Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Talk with the Preacher

Home
Progressive Christian
The Rules of Improv: Change, Change, Change!

The Rules of Improv: Change, Change, Change!

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 8:30 pm by Amy Butler

The Rules of Improv: Change, Change, Change! 2015-10-14T20:30:18-04:00 Amy Butler

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Rules of Improv: Change, Change, Change!

Mark 1:29-39

I’d like to begin today with a rather unusual approach to examining the text.

Look down your pew…these are the people with whom you will now commence to tell a story, in full, from start to finish. I’ll begin, then the person on the furthest left (my right) of your pew should continue, all the way down the pew until the final person finishes the story. If you’re sitting in a pew by yourself, then hop on over to another pew or join another group, otherwise you’ll miss the point.

I know this is not your typical church experience, so before we try it I am going to ask the choir to demonstrate. And so, we begin: “It was a dark and stormy night…”

Okay, now you. “So far the day had been fairly noneventful. Suddenly, from around the bend ahead…”

I have to say, you never know what people are going to come up with. What are some of the contributions folks made to your stories, contributions that threw you for a loop?

If you try to imagine being up on a stage and playing a part in a skit in front of an audience, a skit in which you are required to respond on the spot to whatever your fellow actors throw your way, well then you will have a little bit of a sense of how it feels to do improvisational comedy. Whether or not a scene will progress to its next iteration or fall completely flat is the question that hangs in the balance, and the tension of that uncertainty is what makes improv so much fun to watch when it’s done well.

The improvisational scene is utterly and totally dependent on the actors’ willingness to take whatever curve ball is thrown their way—anything—and add to it, to move the plot along. Folks who do improv professionally know this strategy as “yes, and…,” the strategy that underpins any improv situation…

…or any life as Christian community….

Just like actors in an improvisational comedic scene, we’ve got to take whatever comes our way and add to it if we want our life together as followers of Jesus to be filled with all the possibility and promise the Gospel offers for our lives.

This was certainly a challenge for folks who were beginning to get word of a carpenter fromNazarethwho was stirring things up aroundGalilee. Change, constant change, was the order of the day for sure right here in the first chapter Gospel of Mark. Here Jesus has inaugurated his ministry officially…things are about to change.

Everything changed when Jesus jumped into theJordan Riverto be baptized by John. The strangest and most unbelievable thing happened,…a dove descended from heaven and a voice announced that Jesus was God’s son. It was a change from the normal order of business, for sure.

And then Jesus went away for 40 days and nights into the wilderness, where he had an epic battle with temptation. I could be wrong, but I would expect that a struggle between good and evil may have been something of a change from his life as a carpenter inNazareth.

Next Jesus goes searching for disciples and the disciples he invites to join him change everything. The text says they set their nets down and follow him, not knowing anything about where their path would lead or what was in store for them all. Everything changed for them that day they signed on as Jesus’ followers. Everything changed for them and for all the people they knew and loved. A total change in profession? A radical, instantaneous shift in the course of your life? It was change of the highest order, a turn of events they didn’t even see coming that morning when they woke up.

And in today’s passage the change intensifies even more. Jesus starts healing people. Healing them. At first the people who started changing were the folks on the fringe, on the edge, the ones about whom nobody really knew quite what was wrong, much less how to go about helping them.

But today the change comes home, into the living room of Simon Peter, one of Jesus’ new disciple recruits. Apparently Jesus and the newly formed band of disciples were using Peter’s house for strategy meetings. That day when they went to his house, Peter’s mother in law, who lived with his family and thus contributed to the work of the household, had fallen ill with a fever.

This all sounds very benign to our 21st Century ears, but it was no laughing matter back in Jesus’ day. To say that Peter’s mother in law had taken ill with a fever not only meant the normal routines of the house were jeopardized, it also was cause for deep worry. In the ancient world, falling ill with a fever was very often the indicator of a fatal condition.

But Jesus came in, the text says, and took her by the hand. He raised her up and healed her, instantly, and, you guessed it… the whole family was thrown into utter and disturbing change. From worry to relief in one minute? Unexpected change.

And the change continued as people all over the Galilean region started hearing about the healing, about the change. They wanted it too—who wouldn’t? From all over the city they came, streaming in from every quarter, hoping desperately for healing.

But healing is change, especially for the infirm who struggled to make their way in a society that required the contributions of all its members. They wanted to be healed, but did they know that healing was change? Big, huge change? That once a situation they had come to know changed, nothing would ever be the same again.

Scientists tell us that our brains do not like change.

Surprise.

Certain neuropathways are formed through repeated experience, and they become like well-paved super highways in our brains. Because of this, we experience a physical resistance to change. Why?

Change is inefficient. We have already adjusted to a situation the way it is, and we know how to live and function with things the way they are, thank you very much. To change would require the development and perfection of completely new systems and strategies for getting things done. In other words, why would you take unpaved back roads when the superhighway is right there?

And change can be risky. When things change we are vulnerable to whatever may come, situations that we are ill equipped, often, to handle…situations in which we will have to quickly adjust. There’s fear in that. Change is never, ever comfortable, in other words, and we’re naturally wired to resist it at every turn, as much as we can.

But here we are, not even at the end of the very first chapter in Mark’s Gospel, and Jesus has blown throughGalileewith nothing BUT change. He’d come to turn things on their heads; this was radical, staccato change, one thing right after another, teaching a Gospel that had its foundations in the rule that the only thing that’s static is…you guessed it: change.

And here is exactly where the rules of improv and the call to Gospel community intersect today. Because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a Gospel all about change…transformation.

This means, that if we are serious about living in Gospel community, we will never be able to predict where God’s Spirit will lead us next.

This means, that if we are serious about living in Gospel community, we will constantly be confronted with the opportunity to say yes to things that are different and new, to move the scene on to its next expression…or to say no in an effort to keep things as they are.

This means, that if we are serious about living in Gospel community, we will often feel unsettled, we will often feel the compulsion to put things back to the way they have always been, the fear of what may be ahead.

This means, that if we are serious about living in Gospel community, embracing change will be the key to moving our community toward whatever is next in God’s ongoing transformation of the world and of each of our lives.

As we read the story of Jesus, who walked this earth bringing change and challenge along with his message of redemption and peace with God, we understand from our own individual perspectives how very hard change can be…accepting it, living through it, embracing a future that is new and unknown.

If it’s hard for each of us individually, well, then, imagine how it is for a whole community. Like the neuropathways in our brains, our community has come to know certain patterns, to expect certain experiences, to understand God in certain ways.

But today’s rule of improv reminds us that this one we follow is never static. He is always bringing change and opportunity, always ushering in the unexpected possibilities of the Spirit of God right here in our midst, leading us over and over again to places we never before imagined.

For this one who offers us change and possibility, we give thanks, as we wait with expectation for whatever it is we will find up around the bend.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

February 2, 2012

Poetry Corner

Next Post

February 13, 2012 The Rules of Improv: Characters and Relationships

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Answering the Call Being the Church Curating Wisdom Laughing Out Loud Living in Relationship Practicing Discipleship Reclaiming Baptist Speaking from the Pulpit Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005

Search for:

The Rules of Improv: Change, Change, Change!

The Rules of Improv: Change, Change, Change!

Mark 1:29-39

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories

Meta

I will come like a thief in the night when people say 'peace and safety.' Sudden destruction will come. What am I?