the deal – another of my favorite things besides baseball – ROAD TRIP! Tempe is a perfect six to seven hour drive from my house. I will leave in the pre-dawn hours of the first day and get there well before the one o’clock game time. That means breakfast in a Route 66 style diner somewhere along the way. There is just nothing negative about this whole deal. Even the time alone is something my introverted, melancholy nature longs for. What can I say? It was a gift. I have to do this. I would be ungrateful if I didn’t. See … it’s even guilt free.

I’ve done this once before and there are so many aspects to it that make it appealing. The stadium is small and intimate. The players are close to you. Everybody is in a casual mood, free of the usual pressure associated with game time. Opportunities for autographs abound. Go over in the morning and make a day of it. You can walk around the many practice fields and watch the various groups working out. One coach is working with the infielders on one diamond, Mike Scioscia is working with the catchers on another. Or stand behind the left field fence while Albert Pujols is batting and catch a home run ball. Watch the new young players and mark the ones who will be stars someday. On top of that, there are three games thrown in. Three whole games! That’s probably more than I’ll see all year in Angel Stadium in Anaheim. To a lover of the game, it’s hard to beat this.

With this weekend neatly tucked away in my calendar for March, I find myself thinking of it often and I smile inside when I do. It’s become something to look forward to – a gift already paid for that no one can take away.

You know, we have a similar gift from the Lord and I am hereby giving you all permission to look forward to it. It’s called eternity with each other and Jesus. It’s something beyond imagination – a gift already paid for that no one can take away. It’s entirely guilt free. You won’t be able to sin if you wanted to. You won’t have to follow the law because we will all be following it perfectly in our hearts. Our bodies will be in line with our spirits. We’ll be able to hang out with all the greats. No need for autographs; we’ll just sit down and talk. No watching someone else do it because we’ll all be doing it. And here’s the best part: there will be no end to it. No time when the weekend is over. It’s not a holiday; it’s every day. It’s the thing itself – the reason we were created – fully known and experienced by all of us.

Can you look forward to that? You bet. Not to the extent that you lose sight of the present, (this baseball package would be a bad gift if I spent all my time daydreaming about it, or if it caused me to be any less committed to my life and its responsibilities) but it can provide an incentive to live now with the knowledge that something’s coming. Everything I do now contributes to what I will experience then. Count on it. Build on it. Whatever you are going through right now, hang on, you’re creating something inevitable. These lives of ours – this one and the next – are tied together. We all have something to look forward to.

It’s not eternity, but it’s close.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged eternity, heaven, Los Angeles Angels | 5 Comments

Midnight on Main Street

Posted on January 15, 2014 by jwfisch

Midnight on Main Street
The shades are all drawn tight
And tranquilized the daylight eyes
Try to sleep away the night
While out on Main Street
The midnight matinee
Slips into open air in the light of neon day
But the Broadway pleasure seekers
And the Madison Avenue sleepers
All find themselves at midnight
Crying out for love
‘Cause here on Main Street
Everyone’s the same
Midnight on Main Street

Four A.M. on Main Street
And the only sound
Is the street cleaner coming ‘round
To sweep yesterday down
And I’m left standing
Staring at an empty stage
Wondering what lies ahead
When the daylight turns the page
And the players resume their places
While the drama goes through a thousand paces
Will I take my part or will I walk away?
Morning on Main Street
Who will care?
Morning on Main Street

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged caring for others, serving | 2 Comments

Kung fu sheep?

Posted on January 14, 2014 by jwfisch

Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. Be wary as snakes and harmless as doves. (Matthew 10:16)

There is much to be made in the teachings of Jesus of non-violence – even what I would call non-self-defense. Turn the other cheek; go the extra mile; if someone steals your shirt, give them your coat also; return good for evil; don’t exact revenge, let the Lord do that; be happy when you are mocked, persecuted and lied about because your reward is great in heaven.

Ahem. Who, as Christians today really believes any of this? Who is acting on it? Come on, we’re fighting for our rights, taking self-defense classes, packing pistols and telling the world “I’ve had enough and I’m not going to take anymore.” Unfortunately that’s a movie speaking, not Jesus. Jesus would say, Keep taking it because that is the way I do things. I get my will done in the world in an entirely different way than you would. I have different weapons. I use peace and love and kindness and good. An eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth is not what I came to establish. I came to establish mercy and favor that is unearned. I brought something completely foreign to your natural way of doing things. I bring a new kingdom and I have a different set of rules. I follow the law of love. Still want to follow me?

I ask myself and I ask you, was Jesus just kidding when He said all this? I mean, how many different ways is there to say this? Can there be any doubt? Is the Sermon on the Mount some sort of dispensation we don’t have to pay attention to any more? Is it a puzzle we have to decode? Certainly He doesn’t really mean everything He said there. Really?

