a sol café manifesto

This is an attempt to capture a bit of what the sol café is all about. It will not capture everything. It won't even come close.

This is not a statement of faith. This is not a statement of vision. It's just a statement.

This is our foundation:

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
— Matthew 22:36-40

This is our structure:

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
— Matthew 18:20

This is our manifesto:

manifestos are suspect

They are never the whole story. They are certainly not "The Truth."

This manifesto, for instance, is not the sol cafe. It illuminates part of the sol cafe, like a glimpse in a store window. It may contain some kernals of truth. It certainly hints at questions to which we still seek answers as a church, as a group, as a community.

It has changed over time. Or at least some of it has.

It will continue to change. Or maybe it won't.

But don't mistake this for chaos or weakness. We have built a house on rock. We just happen to enjoy doing renos.

We don't want people to just feel welcome, we want them to feel like they belong

It's the difference between a hotel and a home. Both provide shelter, sustenance, rest. A hotel... a good hotel... will make you feel welcome. You can even live in a hotel for long periods of time and be comfortable and secure. But there's no place like home. Home is different for different people. But home is where you belong.

Now here's the flipside. Wanting people to feel like they belong means knowing that the sol cafe is not going to be a home for everyone. We will be nothing more than a hotel, a rest stop, an overnight stay, for many of the travellers we encounter. We will do all we can to be welcoming to all, but we know we won't be the new home for all of Christendom. Not everyone will feel like this is where they belong. God willing, we can help point them home, to where they do belong, to the place God has set out for them.

But for those of us who call the sol cafe our home church, we feel welcome many places, but we belong no where else.

We disagree, but....

This is a good one. We don't all agree on things. We agree on faith basics to be a Christian. Some are not Christians that come to sol cafe, which is good they feel comfortable coming, but generally we agree on what faith in Christ means. But -- big but -- we disagree on much of the other stuff and we verbalize it. Let's take communion for example, is it a symbol or is it something more? We can't even agree on what the word 'symbol' even means, there is no way we could agree on how to define what communion is.

But, we pray and worship Christ together anyway.

we think churchenese should be a dead language

For some very good reasons, specialized human groups -- colleagues in a given profession, members of a club, enthusiasts of a particular hobby, reality TV viewers -- develop an 'insider' language, a shared short-hand with certain words and phrases carrying with them very specific meanings developed over long periods of time. It can make it easier for people within the group to communicate but, intentionally or not, can leave those outside the group... well... outside.

Christians do it all the time. "Worship" to mean "music"... "spiritual formation"... "pre-millenial"... "forty days of purpose"... "born-again"...

Our language can be a barrier to some people getting to know God. We think churchenese should be a dead language. Or at the very least, we'll try and make sure we're translating as we go.

we want to make the world a better place

Yeah, a cliche perhaps, like Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality wishing for "world peace." But we do want to make the world a better place, by God, and it needs to be said. Loudly.

we see in colour, we see in greys, just not in black and white...

The world is a complex place, and that's a good thing. There is so much depth and subtlety to God's creation, I'd no more want to reduce it to black and white than want to cram it into a tiny box. I think we are all very excited to keep exploring and uncovering more of... everything that's out there.

This is our guide...

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”
— Philippians 4:8-9

We question "leadership"... of the human variety

Have you ever known a person or group that has gotten so enthralled with one leader and what the leader teaches that it begins to define who they are and how they believe? They seem to defer to them on how the bible is interpreted (if they are Christian leaders/people) and live according to the "wise leader". If you question something in life, they have a prepared response "in the words of...". I realize that most people don't live that way, however there are certain segments of the population that find it easier to attach themselves to a public figure and how they live. This happens in all segments of society, and is prevelant in the big ol' Christian world as well.

The sol cafe seems to avoid this. We may at times be too cynical of any one leader (well I am). We may throw out good teaching to hammer through an idea ourselves, but that's what we want. We want to read the bible, pray and discuss something. And as we said earlier, we may not agree on any resolution, but we accept that as well. The point is (for me anyway) "independant thought" and being open for the Holy Spirit to guide us, as well as accepting differing opinions.

