Not quite a workaround, but a member of our congregation is organising peeps to record themselves reading the Epistle and Gospel for the next few Sundays.
FatherInCharge then attaches the file to his weekly emailing, so that those with internet access can listen to the dulcet tones of their friends!
It took us a while to work out how to do it, but happily the lady in question has a Computer-savvy Daughter (who graduated last year), so we've cracked it with Daughter's help.
My first successful attempt was a video file, so that my Ugly Mug is on screen, but the second attempt has been just an audio file - much smaller, and more easily sent by email, it seems.
Our main virtual meeting this morning used the open-source Jitsi platform. This was live-streamed to Facebook, where we also have a group (and several people unable to connect satisfactorily to Jitsi followed) and to our church website via YouTube.
I'm happy about this firstly because I've been a strong advocate of any solution being a multi-platform solution, and secondly because the journey in getting everybody to agree on a way forward and seeing new talents emerge in the church as we implement these solutions has been as rewarding as the destination, if not more so.
The Zoom part of our service worked well, the livestream to FB less well, both because the login to FB took an unusually long time and because there was a problem with sound.
We’ve been trying to use OBS to stream to FB rather than Zoom’s own interface, but we may have to change that. The difficulty is we don’t want to be live in FB while everyone’s arriving on Zoom, nor do we really want everyone’s faces on the FB feed.
OBS allows you to switch sources for what goes into FB, but we haven’t tied down how to get video and sound from Zoom into OBS and thus out to FB.
Don't think I could cope with all the homemade videos about at the mo. But Choral Evensong (Radio 3) is rather good. Also, so pleased that Llandaff Cathedral staff saw fit to produce several holy week and Easter reflections just before lockdown.
@Chorister it all depends what one wants. The brief I wrote for our church in respect of all this focused on implementing our core values, not on a specific, high-quality outcome. The two crucial considerations were "nobody gets left behind" (due either to various technology limitations or to matters of conscience e.g. on open-source issues) and "participation/empowerment" (both in worship and in the decision-making process). The result looks decidedly home-made, but it looks remarkably like us.
I guess that is the point - Llandaff Cathedral is a place I know well, so it was very reassuring to see and hear people known to me. For others, the chance to see their own priest making a hash out of unfamiliar technology might well be more helpful than seeing anonymous people handling it perfectly??
I have heard that Archbishop of Canterbury now says that the closure of churches is guidance rather than instruction. Does anyone have confirmation / source for this?
I haven’t heard that, and the Church of England website still says
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement of 23rd March, the Archbishops have written to clergy in support of the measures and again on 27 March, requiring that churches must now close both for private worship and public services.
Our church buildings are therefore now closed for public worship, private prayer and all other meetings and activities except for vital community services until further notice.
This was a report on Welby's interview on the BBC Andrew Marr show. Think it's also covered on Church Times web site (pay wall?). I think the tone was "this is guidance but you'd better do it!"
I have heard that Archbishop of Canterbury now says that the closure of churches is guidance rather than instruction. Does anyone have confirmation / source for this?
A couple of friends of mine in England commented that the instructions were delivered in a manner that suggested that it was an order masquerading as advice. They were not impressed.
I haven’t heard that, and the Church of England website still says
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement of 23rd March, the Archbishops have written to clergy in support of the measures and again on 27 March, requiring that churches must now close both for private worship and public services.
Our church buildings are therefore now closed for public worship, private prayer and all other meetings and activities except for vital community services until further notice.
That seems pretty categoric to me. I don't know how the Archbishop of Canterbury can call that 'guidance' or even a 'recommendation'. I was relieved that the Scottish Bishops at least permitted us, singly as clergy or lay leaders, to do things in our buildings - from checking the premises to recordings for facebook etc, as I would've found it hard to observe the above instruction, for that's what it clearly is.
But not (AFAICS) to actually do anything within them.
Though TPTB can hardly watch every clergyperson who inadvertently, out of habit, as it might be, lights a candle, or says a prayer, whilst checking his/her church...
I see that a number of countries are planning to ease lockdown restrictions within the next few weeks, but there doesn't seem to be any mention of places of worship being allowed to re-open.
I guess 'church' is a non-essential leisure activity in the eyes of many...
