How I improvised a new life when everything fell apart.

 

As I begin the prayerful discernment phase of writing another book, I thought I should go back and introduce you to my book that was published in 2005. "A Labyrinth Year: Walking the Seasons of the Church" was written during a liminal time in my life. My blog at that time was titled "Wilderness Thoughts." In 2003 I came out and got a divorce. My bishop at the time instructed me to resign from my parish and take some time working a "secular" job. I wasn't inhibited because I hadn't broken any church laws or policies, but it was clear I was not welcome in the Diocese. 

With twenty years experience in church leadership, I found it difficult to find a job. I ended up working as a barista at Starbuck's for $7.25/hr. My apartment in Denver was a garden-level studio for $425/month. I lost my leased car provided by my former parish, so my mother gave me her old minivan. Luckily I was able to keep my relationship with my children, although we didn't see each other very often. My thought was, what do I do now?

The first thing I did was look for those things that brought me joy before I became a priest. I was active in theater in high school and college, so that is where I began. I looked up acting schools and came across Front Range Acting Studio and signed up for my first class. It was transformative. The time I spent there was more valuable than the years of counseling I had undergone. I made great friends and learned more about myself than I had thought possible.

Now that I was enrolled in acting classes, I started going out on auditions. My most memorable audition was at The Bug Theatre. They were putting on an improv show for kids called Bug Juice! It was directed by a local actress, playwright, comedian, and improv coach by the name of Edith Weiss. Improv was not totally new for I had taken improv classes around 1999 with several other clergy at Chicken Lips Theater under the direction of Bob Wells. I was cast in the show and subsequently invited into Edith's weekly workshop. I was involved with the workshop till she retired the class in 2007. This truly was the best time of my life. Members of that workshop are still my closest friends. 

This brings me to "A Labyrinth Year." While working at Starbucks, going to acting class, improv workshops, and auditions, I took an Advent series based on the use of a labyrinth I wrote for my previous parish and decided to expand it to a full year's worth of meditations. I submitted the initial series along with a prospectus to Morehouse Publishing, and to my surprise, they bought it. They commissioned me to finish the book in 2004 and in 2005 it was published. 

The basis of the book is all about transformation and journey. I took biblical stories and wrote from the perspective of the central character. Each character was on a journey (symbolized in the labyrinth) and on that journey they encountered God. This epiphany transformed them in some way. The second half of the meditation was their journey back into the world after having been touched by the Holy. This is basically my story of transformation. My life came crashing down and in that process I went on a spiritual and emotional journey. The people I encountered along the way touched me and changed me. I believe truly they were God sends.

As I look back now, I see how I improvised a new life. I couldn't get a new career so I improvised and worked at Starbucks. I said Yes, And when I remembered I like to act. Yes, I can act AND I can begin now even at age 50. Take what life gives you and then build on it to make it better. That IS Improv!

You can purchase my book at Morehouse Publishing https://churchpublishing.org/products/9780819221575-a-labyrinth-year