Faking It

TLC, the cable channel that hosts “Trading Spaces” airs a show called “Faking It.” The premise is to find an individual and within three weeks train him/her to act as if they were someone they are not. I’ve only seen it once. The episode Suzi and I viewed featured an associate Episcopalian minister from New England who was very shy. His superior at the church felt it would be beneficial to try something to make him more assertive. In steps “Faking It.” They offer to fly him to Las Vegas to work for three weeks at the city’s largest car dealership. His challenge is to learn enough and practice acting convincingly enough to fool three professional “car” people—others employed in the field—into thinking that he is a real car salesman. After following his story, seeing how he is rigorously groomed by the owner of the dealership, he is put to the test. And of the four guys, three of whom are actual car salesmen, he was not chosen as the fake. He wins. An interesting sidebar is that after returning to his church in New England, he decides to moonlight, seeking part-time work at a local car dealership in his home town.

I was reminded of this episode as I thought of another way to summarize the Reimagining book. Doing theology or worshipping in community makes it a lot tougher to fake it. A few examples:
1. Seating is “in the round.” People are seated in couches in a circle around the pastor, who is sits on a barstool. As you are looking toward the speaker, you are also looking into the eyes of many in the room. It feels more like a living room than a sanctuary, and fosters a feeling of community by forcing you to look at others, noticing their reactions to what is said. In time one’s guard is dropped and you see around you the “real” expressions on people’s faces. It’s tougher to fake the right looks throughout the entire gathering time.
2. The sermon is more like a reading of a chapter of the Bible with comments thrown in every verse or two, followed up by a Q and A regarding the themes in the text. I’m sure it’s a lot more difficult for the speaker to be on the hot seat every week taking “pot shots” from the crowd. But it seems to work, and one feels much more a part of the message from Scripture. It’s definitely tougher for Doug to fake it.
3. The weekly communion celebration with decent-sized glasses for different juices and wines and full loaves of various good quality bread are scattered around at small tables through the room. People are encouraged to serve one other or go to one side of the room if they want to be served by an elder-type person. After everyone has been served, all hold hands (even those of us who take huge portions and still have bread in our hands) in a large circle and sing an Irish Blessing as a parting prayer. Lots of interaction is encouraged during the gathering time. Each time we’ve gone, we’ve had some decent conversations with someone new to us. I’ve experienced some pretty genuine folk. Any fakers? Probably. But it seems that the comfortable atmosphere helps people to relax and be them self.

On one hand Solomon’s Porch is not doing anything that different from other churches. I’ve seen degrees of what they do elsewhere. But the mix that they’ve come up with (intentional preposition placed at end of clause to keep sister-in-law Lori interested,) places an extreme emphasis on being a community as they seek spiritual formation. To me that seems to be the difference of that place. And it works. I’m sure they still have their share of problems and failures, but for us it has always been an uplifting and encouraging place to be.

I guess that’s always the challenge for all of us—to be real before God and our neighbors, loving and serving Him and them.