We have the God-given ability to... improvise...

Bruce Ellis Benson writes that after God calls us to be disciples, we are then called to become creative.  Romans 12 puts it like this:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters,by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Benson, in good interpretive fashion suggests one "small change of wording:  I appeal to you... brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living, sacrificial work of art.  Can you dig that?  WE are God's creation - created in the Lord's image - and part of that image is to be creative, yes?  Artistic and imaginative... dare I say ready, willing and able to improvise?  To improvise with our lives - and the God-given ability to be creative - is simultaneously an honor and a responsibility.

We are to give shape and form to the Creator - who is loving, just, grace-filled, creative, powerful and beyond imagination - rather than waste our gifts.  We are to create lives -

and actions and families and systems of governance and commerce and works of art - that deepen beauty and truth rather than perpetuate injustice.  We are to care for one another with our creativity rather than encourage selfishness and greed. "For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life."  (Ephesians 2: 10)

And whether we realize it or not, much of this happens through improvisation:  searching for creative solutions while remaining within the confines of community.  More and more, I am certain that Marsailis is right:  what we do on the bandstand is what we might do in our ordinary lives.  We can be a selfish, pain-in-the-ass that nobody wants to make music with, OR, we can listen and improvise and try to create something beautiful and satisfying so that the whole gathering is blessed.
credits:
+ jenny armitage @  http://dancingfeatherstudio.com/blog/2012/10/30/jazz-improvisation-one/
+ www.graftoninnvermont.com