John Fischer The Catch

Evangelical Myth #2: All Christian homes are happy.

I grew up in a family the embraced this myth so fully that almost any means would justify maintaining it including lying, or at least not telling the whole truth, which is a form of lie. (The serpent didn’t tell the whole truth to Eve.)

This is one of the things that makes going to church problematic: Everyone there is doing so well. Everyone is so happy. And although we all know this can’t be true, no one has the courage to be the first to test the myth. So we go on blindly perpetuating it.

This myth is firmly embedded in the false idea that happy, well-adjusted Christians are the best witness to those who are not believers. The tragedy is that quite the opposite is true. Shiny, happy people only drive others away. It sets a standard that is impossible to maintain apart from a kind of false veneer that fools only those who are aware of the game and want to be fooled.

Sadly, the ones who are driven away are the very ones who need the gospel the most, and would be the most open to it were the “witnesses” more honest and less accomplished in the happy life. It’s the down-to-earth human struggles that make faith most believable to unbelievers. If faith can’t embrace dysfunctional behavior, marital problems, addictions, habitual sins, then who is qualified to receive it? No one, because no one is perfect.

Someone once said that the world is made up of goofy people who know they’re goofy, and goofy people who don’t know they’re goofy, and the latter are by far the most dangerous. Given the fact that we are all goofy, the ones who know that they are make the best Christians.

When abortion is labeled as murder; when doctors who perform them are considered to be perpetrators of mass genocide; when pictures of dismembered fetuses are used as anti-abortion propaganda; when nothing short of God’s wrath is brought to bear on anyone who as much as considers voting for a candidate who is clearly pro-abortion; and when all this comes from a place of authority in the church which God established, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail, does anyone consider what this might do to women in the congregation who have actually had abortions, and men who know that their irresponsibility caused them?

My guess is: No. This perspective is not given consideration largely because of Evangelical Myth #1: No good church-going Christian has ever had an abortion or gotten someone pregnant. Certainly if you’ve been exposed to a lot of preaching on the subject, this would have to be a foregone conclusion.

Yet common sense and any knowledge of human nature would tell you this myth can’t possibly be true, and statistics bear this out. One study puts it as high as one in three – that’s one in three women in your typical evangelical church has had at least one abortion. How can people listen to such flammable rhetoric with the knowledge of their own guilt on their conscience? I can’t even begin to imagine.

There is a much-needed perspective here found, of all places, right in the middle of the Ten Commandments – between number 3 and number 4: “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:5-6). Notice the comparison of God’s love to his punishment. He will punish the evil he finds for four generations, he will reward the love he finds for a thousand. Mathematically speaking that’s 1,000 to 4, or 250 to 1. God’s love and mercy trumps his punishment 250 to 1.

Our messages need to be similarly proportioned. Grace over guilt, 250 to 1. People need to know they are welcome in our fellowship, not because they haven’t sinned, but because God’s overwhelming grace has made their sin irrelevant.

Chandler’s favorite TV program is “Mythbusters” on Discovery Channel where two former stunt men put to test certain myths, legends and television and movie special effects to see if they hold up in real life. Well in Wednesday’s Catch we heard Mother Teresa bust a few myths of her own about poverty.

“Mother Teresa often said that it is far easier to serve or love Jesus in strangers and outcasts than it is to serve him in our own families and communities, easier to give a dish of rice to a poor person on the other side of the world or to a complete stranger than to give that “dish of rice” to someone who is starving for love right under our own roof or in our back yard.”

Why is it so hard to serve God in our own families and give to those under our own roof?

1. Nobody sees it; there is no credit involved.

2. You can’t fool those who are closest to you.

3. Kids are the best hypocrisy guard out there. (Just ask any pastor you know with a family.)

4. Your family knows who you are in the long run. You can be somebody you aren’t for a short period of time, but you can’t keep that up forever. If your public persona is different than your private one, the private one will eventually be made public. It’s part of the law of averages.

Point: We all have to pay attention close to home. Who you are with those who are closest to you is who you are. If your life at home isn’t what it should be, it’s time to start busting some myths.

Here’s an election week story to think about:

It comes from the animated movie, “How to Train Your Dragon” that I saw for the first time this weekend. It’s the story of an imaginary Viking village and its incessant war with the dragons that periodically strafe their homes and fields with their flame-throwing breath, and carry off their livestock. The animosity between man and dragon defines both of their existences. Until the chief’s son discovers something different. He ends up secretly befriending one of the most feared dragons of all and in the process becomes a sort of dragon whisperer – able to understand and subdue them at will. He was led to this when he discovered that the dragons were as afraid of the people as the people were afraid of the dragons.

