John Fischer The Catch

Lights! Camera! Action! Cameras roll. People start talking. Stories go down. Someone becomes a part of recorded history.

Look, I know this is no big deal with today’s technology. You can sit across the table from me and film my story with your cell phone with no prior arrangements being made. That doesn’t lessen the value of the recorded event. It makes it more accessible. Why not fire that phone up more often in the task of spontaneously recording someone’s story? It could turn into a very useful tool in the art of giving people significance.

And that is exactly what we are going to do next week at the Isaiah House: make a big deal of it. With two cinematographers scheduled to film 3-4 minute segments with members of Women of Vision stepping in for Barbara Walters as interviewers, at least two things will happen, maybe three:

1. Women will feel important. Face it. We have a celebrity-conscious society that places a certain value on anyone on the other side of a camera. Whether it’s real or imagined, it’s there, and we plan to take full advantage of this as a way of singling out each Isaiah House guest, because unlike a celebrity, she has an important story to tell. There is a reason to record.

2. Distinctions fall away. We will encourage each woman to tell her story from her heart and through her voice. We will begin by helping to dissipate fear by seeking to give worth and dignity to each woman in the realization that each of our stories truly count, that we have and are making a difference in other people’s lives, and toward the knowledge that we are building a living legacy to leave behind to those around us when we pass from one form of living to another.

3. “I am ready for my close up.” The evening promises to be one of vulnerability, freedom, and tears. Technically we will have to work as a team and present an organize front of encouragement and support through each other and the Lord. There is no clear picture of what the outcome of the evening will look like. Yet I know in my heart that it will far exceed the greatest expectations of Oscar® himself.

What does this mean for the rest of us? We need to be more conscious of being story-seekers. Every one has a story to tell that holds great value. Each story is God’s story in the making.

You and I are great talkers. Marti suggests we become better interviewers. While she is going to help us to discover how best to draw a story from one and other next week, let’s you and I begin this weekend by learning to listen to what others have to say by approaching others with an open heart, asking open-ended questions, perking up our ears attentively, and shutting our mouths.

[What I saw when I first heard of this idea was a couple of iPhones videoing our celebrities. Marti’s eyes are much wider, involving camera crews and their equipment, editing and DVD production. If you want to be an Executive Producer by financing, in part, the filmmaking, please be my guest by indicating “Isaiah House Oscar® Nominations” on your check or where indicated when you donate on line.]

My wife pointed out that if you go with the classic filming sequence, “Lights, camera, action!” I have gotten a little ahead of myself in that I spoke of being on camera yesterday without first getting the light right. You can’t do a proper interview without proper light, whether it’s natural or artificial.

Light is everywhere but if you stop to think about what it actually is, your brain starts to hurt after a while. In physics, light behaves like a particle. It also behaves like a wave. One thing can’t be both, and yet light fully conforms to both theories. Go figure. Jesus is the paradox of the world.

The useful thing about light is not what it is, but what it does. Light reveals. Light shows what is there. Right now, your computer screen is showing you what you selected. Should your screen go dark, it wouldn’t matter what you selected because you wouldn’t be able to see anything.

A good cameraperson knows exactly how the subject is being lit. Depending on what he/she wants to show, it could be soft, harsh, shadowed or intense. But regardless of how you use it, it has to be there.

When Jesus called Himself the light of the world, He meant, among other things, that He is the means by which we see. To walk in light is to be revealed. To walk in darkness is to hide – to step out of the light – to wish not to be seen.

When we film our interviews of the women of Isaiah House, we will have plenty of light, and those who step in front of the camera will have to be willing to be seen. Some may choose not to, given their current situation, but knowing these ladies, my guess is that most of them will. They trust us. They know we are not trying to trick them or take advantage of them. They also know that we value them, and this may be an opportunity to make a difference in someone else’s life. They will do this interview because they have something to say and they will be hoping someone will hear and see it.

Everyone wants to make a difference with his or her life, and if that means to report from some low point of your existence, so be it. It can be a way of saying yes, they can find meaning even in this. You see things from underneath that you can’t see from on top. Plus, there is a certain abandonment I have noticed among the Isaiah House women. Bob Dylan said it best: “When you’ve got nothin,’ you’ve got nothin’ to lose.” I’m actually worried that we are going to have trouble getting them to stop talking once they start. They have a lot to say.

