Some thoughts on Solomon's Porch

The only part of the weekend that was disappointing was that I didn't get to spend as much time at Solomon's Porch or get to hear Doug Pagitt speak. Trisha and I had a hard time following the direction I got off travelocity so we didn't go to the Mockingbirds Nest, which I was really excited about.

We did however go to Solomon's Porch on Sunday evening, but left early so we wouldn't be late for the concert. The set up for the gathering area is completely unique, you need to imagine a lot of old sofas(think about your grandparents sofas) arranged in a circle with the middle having two swivel chair. The feel was more like a friend's basement where you would meet to hang out. I wonder if that is how the first century church would be have done it, just hanging out in some one's house. In November at St. Benedict's we did a 'Going to the 1st century church' the feel was similar. The service started with a brief introduction by Bob who was sitting in for Doug and explained the why the palm tree branches were handed out.

While we only heard 3 songs they were very intense, even haunting. The lyrics, especially the song about not belonging to anyone were heart wrenching.

I am not sure if this was a standard week at Solomon's Porch, but a lot of the time was spent on being an abolitionist church(fighting against human trafficking). I thought the ideas were good, definitely nice to see a church in action and giving their community an outlet to share their passions. One of the speakers called human trafficking slavery, which I thought was very important, too often in our culture we have names for terrible things and the name is vague or do not convey what is happening.

I imagine a lot would have happened after we left maybe even the 'sermon' portion, as a guy on the other side of the room kept looking through his Bible. Anyways I thought it was interesting experience, one would need to spend a week at Solomon's Porch and involve yourself in the community to really grasp their journey and the beauty.