The indignity of indiscriminate acceptance

Posted on April 20, 2021 by jwfisch

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Lord, please restore to us the comfort of merit and demerit. Show us that there is at least something we can do. Tell us that at the end of the day there will at least be one redeeming card of our very own. Lord, if it is not too much to ask, send us to bed with a few shreds of self-respect upon which we can congratulate ourselves. But whatever you do, do not preach grace. Give us something to do, anything; but spare us the indignity of this indiscriminate acceptance.        – Robert Farrar Capon

Grace is humiliating. We don’t often think about it in this light, but it is. It’s humiliating because it reduces us all to the same level. We are all sinners and there is no “decent” sin. Robert Capon, the late episcopal priest who was a prolific writer on grace has captured here why we don’t like grace. It’s indiscriminate. Everybody gets it, it has nothing to do with us, and we can do nothing to contribute to it.

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How to keep from being ineffective

Posted on April 19, 2021 by jwfisch

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His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3

This was part of our study last night in our online church and it’s been rattling around in my brain ever since. What’s most striking about this statement is its finality. Its certainty. This isn’t a possibility, an exception; it’s not conditional, i.e., “If you do this, I’ll do that”; there are no qualifications. No ifs, ands or buts. Through the knowledge of Christ, we have “everything pertaining to life and godliness.” Any questions? Is there anything more?

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Hugging is back

Posted on April 16, 2021 by jwfisch

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When Chandler and I visited Anne Marie Ritchie last summer in Idaho, we held our arms open to each other six feet apart and said, “Hug, hug.” It was terrible. With Anne Marie’s French heritage, there should have been not only hugs, but kisses to each cheek. You know how that goes. By the time our two-hour visit was over, however, caution was thrown to the wind and we all hugged. Couldn’t help it.

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Declaration of a Marketplace Christian (Part 2)

Posted on April 15, 2021 by jwfisch

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This declaration is so central to all that we believe and represent here at the Catch that it is a permanent document always accessible at our website, http://www.catchjohnfischer.com. However, I have found it necessary to review it often as it is prophetic and remains true to how we interact with the culture around us. Therefore I bring up Part 2 today as a Catch so that you, as fellow disciples of Christ, will review it, too, and see how we are doing. I also look forward to your comments as to how these declarations relate to your experience in the world today or any changes you might recommend. (Thanks to John Fagliano for a good suggestion for improving Part 1.)

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Declaration of a Marketplace Christian (Part 1)

Posted on April 14, 2021 by jwfisch

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This declaration is so central to all that we believe and represent here at the Catch that it is a permanent document always accessible here at our website. However, I have found it necessary to review it often as it is prophetic and remains true to how we interact with the culture around us. Therefore I bring it up today as a Catch so that you, as fellow disciples of Christ, will review it, too, and see how you are doing. I also look forward to your comments as to how these declarations relate, or don’t relate, to your experience in the world today. 

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Posted in discipleship, grace turned outward, Marketplace Christian, Worldview | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Courageous Heart

Posted on April 13, 2021 by jwfisch

One light fixed in the darkness

One heart calling me to give mine

                 – from the song, “Courageous Heart” by Dan Cunningham

Susan Burton’s whole life is an illustration of Grace Turned Outward, but on a big scale. After circling back into prison six times because she had no idea or opportunity for any other life, by grace alone, God brought her out of that toxic environment to where resources were available for her to change. She not only received those opportunities and acted on them, she turned around and immediately set upon a course to make those same resources available to other women coming out of prison like her with nowhere to go. In fact most of her first guests were her friends from prison. Now her organization, A New Way of Life (ANWOL), has transitioned over 1,200 women out of the prison system through 10 homes in the Los Angeles area, and into jobs and contributing roles in society. These are surely not criminals; they are simply women who never had a chance. Give them a chance, and look out!

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The Advocate

Posted on April 12, 2021 by jwfisch

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Angela walked off the Greyhound bus in downtown Los Angeles near skid row with a paper sack of belongings and $200 minus her bus fare that got her there from prison. She was dusty and scared, with nowhere to go and no hope of changing the circumstances that put her in prison in the first place. Everyone she passed on the street knew she had just gotten out of prison, and she tried to avoid their eyes because she knew there were any number of drug dealers and sex traffickers among them ready to relieve her of her $200 in exchange for some kind of coping mechanism or security. Angela was about to become another statistic — another of the majority who come out of the criminal system only to be ushered back in in less than a year.

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Come together

Posted on April 9, 2021 by jwfisch

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It’s a silly, nonsensical Beatles song (even George Harrison admitted that), but its most memorable line is the word for the church in 2021: “Come together, right now, over me,” if by that we mean: Come together over Jesus.

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Fearless Faith

Posted on April 8, 2021 by jwfisch

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In this season it is good to keep a close eye on our emotions.

There are two that are especially prevalent, and seem to grow as political activity increases, and signs of the times seem to indicate, more than ever before, that we could be in the last days. Neither of these emotions should be found as a motivator for a follower of Jesus Christ and yet they are everywhere. I am speaking of the emotions of fear and anger.

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Coloring eggs

Posted on April 7, 2021 by jwfisch

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My wife got upset with me yesterday because, in my eagerness to keep Easter going, I came home from the grocery store with a dozen hard-boiled, colored eggs. Now admittedly, eggs and bunnies and little chicken peeps are not what I’m talking about when I’m talking about keeping Easter going, but they are a part of the secular side of this holiday, and I thought perhaps having some of that stuff around might remind us of the spiritual significance of Easter week that we want to remember at all times (see yesterday’s Catch).

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