John Fischer The Catch

There are two characteristics of the Jesus Movement that set it apart as a legitimate spiritual awakening on the level with other major spiritual movements in the history of western civilization like the Great Awakening and the Reformation. 1) There was no central organization in control; and 2) it happened simultaneously everywhere (U.S., Canada, Europe, South Africa). Taken together, these two characteristics tell us one thing: This was the Holy Spirit’s doing. There is simply no other explanation.

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Jesus is the source of unity among believers. He was that fifty years ago in the Jesus Movement and He is that today as the next generations peers into a new frontier. When divisions and denominations exist in the church, it’s because we have made something else more important than Jesus. We have allowed some doctrine or some practice or some particular belief to become a barrier to unity. So we hunker down in our partisan group and cut ourselves off to the Jesus that exists in the lives of those believers who don’t hold to our particular bent.

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I am gradually learning to listen to my 22-year-old son. I am learning to respect his insights instead of thinking that I am the one who needs to bring him around all the time. It’s a big stretch for me. He says things differently than I would say them so I have to weigh carefully what says lest I miss something important. Ever since he said he had my back in reaching the younger generations I am taking him seriously. Like when he brought up yesterday about knowing the warmth of Jesus in our hearts. I suddenly realized what a beautiful expression that was of what it feels like to have a relationship with God through Jesus.

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We need more of Jesus and less of everything else. 

By “everything else” I mean just about everything one could think of in relation to Christianity or religion that has little or nothing to do with Jesus, or that takes away from attention upon Him. We are seeing a lot of these things today, just like we did back when the Jesus Movement got everything focused back on Jesus. Today we are  focusing on things that lead us away from Jesus like celebrity, morality, political power, empire-building, worship music (that worships itself or its performer(s), social action (not done in the name or the power of Jesus), Bible study (for its own sake), numbers (for the sake of success), and success (for the sake of numbers). 

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We need more of Jesus and less of everything else.

The Jesus Movement happened because it was all about Jesus. It would not have happened any other way. Jesus united Christians everywhere, and labels fell away. It didn’t matter your background, your denomination, your worship style, your age — if you loved Jesus, that was all that mattered. Often people’s hang-ups about Christianity are because of bad experiences with the church or with other Christians, but this movement circumvented that by simply being about Jesus, and most people are at least curious about Jesus.

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It began with fraudulent charges on my credit card. I say “fraudulent,” because I first approached Marti who was insulted by my accusation. She concluded our argument with “Fine,” which means she cannot be bothered with the issue any longer because she has something else to do. 

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