Officially, we have been number restricted rather than closed in this part of the USA. However, being limited to no more than 10 effectively closes a lot of larger churches as they have to take it online to maintain social distancing. I managed to work something out within the regulations so that folks got their Easter Communion, but it was a lot of work. I will add that case numbers locally have been, and remain, very low.
I didn't make myself very clear (a not unusual failing), but I was wondering if perhaps the eventual easing of lockdown restrictions in the UK might involve re-opening places of worship for private prayer, as they were for a short while some weeks ago (!).
IOW, not necessarily for services as such, and maintaining hand hygiene, social distancing etc.
I appreciate that it will surely be some considerable time before 'normal service' (whatever that may be) can be resumed.
Hmm. Is it known how many people attended the service, and whether hand-washing was carried out, and social distancing observed?
I slightly sympathise with Fr Walker, but I think he may be making a rod for his own back.
I think I'm right in saying that the Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church haven't gone so far with 'advice', and that SEC clergy do still have access to their churches - including for the purpose of livestreaming worship (last Sunday's Eucharist came from Perth Cathedral).
The service can be found on Facebook here
It appears that Fr Walker was actually alone in the church (he could have done with a sound technician being present at about 20 minutes in!), which would comply with the government's instructions but be against the Archbishop's guidelines. All of the music was pre-recorded and accompanied by still photos.
I see that a number of countries are planning to ease lockdown restrictions within the next few weeks, but there doesn't seem to be any mention of places of worship being allowed to re-open.
I guess 'church' is a non-essential leisure activity in the eyes of many...
"Easing restrictions" on Planet Sensible means that you allow people to do some of the lowest-risk activities that they are currently prevented from doing. Large gatherings of people do not fall in to this category. Being at work some distance from your nearest colleague, by contrast, is comparatively low risk, as long as you don't use public transport to get there.
IMO, the challenge with opening churches for private prayer is cleaning. The sort of frequent cleaning of surfaces that is advisable for places that re-open at the moment is a significant departure from the normal practice of churches. If you open your church for private prayer, can you clean all the surfaces that people might touch every four hours, for example?
Churches in Germany will be allowed to hold public religious services from the end of the month. (Churches are open just now in Germany but only for private prayer).
In a TV interview with spokesmen for the two main churches the Lutheran spokesman said that they would need time to work out best how to sing hymns while wearing face masks.
I see that a number of countries are planning to ease lockdown restrictions within the next few weeks, but there doesn't seem to be any mention of places of worship being allowed to re-open.
I guess 'church' is a non-essential leisure activity in the eyes of many...
"Easing restrictions" on Planet Sensible means that you allow people to do some of the lowest-risk activities that they are currently prevented from doing. Large gatherings of people do not fall in to this category. Being at work some distance from your nearest colleague, by contrast, is comparatively low risk, as long as you don't use public transport to get there.
IMO, the challenge with opening churches for private prayer is cleaning. The sort of frequent cleaning of surfaces that is advisable for places that re-open at the moment is a significant departure from the normal practice of churches. If you open your church for private prayer, can you clean all the surfaces that people might touch every four hours, for example?
Churches in Germany will be allowed to hold public religious services from the end of the month. (Churches are open just now in Germany but only for private prayer).
In a TV interview with spokesmen for the two main churches the Lutheran spokesman said that they would need time to work out best how to sing hymns while wearing face masks.
But - as Leorning Cniht points out, what about cleaning?
Perhaps you have a duster ?
Certainly at the Easter weekend arrangements were made for those who wished to receive Communion 'while respecting all measures of hygiene and distance' Given that Germany has under 4000 dead from the virus I think they must know how to apply these measures.
I have no doubt that Germany's 'success' (if that's the right word - I can't think of a better) in fighting The Plague is due to much more sophisticated things (and/or people).
Churches in Germany will be allowed to hold public religious services from the end of the month. (Churches are open just now in Germany but only for private prayer).
This raises a whole new challenge, as what would normally be a regular activity for believers is set to be one of the last things to be authorised as lockdown eases, raising the odd prospect of us being among the last to be sitting at screens as everyone else ventures out into the real world. (Assuming that venturing out doesn't spectacularly backfire, of course, something I have yet to be convinced of...).
I would be surprised if churches were not one of the last things to be let loose in the UK. And in fact I think they probably should be, since they are a mixed community, with various vulnerable people as part of the regular congregation. I would expect schools to go back quite a bit before churches.
But maybe I am enjoying the break from the norm too much??
