John Fischer The Catch

Faithfulness is the one ongoing quality God asks of us. He is willing to justify us; he is willing to grant us mercy instead of the condemnation we deserve, but he does ask for a life of faithfulness.

Faithfulness is in contrast to perfection. Being faithful is a far cry from being perfect. Faithfulness means being authentic, devoted, consistent, loyal. An alcoholic who regularly shows up at A.A. meetings is faithful. She may slip and fall, but she is faithful to get up again. She may lie to her supervisor, but she is faithful to tell the truth when confronted. Faithfulness allows for failure; perfection does not.

When God calls for perfection, it is assumed that I cannot perform it. It’s the demand for perfection that keeps me relying on God’s mercy and grace. But the call to faithfulness is a call I can answer. Faithful to follow, faithful to confess, faithful to obey, faithful to repent, faithful to believe, faithful to pray and seek God—all these are the requirements of faithfulness. All of them are doable and are, in fact, my responsibility and my joy, having been the unexpected recipient of so great a mercy.

The Pharisees could have had it all if they would have been willing to admit their hypocrisy and join the rest of the human race on their knees before a merciful Lord. “God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” cried the publican in the parable of Jesus (Luke 18:13). Imagine if you will, a Pharisee in his long robe, his phylacteries, and his ornate turban, down on his knees next to the tax collector in tears of repentance and joy. Imagine these two embracing, both overwhelmed at the mercy of God in hearing and answering the same prayer. There you have a true picture of the kingdom of God. It’s hard to imagine the Pharisee standing up after such an experience and judging anyone.

What Jesus said: “Whoever is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:39). Or: Unless a person is an outright proclaimed enemy of the gospel, he can be considered a friend. That means there are lots of friends out there waiting to be claimed.

What it seems like we heard: “Whoever is not for us is against us.” Or in other words, anyone who is not one of us is our enemy. That would mean the world is populated mostly with our foes.

These are actually statements of differing worldviews. How you think about the world determines which reality is true for you. Personally, I like the worldview where I assume friendship instead of anticipating enmity.

I think as Christians in this culture, we have made lots of enemies we didn’t have to make. We have drawn lines in the sand that were not there in the first place, and accused people on the other side of the line for the crime of being over there when we drew it. (We never gave them a chance, in other words.) It’s almost as if we have had to create and maintain a good supply of enemies in order to fulfill this self-proclaimed animosity with the world that incorrectly defines us.

This is not a good way to behave when representing the God of second chances—the God who, if He had not been abundantly gracious would never have called us His friends, and would never have given us even a first chance. I think it best to assume there are a lot of friends of God out there, just waiting to be found.

The writer of Hebrews wrote: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). That’s truly giving the benefit of a doubt to those who are not “of us.” It’s a good place to begin.

“Tall and tan and young and lovely,
The girl from Ipanema goes walking,
And when she passes,
Each one she passes,
Goes ‘A-a-ah…'”

The other day I passed a woman walking to the beach as I was driving through town. I only saw her from the back but there was something in the way she carried herself that just made you stop and go “A-a-ah!”

I have a friend, who in a similar situation took his eye off the road long enough to admire and also run into the car in front of him that had stopped suddenly. He blamed his accident on lust, but I’m not so sure. Blame it on not paying attention to the road, but don’t blame it on noticing an “A-a-ah!” that God created as a thing of beauty.

I’ve always liked this Brazilian bossa nova song that has everyone admiring the passing beauty – young, old, male, female – it doesn’t matter, they all go “A-a-ah!”. Beauty is what it is, and if you have a problem with it, you need to take it up with the Creator. He “fashioned” woman (as opposed to creating” man) and I’m sure he had a good time doing it. He probably goes “A-a-ah!” himself, a billion times a day.

I wonder if Christian men, for fear of lust, have destroyed their ability to appreciate and enjoy beauty. Beauty and truth are two sides of the same coin. We need them both to understand God and appreciate life. All truth and no beauty makes Jack a dull boy.

My wife brings beauty wherever we are. She has created it in our house so that wherever you look you see something beautiful. She spends a good deal of time each day maximizing her own beauty, whether she is going out of the house or not, and when she is done, you can only go “A-a-ah!”

When she moves it’s like a samba
That swings so cool and sways so gently…

So guys, if you catch that sway and it takes your eye off the road long enough to ram someone’s bumper, blame it on the “A-a-ah!”, blame it on the bossa nova, but don’t blame it on lust. It was just a thing of beauty, and good for you for noticing.