I don't think anything sol cafe does is perfect or necessarily "right," but I work on a set of ideals that seems to fit into sol better than most Christian communities. Those ideals could be fallible as well, but hopefully God's grace makes up for all that I am lacking, which I believe is much.

We ask questions like... "am I the only lazy Christian?"

Is it me or is it true that much of the "mainstream" evangelical culture thinks and teaches that I must work harder at being a Christian? It seems that, through everything I have seen and read about what a "good" Christian is, I don't measure up. Every day I have to do a lot of stuff to be successful in my "walk." That it is completely up to me to make a good relationship with Christ. Well that is a little daunting, I have to admit, and I don't feel up to the task.

One problem I see is how I communicate with what I call "work-harder Christians." We all follow Jesus, yet I seem to be lazy about it and worse yet, I accept my laziness without shame or guilt. There I said it, I don't feel bad about my faith. I love Jesus and the price he paid for me, praise God. I love the Bible and reading it, when I get around to it. When I remember to pray I feel good about it. Church is fun to go to, as dangerous as it sounds. The sol cafe is fun to be at for me, I love the people and how we want to learn, then go for something to eat.

So is it just me, am I the only lazy Christian?

Church is not the building

The important part of a church is not the building. I think that most people after a very small amount of time would agree with that.

It is not the Sunday services either. It is definitely not the music (so called worship). It is not the Bible studies, potlucks, or other programs/activities that the church participates in.

Those are all just things to get people close enough to experience the real important part of church. People.

Don't get me wrong, I am not placing people above God. God is the reason we have church.

But the purpose of church is to take a person from a solitary relationship with God and add to that the group or collective relationship with God.

The most valuable lessons that I have learned, the theological and philosophical ideals that I hold dear, the practical everyday way I interact with God throughout life, all these I have learned from interacting with other people who are following God as well. I watch how they live. I see how they reconcile contradictory influences. I learn how they put their theoretical priorities into practice. I follow them as they struggle with obstacles and glean from their mistakes and/or victories. I learn from mentors, by example.

The best examples are real ones, not artificial. They can be observed while watching a hockey game in a bar, helping a person move, buying ancient appliances from somebody's barn, playing mah-jong, or eating bannock. Therefore church is two or three gathered together in God's name, doing anything, anywhere, anytime.

This is not the "right" way to do church, but it is right for us

I've had people take exception to our doing church this way, as if it implied their way was somehow wrong. I apologise if I've ever given that impression.

But more traditional ways of doing church are wrong for me. I know that God is present there, I see the good that he is doing, that he is moving people, and it makes me joyful. But when I stop by other churches, I'm just there to say a quick thank-you while he meets with others of his flock. God and I have our coffee date scheduled for a different place and time.

Doesn't mean he doesn't sometimes have something urgent to tell me, wherever I run into him. Might be in another church. Might be on the street. Sometimes he tracks me down and says "what do you think you're doing now!?"

But he's set some appointments for me at the sol cafe, and expects me to be there. That's where we meet God. And we're glad to take the time. We have a lot to discuss...

We don't give pat answers

Well, actually we do sometimes give pat answers, but when we do we hope someone calls us on it. Giving a pat answer just means we haven't found an actual answer. Unfortunately, getting pat answers to tough questions is one of the barriers for some people who are trying to get to know God through church.

We operate on "Mexico" time

Which is actually a more profound principle than might first seem to be the case.

While on a youth missions trip to Mexico many years ago, several of the sol cafe founders discovered, among many other surprising things, that there's more than one way to "do church." In fact, the Alliance Church in Monterey, Mexico, though a member of the same Christian denomination, ran things in a way that would have completely freaked out many of the churchgoers back home. A small thing, for example, was that church services didn't start at a precisely scheduled time, and in fact any stated time for church to start seemed only useful for identifying the one time people would likely not actually be arriving for church. People wandered in before the appointed time, people wandered in after the appointed time, yet no one was ever "early" or "late".

In other words, we discovered that we didn't necessarily need -- or want -- "church" to be something you boxed into a building or a block of time. That what was important was your presence, not your punctuality. And that how or when we do church was not nearly so important as why.

