One time, a friend asked me for a ride to “some hipster church” in Providence that she had just started attending. She brought her own incense, intending to give it to the Christians to burn during the service. At the time I thought her unsolicited offering was naive and maybe a bit too forward. I figured that these people, being religious, would have a certain fixed way of doing things, not open to improvisation by newcomers.
Now, thinking back on episode, I am in deep awe of her gesture. I wonder what would a society knit together by such loving improvisations would look like.
