John Fischer The Catch

Evangelization is a process of bringing the gospel to people where they are, not where you would like them to be… When the gospel reaches a people where they are, their response to the gospel is the church in a new place… – Bishop Vincent Donovan

Bishop Donovan I believe has outlined in these two sentences the way Christianity was meant to grow. It’s a bit reckless, a bit out of control, but always fresh and new and relevant to whatever new group of believers it has spawned.

Tradition would have us adding to the churches we already have. That’s reaching people where we would like them to be. It requires them to make adjustments to fit in. It is church, removed from the marketplace, in a separate controlled environment. We like this model of church because it is defined, safe and predictable. We know just what to expect. And it pretty much is guaranteed to stay the same.

The church Bishop Donovan is outlining is a church that is out there. It is church in the marketplace. It grows organically as the gospel reaches people where they are and it takes on the characteristics of those who come.

Church happens. Where the Spirit of God leads, people come. They come as they are and they are not required to conform to some external standard. There is no dress code, no creed and no conformity. Where grace rules, diversity is guaranteed. Church is basically a hodge podge of astonished hearts who aren’t even sure quite how they got there but are darn sure they are not going to leave because this good news is just too good to be true. True church is messy – rough in the middle and rough on the edges – but bathed in gratitude and awe.

If anyone is not welcome, that is a clear sign of a church gone astray. Someone has gotten in control. Someone is nit picking. Someone is picking at nits (or as Jesus said, “gnats, and swallowing camels”). The gospel of welcome creates churches of welcome, not churches of privilege. It’s a little bit messy, but then again, look what it’s made of. If it’s got you and me in it, then we’d better make room for everyone else.

So much for church in here. The time has come for church out there.

Grammar school “bully” with the big heart

I received my first legitimate birthday wish the night before my birthday at 7 pm – legitimate meaning, it was a wish on my actual birthday. We were connected by the telephone, but the caller was standing in Australia, on the other side of the International Date Line, wishing me a happy birthday on what was for her, the afternoon of my birthday, when for me, it was only the night before. Yes, I was literally talking to the future.

All that to say how cool it was to receive a call from a Catch reader in Australia who was calling just to wish me a happy birthday and let me know she was sending me a check for our current fundraising drive that would obviously not be here by my birthday. That’s fine. Neither was our promised report on giving progress, which will be coming later today. It’s what Marti calls a “day of mercy” (or birthday); I chose to take it.

Things like this make us aware of how small this “global village” really is. I was speaking to this woman from Australia as if she were next door. And what an encouragement to hear firsthand how much the Catch means to her! She spoke of her $70 gift as being something she was compelled to do. Perhaps someone would like to match her $70 and encourage her as well. There’s still time.

And then there are all the Facebook birthday greetings, some of which I still have to open. My favorite so far was from a classmate of mine from grammar school on whom I haven’t seen since high school. Funny thing, this is the guy I always thought was the class bully. That might have been because he was bigger than the rest of us. But now it appears that the only thing that was really big about him was his heart. Of all the hundreds of kids in my class, he’s the last one I’d expect to hear anything from. Which only goes to show what a poor judge of character we are.

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God. (1 Corinthians 4:5)

Here is what the Spirit of God whispers to us: “Tell him I love him.”

It could be to a friend recovering from bypass surgery in the hospital; it could be to a homeless man, smelly and half nuts; it could to be your husband just going out the door for a few groceries… and never coming back again; it could be to the lady who cut in front of you in line; it could be to your best friend, the one you won’t ever see again who left the party early to walk home. For all of these situations, the Holy Spirit wants to have us “Tell him I love him,” sooner than later.

It could be to the guy you cut off who is pointing to the sky with his middle finger; it could be to the lady who cheated you out of the last parking space; it could be to your kids lying asleep in the still of the night; it could be to the man who took you for a fool and made off with the money before the job was done. It’s what the Spirit wants you to say: “Tell him I love him.”

It could be to the man in drag in the gay pride parade as well as the hate-filled “Christian” holding a sign that condemns him; it could be to the neighbor on one side who keeps to himself, and the one on the other that you wish would; it could be to the friend you just met and the one you’ve known forever; it could be to the one who abused you as well as the one you abused; it could be to the one you owe or the one who owes you; the message is the same: “Tell him I love him.”

It’s not only what they need to know and experience from us, it’s what we need to know to have the right attitude towards everyone. The message will always be the same: “Tell him I love him.” You can’t go wrong because it’s always true.