One day while flying together with his secret dragon friend, the boy discovered the dragon’s lair and the fact that the dragons were all in the employ of a huge monster dragon who forced them out of fear to work for her, like a queen bee sending out her workers to bring back food. They are far more afraid of this underworld monster than they are of people. The story ends with the dragons and people teaming up to fight and kill the monster, and in the final scene, man and beast are living together in harmony, using their ingenuity to help each other instead of fighting,

The whole idea behind a two-party system of government was not so we could spend all our time fighting each other, but so that we could gain the benefit of two different perspectives working together to right the wrongs that are the real enemy of us all.

As Christians, we should avoid the temptation to align ourselves with one party while demonizing the other. Christians need to be models of civility, cooperation and mutual respect. We are not enemies; we are fellow citizens. America shows its greatness when we rise above politics and work together for the common good. Christians may not be able to stop these wars, but at least we can model something different by not participating in them.

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation than for bread. – Mother Teresa

Fear of homelessness is common among women, even very successful ones. I know my wife has always had a fear of homelessness that I have never understood, and a particular affinity with any woman she meets who is living on the street. I am sure it is this fear in part that drives her to work with a homeless women’s shelter in Santa Ana where she regularly helps feed over 40 women and collects clothing for them.

But when she asked a friend what homelessness would mean to her, the immediate reply was, “No friends.”

Marti writes: “Fear of poverty and homelessness is complex and based on many meanings. Issues of comfort, safety, and control come into play and would probably be of equal concern to both men and women. However, my friend’s identification of homelessness with loss of friends is, I suspect, at the root of many women’s fears. Women, more so than men, are concerned with social connections. Homelessness for most women is social isolation.

“Mother Teresa often said that it is far easier to serve or love Jesus in strangers and outcasts than it is to serve him in our own families and communities, easier to give a dish of rice to a poor person on the other side of the world or to a complete stranger than to give that “dish of rice” to someone who is starving for love right under our own roof or in our back yard.”

Think of all the lonely people just outside the doors of our own homes. Then think that the greatest gift we can give someone without a home is an integrating friendship. In doing so we will find that these women are a lot more like us than they are different with very similar needs as ours.

The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty. – Mother Teresa

For those of you who are curious about how the football game I went to last Saturday came out, I guess it depends on your perspective. If you’re an Oregon fan, everything went just ducky. If you’re from southern California, it was a pretty good ¾ of a game. It was just that 4^th quarter when they stuffed us. And watching Oregon run right through USC for that last fifteen minutes gave you the impression that they could have done this the whole game had they wanted to – they were just toying with us.

Anyone watching this game had to admit it came out the way it should. It would have taken close to a flawless game from USC coupled with a number of Oregon mistakes to even make it remotely possible for a Southern Cal miracle; and everybody in the stands knew that too. It was obvious who was the better team. We yelled ourselves hoarse hoping for the miracle, but in the end, the forgone conclusion won out. Nine times out of ten in most sports, you’re going to get what you deserve; it’s that last tenth that makes it interesting.

God’s grace operates in that last tenth of life where all the surprises are – where all the statistics mean nothing, where 2 + 2 equals something other than 4, and the impossible is standard procedure.

The Trojans were hoping for a little grace last Saturday, but they didn’t get it. Thank God you and I are more fortunate, having come into a relationship with God that is defined by the miracle. It’s way beyond what is deserved or calculated. USC v. Oregon was not to be an upset. We, on the other hand, are constantly living by upset. You can’t measure mercy. You can’t calculate grace. You can’t add up the Spirit. You can only fly by the seat of your pants. When a sports team plays this way, they say they are playing over their heads. When we live this way, we are walking in the Spirit. Anything can happen (and usually does).

Knowing this should make us bolder about stepping out and taking risks. It should make us live beyond ourselves. It should make us exceed the expected. Living by the Spirit is wild and unimaginable, but you’ve got to get in the game to find this out. You can’t know it by watching; that only makes you hoarse.

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Ephesians 3:10-11 NIV

Ever wish you could be on TV? You just might be.

There is more to our lives than meets the eye. Sometimes we seem mired in routine. We go through the motions of living but much of it can seem well outside the realm of making any real difference in the world. We want to feel we are accomplishing something with our lives, but what?

Is anybody watching? Does anybody care what happens in my life? The verses above would seem to indicate that there is more than just the physical stuff we deal with every day. This literally says that God is displaying something through us (the church) “to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.” Now who could that be? Well, I’m not sure exactly, and I’m not so sure it matters to us, practically speaking, except that it isn’t anybody you or I know or see. It would appear to be an unseen audience of relatively significant heavenly beings observing what is being worked out here on earth through what God is doing in the church. Now could that include our daily lives—even those moments lived outside of anyone’s physical presence? Well, we’re the church aren’t we? Do we ever stop being the church? Are we the church only when we are assembled together or are we the church all the time wherever we are?

In the “reality” TV shows that are so popular now, a camera follows a group of people and captures slices of their supposedly normal lives. (It’s hard to imagine how “normal” you can be with a camera running in your face 24-7, but for purposes of this discussion, it’s a fitting metaphor.) We would do well to imagine a similar camera on us all the time, filming for an unseen audience how God’s plan for us is working out. Kind of like “reality” TV but more like “reality” life.

