"Emily, a young woman in Thornton Wilder’s play "Our Town"…dies in child birth, but is granted a unique experience: the Stage manager allows her to return from death and live one more day of her life with her family. Although Emily has high hopes for that one day, she is disappointed. Just before she returns to her place in the cemetary, she reveals her frustration to the Stage Manager.
Emily says: We don’t have time to look at one another. (She breaks down, sobbing.) I didn’t realize. So all that was going on and we never noticed…Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it–every, every minute?
Stage Manager: No…The saints and poets, maybe–they do some.
(from Space for God, Don Postema, p14)
I would add Jazz Theologians to Wilder’s list of those who live life for each moment. JT is all about about the convergence God in the now–Theomoments.
What about Jesus the master Jazz Theologian? Can you think of times when he lived life for the moment? In the moment? Can you think of times when Jesus took what was known about God, then improvised…producing a fresh experience of God?
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