It began as a follow-up doctor’s appointment with Chandler’s pediatrician. Why Annie and I had to go too, Marti couldn’t say except for something like moral support (and of course Annie’s medical expertise). When we turned out to actually be early because Marti had told us an hour earlier than the actual appointment knowing how hard it was going to be to get us there on time, this also wasn’t unusual. We do this often when we really have to be on time for something. (All the clocks in the house are at least ten minutes fast for the same reason. We call it “Marti time.” I don’t think it works especially when we keep telling ourselves we have ten more minutes.)

So I wasn’t even suspicious when, due to our extra time, she took me into a men’s store to try on a sport coat she had her eye on. That’s when I remembered my birthday was coming up in a couple days, but nothing more. When I didn’t particularly warm up to the coat, the salesman convinced me to see what the color looked like outside in the sun, so I went out front like a good sport, and as soon as I got outside, I saw Elizabeth and Christopher Fischer waiting for us in the patio restaurant next door with what turned out to be a birthday cupcake, a new Angels T-shirt and tickets for six to the ball game. It was an awesome surprise and completely unexpected.

Unfortunately the game left a lot to be desired unless you were an Oakland A’s fan, as has the opening weeks of the season for the Angels. Never has a year started with more unfulfilled promise. The Angels were supposed to be smoking by now and they are in the cellar of their division. Their performance at my surprise game was especially dismal, leaving us little to cheer about in a 5-0 shutout. I yelled, “Hit one for my birthday!” a few times but it didn’t help.

Still, neither the score nor the loss could dampen my joy at seeing my family together at a ball game – Marti especially. She hates baseball – something akin to watching paint dry – but she endured it anyway. With so much going on in all of our lives right now, you could say the last place we needed to be right then was at a ball game, but then again, it was the first place we all needed to be, because it reminded us of what was really important – being together and celebrating the moment. And something about the surprise and the memory makes me smile right now, even though my birthday isn’t until tomorrow. I’ve already had all I could ever anticipate.

The fact that everyone arranged their busy work schedules, planned and provided for this, kept it a secret from me, and then sprang it so we could all be together, is all the joy I need.

Certain birthdays are milestones and carry with them huge expectations. Mine has already fulfilled every one. It’s not so much what happens on the journey of our lives as much as it is the ones we are with. Celebrate those close to you today. You need no excuse.

My family surprised me with an early birthday gift (on May 17, I’ll be crossing the great ’65’ divide) and took me to an Angel game last night. Given the late night and an early morning responsibility, I am running a baseball-related Catch from our archives: October, 2005 (one of my favorite Catches). Tomorrow, I’ll report more on our game last night, which was painful for the hometown fans, but a great joy for me in the stands.

Thank goodness. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, that geographically challenged baseball team that is now one of four still standing in the 2005 Major League Baseball playoffs, eliminated the vaunted New York Yankees Monday night 5-3. I’m so grateful because, had they lost, I would have had to suffer the indignity of a New York Yankee logo as background on my desktop screen until start of the next baseball season in spring of 2006. That was my little wager with a Yankee fan and friend of mine, who now has to stare at an Angel halo on her laptop for six months.

That’s the way it is with the Yankees – you either love them or you hate them. Take the comment I heard halfway through this series from a typical New Yorker that of course the Yankees would beat the Angels because, well… because they’re the Yankees! That’s the same kind of insufferable attitude that goes into the playing of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” from the loudspeaker after every game in Yankee Stadium, even the ones they lose, just to remind you that if you’re not from New York, well, that’s exactly your problem.

I guess you can tell I don’t like the Yankees very much.

I must admit, however, that I was prepared to lose, too. All throughout this game I was half-preparing myself for coping with that blue and white “NY” on my laptop – half-hoping I wouldn’t have to. And now that I don’t have to, I can reveal to you how I resolved to deal with it in case I did. It was going to be a reminder of the words of Jesus: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

Jesus went on to point out how loving those who love you is really nothing to write home about. It’s in loving those who don’t love you that you show yourself to be like your Father in heaven who “causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the [Angels] and the [Yankees]” (5:45). So I was prepared to look at that New York logo every day and pray for someone I didn’t like.

You know if I keep on like this, I’m going to talk myself into doing it anyway. It’s not a bad idea to have a reminder to love your enemies since it is so hard, and so unlike anything we do naturally. It’s something that forces us to draw on the resources of God in our lives. And by loving them, it doesn’t mean to merely tolerate them. It means to want for them what you would want for yourself, and to even pray for them, to that end. Maybe we should all have something on our laptops to remind us to do this. I can’t help but think that after a few months of praying for someone you don’t like, you just might find that you feel differently about that person.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

We were made to bring God glory.

