The reason I am writing this review instead of Dave is that it is about his home church. In the interest of keeping things objective, it is best for a review to be done by someone who isn't a member or regular attender. I read Dave’s reviews on other churches and thought it only fair for his church to get one, so I volunteered.
I have visited many churches over the course of the last thirty years. In Bible school, I did a bit of church shopping, looking for a place to call home, and summer ministries put me in plenty of others. When Karen and I travel to visit family we go to church with them if our visit has us there on Sunday. Other opportunities for ministry in various churches have arisen over the years as well. Throw in some weddings and funerals, and other special occasions, and it adds up. So, other than the octagonal shape of the sanctuary, Solomon’s Porch doesn’t look much different from other churches of its size and age. The building has been around a while, but it isn’t ancient and it is well kept. There is a little entry area off the parking lot where you can hang up your coat, and then there is a main narthex where there was a nice coffee bar where we had a choice of regular, flavored (Michigan Cherry), or decaf. Tea was also available. We already had coffee at home, so we skipped this.
We were greeted right away by a friendly lady who knew immediately that we were visitors and asked us our names and if we were from the area or just visiting from out of town. We chatted with her for a couple minutes before heading into the sanctuary to find a seat. I would guess that it seats between 300 - 400 people and it looked about one third full, so finding a seat was not a problem. A couple in the pew just behind us knew that we were newcomers and also greeted us warmly. A minute or two later another gentleman approached us and asked if we were visitors, introduced himself as Chuck and welcomed us to the service this morning. It wasn’t until after the service started that we realized he was the pastor. That actually made me happy. If you’ve ever run into the kind of pastor that want’s you to know they are the pastor, you realize why this is cool. Also, kudos to the church in general on being aware of new people in your midst.
The order of service was not hugely different from what we are used to either but there was one notable difference. If I were to classify the style of service, I would say “mostly traditional with some effort to modernize.” There was a seven member worship team: A drummer with a standard drum set, another percussionist with a set of congas and some smaller instruments, an electric bass player, a lead guitarist, an acoustic guitarist, a keyboard player, and a vocalist. They only lead one song, at the start of the service. I found this a bit unusual. Most churches in the circles in which I find myself do the majority of their singing before the sermon, so this was different. Not bad, just different. Next there were some announcements, and then the offering was taken. After that, some guy in a tie got up and it was all downhill from there. I am kidding. It was Dave. He recited the lyrics to the Rolling Stones’ song I Can’t Get No Satisfaction. It was amusing to hear the words without the music. They don’t have the same impact, that’s for certain. I’ve done similar things myself, so I figured it was the intro to the sermon, and so it was.
Pastor Chuck Swanson, the man who introduced himself to Karen and I simply as Chuck earlier, preached from Luke 12:13-21, a.k.a. The Parable of the Rich Fool. That’s the one that starts out with Jesus warning about greed and tells the story of a guy who gets a bumper crop so large he doesn’t have space in his barns to store it all, so he decides to tear them down and build larger ones, then take life easy for a few years. In the end God tells him that his life is over that night and everything he has hoarded will belong to someone else. Someone else who couldn’t get “no satisfaction”. He made a couple more tie-ins with modern culture, referring to Gordon Gekko, and making a rather surprising reference (censored and thoroughly disclaimed) to Fight Club. He was very careful to make sure we knew he was not recommending the movie due to its graphic content, but he compared Jesus’ words in verse 15 “be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” to Tyler Durden’s line: “You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your (stupid) khakis.”
He also used the following quote: “Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. (Darn) it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy (stuff) we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very (upset).”
Direct Fight Club references in a pastor’s sermon. I’m impressed. Some may say too easily so, but being used to pastors who would deny all knowledge of this movie if they had any, I like that he wasn’t afraid to use this illustration. His sermon wasn’t all pop culture. He also used several personal examples that made it clear that he isn’t speaking as someone who has arrived. Greed affects everybody, even pastors. He also had some object lessons for us. Three helium balloons two flanking the stage and one tied to the pulpit. He wrote things that people covet on each and cut their strings to symbolize the need to let them go. Now the one on the pulpit annoyed me throughout the sermon because it was partly in the way of his face. In my head I was saying “use more string or less string, but get it out of your face,” but he kept preaching like they didn’t bother him at all. This was, it turns out, by design to point out that attachment to stuff is one of those things that others can see in us easier that we can see it in ourselves. Also, it distracts people from hearing our message when we don’t do anything about it. So, maybe it annoyed me, but he made a point, and I won’t soon forget it.
After the sermon, and the prayer, the worship team came back up and we sang a modern arrangement of Just As I Am followed by two praise songs. The musicians were all very talented and played well. I enjoyed the music, but it felt odd to me to do so much congregational singing after the sermon. I was tempted to dismiss it as just my prejudice because it’s not what I’m used to. I also wondered if there could be more to it. You see, singing early in the service helps me clear my head for the worship and gets me ready for the message. Yet, I followed the message this morning just fine. I think probably it is because it shifts my thinking away from what I just heard. Message is over and now we’re going to do some singing. Not that gathering up my stuff and heading for the parking lot makes me more contemplative, but after being dismissed, I do have the option to sit for a minute to absorb what I just heard. If songs are being led, particularly if it is being done well, I feel compelled to participate, and by the time I do leave my thoughts are even further removed from the lesson. Or, maybe I am just being whiny because they don’t do it my way. So… not my preference, but not a major sticking point, either.
After the service, two other people we did not know introduced themselves to us and asked us about ourselves. And after a few minutes of conversation, we headed out to the truck. Karen, noted on our way out, that nobody who spoke to us asked about our jobs or about kids. For Karen, this is a good thing. We have been married for twenty-eight years and don’t have children. Not by design, it just happened that way. We have long since come to terms with it, but in Christian circles, whenever you meet a new group of people, it seems that is always one of the first things people ask about. I get it. It’s a point of commonality for most people, but when you don’t share it, there are always more questions: “Don’t you want kids?” “Can’t you have kids?” “Why didn’t you just adopt?” And, then you have to patiently explain things that people with children don’t have to explain. We’re used to it, but I have to admit it was nice not to have to do it this time. I know that if we went back often, eventually, it would be necessary, but this time, it was nice.
To sum up, this is a place I could easily come back to.
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