"Improvised Jumping"
John 21:1-7
Yonce Shelton, Westmoreland UCC
May 4, 2025
Easter changes everything. It helps us notice differently. It is an invitation to step in new ways.
Easter is the perfect time to share what I seek to do everytime I stand up here. Each time I lead a service I hope to: 1) honor what is going on in this community; 2) be aware of context; 3) weave together scripture, life, and who I think you are to help you experience something (preferably spiritually or emotionally); in order to 4) empower you to trust, risk, and grow.
I trust how the Holy Spirit moves in that. I pray we are open enough to dance with it. Or, maybe better put, to swim in it. Remember, the Holy Spirit is that divine power that enlightens, empowers, makes things clear in ways we can’t know intellectually, and connects us with God and opportunity in key moments. You might prefer synchronicity, serendipity, providence, deja vu, or coincidence! Regardless, one of the best ways to empower the Holy Spirit is to engage with the moment and others in spontaneous ways. This Easter season, I want to see how we can follow nudgings and not hold back. I want us to improvise.
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The book “Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus” offers a way of understanding church community that is not centered on efficiency, outcomes, structures, and predictability - but on creativity, conversation, patience, and location. It asks us to consider, that in the drama of creation, “God and humanity are alternatively actor and audience; that life is human-divine interactive theatre, and theology involves both what God has said and done for the world and what we must say and do in grateful response.”
The authors remind us that there is more than one way to act. In addition to using a script, there is improvisation, which is based on the spontaneous interactions between players. In improvisation, “There are no mistakes, only opportunities.” They believe scripture is like improv. It provides a basic plotline, then gives churches freedom and opportunity. Improv church is a “practice through which actors develop trust in themselves and one another in order that they may conduct unscripted dramas without fear” … “It is within the community of God - a community of trust - that we learn to live into the looming unknown of the future” (Sam Wells).
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To be in tune with the Holy Spirit requires improvisation. A willingness to be different. In today’s reading, Simon Peter was different. He improvised.
We find the disciples going about their usual practice of fishing, probably in the usual way. “They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.” Then Jesus from the shore says to them - and remember, they didn’t know it was him - “Children, you have no fish, have you?” Then he offers a different way: “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” Then many fish appeared. When Simon Peter realized it was Jesus, he “jumped into the sea.”
Hey kids, come on up with your floaties and such. Will you jump with me? Find the step height that feels right. Parents, I need some catchers just in case. OK, now picture Jesus - your friend who you thought was dead - walking into the sanctuary. Oh wait, there he is! Let's jump and swim to him!
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Simon Peter improvised. He wasted no time acting on what was set off in him when he realized it was Jesus. Maybe it was risky. Maybe he actually couldn't swim! Even if he could swim, it was an unscripted response to the power of Jesus.
My desire is that we - that you - experience and be empowered. I never really have a plan for that when leading a service - it's mostly up to you and God. But I believe that being in touch with the Holy Spirit can help you trust and jump at key times. You’ll know how to swim, learn fast, or others will help.
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Now, I need you to improvise; to go with the flow; to react to something you have heard or felt. Remember: no right or wrong, only opportunity. So, what has happened to you today? Or this Easter? What have you noticed? What's strangely compelling and worth pursuing? Any jumping to be done?
[TIME OF IMPROVISED SHARING]
May we continue to let awareness and nudgings help us improvise, swim, and dance with God and each other.
Amen.
