John Fischer The Catch

Tomorrow is the most “givingest” day of the year and at 64, I am learning that I don’t know the first thing about giving. And on top of that, I am asking you to give to me. Oh I know intellectual things about giving. I know spiritual things about giving. I could probably teach a seminar about what the Bible says about giving, and it would be a good one, but what I am saying is that bottom line, I am not a giving person. I so much want to be one.

There is a certain curse with writing a lot. You begin to think you know what you are writing about. After all, if you can write about it you must be an expert. Well I can write about lots of things about which I am barely learning in life.

I am barely learning how to love. I am barely learning how to give. I am barely learning how to understand. I am barely learning how to be a father and a husband. God forbid that I would have to teach how to actually do this. I think these things happen as you get older. The older you are, the less you know. It’s an inverse proportion.

I find that I like this, however. It’s more important that I live than I try and make life work. Live it; experience it; take it in; give it out. My how we love to complicate things. And what I offer you is the Holy Spirit at work in the middle of all of this. My writing is a report of the workings of God in and through a fallible person.

This is why I am thankful for all of you. You let me work it out in front of you. You accept me not as an expert but as one who lives out loud – at least that is how feel when I write to you. I’m just living out loud.

And now I am writing you somewhat randomly from my heart. If you sense some holes that’s because there are quite a few, but the biggest one I am feeling right now is a family that is looking to me for Christmas.

I need your help right now. I need your vote of confidence that what we are doing here is making a difference. I need you to give as I learn how to. If I have blessed you in some way though the Catch, I need your blessing today. Thank you to those who have given already in this campaign and thank you in advance to those who have yet to give.

May you have joy and rich memories this day and tomorrow. May your Christmas be bright. God bless us every one.

John
Christmas Eve, 2011

I was in the market today when I noticed the song “Walking in Memphis” by Marc Cohn was playing over the sound system. I think I noticed it because it wasn’t a Christmas song. It even felt a little normal, like I was suddenly transported to somewhere in January and all the holiday stuff was history.

I also probably noticed it because I happen to like this song. It’s a song that captures a lot of emotion about a place from Elvis and Graceland to Union Avenue and the blues clubs of Beale Street. In fact if you don’t know this local color, you will be left out of the meaning of the second line of the chorus: “Walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale.” It used to bug the life out of me that I couldn’t understand that line.

But my favorite part of the song is the second verse:

Now Muriel plays piano
Every Friday at the Hollywood
And they brought me down to see her
And they asked me if I would
Do a little number
And I sang with all my might
And she said
“Tell me are you a Christian child?”
And I said “Ma’am I am tonight!”

Every time I hear that line it’s like a recorded conversion. It’s about the immediacy of faith. And it puts faith in the center of a passion for life, for music, for Elvis, for the influences of gospel and blues… how could anyone not be a Christian in that setting?

Now I can hear the naysayers arguing that he isn’t talking about really becoming a Christian here, to which I say if he isn’t, I still prefer his Christianity to theirs. His is alive; it’s compelling; it’s full of the blues; it’s connected to people and their real emotions and experiences. It’s Christianity with a pulse. And it’s immediate. Present tense.

And today while I was reflecting on all of this, I thought again of Christmas and the thought that maybe this is more of a Christmas song than meets the ear. Because what is Christmas but God joining the human experience? It’s God becoming human and saying a big “Yes!” over music and the blues and life in the big city. God said “Yes” to everything about being human because of Christmas.

Tomorrow it will be Christmas Eve, and somewhere in your celebration I want you to think about being a Christian with the fervor of “Ma’am I am tonight!” That you celebrate not only the coming of Christ, but the affirmation of life wherever you live it. Because of Christ, everything human is holy.

And then I ask that you send us a generous year-end donation if you haven’t yet. There are many who enjoy the Catch but can’t afford to send anything… send something for them. There are others who are seeking and not yet committed… send something for them. And for all who can send a donation of $60 or over, we will send a free download of our first audio-book Dark Horse, which will be available after the first of the year.

And to all, we wish a very Merry Christmas and a blessed time with loved ones.

In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people.” (Luke 2:8-10)

It must have been an incredible sight. And what a surprise! The shepherds on swing shift. It’s the quietest time of the night. Everyone else is asleep, and perhaps the shepherds are too. Someone would certainly understand sleeping on this job. When suddenly, out of nowhere, a large, bright, extra-terrestrial being appears in the middle of their camp, and they are terrified. Understandable.

