Excerpt from Luke 6:9- 11

"Then Jesus said to [the Pharisees], 'I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?' After looking around at all of them, he said to [the man with the withered hand], 'Stretch out your hand.' He did so, and his hand was restored."

Donna Schaper

Improvisation is when you don't have enough information to do anything but just take the next step.  Actors say the secret to improvisation is to go only as far as you have to and not a step or second more.  They also argue that it is a great idea to make your partner look good when you speak.  That keeps the story moving. Jazz musicians say the same thing. What did you play?  "Oh, just something that the first chord told the second chord to say."

To theologically improvise requires keeping the conversation close and moving.  It also involves a concrete choice of partners, among a sea of partners.  The powerful will always present themselves as snarkily in charge.  The withered will also always know the danger they are in.  Theological improvisation involves looking straight towards the withered and ignoring the people who are playing games with the rules or the theology.

Improvisation is the art of the short-term. Improvisation is when you go with the withered who are in front of you—and decide to make them look good or feel good or at least not suffer any more or any longer.  Good improvisation chooses who it will listen to—and takes the next step.

Prayer

Jesus, you knew how to take the next step and let the rest go by.  Help us to do the same. Send us to the unlikely partners as our source of life.  Make sure we know who it is we listen to.  Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press. Check out her work at www.judson.org.

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