Immerse Blog
Still Going Deeper With Sarah Arthur’s: Daring to Improvise
by Kate Obermueller on October 10th, 2011 -- filed under Story
Until about three weeks ago, I was a stranger to comedy radio. Now I drive down the road in hysterics as I listen to 30–60-second bits of a given comedian’s best improv. People probably think something is wrong with me because I’m often still laughing when I get out of the car. So when I saw the title of Sarah Arthur’s latest article, “Daring to Improvise,” I was expecting something funny; a lighthearted and entertaining article about having to create things on the spot during chaotic youth group meetings or fumbling for words while discussing the awkwardness of teenage life. Instead I was met with a much deeper argument for a solid theological concept that gave me joy and made my insides shout, Yes! This is how the body of Christ is supposed to act! Arthur’s examples of communities that dared to improvise gave me hope that there are places in this world where perhaps even God thinks, This is how it’s supposed to be.
The beauty of Arthur’s article is that the art of improvisation as a theological idea is not new. What she’s getting at, I think, is a solid practice of Christian faith that is evidenced in her stories of congregational life, with examples of both success and failure in the process. With a spin that is both fresh and refreshing, what Arthur describes as the art of improv is actually the work of relying on the energetic movement of the Holy Spirit to create new paths through…
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