But to say it, they will have to step into the light. Personally, I can’t wait to hear what they have to say. Whatever it is will be significant, definitely more significant than if they were interviewing us.

Jesus is the paradox of the world.

[News Bulletin: I will be in Rochester, NY, next week speaking in chapels at Roberts Wesleyan University Monday through Wednesday. Call the school to find exact times. Let me know by replying to this Catch or commenting on our blog if you are in the area and interested in getting together.]

Jesus met a Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob, and the thing that amazed her was that He knew her story without her telling it. When she ran back to town to get everybody to come meet Jesus it wasn’t because of His theology, or His miracles, or His amazing personality. It was for one reason: “‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did'” (John 4:29). He knew her story.

Knowing someone’s story is a big step in caring for them. It puts the focus off of you and onto them. It says that the events in their life – the things they care about – are important to you as well. You want to know them.  For Jesus, of course, it was evidence of divine knowledge, but evidence, still, that He cared about her. We don’t get the benefit of divine knowledge, but we can show the same amount of care by wanting to know someone’s story, and by taking the time and effort to hear it.

That’s why we’ve chosen to illustrate this with live interview techniques, because every aspect of this process of gaining a good interview can also help us understand how to be good listeners.

But there’s another reason for all this attention to story. It so happens that gathering stories is going to be the theme of our next Isaiah House event next Thursday, February 16, 2012. We are going to have two cameras set up to record each woman telling a piece of her story for posterity. As in all our events there, the focus will be clearly on the women. They are the stars. They are the “sought-after” interview. They are the big story. We intend for this to also be a metaphor of their importance as individuals.

It also so happens that this theme goes well with the subject of our teleconference Bible study tonight. We will be talking about how we hinder the work of God in our lives when we refuse to tell the truth about ourselves. It’s the real story that carries the real power, not the one we make up, or the one we hide by wearing veils or masks of our own adequacy. If you’ve never joined us before, tonight would be a great place to start. Don’t worry about coming in late. I always begin each session with a brief review of where we’ve been so far. Also, if you’re new, send an email to Marti at [email protected] and request a copy of our free study guide. It will help you get more out of our time tonight. I would love to have a bunch of new folks on our call tonight.

What: Teleconference Bible study – Catch On
When: Tonight, Wednesday, February 8, 2012, 7 pm Pacific; 10 pm Eastern
How: Dial 218.237.3840 and use access code 124393.

Every single person on this planet has one. They want to share it; they also want to leave it behind. Many might think theirs is insignificant, but it’s not, because it is universal, and every single part of it is something that will touch someone else on this planet. Given the right setting, the right time, and sufficient interest, every single person will tell it. Every single person has one; every single person has many. The volume is only limited by time. You can get it in 3 minutes, or you can be up all night with it, and only scratch the surface. You can spend a lifetime telling it, for that matter, because we all are, in fact, spending a lifetime living it.

What is it? It’s your story.

And starting now, and for the next few days, we are all going to take up a new vocation. No, we’re not going to quit what we’re doing now, but we’re going to think of ourselves as something else. We are going to think of ourselves as having taken on a new skill. We are all photojournalists on a massive hunt for stories.

As photojournalists, we will be after one thing. We will be setting the stage with everyone by telling them that their story is important. It is worth hearing and it is worth recording for others to experience, and for posterity. It is a legacy of a life. Your job is to set the stage and conduct the interview. You may just be waiting for the bus, or standing by the water cooler, or out for lunch or coffee, or in the employee lunchroom, but your mind is on one thing: getting the story.

You are Barbara Walters, Charlie Rose, Mike Wallace, or any interviewer you like, with one goal: to get the story. It is not about you; it is all about the interview and the person on the other side of the camera.

You are a film director. Your mind is on lighting, camera angles, framing of the subject, and the right questions that will get and keep the person talking.

We all work for a boss who wants stories, and this is what He has told us. Your job today is to simply start thinking like this. History is a story; the Bible is a story; the gospel is a story; the Word becoming flesh is a story; the person next to you is a story.

God is the master storyteller; you and I are story-seekers. Let’s get after it.

No, not the Monday morning quarterback Super Bowl call, but that call we’ve been talking about to that person you love while you still can.

