High Rollers and Question Askers

I'm excited. With the help of Solomon's Porch's (weird, two possessives) intrepid and dauntless new administrator Hannah, I have started a Solomon's Porch Poker Group. Within one hour of the group's inception it had swelled to 25 members (thanks to helpful suggestions from Dustin and Victor), and already had five RSVP's for our first game, which will be Friday 7/22, probably at my place unless someone else wants to volunteer. This is going to be sweet. I haven't been in a regular game in two years. I knew there were a bunch of folks at the Porch who played, but I never envisioned this much enthusiasm for it.

If you want in, find the group on mysolomonsporch.com (High Rollers) and join it, or email me and I'll add you. Then start brushing up.

Speaking of SP, you may have noticed Michelle hasn't been coming with me lately. Yes, this partly has to do with the child care situation, but that's not entirely it. And I don't want anyone to think that she's left the Porch out of frustration or bitterness, so I thought I'd write about it here.

First of all, Michelle doesn't intend to leave SP. She hopes to be back. As far as Toby goes, it'll be easier to come to the Porch with him when he's a little older. So what are the other things? Well, she's found it frustrating lately to be in a church which is so much about figuring things out. Right now she just really wants a church that has already decided how things will be done and isn't going to question themselves so much. Of course, that's what draws most of us to SP, myself included, and I wouldn't have it any other way, but it's not for everyone. I understand how it can be exhausting for a certain personality type (but not Enneagram, because Michelle is the same Enneagram type as Doug) to always be having a conversation about everything.

Finally, when Michelle first walked into the Church of the Open Door and started singing the worship songs, she cried and didn't stop until the music did. The next week, the same thing happened. To her it feels like water after crossing the desert. She has needed to praise God like that for a long time. The same songs that can sometimes strike me as cheesy, trite, formulaic or simplistic, are what she desperately needs right now. And I think that is perfectly understandable and it's wonderful that she's found it.

I've been to the Door twice with her, and I recognize that I probably need it too. There is so little overlap between what SP does and what the Door does that I think I would really benefit from going to both as much as possible. I enjoy and want to hear both kinds of sermons, sing both kinds of songs. I can't imagine ever leaving the Porch, because it has come to represent to me what faith can be at its best. But it's also not acceptable to me not to ever go to church with my family. So for the summer, I'll be doing both. After that we'll see what happens.