Life and faith are improvisational theater, and finding meaning is a work in progress.
From first breath to the first day of school, from first dates to last rites, most of us struggle with the overwhelming desire to find meaning. How do we love well, stay authentic, build community, enjoy life, and live justly all at the same time? No one knows. God may have a plan, but God never gave us the script.
Years of experience in improv have taught Les Carpenter how to navigate his spiritual journey and his work in the priesthood. Now, he shares his hard-won wisdom in his new book, The Gospel According to Improv: A Radical Way of Creative and Spontaneous Living.
With a hearty dose of joy and filled with passion, this book will give you the inspiration and the tools you need to find the meaning of life in everyday moments and be open to hearing the voice of God in the good times, the bad times, and, most importantly, the ordinary times.
“This book will help everyone who longs to find the mystery of God’s presence in everyday experience―both church insiders and those who care about the life of the Spirit set loose in the world.”
The Rev. Paul Fromberg, Rector of St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Francisco, and author of The Art of Disruption: Improvisation and the Book of Common Prayer
In The Gospel According to Improv: A Radical Way of Creative and Spontaneous Living, you will learn:
How to overcome self-doubt
Become more creative
Turn your faith into everyday meaningful practice
Organize effective communities, based on the principles of improvisational theater
Each chapter will focus on a skill or practice of improv, made relevant through autobiographical stories of and grounded in the Christian tradition. Les has also provided mental exercises that you can do to strengthen the creative neural pathways required to master the improv skill for living.
“Scripture, Tradition, Reason . . . and Improvisation? Our churches need new skills, right now, and Les Carpenter is here to teach them with fresh clarity and copious joy!”
Shyla Ray Hungerford, Improviser and Instructor, and Originator of the Station Theater and the Trill Comedy Festiva