Some of you took the time to write and tell us what happened when you “made that call.” I’ve been saving up your comments, waiting for the right time to share them with everyone. Now’s the time. I’m sure we will all identify with some of these.

And don’t forget to make plans now to “make that call” Wednesday night and get in on our teleconference Bible study.

Yes, I did call. When I was a young girl my mother helped the neighbor’s daughter who had lost her mother. This young girl is now 57, and, as I found out last week, has had a year of unimaginable health issues and for whatever reasons is still alive. I haven’t spoken with her in about 2 years and I called her to see how she was. As I listened to her story, I was humbled by my multiple blessings and how grateful I was that I was having this conversation with her. I was fighting the tears so I could respond to her, but her story absolutely blew me away.

Yes, I called, I was blessed, a friendship was renewed and I am able to lift her up in prayer for the surgery she will have this Thursday to remove a tumor.   – Janet

I am a member of Alcoholics Anonymous and got taught early on that the phone calls aren’t about me (all the time), it is about reaching out to others.

I make that call as often as I am able. I realized that if I am thinking about someone, I give them a call. How are they to know I am thinking about them if I don’t let them know? Amazing how sometimes that call has perfect timing for maybe something they have going on that they just need to talk about.

I learned this by realizing that if I am in a dilemma or need some help to call someone, it makes picking up the phone a lot easier if I practice this.  – Wayne

Actually I did call some people last week – my two brothers who always can help me with jocularity and nonsense. I also talked to two of my sisters who always think they know what’s best for me. The Lord has blessed me with 2 brothers and 4 sisters. The blessing in this is that we all love each other and are very close even tho we live in separate places. I also called a friend from 20+ yrs ago. I lost track of him for 17 years when he joined the Navy. We have recently reconnected thru our sons who ran into each other on Facebook. – Keith

My mom was in a car accident last week. It was bad, but there was not a scratch on her. In the process of checking her out, the doctor reminded us that she is frail and that her heart is not as strong as we thought. She has such a spunky personality; it’s easy to go into denial about her heart condition. So I am in the process of changing my schedule so I can make the drive to see her and my dad more often. So worth it!  — Barbara

Dare I admit that it’s my 2012 resolution to be more intentional to stay in touch with those I care about? Called an older brother on New Years Day. He’s a wise old geezer and asked me, ”Why’d ya call?” I told him. It started a really nice exchange of dialogue that I would have missed if I had ignored the nudge. My job and some of my hobbies involve continual communication with virtual strangers, and I realized that I hadn’t left any energy for those I say I love. Wake up call!  — Ruth

Kathy is a member of our Catch community who is a seeker and does not know the Lord.  She is always quick to give a ‘thumbs up’ when examining the truth of God against who John and I say we are. She likes our transparency, perhaps because she sees a direct contrast between us and the God she is seeking.

When we recognize a heartfelt awareness of our wretchedness, we embrace the significance of the cross in our own lives and for all His people everywhere. His glory is seen in contrast to the horribleness of our sin.

Conversely, when we present ourselves as masquerading behind all the “right” things we say we “do for God,” she is quick to tell us how foolish we are, and tells us she is going to hit the delete key and escape from us. I think this is because whatever light she recognizes as Christ is hidden from her view because we are choosing to live within such veiled thoughts as “helping God,” with mild confessions and so-called good intentions, and our sin is not seen for its exceeding sinfulness (Romans 7:13).

Only when our sin is seen for its exceeding sinfulness can God’s grace be seen for its exceeding liberality. Play down your sin and you play down God’s forgiveness. Lessen the damage and you lessen the recovery. Mask the sin and you mask the Savior.

The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more. (Romans 5:20)

Ever get what you want and wish you hadn’t? I did last night in our teleconference Bible study. Here’s what happened.

I did a lovely piece of teaching (with everybody muted, of course – no one to question me or interrupt my train of thought). I told my story. It was a splendid illustration of what I was trying to teach about feeling totally inadequate for life and finding that God was adequate through me. I wrapped it all up neatly with a bow, as speakers are want to do, and then I made the mistake of unmuting everybody and turning it over to Marti, who, of course came along, tugged on the bow, and everything unraveled right in front of me. All I could think of was How do we fix this in the ten minutes we have left?

