Improvisational Christianity

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 The Christian Church has been improvising since it's beginning. There was no plan. Jesus didn't leave a 12-point manifesto for establishing a church. In fact, he didn't come to establish a church at all. He came to show God's love and to point out how the Israelites got off track. He didn't bring an organization, but a way of life. People who say they don't like organized religion should love Jesus. He improvised as we went along.

For example, his parables. He taught basic truths, not from a curriculum, but from engaging with the world around him. A good improviser does the same thing. There is no script, just a basic idea that riff on the material at hand. Jesus is talking to an agricultural community about the Kingdom of God, so he looks around and sees vineyards and wheat fields.  You know, he says, the kingdom of God is like a man who planted seeds. Or it's like a vine surrounded by weeds. He was improvising. 

For this Sunday's lesson, the Sixth Sunday of Easter, we have the story of Paul in Athens. Paul's goal is to tell the gentiles about a loving God. He looks around for a way to connect to them and then he see's it, a temple dedicated to "an unknown God." Perfect, he says to himself. So he improvises, "I see that you Athenians believe in a god out there that is not your usual Olympian God. Well, as it happens, I know that God and he doesn't live in temples and shrines, he lives in your heart." 


Christianity has improvised for centuries. When Bishops and Missionaries went into the dark north land of England and Scotland to tell the about this Jesus who is the light of the world, they looked around to see how they could connect to this different culture. They noticed the Winter solstice was an important religious time for the locals. They used the solstice celebration to acknowledge the passing of darkness and the arrival of light. It's dark now, but the sun is coming. Another chance to improvise, the sun that brings light to the world, which you already celebrate, is actually the SON of God who brings light into the world. That is manifest in the story of the nativity. Now most scholars believe that Jesus was actually born closer to April than in December. But this bit of improvisation made for a better story, and one that stuck throughout the centuries. 

Let me clarify, Improv is not about making things up. Even in comedy people think its about making things up to create a funny skit. The true basis of Improv is to take something that is true and use whatever you have at hand to tell a story. It's all about reaching your audience and making a connection. If you can't connect with the other, how can you reach out to them with the Good News?

This is still important today. We have the "spiritual but not religious" and an entire generation who grew up never going to church. We can't convince them of God's love by simply quoting Bible verses. To them, the Bible has no authority. We have to meet them where they are and love them as they are. Here's a brief story of how I reached out to an unchurched group of people. 

I had left parish ministry and was working at Starbucks. Most of my co-workers were college students. They new I was a priest and they knew I left parish ministry because I came out. One day I mentioned Noah's Ark in a conversation. I was astonished that none of them knew the story. I thought everybody knew about Noah, the ark and the flood! That made me realize we have a whole generation of unchurch people who have never heard the Gospel. The only thing they know about Christians is that they are judgmental and often hateful. As I got to know them and become part of the group ( I was 50 and they were all in their 20:s) they would say to me, "I can't believe you're a priest!" They didn't say it in a harsh or judgmental way, they actually were amazed that a Christian could be fun and talk about real things and not judge them or tell them they were sinners. I had to learn to let go of my old formula for outreach and improvise with people several generations younger than myself. 

For the church to survive, it needs to improvise. Like Paul, it needs to be all things to all people. It needs to get to know its audience, adapt and pivot and do a little improv if it wants to open peoples ears, minds, and hearts. 

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