We used to think we were in charge of accomplishing this by making our lives better than everyone else’s. When it became apparent that this was going to be difficult – almost impossible – to do, we changed it to making our lives appear better than everyone else’s, all the time missing the fact that God already had a plan in place for bringing Himself glory, which included our weaknesses, our shortcomings and our human frailty. All the stuff about ourselves we tend to want to hide is what makes His plan actually work, but very few truly get this because of the level of personal humiliation that goes along with it.

God’s plan for bringing Himself glory involves a contrast between our weakness and His strength, our frailty and His power, our sin and His forgiveness, our failure and His grace, and you need to see both sides of the coin to make this work. People are supposed to get the point that we are common clay – made of the same stuff as everyone else – tempted by the same temptations, vulnerable to the same sins, and hampered by the same weaknesses as the next guy. God’s plan for bringing glory to Himself is to show up in our lives to such an extent that others are somewhat confused by us. They see God’s power at work in us, but then at the same time they know who we are, and we do not have it all together.

God’s plan is to force the conclusion that the power must be coming from God and not from us. That is the true meaning of 2 Corinthians 4:7, and any attempt to make ourselves look better than we really are, works against this purpose and causes people to see us instead of the Lord.

To put it in superhero terms (this does appear to be the summer for superheroes, doesn’t it?), there’s no confusing Clark Kent with Superman even though they are the same person. When you watch Clark Kent turn into Superman, you know it’s not just Clark Kent there. Something took over. To complete the analogy: the God part would be that which makes Superman super, while all along, we all know it’s still just Clark Kent. By the same token, Clark Kent never gets the glory; Superman does. The contrast between the two insures that.

It’s not our “good” lives that will impress people; it’s the real life of Christ shining through our struggling lives. Think about it… in the first case, we are making the impression; in the second case, Christ is. Which way do you think God wants it?

When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, “At home even the hired men have food enough to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger! I will go home to my father….” (Luke 15:17-18)

Most of us can identify in some way with the story of the Prodigal Son. He had spent all his father’s money on wild living and “came to his senses” when he ended up working on a pig farm just to survive and noticed that what the pigs were eating suddenly looked good to him. That’s when he decided to go back to his father, admit his bad decisions and offer to work as a hired hand on his father’s estate. The surprise was that he wasn’t given even a chance to apply for the job. He was welcomed as a son. Before he could get a word in edgewise he was smothered in his father’s love and a welcome-home party began.

What can you do in the face of this other than put the welcome mat out to all other scoundrels out there like you? This is like no love we have ever known before or will ever know. God the Father’s great big hands are open to us and we are embraced without judgment. How can you ever wish for anyone else to pay for what you got for nothing?

We crawled back home ready for the worst — ready to eat crow. We were prepared for the taunts from the others in the family — even from the servants. We weighed the cost and decided the embarrassment was worth it. We calculated all that. We left bragging and returned in humiliation. We left on top of the world and returned a failure. And yet there is no “I told you so” speech. There is just joy and acceptance. We come home willing to negotiate a servant’s position and receive a son’s welcome. One day we were sucking up to pigs, the next we are escorted into our father’s house and in the process, we discover the wonderfully good news that we’ve always had a home here. This is where we belong.

Okay, let’s take this one step farther. Let’s think about all the other sons and daughters who are out there ready to come home – looking for a place to belong. How are we going to treat them – like the older son who wanted the younger to pay for his sins, or like the father who forgave?

Once we’ve experienced this, you and I need to put the welcome mat out to everyone – even those we’d rather not have in our family. If there is a selection process, that’s up to the Lord, not us. As far as we know, we are in the business of welcoming sons and daughters of the King, and at this point, until further notice, that includes everyone.

So put out the welcome mat and get ready to party!

I’m remembering the story of a young kindergartener who, when asked by her teacher what she was going to create for her art project proudly announced she was going to draw a picture of God. To which the teacher announced, “But no one knows what God looks like.”

“They will in a minute,” came the bold reply.

She’s right, you know. She’s about to paint what God looks like to her, in her imagination, and she will be right. Not that God is relative to everyone’s idea of Him, but that He is so multifaceted that no one picture can capture all of Him, nor can all of the pictures together make Him up.

She is also right about the fact that we bring God to people, not only because we are in His image, but because He dwells in us by faith.