Here I’ve been preaching vulnerability, and what we got – horror of horrors – was vulnerability… two people’s current life situation with no way to solve it for them. My story had a conclusion. It had a happy ending – a silver lining. These stories are just hanging there full of raw emotions.  We asked for vulnerability; we got it; and I didn’t like it.

Marti loved it. Typical. She’s always messing it up for me. But lo and behold, I’m finding out later that many others loved it too. Here’s what one person (Joe) just wrote me: “As we catch a glimpse of Mark, Jerry, Sylvia, & Miss N Carolina (Carol?), we form perceptions based entirely on what they say because we have nothing else – no facial expressions, no body language, not much past history, just a voice. They took the risk to be honest, and I feel many of us connected, we could relate. And now these people are in my thoughts and prayers. God, whether things get better or worse for them in this broken world, lead them to the peace you lead Job to… Amen.”

As a teacher, with everyone on mute, I can make everything come out the way I want to. But open up the lines and it gets complicated. I’m smart enough to know that’s what I want, but dumb enough to still fight with it. I want to solve everyone’s problem when the important thing is for us all to connect with each other in the middle of life, unmuted.

The first step in finding adequacy for life is to embrace our inadequacy and turn to the Lord. Just don’t do it on my teleconference Bible study time. It messes everything up.

I have a ways to go here, I think.

Tonight: The Secret of Adequacy. Who is adequate for life? Is it true that deep down inside, everyone feels inadequate, even those who appear to be the most confident? If that’s true, then, what is confidence? Lying to yourself until you believe the lie? Why will there always be a market for motivational speakers? This is probably the pivotal session in our Catch On teleconference Bible study: Transforming the Marketplace. This is life-changing. If you’ve never before joined us, this would be the night for you. We’ve got room. We can take a few more callers.

Time: 7:00 p.m. Pacific; 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
Dial in number: 218/237-3840
Access code: 124393
Desired result: Enough.

One of our regular readers always signs off, “I wish you enough.” How much is enough? Who has enough? We’re not talking about possessions here; we’re talking about adequacy. How will you know when you have it? This is what we will be talking about tonight. If you’re not sure you can answer any of these questions, you need to join us.

The secret we’re going to talk about tonight is real. I experienced it before I ever knew what it was. I was a senior in college and my life was slowly slipping out of control. Everything I had relied on up until then was taken from me. There was the girl back home I thought would always be waiting for me. Not. There was the ability to always pull out what I needed to pass my classes at the last minute. Not. There was my reputation as a strong Christian and my sense of being able to always rise above temptation to sin. Not. There was at least my solid faith in God. Not.

I can remember it as if it were yesterday. It was about this time of year, in fact… a very cold night in Wheaton, Illinois. The holidays were over; it was time for first semester finals, and in my pro-seminar course in my major field, I was slipping badly. I had to pull a decent grade on the final or I would fail the course and jeopardize my ability to graduate. The test was at 8:00 in the morning; it was 3:00 a.m.; and I still had two books to read. Whether it was lack of sleep, the coffee, the stress or my mental state that did it, I don’t know, but I came to a point where the pages in my book literally went blank. There was nothing on them. I felt the pages, fanned through the book, and it was totally blank. My textbook – the one I still had to read – had become a blank book.

There was nothing else I could do. I had to get out of there; I was losing it. I bundled up and went outside, and on that frigid walk, for the first time in my life, I was liberated. I found enough.

It wasn’t until a year later that I discovered the biblical precedence for what I found that night – something real enough and clear enough that I can pass it on to someone else, indeed, I can teach it to you, and I will… tonight. Hope you can be with us.

“And who is equal to such a task?” (2 Corinthians 2:16)

Well I must say, after reading in the newspaper about the new president of Loyola Marymount University here in Los Angeles, I’m almost ready to become a Jesuit. (“He’s cut from a different cloth,” Los Angeles Times, January 30, 2012, page 1)

Loyola Marymount is a Catholic University with a strong Jesuit tradition, and yet David Burcham is the first president who is not a priest, not a Jesuit, not even a Catholic, “yet it has fallen to him to redefine the meaning of a Jesuit education as the university enters its second century.” And Mr. Burcham has apparently found much in that tradition that he, as a devout Presbyterian can support.