Our congregation consists of several hundred people meeting in a small warehouse, from newborns to 80 year olds. I can’t see us being able to safely gather together for several months at least.
I would be surprised if churches were not one of the last things to be let loose in the UK. And in fact I think they probably should be, since they are a mixed community, with various vulnerable people as part of the regular congregation. I would expect schools to go back quite a bit before churches.
I'm not saying it doesn't make sense, but the fact that it makes sense may not persuade all the people sending me pictures of babies hugging each other denoting the day after lockdown ends and saying "won't it be nice to meet together at church again?"
We shall see. AFAIK, there's no indication here in England of any early likelihood of churches re-opening, even for private prayer for an hour or so each day.
I can only speak of the C of E - what is happening with churches of other denominations? We have a 'King's Church' not far from Our Place, and IIRC they were staying open for private prayer for at least some days after the C of E closed down.
I agree with @Cathscats that churches may well be amongst the last places to re-open, for the very good reasons outlined on this thread.
I can only speak of the C of E - what is happening with churches of other denominations? We have a 'King's Church' not far from Our Place, and IIRC they were staying open for private prayer for at least some days after the C of E closed down.
My New Frontiers church stopped communion (I had stopped taking the wine at least a month before), put up safety notices and spaced out chairs for family groups the week before lockdown, and has been completely closed since; everything moved online.
We’re having virtual communion now and are encouraged to bring bread and wine or ‘equivalents’ - our church is alcohol free usually (several people with mental health challenges) and young children partake in communion. We had bread and wine in our house.
I have no idea of official theology in New Frontiers (we’re actually called Relational Mission these days since Terry Virgo’s retirement) as I am non-denominational in belief. I only know what my particular church practices.
We have an open table at our church; my teenagers are unbaptised and take from it, if the children are in the service at communion time it is up to their parents whether they can have communion or not. Communion is most weeks, we did have two tables, one wine and one fruit juice, so anyone at church could choose which kind they wanted, but now we have non-alcoholic wine.
It might also surprise some people that we regularly have women leading the services and women preaching. My mother in law, Elaine Storkey, has preached in our church several times.
I have no idea of official theology in New Frontiers (we’re actually called Relational Mission these days since Terry Virgo’s retirement) as I am non-denominational in belief. I only know what my particular church practices.
We have an open table at our church; my teenagers are unbaptised and take from it, if the children are in the service at communion time it is up to their parents whether they can have communion or not. Communion is most weeks, we did have two tables, one wine and one fruit juice, so anyone at church could choose which kind they wanted, but now we have non-alcoholic wine.
It might also surprise some people that we regularly have women leading the services and women preaching. My mother in law, Elaine Storkey, has preached in our church several times.
Is that the Elaine Storkey who led a couple of seminars at New Wine some years ago?
My experience with NFI is out of date. In my day they had real problems with knowing what to do with communion at all, but I'd have thought that children partaking was rather close to covenant theology for them. Thanks for the info, anyway. I'd better drop the tangent there!
I suspect that we will not see a day when churches are suddenly open. What will happen is that it occurs incrementally. I could well see a situation where pastoral visiting was allowed before public worship. Equally meetings under a certain size being allowed, building open for private prayer or even funerals provided mourners were limited being allowed. So that what you get is a process of lifting restrictions that means there is not the 'day' when we are back at church.
Yes, that might well be so, though there may come a certain day when those of us who are so inclined (!) can pull out the stops, and have a proper Sung (or even High) Mass...with a live congregation actually present in the church!!
Comments
FatherInCharge then attaches the file to his weekly emailing, so that those with internet access can listen to the dulcet tones of their friends!
It took us a while to work out how to do it, but happily the lady in question has a Computer-savvy Daughter (who graduated last year), so we've cracked it with Daughter's help.
My first successful attempt was a video file, so that my Ugly Mug is on screen, but the second attempt has been just an audio file - much smaller, and more easily sent by email, it seems.
O wot larks we are 'avin, Pip! Wot larks...!
I'm happy about this firstly because I've been a strong advocate of any solution being a multi-platform solution, and secondly because the journey in getting everybody to agree on a way forward and seeing new talents emerge in the church as we implement these solutions has been as rewarding as the destination, if not more so.
We’ve been trying to use OBS to stream to FB rather than Zoom’s own interface, but we may have to change that. The difficulty is we don’t want to be live in FB while everyone’s arriving on Zoom, nor do we really want everyone’s faces on the FB feed.