What I love most assuredly about this statement is its audacity. “Oh, they’ll know all right, because I am about to reveal Him to them.” Would that we were all that confident about our ability to represent Christ to the world.

This was a major part of Christ’s role while on earth — to represent God to the world. “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”

Our task is no less significant. If part of Jesus’ purpose was to reveal God to us, part of ours is to reveal Jesus to others. “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” Paul wrote.

What a great thing to focus on as we prepare to do anything, go anywhere — see anybody… “No one knows what God looks like,” we can say to ourselves, “but they will in a minute…”

In the early part of most anyone’s Christian life, everything is about finding. Your witness is that you found the way. Life prior to knowing Christ was all about coming up empty. You were seeking something more to life and when you found Christ, you found it. There used to be a bumper sticker that made the rounds as part of a Campus Crusade for Christ evangelistic campaign that announced, “I found it.” People were supposed to ask you what it was that you found, and that would present you with a golden opportunity to tell them how much better life is now that you are a Christian. No wonder it was so easy to assume that once you found it, the search was off. Why keep seeking when you’ve found everything in Christ? In fact, to still be seeking or questioning anything might indicate that you were unsatisfied with Christ.

But then, at some point along one’s growth, a second wave of questions comes along. Some people worry about this, thinking that they are losing their faith. Suddenly it seems some of the answers you have been using appear shallow to you. Faith may start to look too simple for life, as life becomes more and more complex. As it turns out, your life may not be that much better than it was before Christ. For some, it may be worse. Those who try to “sell” Christianity based on the success/happiness/overall well being of the final product may look like shysters based on what you now know.

I think a lot of this disappointment is due to a common misunderstanding of what it is that we find when we find Christ. We don’t find a bunch of answers, or a system of beliefs that work, or a god that is going to guarantee us everything our culture has taught us to desire. We found a relationship with God, and finding this relationship is only the beginning.

What we have found is a lifetime of learning, growing and deepening in that relationship with God. Some of that involves pain. Some involves losing. It all involves a redirecting of our lives from one way of looking at the world to another.

What makes it worthwhile is not the end product, but the fact that, all along the way, the living God—the one who will be the center of our eternity, accompanies us.

If you read the Psalms of David, what you come away with is not the triumph of David’s exemplary life, but the heart relationship with God that holds it all together through victory and defeat, joy and sorrow, friends and friendlessness, depression and elation—the presence of God and the seeming absence of God. It’s not an altogether pretty picture. It’s not what TV preachers promise. It’s what God gives. Himself. And a major part of the finding is finding out that He indeed is enough. He is everything.

That’s what you find when you “find” Christ. It’s a little like finding what you weren’t seeking, but really wanted all along.

For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. (Romans 11:32)

I bought a new T-shirt the other day. I really liked it in the store. I think they have the lights in dressing rooms of clothing stores set so that anything looks good on you. The shirt has wide horizontal red and white stripes, and when I got it home and wore it for a day this weekend, I couldn’t help but think every time I caught myself in the mirror that I had just managed to escape from prison.

In light of yesterday’s Catch, this could actually be useful. I’m thinking of putting it to use as an undershirt – something I would wear under a sweater or a flannel shirt to remind myself of my former imprisonment and how that puts me on an equal plane with everyone. As illustrated in yesterday’s story about a formerly incarcerated waitress with a job in a café operated by Homeboy Industries (“Nothing stops a bullet like a job”) who assumed the reason she recognized Diane Keaton was that they had been locked up together, we can assume the same thing in common with everyone we meet: We were locked up together. As you can tell, I’m not willing to let this concept go so quickly. Somehow, I’m not sure we’re all getting it.

This is a unifying factor. We have all been locked up in sin so that God might put a relationship with Himself on the same basis for us all – on the basis of His mercy alone. There is no one more or less deserving of this than another. God has locked us all up in sin so that He might show mercy on us all. This is why it is always God’s nature to lift up the fallen and bring down the proud. His truth is a leveling and unifying factor.

When we get this we will treat everyone justly. When we get this, we will understand our kinship with all humanity. When we understand this, we will understand and appreciate God’s grace. When we understand this, we will no longer separate ourselves from anyone. When we understand this, condemnation will cease. When we understand this, we will know how to present the gospel to everyone. “I know you. We were locked up together, and God’s mercy to me is the same answer for you.”

I’m keeping the T-shirt as a reminder – my former prison clothes – even if I only use it as an undershirt. This is too important to forget.