They are being summoned to witness undoubtedly the most extraordinary event in human history – a baby has been born, fathered by God Himself, and destined to be the savior of the world, and the shepherds are about to be escorted to maternity. They are most likely clueless as to what all this means. It’s not like they’ve been anticipating this moment. They are more likely just amazed… dumbfounded. Even the explanation probably escapes them. They are about to be herded just like the sheep they guard, to the scene of an invasion.

But the best and most amazing part of this message is that it is good news of great joy for all the people. All the people. Not just a select few. All. Jesus came for everybody. He died for everybody. He rose again for everybody. What everybody chooses to do with this information is their business and God’s but the point is He came to bring joy to everyone and the news of his birth should be just that… “great joy which will be for all the people.”

When the gospel message is put forth the way it first came to us, it is clearly a message for everybody. Christians have managed over time to couch the message in terms that only insiders understand. (That’s why we need evangelists to try and explain it to the world.) We have somehow created an inside and an outside, and we pride ourselves on being in. Jesus has always been out because He is for everybody. Subscribe a circle around Him and He will just go outside the walls, outside the gates, outside the city. These are terms actually used in scripture to describe His movements. Come on… nearby shepherds were the invited guests at his birth. Not a religious bone in their bodies.

There is something extraordinary about what we are trying to do with the Catch and I need your help to do it. We are trying to put a message out for all the people. We are seeking not to discriminate even spiritually. And as part of our year-end drive (that I have managed to botch pretty well according to my wife who knows about these things) I am unabashedly calling you to contribute to this work so that we can continue to move forward. I recognize these are difficult times, which is why I need more of you to step up and support this effort if we are to continue into the New Year.

How exciting… We’re here for all the people; we have a long way to go!

…And not so faithful, too.

There is a saying that was popular in the early days of the church. Paul called it a “trustworthy saying” in a letter to Timothy: “If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him. If we disown Him, He will disown us; if we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself” (2 Timothy 2:11-13 NIV).

Have you ever come to the Christmas season, caught yourself singing, “O Come All Ye Faithful,” and wondered: “Who’s that? Who can say they have been faithful to Christ?” If we were honest, could anyone say they were entirely faithful in their walk with God? I would want to add, “Compared to what?” because “faithful” would have to be a relative thing. We all fail Him. We all struggle with faith. We all prove to be unfaithful partners with God.

In other words, if our security with God depended on our faithfulness to Him, I’m afraid we would all be in bad shape; but the good news is: our security with God depends on His faithfulness to us.

Jesus chided his disciples for having “little faith,” but He did not kick them off the team for it. He called His followers an “unbelieving generation,” but He did not abandon them. And in spite of the saying above about disowning those who disown Him, Jesus apparently made an exception to that rule for Peter, who on three occasions disowned having any part of Christ. He later forgave Peter and accepted him back.

As we come to the end of another year, I’m sure we can all recall times when we struggled with faith, had a hard time finding it, or perhaps found ourselves unfaithful to God. Some may be in such a place right now. This is a time to worship God for His faithfulness to us. We may have let go of Him, but He will never let go of us, because we are His, and He cannot disown what belongs to Him.

So for us, faith is a relative thing. We all struggle with our own demons. Maybe for you, “faithful” means you’re ready to get yourself back in the fold. Can’t think of a better time to do it.

“O come all ye faithful…” and not so faithful, too! It doesn’t matter as much how you come, but that you come. Get yourself to Him; that’s what counts.

Music is a powerful force of love and logic that can make a direct hit upon one’s emotions, bypassing barriers to truth that so often keep people from believing. Christmas music especially has appealed to both Christian and secular audiences alike for centuries. At Christmastime even the most ardent of unbelievers will tolerate a little miracle. This is what makes music so important at this season when, for a few weeks, culture and Christ coexist.

As Christians and still seekers, we are individuals striving to live between Christ and culture. Christ is our Lord and our savior from sin, and culture is a vehicle by which to do good in the world for the sake of Christ. It is also the means by which we come to know what is in a man or woman. And so to put Christ and the music of culture together is to have a powerful force for reconciliation.

