As the Savior departs, and his people await the promised arrival of the Spirit, this newly empowered community faces its first big decision “on their own”. How they handle it is a peculiar and perhaps liberating glimpse into the improvisational nature of our call to faithful engagement within the complexities of the spaces we inhabit. (Sermon begins at 1:00)

Scripture & Quotations

Acts 1:1-26

“Blocking undermines the other. It refuses to share space and time. It denies outcomes from which all can benefit. It assumes rivalry and enacts conflict in which there cannot be two winners, and most often all are losers. It is at least subtly, and sometimes overtly, aggressive. It presumes violence.”

“Accepting offers builds community by acknowledging, encouraging, and accommodating the other. It recognizes the dependence of all parties concerned upon one another. It requires the sharing of space and implies a conversation about how to go on doing so.  It shares time and assumes only the kind of outcomes that can benefit the other.”

Samuel Wells, Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics