A wider view

John 17: 20-26
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
May 29, 2022

Photo of the Earth's moon with Saturn just in sight behind it.

Over the past few months, I was enrolled in an improv therapy group for clergy. I was introduced to a variety of improv games and warm-up exercises like Five Things, Pocket Lines, and That’s Right, Bob. We talked about the importance of play and joy, empathy and grief, mindfulness, trust and vulnerability, the freedom to fail, and navigating change.



We learned about the guiding principles of improv, the foundation of which is presume goodwill. The first principle is, I’ve got your back. Improv is about mutual support and trust. No matter what happens, no matter what is needed, we have each other’s backs. Two, there are no mistakes, no judgment, only opportunities to give and receive. Three, the basic understanding of all improv is “yes, and”. When our improv partner makes a statement, we respond with “yes” and then add something of our own. Think of those times when you made a suggestion and your partner, your parent, your friend responded with “No” or “Yes, but”. How connected did you feel in that moment? The purpose of improv is to create connection points which in turn create safety, trust, and belonging.



Improv as comedy came out of Chicago and Second City, the first improv comedy troupe founded by Paul Sills in 1959. But he learned about improv from his mother, Viola Spolin, who was a drama supervisor for a recreational program for the Works Progress Administration at Hull House. As part of her work with children and recent immigrants, Viola invented theatre games as way of bridging differences in culture and language. Traditional theatre directions didn’t work with children and people who spoke little to no English. So Viola would invent a theatre game in the moment to communicate the acting technique she was trying to teach. She then found that these theatre games helped people be creative and free, learn how to cooperate and form meaningful connections, regardless of gender, age, ability, or background. Viola called them transformational.

Tweet by Nadia Bolz-Weber, quoting Cheryl Lawrie: "We're people who've heard a rumor that there's life to be found on the other side of death & just the rumor is enough to bring us hope & just the hope is enough to bring us a moment of life & even though it is only a flicker, a moment, a breath, it's changed our death forever."

So why talk about improv today, when we’re still reeling from multiple mass shootings and the ensuing fallout, not to mention the attendant grief and trauma that arises from these events? First, talking about how angry and sad we are about recent traumatic events can retraumatize some folx. It’s like reliving it again. Sometimes we need to take a break from those angsty feelings that can leave us powerless and minister to our hearts and minds. Also, as I said in the announcements, I’d like to introduce an improv exercise in worship next week, one that will be played by people worshiping on Zoom with people worshiping here in the building. But more importantly, improv helps to form meaningful connections, which in turn create safety, trust, and belonging. And we could all use some safety, trust, and belonging right now.



Now perhaps you’re thinking, “improv is the last thing that will help me feel safe. Isn’t it like moving across a high wire without a net?” Improv has been likened to being up in the air and then you build the plane or jumping off a cliff and figuring it out on the way down. But it’s not like that at all. Here’s comedian and actor Keegan-Michael Key with the perfect metaphor to describe improv.

Improv by its nature is designed to give us a wider view. Sometimes we can be so focused, our attention so overwhelmed, that we miss things. Things that can help heal us. People and relationships. Beauty and humor. Expressing our joy and our sorrow. Improv doesn’t have to be funny. It can be lament or grief or complaint. It just needs to be authentic. It just needs come from us. If anything, improv is about listening and paying attention to another person with openness. Author and physician Rachel Naomi Remen wrote, “Our listening creates sanctuary for the homeless parts within another person.”



As Jesus is praying for his disciples, he knows they are listening as though he is speaking directly to them. And in his prayer it is as though he is listening to their hearts, their fears, their deep need for reassurance that this amazing love and connection will live on. He gives them a wider view of what is to come. But it’s not about moving forward. It’s about listening to the last things he says. “That they all may be one.” “The love with which you have loved me will be in them and I in them.” “Forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” “Feed my sheep”. “I will be with you always even to the end of the age.”

Artistic rendering of a city in red, orange, yellow, and green, with a gold circle of light emanating from a doorway through which people are entering.  In the foreground are the words "May they all be one" with blue water flowing below them.

Today is Ascension Sunday, when we remember, ponder, imagine what it means that Jesus did not ascend up and out but moved wider and deeper into what it means to be human. What it means for all creation to be infused with divinity and power shared equally. The ascension is Jesus’ “Yes, and” to us and to all of creation. Yes to oneness, to wholeness. Yes to life that leads to wholeness. Yes to those whom the world marginalizes. Yes to healing in the midst of grief. Yes to love, to justice, to peace, yes to the work and witness that leads to these. Yes, and how will we respond? As we move wider and deeper into what it means to be human, as we widen, expand our view that they all may be one, who must we love better? Who are the ones suffering just beyond our notice? Who needs our “yes and” most of all?




Benediction



May the God who is still creating
Find in you
A joyful
A sorrowful
An honest ‘yes and’
That some part of whatever wholeness that is to come
May be made known through you
That someone would gain a wider view
From listening to the last thing you said