{"id":1904,"date":"2025-06-06T14:46:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T14:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urc.org.uk\/?p=59226"},"modified":"2025-06-06T14:46:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T14:46:08","slug":"reflection-on-john-21-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/standrewsurcrustington.org.uk\/?p=1904","title":{"rendered":"Reflection on John 2:1-11"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There\u2019s a game that\u2019s used to teach young actors something fundamental about acting. It\u2019s so well-known it\u2019s become a trope \u2013 it\u2019s even taught in leadership training. It\u2019s called \u2018Yes And\u2026\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The idea behind the game is that you get into twos, you propose an idea, it can be something simple: \u2018Let\u2019s ski down the Alps\u2026\u2019 and your partner yes \u2018Yes and then we can\u2026\u2019 and then says the first thing that comes into their head. No planning, no filter. It can be anything as long as it is the first thing that has come into their head. Each time an action is described: \u2018Let\u2019s ski down the Alps\u2019 the two partners also act out the action physically with full commitment. The longer you play the game, the weirder and more wonderfully outrageous the ideas become. If you do this with the group, the room gets loud and very busy very quickly.<\/p>\n

When you run this exercise with a new group, what usually happens is they try to think their way through the exercise. To intellectualise themselves out of the problem to save face. They make every effort to come up with the cleverest idea. They plan in the minutest detail\u2026<\/p>\n

If ever there was a sentence that signals the death knell of an improvisation in Drama it\u2019s, \u201cI know, you say [this] and I\u2019ll say [that] \u2013 it\u2019ll be great!\u201d It\u2019s never great. It\u2019s stilted, usually a bit banal and ultimately the absolute antithesis of creativity and originality. Crucially it demonstrates that the participant hasn\u2019t understood the point of the game.<\/p>\n

The point of \u201cYes And\u2026\u201d isn\u2019t to consciously create a brilliant idea. It\u2019s not to be funny or clever. It\u2019s not to be the coolest person in the room. It\u2019s not to avoid embarrassment or humiliation. The point of \u201c Yes And\u2026\u201d is to learn how to accept the offer given to you and to use that offer to launch yourself into\u2026 well\u2026 the unknown\u2026 To learn to trust that the idea will come, despite the interference of the intellect. And in doing so, to create a brilliant idea.<\/p>\n

One of the most misunderstood elements of the creative process is its beginning. It\u2019s assumed that artists sit around their studio \u2013 or walk, or pace moodily \u2013 planning and generating ideas, thinking their way through. And that there\u2019s a trick to it that you can learn and improve so that, once you\u2019ve been an artist for a long time, you can go in and CREATE. Nothing could be further from the truth.<\/p>\n

Sure, if you want to paint an orange, well, have at it. The orange is there, away you go, but really that\u2019s a technical exercise. Your orange may be wonderfully different from everyone else\u2019s but still life isn\u2019t a new idea. Nor is painting the still life of an orange. It\u2019s a reinterpretation of an old one. No problem with that \u2013 it\u2019s just not what I\u2019m talking about here.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes And\u2026\u201d for an actor, then, is the equivalent of a blank page for a writer. Terrifying! As soon as you introduce this exercise to a group not familiar with it, the levels of anxiety go through the roof. How will I know what to say? What will everyone think of me? What if my idea is rubbish? What if I die? For clarification, dying onstage is to do something embarrassingly badly \u2013 we don\u2019t actually sacrifice them. It\u2019s that tumbleweed moment that sees the performer left vulnerable and exposed in front of an audience. It\u2019s the theatrical equivalent of the nightmare where you dream you\u2019ve woken up on a platform, not knowing why you\u2019re there, then realising you\u2019re in charge of leading worship and you\u2019ve forgotten your trousers\u2026who says actors are dramatic!<\/p>\n

So, how do you avoid this death by humiliation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The solution is easy, actually. You commit to the physical action utterly and completely in the moment, trusting that the answer will come. And it does. Every time. Bigger, better, weirder, more original than it could ever have been if you\u2019d planned it. It forces you to think outside your usual patterns. It forces you to come up with something completely new and never previously imagined. It forces you to create\u2026<\/p>\n

Because that\u2019s the thing often misunderstood about creativity. It\u2019s finger-nail chewing, anxiety-inducing, scream at a noise in the dark in a haunted house at Halloween terrifying! So you do plan. But when you plan, you don\u2019t plan for the inspiration, the artefact, the concept for the painting, the idea for the play script, the sculpture, rather you try to create the perfect environment then you open yourself up, and wait. And in doing so, you are trusting that something, as yet unknowable, will appear.<\/p>\n

If it doesn\u2019t\u2026well, now you know why we\u2019re all so darn temperamental!<\/strong><\/p>\n

So an experienced artist is not so much practised at consciously coming up with ideas. Instead they are well-practised at living with ambiguity, uncertainty, with not knowing. With experience, they learn to control their response to anxiety. They don\u2019t lose the fear, but they learn to manage it so that it doesn\u2019t interfere with their process. They learn to walk off the cliff trusting that something, anything, will catch them on the way down. And, if it doesn\u2019t, then everything gets smashed and destroyed when it hits the ground. And they rise and start again. From scratch. From somewhere new.<\/p>\n

So, my question for you to ponder this fine morning is: do you believe in resurrection? Do you trust the process?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I could talk about our scripture reading this morning in terms of this being Christ\u2019s first miracle. We could debate whether we believe it happened as described here. I could talk about it as being the moment Jesus reveals himself to his disciples or it representing the fulfilment of the passage from Amos we heard on Monday\u2026<\/p>\n

But I think it\u2019s simpler than that. Mundane even. This story is about a son having a good time with his mates at a wedding until his Mum comes in and tells him its time for him to get to work. Jesus replies: \u201cMy hour has not yet come!\u201d Jesus knows that taking this step \u2013 performing this miracle \u2013 will force him to step off the cliff, to begin a process he can\u2019t come back from\u2026<\/p>\n

You can almost picture Mary rolling her eyes as, ignoring him, she turns to the servants and instructs them to do what Jesus tells them to do. She knows Jesus is comfortable, enjoying the company of his friends, doing the busy-work, maybe, but not quite fully committing to the process. Yet. So she gives him a nudge.<\/p>\n

And when God gives us a nudge, the \u201cYes and\u2026\u201d well that\u2019s our job. Because, when we\u2019re nudged, our task is to jump into the playing area with both feet, fully committed, with an open heart and a sense of joy, secure in the knowledge that we are loved and cared for, that God has a plan and that the time is right because he says it is.<\/p>\n

Anything after \u201cYes and\u2026\u201d well that\u2019s God\u2019s bit and it\u2019s bound to be better than anything we could come up with!<\/p>\n

(image courtesy of freechristimages.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a game that\u2019s used to teach young actors something fundamental about acting. It\u2019s so well-known it\u2019s become a trope \u2013 it\u2019s even taught in leadership training. It\u2019s called \u2018Yes And\u2026\u2019 The idea behind the game is that you get … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-1904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-urc-news","tag-urc"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t