Everywhere we look we see the evidence of a Creator. But we don’t see this as religion, which has cut people in two. Religion is what happens when God leaves and people devise a set of rules to fill the space. We don’t see Jesus Christ as being any part of a religion. We see Him as Lord and Savior, brother and friend. God become human. And Christmas celebrates His coming.

There are evidences, even in our culture, of people returning to Christ at this crucial time. Jesus Christ Superstar is resurging in San Diego. Godspell is back on Broadway. After being the scene of a major culture war, there seems to be a surprising lull in the argument against having Christ in Christmas. Maybe it’s because everyone knows we need hope. When culture is in crisis, “Merry Christmas” carries more hope and reassurance than “Happy Holidays,” even if it’s just because it’s old fashioned. We are all having trouble holding back the darkness that tries to settle in around our hearts. We need something to transcend this darkness. We need the new dawn that Christmas provides.

Unknowable love and unknowable power – describing itself to the most vulnerable in the most vulnerable of human births – can cause tears to stream down a proud man’s face as he quietly discovers that God truly did pick a particular night to give His beloved gift to us, in a particular town, on this particular planet… O Holy Night!

Okay you guys… time for a few Marti-isms to break in on our discussion. Though I need to warn you that this is a little like an encounter with the ghost of Christmas present in Scrooged, Bill Murray’s clever adaptation of Dickens’ Christmas Carol. She will dance around excitedly on her tiptoes, clap her hands with joy, sprinkle pixie dust on you and then bash you in the head with a toaster. You never know when it’s coming. “Sometimes you have to slap them just to get their attention!”

So here goes, and don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Not all experiences in giving are victorious. Spit and the smell of urine is very offensive, but wasn’t the Lord of Lords born in straw poverty and animal poop? Good thing He wasn’t offended.

To recognize there is no difference between you and someone that is homeless is good, but to embrace that equality and rejoice together is to have an encounter with Christ. And then, to unite is good, but to respect differences, better. Looking into the eyes of someone lost is to find a beautiful reflection of you. The reason we are asked to walk together before the Son is so we can share equally in the cleansing and the refreshing cries of thanksgiving.

It is ok to be glad when you are warm and someone else is cold, it is just not okay to keep him waiting.

See a homeless person as an angel, and know he is watching.

Greet everyone as a guest on his way to the banquet. If you are lucky, he might ask you to join him.

Now, how about your neighbor? Did you hand-deliver a set of candles to brighten up his home? Did you invite him over for a game of charades and give him a chance to see you as vulnerable as he feels? The heck with walking the old lady across the street, take your own sack of bones and walk across the street to give your neighbor a merry note about how much you appreciate him. Laugh out loud because there is more to find that is funny about you than there is about anyone else. Don’t take yourself so seriously. The Lord, if He chooses, will use you when you are most vulnerable—just so the recipient doesn’t get confused about who is the bearer and who is the Christ.

See what I mean? Like Marti says after she hits you with the toaster: “Sometimes the truth is painful, but it makes your cheeks rosy and your eyes bright!”

I am recalling the Christmas a few years ago when, a week or so before Christmas, Chandler unbeknownst to anyone in the family, wrapped up a DVD he found among Anne’s things and put it under the tree for her. And I also remember how surprised and relieved we all were on Christmas morning when, as the first gift of Christmas, Anne opened the Emergency Medical Technician training DVD she had been desperately looking for ever since Chandler turned it into a Christmas present! The loss was holding up her timeline for applying to graduate school, and we all had been recruited to search for it. Chandler had simply found it first and decided it would make a good Christmas gift. It was certainly something she wanted; that much was true.

As you might imagine, upon opening her “gift,” Anne experienced a strong desire to both strangle Chandler and love him at the same time. Here he had wrapped up something she already had, made her suffer over the loss of it, and then gave it back to her as a gift — the gift part being the only thing he was really conscious about.

It occurs to me that this would be a foolproof way of giving someone what you know they will want for Christmas. Take away something they value, and then give it back for Christmas. Sounds like a dirty trick, but in some ways, this is just what God has done with us. He took away from the human race, that which was its most valuable possession — complete and open communication with God Himself — and left us with a big hole in our heart instead. And though we brought this on ourselves through disobedience, He provided a way He could reestablish that communication by sending Christ to us — His coming, of course, being the primary event we celebrate at Christmas.

So we lost our relationship with God and ever since we have been searching for what we once had, and on Christmas morning, we symbolically find it again in the coming of Christ — the first gift. Yes, the first gift of Christmas will always be Jesus.

Here is what the Spirit of God says 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; 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 by himself… In all of these situations, the Holy Spirit wants to have us stand in for Him. He wants us to deliver the message. It’s the ultimate gift, and it explains why God sent His Son into the world, but it’s less complicated than that. It’s distilled into three words, one phrase, and it’s the point of it all: “Tell her I love her” or “Tell him I love him.”

It’s the Holy Spirit’s whisper. He whispers it in our ear while we stand in front of someone it would be impossible for us to love otherwise. And He whispers it in our ear as we casually say good-by to the most familiar face we know. And why do I need to do this? She’ll be back in just a few minutes. Will she? “Tell her I love her.” Don’t miss an opportunity.

Because it’s ultimately what the Father said to the Son when He watched them nail Him to a cross and had to turn His back as He agonized alone, covered in sin that was not His and forsaking His only begotten: “Tell them I love them,” God said. And He did.

It had been a typically busy day at the 456-bed Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, California. Given the neighborhood, that would include gun shot wounds, knifings, beatings within an inch of life, crack babies with little chance of a life, drug overdoses and patients delivered in front of E.R. by “drive-by ambulances” – victims of gang warfare kicked out the door of a fleeing vehicle. E.R. beds here are at a premium anytime night or day.

I know a little about this because my daughter works there as a P.A. resident and when I see her, which is about once a week, the stories flow. One in particular stuck in my mind as being especially for this season.

Often sick or injured prisoners are brought into the hospital chained in their orange jumpsuits by police officers doing their tour of duty in the county jail. Sometimes the injuries have been inflicted by fellow prisoners; sometimes they come from officers trying to maintain control.

One night last week, a prisoner came in white as a sheet, and Anne immediately recognized him as being in the advanced stages of leukemia. Not knowing if he would even make it to see the light of day, she sought a bed to make him as comfortable as possible. Carrying obviously no threat to anyone in his current state, the police officer nonetheless elected to stay with the sick man. He ended up by the man’s side all night, even seeking another bed for him that gave him more relief from the bright lights of the emergency room.

It’s a poignant picture, the law sitting up with the lawless, finding in the onslaught of death, the common bond that eluded them in life.

On that E.R. floor, as on every night, I’m sure it was not a very silent night, but in spite of that, there was definitely something holy going on.

He’s making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice

This Christmastime I see it popping up like the new Christmas handle. “Naughty and nice” suddenly seems to be everywhere… in ads, on cookies and cupcakes, in Christmas cards, in retail decorations, and as a part of Lady Gaga’s recent concert routine.

As far as I can tell, it all springs from the now classic “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” song written in 1934. “He sees you when you’re sleeping/He knows when you’re awake/He knows if you’ve been bad or good/So be good for goodness sake!” These are things we normally attribute to God – at least the part of God we know as the giver of the law, the omni-present observer and the judge of all. These are certainly some of the attributes of God, but there is quite a bit missing. There is also the grace and mercy of God, the forgiveness of God and the new arrangement with us made possible by the death and resurrection of Christ. Unfortunately these are lesser-known attributes of God, making many people’s understanding of God and Santa pretty similar.

Why is it that the knowledge of God’s love, mercy and forgiveness is so scarce? Could it be that there aren’t enough of us telling the story of our own salvation? That’s the way you would find out about these things.

You find out about mercy by hearing how much someone needed it. You find out about forgiveness when you hear how much of a sinner someone is. You find out about God’s grace when you hear how undeserving someone is of it. The knowledge of God’s love, mercy and forgiveness come with the stories of our lives and how desperate we are for it. It’s as simple as that.

I typed my name into Santa’s Nice-o-Meter and got the following as Santa’s current report “‘Nice,’ but you’d better watch out! I’m checking my list (twice!) and I see that the manners sometimes slip a bit. Please remember to say ‘thank you’ especially in a season when people are giving gifts and doing such nice things. Good work brushing those teeth! Floss regularly and you’ll earn extra ‘Nice’ points!”

Thank goodness that’s Santa and not God!