Sheep among wolves? Do sheep defend themselves? Are these kung fu sheep? No. Sheep have a shepherd. It’s the job of the shepherd to protect them from wolves. A shepherd who lets the wolves in is a bad shepherd. We have a good shepherd.

“So what are you saying, John, that we should be wimps for Jesus?” Well I’m not so sure about the choice of words, but it might look like that to some people. If it is, it’s a wimp with a backbone. In fact, it takes great strength to NOT retaliate. It takes great courage and restraint to do what Jesus is asking us to do. I wouldn’t call that wimpy at all. Nor would I call it kung fu Christian. It’s standing tall and taking it and loving and forgiving those who are dishing it out. Isn’t that what Jesus did?

By the way, I am not speaking against national defense or the military. Even Jesus is not asking the nation to abide by the rules of His kingdom. The United States and the Kingdom of God are two entirely different things playing by different sets of rules. And I believe there is a way in which you can serve in the military and follow the kingdom Jesus is talking about in your personal life and relationships. I believe there are many who do. We have some in our Catch community.

Nor am I in a position to make all the conclusions as to what these words mean in our society and in our culture. There is room for discussion and debate here, but I am at least asking more people to acknowledge that these words and these teachings are there, they are central to what Jesus taught and stood for, and the way He acted Himself, and we have got to start paying attention to this and at least struggle with what it means to follow His example.

If you read the Sermon on the Mount and it makes you uncomfortable, then you have a ways to go in becoming a follower of Christ. I know I do. How about you?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged non-violence | 7 Comments

Coyote calls

Posted on January 13, 2014 by jwfisch

The eerie, curdling cries of a coyote woke me up out of a sound sleep this morning at about 3:30. It sounded like he was in my backyard. I didn’t know what it was at first because I was not fully awake, but then the “yip yip yee-ow-eeeee” did it. We had also heard from our next door neighbor that coyotes were spotted in our neighborhood over the weekend and we should keep our pets indoors as much as possible, so it was pretty easy to put two and two together.

This was not our first experience with coyotes here anyway. I’ve actually seen them twice, and we hear from time to time that they come down from the open hills that back up to the houses in higher elevations around us when their own food supply is running short. Or maybe they tire of rabbit and squirrel and seek a little domestic cat as a delicacy. (Such was the fate of our last cat a few years ago – one that refused to stay inside.)

But though I have seen them here, I’ve never heard them howl up close until this morning and I must admit, it was a chilling experience. It’s a wild sound, and up that close, it feels like something barbarous has encroached upon our peaceful, domesticated lives.

It makes me think of Peter’s warning in his first letter to the early churches: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). I think the reality of this is as foreign to us as hearing a coyote howl under my window, but probably as close, if not closer. We are commonly lulled to sleep by our busy lives and by the false notion that we are in control, and perhaps that is the most dangerous place to be. If we can’t see or hear the enemy, we can get the false impression that he isn’t there, which is, of course, just what he wants. But once in a while, his wild scream slips out and we know better.

This is not to make us scared but to make us aware, praying and on guard against the little sins and compromises that plague us. Sin and evil is nothing to be toyed with.

Bob Dylan wrote that we have to serve somebody. It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but we have to serve somebody. The truth of that statement is that we are not in as much control as we think we are. We are mostly in charge of who we are going to follow. Hearing the devil howl is mostly a good thing because it reminds me of his close proximity and his devious ways – how he makes wrong things look right and hurtful things appealing.

He’s real, he’s hungry, and he’s on the prowl. His mission is destruction and his method is to keep people away from the saving life of Christ. Stay alert, stay sober and pray. The wild is closer than you think.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged spiritual warfare | 11 Comments

When angels fold their wings

Posted on January 10, 2014 by jwfisch

I apologize for waxing philosophical today, but I haven’t been able to get yesterday’s Catch about the singing nurse out of my mind, especially that lady who commented on how 24 hours of his singing might make her well, but then she would have to leave the hospital and not hear him anymore. She would rather stay in the hospital and hear him sing than to be well and not be able to be comforted anymore by his voice.

I wrote the rest of the Catch about how God meeting us in our pain makes the pain worthwhile as in: the treatment is worth the disease. But it may be bigger than that. This woman’s comment just may be big enough to at least give some sense to the whole matter of our human existence.

Consider the age-old question: Why did God create the world and let sin and suffering into it? Could it be that He could say something in our comfort and redemption that He couldn’t say any other way?

Think of the host of angelic voices that pierced the darkness of night to announce the birth of a suffering savior. How can you appreciate light if you have never known the fear of darkness? How can you appreciate love if you have never known the absence of it? How can you know what it is to be found if you have never been lost? How can you know mercy if you have never needed it?

