Everyone's Entitled to My Opinion: About Porching
Saturday, September 4, 2010 at 10:35AM 
In a simpler place and time folks sat on the front porch and did, well, nothing. The evening’s pastime was to sit together and watch the world go by. In the last 60 years the trend on porching has been down. Lately the curve is looking up. (Of course, if you’re the kind of person who uses the words like “trend” and “curve” then porching may not be for you.)
After splitting the first 40 years of my life between Chicago, Dallas and Washington, D.C. I was unacquainted with the fine art of hanging out. The rhythms of city and suburban life are reggae-rock: schedules, rush hours, play-dates and alarm clocks loomed large and imposed themselves on my life. I remember one stressful day which was scheduled to end with a small group discipleship meeting. I had to cover 20 miles in 25 minutes through cross-town traffic. When I pulled up to the meeting (ten minutes late), the brakes on my car were smoking--the brakes, mind you. That night we were probably discussing something deeply spiritual, perhaps “finding peace with Jesus.”
When a five-year effort toward church-planting crashed and burned, our family ended up in rural Kentucky. Imagine: a smart-ass Yankee Chicago know-it-all sitting on a front porch. I keep looking at my watch, waiting for someone to get the meeting started. It took me two years to discover if someone has to call the meeting to order, you’re not porching.
My Kentucky sojourn has taught me although we talk about the value of community as an expression of God’s Kingdom, we frequently settle for the shadow instead of the reality. We drive 30 minutes each way to attend a 90-minute meeting; we don’t have time to stay and listen to one another; we have to pick up the kids from the sitter.
What if community means your neighbors? Actually the porch is optional. The key is to exchange the reggae-rock rhythm for the sound of crickets, the ice melting in your glass, the pace of the setting sun. What if sunrise and sunset are enough to tell time? What if we gathered around something other than a curriculum? In my opinion everyone needs a place to porch.
Reader Comments (13)
You just succinctly magnified a very important point (for me any way) from the Millennium Matrix about neighborhood vs. mega churches.
I LOVE this...the Lord has been working this process in my perfectionist, acheivement-oriented brain recently. Thanks so much for a unique approach to this great principle.
I agree with you, but all the people I know are on the run. :(
Don: Even mega-churches recognize the need for community--it's just so difficult to resist the lure of bigger numbers.
Lindsey: Thank you for you kind words. Perfectionists can learn to "let it flow" too!
Scott: So true! And asking people on the run to slow down sometimes actually makes them remember that they have even more to do.
So easy to forget that building real community take time and takes making an effort to slow down. Thanks for another great blog ray!
Loved this post! You hit on something so key and yet so missed in our programmatic culture - lack of TIME. Relationships take time, health means rest etc. Loved this.
I think this is why Richard Foster cited things like solitude and simplicity as spiritual disciplines. They typically don't come naturally. The hustle and bustle of life comes pretty easy. It seems a bit strange that being busy takes less work than being quiet and simply hanging out.
I agree! Sometimes in our rush to go places (literally and figuratively), we forget about the people who are right next door.
Thanks for writing this, Ray!
P.S. I've *always* wanted to live in a house w/ a REAL front porch. They are, sadly, uncommon in the SW USA.
stephanie@metropolitanmama.net
Stephanie, you're welcome on the "virtual porch" at Students of Jesus any time :-)
Stephanie, you're welcome on the "virtual porch" at Students of Jesus any time :-)
I LOVE this...the Lord has been working this process in my perfectionist, acheivement-oriented brain recently. Thanks so much for a unique approach to this great principle.
Don: Even mega-churches recognize the need for community--it's just so difficult to resist the lure of bigger numbers.
Lindsey: Thank you for you kind words. Perfectionists can learn to "let it flow" too!
Scott: So true! And asking people on the run to slow down sometimes actually makes them remember that they have even more to do.
Loved this post! You hit on something so key and yet so missed in our programmatic culture - lack of TIME. Relationships take time, health means rest etc. Loved this.