guerrilla improv

Sometimes I miss the creativity of pastoring.  Coming up with a fun, new way to teach a familiar topic, putting together a worship service with fresh, unexpected elements, teaching a children's baptismal class with active learning or starting small group with a crazy icebreaker.


I was thinking about this last night as the pager went off and I trudged out to the great unknown to answer the call.  What would I find when I walked into room 252?  One person or 20?  Hysteria or depression?  Would I be viewed as the grim reaper or the blessed hope?  I would soon find out and improvise my response to any possibility.


The visit went well.  As I was walking back it hit me - How much more creativity do you want?
The most creative people in the world - like actors at Second City,  The Groundlings and TV's Whose Line Is It Anyway, do improv regularly to stay sharp and fresh by "ad libing and on the spot acting from scripts which contain a minimal outline of each scene and no predetermined knowledge about the props that might be useful in a scene."  Sounds like part of a chaplain's job description.


So flex your creative muscle.  Quick improv.  Respond to these scenarios:
*You walk into a consult room and an older woman screams "No, no, no, if you are here, he must be dead."
*In the middle of a conversation a mom says "my son was paralyzed in this car accident, my husband just left us, I have inoperable cancer.....but I guess God knows best!"
*you get paged to Neuro ICU and then are asked to get 20 grieving family members to leave their loved one's bed side and go sit in the waiting room.
*A man on 4H sits in bed with tubes in his chest.  After you introduce yourself, he says "I don't believe in God.  Faith is ridiculous."


You still with us?  Flow creativity flow!


Do not be frightened.  But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.  1 Peter 3:14 and 15