I apologize for the late posting today but it may be for a good reason. It may be that a new church was born last night (early this morning) in my kitchen. Whatever happens, we’re calling it Church of Sinners. The name was my oldest son’s contribution reminiscent of many of the ideas you sent in for a church marquee that would actually make people want to attend. We think Church of Sinners might have strong possibilities.

Much of what outsiders struggle with when it comes to church and Christianity is an imagined level of performance they assume is required of those on the inside. People think a certain behavior level is expected– a kind of incorrect thinking that keeps out the very people for whom the gospel of Jesus Christ exists. This is what keeps single moms away from church, even when they want to come and desperately need friendship and support. This is what keeps out gays and lesbians who are genuinely seeking God. This is what keeps out those who have had abortions, and the men who have caused them. Not to mention recovering addicts, ex-cons, the poor, the homeless, the mentally challenged. It’s starting to look like the crowd that followed Jesus around when he was here – lepers, the deranged, demon possessed, the blind, the lame, and the social misfits.

To many people church is synonymous to a country club, and this is why Church of Sinners carries such possibilities. Church of Sinners brings some people up and others down to where everyone is where they can enjoy the grace of God.

My favorite definition of the church comes from Robert Farrar Capon, Episcopal priest and student of the grace of God. In his understanding, the church is “a community of astonished hearts proclaiming the end of religion in Jesus” – “astonished,” because they know they don’t deserve to be in, and “the end of religion” because it is the end of all performance-based assumptions that have been built up around religion for years.

The word for anyone outside needs to be acceptance not performance. And if it’s sinners who hold the inside track on the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ, then all sinners are welcome. Who could feel bad about joining a group of other sinners? The only people who might not feel very good about joining the Church of Sinners would be those who don’t think they are that sinful, but I know for a fact, there are plenty of other places that would be more than happy to have good people like them.

Juan works behind the deli counter at the local supermarket. I come in so often that he has given me a nickname. He calls me Johnny Bravo. I really liked the name – even thought about taking it on as a character in a new story – until I found out it already was a TV series on Cartoon Network from 1997-2004 dubbed: “The misadventures of a dumb blond egomaniac who is deluded about his own manliness.”

Well, so much for one man’s idea of Johnny Bravo. I still like it and smile every time he calls me that.

But there’s another thing Juan does a lot. He says, “Thank you, Johnny.” He just says it out of nowhere. It’s totally unrelated to anything I’ve done, just “Thank you, Johnny,” for no reason at all. It’s often the first thing he says when he sees me. “Thank you, Johnny.”

Thank you for what? For being? For being alive? For being there? For showing up? It could be any of these things. It could be all of these things. All I know is that it is basic, fundamental appreciation.

I believe there is something here for us all. Think about thanking everybody in your life. First things first. Thank them first and then move on from there. And whether you say it out loud to someone or just say it in your heart, it will influence how you see them and how you treat them.

But I must say, it feels really good when you hear it out loud. “Thank you, John.” It’s like you’ve got a head start on being appreciated before you’ve done anything at all.

“Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them… When Peter saw him, he asked, ‘Lord, what about him?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.'” (John 21:20-22)

There is a popular argument for not believing that Jesus is the only way to heaven. How could Jesus be the only way to heaven when not everyone on the planet has even heard about Jesus? Would a just and loving God condemn people to hell for the crime of growing up where they never heard about Jesus?

There is more than one approach to this question, but one of the most important is that introduced by the example of Jesus and Peter in the dialogue above. Peter is wondering how John was going to die, and Jesus says, “What is that to you? You must follow me.”

What about the guy who grows up a Buddhist and never hears about Jesus? The answer is the same: “What is that to you? You must follow me.”

One has to already know a good deal about Jesus to even be asking this question, and to use it as an excuse not to believe is ludicrous. That’s saying you are not going to be accountable to what you know about Jesus, or could find out if you tried, because there is a guy somewhere in the world who in your estimation can’t find out.

When Jesus said: “You follow me,” He was saying: “You follow what you know of me — what has been revealed to you. You are not responsible for what has been revealed to someone else; that is between my Father and that person.”

This also applies to our experience in life. When you want to compare your life to someone else’s — someone else has had it easier than you — guess what Jesus says. “What is that to you? You must follow me.”

Ring the bells that still can ring  
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
– from “Anthem” by Leonard Cohen

For how long have we thought that the secret to a useful life was a perfect offering? We would get ourselves together, offer ourselves to God and make an impact for Christ. These were the kinds of people who were always held up as examples—you know, the ones with all their bells ringing.

