A night at Solomon's Porch, 5/3/09 Minneapolis, Minnesota

I participated in the Sunday gathering at Solomon’s Porch tonight. This community is about 10 years new and was birthed by the vision and midwifery of Doug Pagitt. The church identifies itself as an “wholistic, missional Christian community,” for they truly look to involve the whole person – body, mind, and spirit – in the walk of Christian discipleship.

Doug is one of our most innovative and articulate theologian/pastors, and I recommend any of his many books to you. I’m especially fond of A Christianity Worth Believing and Reimagining Spiritual Formation.

The building in which Solomon’s Porch makes its home is a beautiful traditional church building on the corner of 46th St. and Blaisdel in Minneapolis. But that church look and feel is only true on the outside of this place. Upon entering and ascending the half a dozen stairs to the narthex, one turns left expecting to see the sanctuary, but what one sees looks a whole lot more like some friend’s enormous basement hang-out. Tons of comfortable couches and cozy chairs are in concentric circles. Even the former chancel area, which still sports the gargantuan cross with dozens of painted portraits of people’s faces surrounding it, is 'couched out.' And none of the furniture matches, for it was all donated. One woman in the community noted that, “These couches are a metaphor for our lives and what God is doing with us.” Pagitt agreed. “Our furniture isn’t pretty. It doesn’t match. Some of the pieces need repairs. But it invites us, as the broken, used people we are, nevertheless, to find a worthy place in the community of faith. Brokenness can cripple, but not when we allow others to come alongside us and help us become whole.”

It’s pretty clear from the get go, that this is not a church that is in to hierarchy or top down leadership. There is no “up front” or stage or podium. All there is is a spinning stool in the very center that is not occupied when the gathering commences. At various points throughout the gathering, whoever is leading a particular part in the service will go there to speak, and in the gathering I attended, 8-9 different folks went up there. Pagitt explained that, “our gatherings are designed to be interactive and participatory, so our furniture is set in the round so we can see one another. It was a stretch for us Minnesotans, who don’t like to draw attention to ourselves. But over time, we’ve gotten used to seeing faces in church rather than the backs of heads.”

Adjacent to the sanctuary and not separated by any doors is a sort of parlor room where coffee and tea was available. People wandered back and forth throughout the gathering without violating any protocol. It was a very relaxed, comfortable environment. It was also a very young bunch, heavy on the 20 and 30 something’s. But there were a few gray hairs in the bunch, not to mention a few other baldies like me.

The music was all original, an intentional part of the community’s theological enterprise. The words were projected on two screens along with some images that enhanced the music’s themes. While the songs were unfamiliar to me, I could tell the regulars had sung them before.

One of the things that Doug mentioned over and over is that the Solomon’s Porch community is always asking three things: What is God up to in the world? Who are we? And how do we fit those two answers together or find their intersection? They treated scripture in a very refreshing way, particularly in the sermon portion of the gathering. Rather than reading the scripture and then talking about what we can ‘take out of it’ for our lives, they seemed much more interested in finding themselves IN the story of the scriptures. On this particular night, they began to talk about the Pentecost event, seeing it as a very exciting time when God poured himself out to all the community in the form of his Spirit, but also recognizing it as a time of tremendous fear and uncertainty for that community. Doug talked about the fact that their own community was going to enter the Pentecost event and spirit by not gathering in their usual way for the 12 weeks of the summer, to rethink their structure, their location – it just so happens that the owners of the building they rent want to sell the building to Solomon’s Porch – and to meet in other places and times to consider the Spirit’s new call and mission for them. I found it incredibly profound and faithful that this community – a mere 10 years old – was already being incredibly careful NOT to establish their own traditions and routines in a way that could squelch God’s new action in the Spirit embodied in Pentecost 2009.

Every Sunday gathering includes communion at Solomon’s Porch. But don’t picture ornate silver trays with perfectly cubed bread and tiny little individual cups of juice. Think of about 6 different tables scattered throughout the room, each with a big loaf of fresh and flavored bread and a jug of both juice and wine. People all get up and gather in groups of 15 or 20, pour each other nice size cups of wine and offer the bread to one another, saying, “May Christ be alive in you!” This is no silent and somber ritual. It’s a meal at a friend’s house with plenty of bread and wine for everyone – even seconds! People talk and hang around after serving one another and mingle from group to group. There was as a sense of abundance in this place, and I was a welcome participant in that abundance.

From those communion celebration spots all over the room, the final song was sung, and its words washed over me like extra helpings of communion wine. The words of the chorus were: “You are good enough! You are good enough! You are good enough to be my sons and daughters!”

What a message! What a gathering! What a night! Visit Solomonsporch.com!

My sabbatical journey continues. After a few more days here I’ll head home briefly and then off to New York City and a trip to The Church of the Holy Apostles. Stay tuned!