So we operate on "Mexico" time.

We ask questions like... "how have I been shaped? And how will I be shaped?"

This is only a partial answer to a series of questions, but in general, what are some of the ways in which I believe God has and is shaping me? This is a rather technical sort of post - blah, blah blah yes there is all that most important stuff about people and community, but the reality of those things is hidden perhaps by the language of what I'm trying to relate... and yes a latte tastes like mercy...

Well, speaking of formation, the ways in which I trust God has shaped me are found in what the Anglicans call a "rule of life" - sort of a personal benedictine kind of Christian formation. The center of my spiritual formation, from my end, is the practice of "daily offices" - an old monastic tradition of prayer and Scripture reading at various times of the day. I was introduced to it about 23 years ago.

We are essentially formed by God's choice to live and act in us through his Spirit. This is one way that I believe God has done this with me. I open up the floor for others to join in and tell how they believe/trust/suspect that God shapes and forms them, if they even see that as part of whatever is happening...

The goal? purpose? achievable spiritual commodity outcome of a rule of life is to be shaped by the various ways I/we trust that God wants and intends to shape us. So from my liturgical Anglican spirituality, here is an outline from The Book of Common Prayer:

Every Christian man or woman should from time to time frame for himself a RULE OF LIFE in accordance with the precepts of the Gospel and the faith and order of the Church; wherein he may consider the following:

The regularity of his attendance at public worship and especially at the holy Communion.
The practice of private prayer, Bible-reading, and self-discipline.
Bringing the teaching and example of Christ into his everyday life.
The boldness of his spoken witness to his faith in Christ.
His personal service to the Church and the community.
The offering of money according to his means for the support of the work of the Church at home and overseas.

All that being said, I believe I have also been profoundly shaped by God during times of suffering. I don't think the popular Christian culture deals with that experience very well. I think that needs to change.

symbols are powerful and necessary, but don't confuse them with what they represent

We had a debate once about whether or not we could do communion with white grape juice. Had someone suggest that we should do communion with red wine. Wondered why we don't have the same debates about the bread part of communion -- we've used everything from crackers to hotdog buns to whole French loaves. Interesting discussions, but ultimately the answer was "that's not the point."

In the book of Luke in the Bible, Chapter 22, the story is told of how the symbol of communion came to be: 'And [Jesus] took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."'

He didn't say "do this just for the sake of doing it... and don't forget to fight a whole bunch about the right way to do it." The point is remembering the meaning behind the symbol of communion.

That being said, it's a beauty of a symbol.

don't do anything just because "we've always done it that way"

Do things for a reason. Do things for a good reason. If the reason is "we've always done it that way" then our response should be to ask why it has always been done that way, and if that reason still applies. God is eternal, but he isn't standing still. We shouldn't stand still either.

our whole life is an act of prayer

Praying isn't something you do just before meals and at bedtime (although there's nothing wrong with that!) -- our whole life is a conversation with God. Or at least we try. And it makes all the difference.

all of this could be wrong

...

God leads this church, not us

No, really. Christians will usually say God leads their church, but do they actually let him when it comes right down to it? We're trying.

church should not be a barrier to people getting to know God

But for some people it is. We want to remove any barriers we can.

we don't get why the world is so screwed up

Well, sort of we do. But not really. And regardless, we don't like the "screwed-up-ness" very much.

we have more questions than we have answers

But maybe trying to find the answers is more important than having the answers.

our whole life is an act of love

Or at least we try.

our whole life is an act of service

We don't think of "service" as being a project you take on as a volunteer, feeding the poor on Christmas or Thanksgiving. Our whole life, everything we do, is intended to be an act of service. Or at least we try.

our whole life is an act of worship

We don't think of "worship" as being the music you play during a Sunday service. Our whole life, everything we do, is intended to be an act of worship. Or at least we try.

we believe in God (but you don't have to)

The sol cafe is about asking questions, including asking us why we believe in God even if you don't. We might not have an answer, at least not a complete one. But if you want to join in that conversation, you are welcome at the sol cafe.