How we disqualify ourselves for any kind of effectiveness in someone else’s life because we are not perfect yet. “When I get it together, then God can use me.” How we excuse ourselves from service because of our own brokenness.

How we falsely elevate those around us who apparently do have it together. Not good for them, and certainly not good for us. But we do it anyway. We like to believe that someone, somewhere is getting it right, so that someday soon, we might too.

But what if everyone’s broken? What if there’s a crack in everything? And even more important, what if that is the whole point?

“But we have this treasure (the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ) in jars of clay (ordinary cracked? clay pots) to show (make it obvious) that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

Yes, the cracks let the light in, as Leonard Cohen suggests, but they also let the light out so that the real source of the power can be seen.

So you see if we try to be perfect, or simply anything more than what we are, we work against the purposes of God.

(And I don’t think you want to do that.)

Today I’d like to return to the scene of yesterday’s Catch: the Sunday afternoon concert in the park where we fed Chandler’s friends (and a couple of their parents) through the foresight of having enough food to handle more than just our family. That foresight came directly from my wife’s nature to be generous and to anticipate a need, because I’m naturally stingy. In fact it was merely knowing that what I had brought home from the grocery the first time wouldn’t be enough that sent me back to the store for more. Marti didn’t need to say anything.

Actually it was Chandler who was most responsible for all of this. It was his idea to attend the concert in the first place, and his idea to bring along his friends. He was truly the host of the evening and I’m sure, in his mind, there was never a doubt about provision. He wanted his friends around his family and being able to be generous with what was provided enlarged his own little heart a few sizes. The provision was our responsibility; the welcome was his.

It is Chandler’s attitude that most exemplifies what I want us to grasp from today’s reflections. Make friends and bring them along with you. Don’t worry about what to say or when; provision has been made. The God who can meet the need of every hungry soul is in charge of this event called life; you’re just the host.

And as he fed a multitude from the offering of a little boy’s lunch, he can take what you have and feed everyone with it.

We have a park about three blocks from our house that turns into an amphitheater every Sunday throughout the summer. The concert is free and features a different variety of music each week. Sunday was a tribute to the music of Sting. Though we’ve heard a lot about it, Sunday was our first time to attend.

The music starts at 5 pm but as early as 3 pm, people are claiming their spots on the grass with, in most cases, a blanket and a cooler. In the afternoon, while I was out, Marti sent me a text with a grocery list of stuff to purchase at the market for our concert in the park. What ensued was a little dance that has occurred over and over in our marriage: John comes home from the market with the bare minimum; Marti sends him back for something closer to what she originally requested.

This is indicative of a fundamental difference in character between the two of us. Put simply: John is cheap, Marti is magnanimous.

Chandler had been running with four or five neighborhood kids who would most likely end up at the park. Marti wanted us to be able to accommodate them without hesitation. Not to mention other guests that might join us, or new friends we might make while there. Marti anticipates generosity, and in doing so, she more closely approximates the mind of Christ.

As it turned out, we needed everything we brought.

Besides, based on past performance, had Jesus been there, he would have fed everybody!

So after some discussion of questions and answers (one of my favorite topics) we are left with one big question: Are we willing to live with our needs showing?

Does Christ’s sufficiency heal the wound, fill up the hole, answer all the questions, remove all doubt, cease every sin, relieve the pressure, or solve every problem? When we give our “testimony,” is the struggle, the disappointment, the depression, the hurt or the temptation always over?

If you’re going to get to know a Christian, are you going to get to know the best of them, the worst of them, somewhere in-between, or both? The correct (biblical) answer should be “both.” Not our best, or our worst, or some wishy-washy in-between, but a bold statement of our worst right up next to the best of who we are in Christ Jesus.

Did Paul write: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I was the worst” or “of whom I am the worst”? If you said “am” you are right, but I bet most people would think “was” would be the most likely choice based on all those testimonies of the awful people Christians “used to be.”

Though it may be biblical (to see yourself as a present tense chief-of-sinners), this interpretation is not common practice. It is simply not common to show your need, but the strongest message of the Spirit of God in our lives is only possible when we do.

You can’t get it much clearer than this: “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body” (2 Corinthians 4:10-11).

[We are anxious to start an interactive Bible study with you, and would like to get a general idea of when the best time of the week would be for you to commit an hour to this via Internet or phone. If you would be kind enough to reply to this email with your time zone and two times during the week you would be willing to put in for this it would help us determine a most advantageous time to meet.]