Could it be that by merely living a life of faith, even in our private moments, we are having an effect on someone? If this is true than our whole life is a mission. It’s a mission to believe. It’s a mission to resist sin. It’s a mission to love. It’s a mission to live our faith out in our daily lives. If somebody’s watching, everything matters.

Somebody is.

Well it’s that time of year again when little ghosts and goblins come to your door trying to scare you. Mixed into this will be football players, firemen, princesses and your occasional screaming face along with an axe murderer or two. We happen to live on a street that is so into this celebration that realtors have to disclose what happens here on Halloween so there will be no surprises the first October after you buy a house on Oak Street. The police close off a 2-block stretch to traffic, which makes for a lot more peace of mind for parents. Believe me, the press of people is intense. We will purchase over $100 worth of candy and run out by 7:30.

We have heard that our neighbors are going to rig a disco ball this year over the street and hire a DJ to play music from their porch. It’s going to be a Masquerade Ball in the street.

Hopefully more Christians are getting over abdicating this holiday to the devil and running away from their homes. That’s one sure way to let him win. Remove your light from your house and your neighborhood.

I’m sure your street is not as intense as ours, but one thing is probably the same: the whole neighborhood will be out and about meeting neighbors and in some cases meeting people they have never spoken to until now. It would be a shame and I would go as far as to say a victory for the forces of darkness to allow the unfounded fears attached to Halloween to darken a home where Christ lives on the one night of the year the whole neighborhood is coming over.

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of spending a weekend with some new and old friends in a chalet in the mountains of Washington State with no agenda but to exchange thoughts and ideas and share pieces of our lives together. It was the fulfillment of a longtime dream of mine to get my favorite people together around a hearth with time to talk and pursue any avenue of discussion that might seem fruitful at the time.

It didn’t hurt that we had a host who took care of our physical needs, preparing memorable meals while we talked so that the talk moved from the hearth to the table and back to the hearth again throughout a 48-hour period. Most of the people involved were in the professional arts in some way be it writing, playwriting, theater, filmmaking, poetry, journalism photography and dance.

My working definition of an artist is one who stays a little longer and this weekend, made available through the foresight and planning of three individuals, did just that. It was a long drink at the well of human kindness and creativity, and my parched soul drank in every bit of it – so much so that I didn’t want it to end. It honestly felt a little like what I imagine heaven to be like.

T.S. Elliot once asked, “Where is the life we have lost in living?” It is a not-so-subtle indictment on our busy lifestyles that we have to plan a weekend like this and wait thirty years to get there, when, in its simplest form, this is what life is all about. Taking time to just meet and talk with friends almost seems like a misuse of time if it isn’t gaining some desired result or fitting into someone’s bigger agenda.

My experience this weekend has caused me to rethink the value of relationships and the time we put into them. Such time needs no justification; it is time well spent.

The history of rock and roll is short enough to be contained in the life span of a baby boomer, and yet long enough to chronicle some rather important social changes. Since pop music captures the prevailing ideals of a generation, it’s easy to see the forces that have shifted attitudes over the last 40 years. Compound that with the fact that music from the ’60s and ’70s is still a big part of our contemporary culture via “oldies” rock stations, movie sound tracks and even advertisements, and you have instances of stark cultural contrasts popping up all over.

Take, for instance, the ’60s Creedence Clearwater classic, “Fortunate Son.” “It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I’m no millionaire’s son/It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I’m no fortunate one.” The sentiment of this song is to be proud about not being rich or privileged. And then compare that with the current Travie Mccoy rap song I also heard on the same day: “I wanna be a billionaire so frickin’ bad/Buy all of the things I never had,” and you have the values of two generations rubbing against each other. To its credit, the “Billionaire” song goes on to be as lavish in giving as it is in getting, but it is still clear that one song eschews what the other one chases.

And then yesterday I caught a diaper ad that called upon the nostalgia surrounding probably the premiere communal rock anthem of the ’60s, “Get Together,” by the Youngbloods. “C’mon people now/Smile on your brother/Ev’rybody get together/Try to love one another right now.” Now what that has to do with keeping baby bottoms dry, I can’t possibly imagine.

That song even called up biblical themes – part of the strong spiritual longing that softened many hearts for the message of Jesus that would dominate the early ’70s. “When the one that left us here/Returns for us at last/We are but a moment’s sunlight/Fading in the grass.”

“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:6-8; 1 Peter 1:24-25)

“You hold the key to love and fear/All in your trembling hand/Just one key unlocks them both/It’s at your command…”

Love or fear. It’s still my choice… your choice, too. The key is in our hands. What will we do?

“Come on people now/Smile on each other/Everybody get together/Try to love one another right now.”