Yes and?

Today we hear the story of people coming up with creative ideas that surprise them.  Ironic to hear these scriptures the same week that Broadview hosted a discussion on bullying in the church and Diane Strickland did a presentation for our Fab Collab churches on trauma.

Our story of Naomi was written in a time when the Israelites had returned from exile in Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem.  Naomi had been an economic exile, not a political exile, but she and her husband, the story goes, fled their homeland to raise their family in a foreign land.  Maybe the author had in mind a personal experience where it was difficult to grow crops after the Babylonian army had carted off most of the inhabitants.  And just like the historic exiles, enslaved in a foreign land, Naomi hung onto her culture and her faith.  “Love God” was her motto.

Then tragedy struck repeatedly, like Job’s story.  Literature on grief and trauma suggests that the loss of a child, no matter what the age, is hard.  And back then, with primitive health care and ignorance of what caused illness, children had a high mortality rate and many babies didn’t survive.  Naomi lost two adult sons.  With her husband also gone, sons were not just her children, they were also her insurance plan, her pension and her retirement home.  Now all that was taken away from her.  She was poorer than when she first arrived.  Except there was a “Yes and” for her in her daughter-in-law Ruth.

The story of Jesus was also a “Yes and”.  He was talking with a scribe who asked questions.  He and the disciples were used to being interrogated, challenged, and argued with by the temple authorities.  Along came this scribe with yet another tough question, but rather than using that question as a weapon, it was also a “yes and” conversation.  The scribe liked the answer Jesus gave, and Jesus liked the scribe’s answer.  They discovered each other had similar interests and similar thoughts about the bible and about God.  

Naomi had a lot of No’s she was saying.  “No, you can’t go with me”, “No, I have no future”, “No, I will not have more babies”, “No, I don’t want you to ruin your lives by asking you to come with me.”  No, no, no! How many times do we say no?  How many times do we look at our lives with negativity, judgement, and cynicism?  Interestingly, one of the symptoms of trauma can be getting mired in cynicism, saying no to anything that might ask for a risk or a change.  Saying no to community, to compassion, to hope, to risk.  

What does that look like in our world?  Do we know anyone who is good at saying yes, who has experienced the difficulties and challenges of living in today’s world where many people are still struggling with trauma and cynicism?  

One person connected to the United Church is very practiced at saying “Yes and”.  This simple attitude that Ruth used and that changed Naomi as we’ll see in future weeks, and that led to Jesus having a scribe on his side, is an attitude that this person has used for his entire career.  In fact, it has been a hallmark of what he does for a living.  This United Church connection said yes to a lot of fascinating things.  In high school, he knew he wanted to become a marine biologist until he said yes to a friend and auditioned for the high school play, which sounds exactly like the plot of High School Musical. Then he said yes to acting school in Vancouver.  He said yes to improv standup comedy where Yes and is key to having a successful show.  He refused to take No for an answer, trying out for a British comedy show 3 times before they hired him.  When that show ended after 8 years, he went to the United States and did the same show in the United States.  It was called “Whose Line is it Anyway?” and the US version was run by comedian Drew Carey.  He played a grumpy hotel detective on Murdock Mysteries, and performed on This Hour has 22 Minutes and Red Green.  He raised $100,000 for Welcome Friend Association's Rainbow Camp, a camp in northern Ontario for 2sLGTBQ+ teens by participating in a comedy contest in 2022. His daughter Kinley is transgender, and “Yes And” was the core value that helped him support her.  He has won Canadian Comedy Person of the year, ACTRA Award of Excellence, and awards for his writing Like the scribe who agreed with Jesus, he agreed with his wife Debra McGrath, the mayor of Little Mosque on the Prairie, when she asked him to be the MC of a benefit concert during Covid which raised money for three United Churches in Ontario.

His name is Colin Mochrie, and he often is the modest quiet one whose humble Canadian persona can still get big laughs. In a Broadview magazine interview, he said “I’ve been recruited many times for United Church events. I played the star of Bethlehem more times than I can remember,” he says. “For me, it’s always a good cause.”

In this world where we see so much war, anger, and ugly politics, maybe the attitude of “yes and” that Ruth showed her mother in law, and that the scribed showed Jesus, is what we need.  It’s easy to say no, it’s natural to greet new ideas with a “but”.  Christ calls us to be the church that says “Yes And”.  Yes people are traumatized and yes people are sick and tired of being sick and tired, and Christ calls us to say yes with the bravery and love of Ruth, and the insight of the scribe and the clever creativity of Colin Mochrie and Debra McGrath. May we say Yes and to the great commandment to Love God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.