ZOOM CHURCH, AGAIN
April 5, 2020, Sunday
This was our third week of attending church via Zoom. The pastors are trying various things, adding more richness to the service. We're still working out technicalities. Not everyone has figured out how to log in. Different people are using different devices --- phone, iPads, laptops --- with different operating systems, so it's hard to help long-distance since we can't see what they're doing.
Today was Palm Sunday. Normally we'd begin the service outdoors on the front steps, then process into the sanctuary waving our palm branches and singing. I'd ordered palms from an organization supported by several church bodies, that sources palms sustainably from Mexico and Guatemala. The income supports local workers. This year, I ordered before the coronavirus hit and the palms were harvested before that. So it was too late to cancel the order.
Since we wouldn't be processing with palms, I scattered them on the sidewalk and steps leading up to the church, a kind of "virtual" procession. As it turned out, there was a pounding rain here this morning, so we wouldn't have processed anyway. My niece in Texas reported that a church near her had a drive-through palm distribution.
It was interesting to note that several visitors signed in to the service this morning. We may have had a larger attendance than if we'd held the service in the church. People who normally have trouble getting to church, people who live far away, people who just want a sample of what's going on can join us virtually.
Some of my FaceBook friends reported scheduling several church services today; services held at different times and from different time zones. Their reasons are varied: revisitng a church they used to belong to, visiting a church because they know the pastor, sampling what other congregations are doing, and the like.
While we miss the face-to-face interactions with our church friends, Zoom church gives us a different menu of opportunities and experiences.
Virtual church today was frustrating. First, at 8:30 am I "attended" church with the Facebook group of Holy Trinity Oaxaca, the church Lloyd and I attended for many years in Mexico. The service is from the home of a priest in Mexico City. It is shown in Facebook Live. Last week the service was very successful. This week the video was constantly freezing and the message was hard to follow. At 10:00 am our church was to Zoom a service from the church. Last week the service was pre-recorded and on Facebook and successful. This week, I joined the service at 10:10, late as usual for church, but it hadn't yet begun. They seemed to be doing sound tests. Once the service started things went well, with song accompaniment and Bible readings by several members. It was cute to see the pastor's 2 year old son running around and playing with the palms. I was thinking how much better Zoom was than Facebook Live, when suddenly I was kicked out of the app. I rejoined the service, but there was no sound. The pastor carried on, unaware that there was no sound. The "host", from her home, was trying to fix things, but without success. Both services needed technical improvement. I think if the "host" had been at our local church, the service could have been stopped and the problem corrected. In text, the "host" promised that the Easter service would be better. Going live can be a problem.
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