TRC Questions #7: Application

As we consider the reasons and rationale for gathering together for worship, and for using the Zoom platform for virtual worship, here are some reflections on application.

• When you are unable to attend worship (because of illness, travel, or some other providential hindrance), do you have a strong sense that you are missing it? Do you consider that the rest of the congregation feels your absence as well? 
• How does your presence contribute to the service of worship being offered by the congregation? What ways do you pick up on the contributions of others to the worship service? How is that different in "virtual" worship—is it amplified? Suppressed? 
• What do you do in preparation for corporate worship ordinarily? Do you do those same things to prepare for "virtual" worship?
• How does the reason of "covenant renewal" shift your own expectations for corporate worship? How does it change the importance. you place on your own participation in corporate worship? Does covenant renewal represent a new paradigm for you for how and why corporate worship is vital to the life of a Christian?

Zoom Thoughts

Also as we reflect on worshiping via "virtual" space, I thought it would be helpful for you to consider the following "best practices" and other suggestions for worshiping via the Zoom platform.

• Zoom has two main viewing modes: Gallery view and Presenter view. We recommend that you use Gallery view for most/all of the worship service, in order to best sense the presence of your fellow worshipers. You may prefer to switch to Presenter view during the sermon.
• It may be difficult to see and participate in the virtual worship service on a device with a smaller screen. We encourage you to use the largest screen that you can, so that you might see everyone else clearly. Many devices are able to broadcast video up to a full-size TV using certain connections or additional devices, which may be optimal for your experience of virtual worship.
• Because your participation is just as important as everyone else's, ideally you would keep both audio and video "on" throughout the whole worship service. This way others can see and hear you, just as you can them, and the feeling of one another's presence will emphasize the gathering aspect of worship, even if virtually. If you are unable (for various reasons) to enable both audio and video, we strongly recommend that you engage at least one—let us see or hear you, if not both.
• In the same way that it is important that you see everyone else clearly, it is important that they can see you clearly too! Device cameras placed at low angles (such as in your lap or on a coffee table, etc.) can make it difficult for the rest of us to see your face. We suggest that you find a convenient way to prop your device up at eye level or slightly below.
• As with normal face-to-face worship, your participation in the various elements of the worship service is edifying and encouraging to the others who are also participating. Singing with full voice, reading aloud and in a consistent meter/rhythm for congregational elements of the liturgy, and standing/kneeling as you are physically able all serve to build up the body and strengthen everyone's worship, not just your own.
• Just as when worshiping "in person" then most of us are actively mindful of how our actions may be a hindrance to worship for those around us, so it is with virtual worship too. While it may be tempting to multi-task or keep your hands from being idle, please be considerate of how your choices and actions may be a distraction and hindrance to others' worship.
• Whereas in a regular gathering for worship then seating arrangements and other factors allow us to shift our focus toward the worship leader, in virtual worship we are more vulnerable to distractions, both visual and audible. What makes for a distraction? It is something that is unexpected—which can be a sound or something happening on the screen. Someone standing and walking out of view is not a distraction, because that happens regularly; someone standing up and starting to do jumping jacks IS a distraction, because we would never expect that during a corporate worship service. Please be conscious of how what you are doing on your end of the camera/microphone may distract others, and thus hinder them from worship.
• One benefit that Zoom offers as our virtual sanctuary for worship is that we can socialize with one another, more like we might in a more normal setting. Please plan to log into the Zoom meeting early before the service, and/or to stay on afterward, if you want to socialize. Also, we would encourage you to account for the limitations of the platform for socializing; try not to dominate the conversation, or exclude others by focusing on one person or topic too narrowly.