Truth be told, when he articulates that tradition, he articulates many of the things that have become a part of our world view here at the Catch. Try this: “Jesuit and Marymount traditions of intellectual analysis, moral reflection and civic action are an antidote to superficiality. We train young people to think deeply about the critical issues as they cultivate wisdom, accountability and fair-mindedness.”

Or how about this? “For many, a Jesuit education is difficult to define. It’s known for its rigor and inherent curiosity, embracing seeming contradictions: people of God and people of science, believer and skeptic…  ‘We’re not afraid of meeting the world,’ said Father Kevin Burke, dean of the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University. ‘Ours is a philosophy of seeing God in the world.'”

Hello…

And then there’s this: “Beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, a curriculum change will mandate classes focused on the service of faith and the promotion of justice – two key tenets of Jesuit theology.”

And this: “Many [of the students] come from families that earn less in a year than the school’s tuition and fees. LMU also is among the most ethnically diverse regional universities in the nation. The Jesuits, [Burcham said] ‘are always about standing in solidarity with the poor and underrepresented, and I think that is reflected in the student body.'” I would add that that is also represented in the body of Christ in the world, and always has been.

Please don’t write me and tell me bad things about Catholics. I could write bad things about Baptists, Methodists and right wing Christians, too. Our job is to affirm truth wherever we find it, and I found, at least in the way this man and his colleagues define Jesuit tradition, much that I can affirm, indeed champion as a believer.

I have noticed something as I travel and speak in many different theological and philosophical circles. I’ve been told by Lutherans that I would make a good Lutheran. Reformists have told me that I would make a good reformer. Anabaptists have told me that I would make a good Anabaptist (and I’m not even sure exactly what an Anabaptist is). Yes, and I have been told by Catholics that I would make a good Catholic. Yet I am not conscious of trying to make any of these connections. I am only aware of speaking the truth as I am coming to understand it. So what this tells me is that truth resides in many, if not most Christian traditions. Our job is not to find out what is wrong with everybody we disagree with, but what is right.

According to this article, many are saying that Loyola Marymount has actually become more Catholic and more Jesuit since this Presbyterian took over. Does that mean he is giving up his Presbyterianism to become a Catholic? No. It means he has found much in the Jesuit tradition that he can sink his teeth into as a believer. We would all do well to do the same thing in whatever tradition we find ourselves.

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! (Amos 5:24)

So did you call?

I haven’t heard back from anyone yet about calling someone you love just to call. No favor. No agenda. Just a call, because I realized, with one of my friends last week, that life can be over so fast you lose your chance. You pick up the phone and they’re not there anymore.

The T. S. Eliot quote, “Where is the life we have lost in living?” often haunts me. What is life for, if not for relationships? And what is wrong with our living, if in it, we have no time for the people we love – even the people we would love to love if we had the chance? Why not give ourselves that chance? Why not take it?

I have one particular friend who loves to chat. Sometimes I hesitate to call him because I’m moving faster than that. I need a quick answer, but I know my pace will slow down as soon as I get him on the line. He’s made different choices. He lives his life at a pace that allows him to do this, or at least he makes conversation a priority. I’m the agitated one, ripping through my moments with not a care for anyone but myself and my agenda. What is life for if not for connecting with friends long enough to be meaningful? Does something have to be set aside for this? Then set it aside.

I’m obviously speaking to myself today. You may not need this, but I desperately do. That’s why I’m not going to let it go. One Catch last week was not enough, at least not enough for me.

Another one of my friends sent me a Bruce Cockburn song after reading last week’s Catch. It’s the title cut from his 2006 album, “Life Short Call Now.” I am including the lyrics here, but you might want to blow $.99 and get it on iTunes. It’s guaranteed to make you call someone.

Life Short Call Now
by Bruce Cockburn

Billboards promise paradise
And tattoos “done while you wait”
Possible futures all laid out
On the sweeping curve of the interstate

Got no city, got no land
Got no lover, got no wife
How many ways to say goodbye
Can one man fit in a nomad life?

Life short call now
Life short call now
Life short call now
Life short call now

Lone car waves, then it wanes
Leaves only voices in the hall
And in the room next door to mine
The bed is banging on the wall

You’ve no idea how I long
For even one loving caress
For you to step into my heart
Without deception or duress

Life short call now
Life short call now
Life short call now
Life short call now