I could fill up a few Catches with statements such as these, but nothing says it better than the nineteenth century hymn lyrics of Johnson Oatman, Jr. who wrote:

There is singing up in Heaven such as we have never known,
Where the angels sing the praises of the Lamb upon the throne,
Their sweet harps are ever tuneful, and their voices always clear,
O that we might be more like them while we serve the Master here!

But I hear another anthem, blending voices clear and strong,
“Unto Him Who hath redeemed us and hath bought us,” is the song;
We have come through tribulation to this land so fair and bright,
In the fountain freely flowing He hath made our garments white.

Holy, holy, is what the angels sing,
And I expect to help them make the courts of heaven ring;
But when I sing redemption’s story, they will fold their wings,
For angels never felt the joys that our salvation brings.

“Singing nurse” is only the half of it. Heaven is going to be full of singing sinners, and I plan to be belting out my part.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged grace | 8 Comments

The singing nurse

Posted on January 9, 2014 by jwfisch

There was an article a while back in the morning paper about a singing nurse. A nurse who was also a student of voice has taken to singing favorite songs to patients to cheer them up. The patients who seem to appreciate this the most are the elderly and the terminally ill. They typically request songs made popular by stars such as Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole including the 1930s hits “I’ll Be Seeing You” and “Smile,” but he also apparently gets many appeals for hymns.

It’s a touching connection that shows the power of music as one of God’s greatest gifts to us.

I was most taken, as I read about this, by a comment from one of the patients in her nineties who said, “If he would come in 24 hours a day I think I’d be well and I’d be out of here, but then I wouldn’t see him anymore.”

Is she saying the treatment is worth the disease?

How like this is Paul’s opening remarks in the fifth chapter of second Corinthians about being in a dilemma over living or dying. “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it” (2 Corinthians 5:6-9).

You get the impression that there is something to living in this state that requires faith to believe what we can’t see. We get the Lord either way, but to get Him now, when it requires faith to believe it, is something special. To be terminally ill and hear the music, and not want to leave the hospital … who am I to question that?

There is a sense in which what we have here is worth it. True, eternity is going to be everything we ever wanted fully realized, but there’s something to the music we have here, now, that is worth living in this unrealized reality. The treatment is worth the disease. The voice breaks through the misery. The life we live now is worth the pain, sorrow, sin and dysfunction we live with because of what we have come to know of the savior. Sure there’s more coming, but I have nothing to judge that by. I have what I have now, and for now, this is enough.

One of our readers always signs her notes: ” I wish you enough.” I think I might know something more about what she means now. The singing nurse showed it to me.

“He has a beautiful, soothing voice,” said one of his patients, “and the nice thing about it is when he looks at you, you know he’s singing to you. It just pierces my heart.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged faith | 1 Comment

So much to say…

Posted on January 8, 2014 by jwfisch

Charlie responded to yesterday’s Catch so as to make me want to pass it on to you. He has done extensive research on the right brain and saw, in my engagement with a picture I thought I would never be able to use, that the intuitive part of me knew there was something deeper to be experienced through that picture than to discard it as not useful to me.

By the way, that Catch unfolded just as you read it: I began writing in an attempt to find that deeper thing, even though I thought I wouldn’t be able to use the picture. It wasn’t until the very end that I figured out how to post the picture. That’s why I put it at the end instead of the beginning, like I usually do. I wanted you to go through the same process I went through. Charlie went through that process and made some further reflections I want to share with you today…

Your narrative got to me before the picture did and I found it emotionally engaging. I think that this letter is one of your very best, because it is so effective by engaging the mind. I wanted to see the picture, when I couldn’t. And isn’t that odd for you? It was right in front of you all this time. And you had the right brain intuition to keep it, but didn’t know why.

I, just a moment ago, discovered the Contacts in my computer program line in a more convenient place on my list of files that I can open in Outlook. It serves as a shortcut and will save me a total of a couple of hours over the course of the year. It is a minor treasure trove of a discovery, but it has been right in front of my nose all this time that I have been using a computer. Right in front of my nose looking out at me; yet, I didn’t see it.

Similar, though not identical to your story, and so much a part of the human condition, Jesus is right in front of us all the time; yet we don’t see Him. Some of us never see Him; but even those who do don’t see Him all the time.

We wouldn’t go out for a walk with our friend John or Charlie or Marti and not see that person, now, would we? Yet we all go for a walk without realizing that He is with us, without it being at the forefront of our mind, like those two all along the Road to Emmaus…

Yes, we are all blind, but we all have intuition, and we would do well to follow it more often. It is where the Spirit talks to us. So much left brain Christian teaching that you can outline, copy and take notes on. Such an attempt to control — to have a reason for everything. Still there’s that picture we keep on our laptop and don’t know why. Jesus has so much He wants to show us.