Midweek Musings: Yes And... Jesus would have been pretty good at improv

May 11, 2022

By Jo Wiersema

Midweek Musings is a weekly Covenant blog with a variety of authors and a variety of topics.

I spent a good portion of my time in the “pre-pandemic” era doing improv. If you’ve read any SNL cast memoirs (Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, etc),

or watched Who’s Line is it Anyway,

or generally had any exposure to improv, you know there is one rule:

The idea is that no matter what is thrown at you in a skit, you accept that as your reality and take it one step further.

When you’re first starting off, it’s hard to agree to the world someone else is setting up. Maybe the person performing with you says outlandish things? Maybe the rules of the world don’t line up with what you’re used to? Maybe it’s just hard to let go and accept what the rules of the road are.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Our job as Christians is to “yes, and” the bananas out of being a loving person.

We might look to the overarching church in America, to your family and friends, and see lines being drawn in the sand. This is the true church; the true church believes in THIS. You can fill in the “THIS”, as I imagine you have a thing or two coming to mind. But the Christian life we are called to lead is one that erases lines. The lines that we might want to put in the sand, to separate us from them is not one of love. It’s so much easier to reply with “yes, but” or “yes, if”. There are many days I’d much prefer to take love and qualify that love. I love being right and it’s so hard to realize there is no other way to be right than to lead with love.

It's a heck of a week to be a queer woman in America. It feels like it would be easier to look at the lines being drawn and say, “you stay on your side, and I’ll stay on mine”. I’m not saying I have answers to every problem (or any problem) in the book, but I’m saying Christ calls us to “Yes, and” in love.

nakedpastor.com

We are not to roll over and let the world pass us by as we drink our iced coffees and say, “what a darn shame”. We are called to look at the world and say "where’s love in this?", "where can I offer love?", and maybe, just maybe, "is there a table I should be flipping?".

Christ took the tenants of the Hebrew Bible and looked at how they were meant to be applied. We should take rest on the Sabbath, but that doesn’t mean we allow others to suffer while we take rest (John 5:1-19). So, we are thus empowered evaluate the intentionality of our mission as Christians, and live that out through continuing to “yes, and”.

How can you speak out in love? How can you erase lines in love? And most importantly, how can you live out your life in love?

Blessings on Blessings as you move forth in love,

Jo