OBS allows you to switch sources for what goes into FB, but we haven’t tied down how to get video and sound from Zoom into OBS and thus out to FB.
[/Tangent]
https://www.christiantoday.com/church/closure-of-churches-is-guidance-not-instruction-archbishop/134677.htm
A couple of friends of mine in England commented that the instructions were delivered in a manner that suggested that it was an order masquerading as advice. They were not impressed.
Our Diocesan has said - politely, but quite openly - that clergy who do NOT follow the 'guidance' may lay themselves open to disciplinary measures...
That seems pretty categoric to me. I don't know how the Archbishop of Canterbury can call that 'guidance' or even a 'recommendation'. I was relieved that the Scottish Bishops at least permitted us, singly as clergy or lay leaders, to do things in our buildings - from checking the premises to recordings for facebook etc, as I would've found it hard to observe the above instruction, for that's what it clearly is.
Though TPTB can hardly watch every clergyperson who inadvertently, out of habit, as it might be, lights a candle, or says a prayer, whilst checking his/her church...
I guess 'church' is a non-essential leisure activity in the eyes of many...
IOW, not necessarily for services as such, and maintaining hand hygiene, social distancing etc.
I appreciate that it will surely be some considerable time before 'normal service' (whatever that may be) can be resumed.
https://archbishopcranmer.com/revd-marcus-walker-returns-pulpit-here-i-stand/
I slightly sympathise with Fr Walker, but I think he may be making a rod for his own back.
I think I'm right in saying that the Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church haven't gone so far with 'advice', and that SEC clergy do still have access to their churches - including for the purpose of livestreaming worship (last Sunday's Eucharist came from Perth Cathedral).
It appears that Fr Walker was actually alone in the church (he could have done with a sound technician being present at about 20 minutes in!), which would comply with the government's instructions but be against the Archbishop's guidelines. All of the music was pre-recorded and accompanied by still photos.
"Easing restrictions" on Planet Sensible means that you allow people to do some of the lowest-risk activities that they are currently prevented from doing. Large gatherings of people do not fall in to this category. Being at work some distance from your nearest colleague, by contrast, is comparatively low risk, as long as you don't use public transport to get there.
IMO, the challenge with opening churches for private prayer is cleaning. The sort of frequent cleaning of surfaces that is advisable for places that re-open at the moment is a significant departure from the normal practice of churches. If you open your church for private prayer, can you clean all the surfaces that people might touch every four hours, for example?
In a TV interview with spokesmen for the two main churches the Lutheran spokesman said that they would need time to work out best how to sing hymns while wearing face masks.
No, we couldn't.
But - as Leorning Cniht points out, what about cleaning?
Certainly at the Easter weekend arrangements were made for those who wished to receive Communion 'while respecting all measures of hygiene and distance' Given that Germany has under 4000 dead from the virus I think they must know how to apply these measures.
And churches in France will be closed until at least the beginning of June at the very earliest.
This raises a whole new challenge, as what would normally be a regular activity for believers is set to be one of the last things to be authorised as lockdown eases, raising the odd prospect of us being among the last to be sitting at screens as everyone else ventures out into the real world. (Assuming that venturing out doesn't spectacularly backfire, of course, something I have yet to be convinced of...).
But maybe I am enjoying the break from the norm too much??
I can only speak of the C of E - what is happening with churches of other denominations? We have a 'King's Church' not far from Our Place, and IIRC they were staying open for private prayer for at least some days after the C of E closed down.
I agree with @Cathscats that churches may well be amongst the last places to re-open, for the very good reasons outlined on this thread.
My New Frontiers church stopped communion (I had stopped taking the wine at least a month before), put up safety notices and spaced out chairs for family groups the week before lockdown, and has been completely closed since; everything moved online.
We have an open table at our church; my teenagers are unbaptised and take from it, if the children are in the service at communion time it is up to their parents whether they can have communion or not. Communion is most weeks, we did have two tables, one wine and one fruit juice, so anyone at church could choose which kind they wanted, but now we have non-alcoholic wine.
It might also surprise some people that we regularly have women leading the services and women preaching. My mother in law, Elaine Storkey, has preached in our church several times.
Is that the Elaine Storkey who led a couple of seminars at New Wine some years ago?
We live in hope...