The real thing

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Look all around you and see what is real.

Hear what is true and be sure what you feel.

Touch someone near you in love if you can.

Give all you have and be part of God’s plan.

                         – from “Look All Around You” by John Fischer, 1967

This is a Jesus Movement song before we knew there was a Jesus Movement. I wrote it in 1967. Not only was there not a Jesus Movement yet, there was no such thing as Jesus music. No record contracts. No concert tours. I didn’t even know what was going to happen with this music; I just knew I had to write it and sing it wherever and whenever I could.

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‘I’m younger than that now’

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What if we could reignite the spirit of the Jesus Movement within us all? In a world marked by complexity and political divisions, we would reconnect with the roots of grace, love, and welcome. We would focus not on the cultural issues that have overshadowed the gospel message but on the transformational power of grace turned outward to those around us.

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Younger than you were

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In 1964, at 22-years-old, Bob Dylan wrote and recorded a song with the following refrain: “I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.”

Younger than what? Younger than twenty-two? No. Younger than the older person that he had already become. It was as if he caught himself just in time. At twenty-two, he was already headed over the hill.

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Clearing out the ivy

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‘Cause He’s in there movin’

Got a knife and He’s prunin’

Cuttin’ out the old man; bringin’ in the new.

And it’s foolish to fake it

So I’m lettin’ Him take it

‘Cause He said I’d be like Jesus when He’s finally through

from the song “Inside” by John Fischer

Our yard just got a haircut. There is so much foliage on and around our property that it takes an annual visit from the tree-trimmers to keep the branches the required three feet away from the house in support of proper fire prevention. It’s odd, though, but when I walk around our yard now, I feel like I just got a haircut — like I was the one that got trimmed. All I know is, the sky is lower; the trees are lighter; the sun is brighter; and I feel my baldness more acutely.

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Good alongside the not-so-good

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Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

The owner’s servants came to him and said, “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?

“An enemy did this,” he replied.

The servants asked him, “Do you want us to go and pull them up?” 

“No,” he answered, “because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters, first collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.” (Matthew 13:24-30)

Jesus gave us a very important clue in this parable about living and operating in the world. He’s talking about the kingdom of heaven on earth, and there are good seeds and bad in the same garden. And the surprising thing is how little attention he wants us to put into weeding that garden. It’s implied that it may even be hard to tell the weeds from the wheat in the early stages of growth. At any rate they are too close together to mess with separating.

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Hard time loving sinners?

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It’s hard to love sinners when you are trying so hard not to be one.

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God on the go

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God doesn’t desire more of our time sometimes; He desires more of our attention all the time.

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These are the days, my friend

Those were the days my friend

We thought they’d never end

We’d sing and dance forever and a day

We’d live the life we choose

We’d fight and never lose

Those were the days, oh yes those were the days

          – words by Gene Raskin

Nostalgia is a powerful human emotion, but looking back isn’t everything.

There is a popular notion that accompanies nostalgia that it was better back then — that something has been lost in the years that have transpired between then and now. That sentiment is certainly expressed in this song, though not actually stated; it’s implied. The song looks back longingly on “those days” as if these days now don’t hold a candle to that time and period. The mere statement, “Those were the days,” implies that “these days” most certainly are not days that count for much. And they never will. Forget trying to ever compete with your memories.

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The cure for ‘boomeritusness’

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“I know there are older people who might like me, and me them, but generally speaking, it appears older people naturally go up in age and inward in focus. I do not think there is an intent in them to go downward in age and outward in focus.”

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Change the subject

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It hasn’t been since the 1960s that there was so much political and social unrest in America, prompting some to speculate that other parallels might exist between then and now. For instance, it was out of the turbulent ‘60s that the Jesus movement was born, which makes you wonder if we might be on the brink of another spiritual revolution among millennials and Gen Z youth. There was a huge disillusionment with politics and institutions 50 years ago, and a great distrust in those who were in power, not just in the government, but in the church as well. That certainly is true today. That’s why so many young people were taking a fresh look at Jesus.

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