My beloved Mt. Tam Church,
It’s great to be back! Lindy and I had a fun camping and visiting friends kind of low-key vacation and I’m grateful for the time away.
Special thanks to Pastor Betty Pagett for becoming an online star and for being a great preacher, friend, and colleague. Now I’m in that adjustment phase that always follows time away. Like everything, the adjustment that is needed in regular times is different in a pandemic. I’ve returned to realities that didn’t exist pre-Covid-19. Here’s the list for today:
First and foremost, the joy and challenge of preparing for return to in-person worship outdoors–hopefully on SEPTEMBER 13! This is a multi-faceted process. We have to prepare the physical space, which will be the courtyard and garden area between Fellowship Hall/Preschool and the sanctuary. We have figured out how to do this safely and easily–you will receive more information about that in the next two weeks. The Return Team is working hard to make sure we are ready! There is also the emotional, psychological, and spiritual readiness for return–our recent survey and Town Hall meetings revealed that many of our members want to return for in-person, safe worship. How many folks will want to be present? How do we “blend” the in-person congregation and online presence? And what does it mean to be ready spiritually and emotionally? It’s not that straight forward, which is why we will be having another survey and Town Hall meeting before September 13th to take the pulse of our congregation once again. We are confident that we can offer outdoor worship safely and joyfully….and welcome your ideas, feedback, and questions!
Second, production challenges with the online worship service. There were some problems with sound levels and please know that these are being taken care of. Production details change almost weekly. My favorite question from the comments of the two Sundays I was away is this one: “Why can’t we see the singer?” There is a very good reason you can’t see the singer–because we are not allowed to have anyone singing in the sanctuary itself (County and State Guidelines and Annual Conference Directive), so we arranged to have the singer outside of the sanctuary.
Because we are still filming on just an iPhone (the new sanctuary-wide recording system will be installed in September), we simply cannot film both the altar, the musician, worship leader, and the singer. We don’t have the technical or physical capacity to do so. The singer and Hyunjung are connected electronically, so they can hear each other and the production leader manages the sound through the sound system. But we are severely limited by our filming capacity and the fact that the singer cannot be in the sanctuary. Please read that twice: the singer cannot be in the sanctuary and until we have our permanent recording system, we do not have the filming capacity to show you the singer. Our solution of having the singer outside the sanctuary, connected to the sound portion of the live stream but not being seen visually, may feel odd, I know. But it’s one of the many adjustments and innovations we have needed to make to have worship online. Every week presents a new challenge, limitation, or adjustment. Hang in there….we are doing the best we can and join you in both the frustrations and joys that come with online worship.
When our new state-of-the-art recording system is installed and ready to use, there will be more challenges: training people (note that we will need two operators each Sunday), having people sign up to work the system, and getting all the details down. And it will provide us with greater technical capacity (ability to include pre-recorded pieces, video and illustrations) and filming flexibility. Once we have met those challenges, our live stream will be more interactive, creative and versatile. There will always be production challenges. I am confident that as we grow in our experience of producing live stream worship, we will have a better and better product. In the meantime, hang tight! There will be a day when we are able to worship in the sanctuary, all together, in person. And guess what? Most likely, we will be live streaming that service and many others.
For one of the by-product blessings of this pandemic is that we have become a 21st century, online church! That doesn’t replace being together and in-person worship, nor should it. What this has forced us to do is to reach out in new ways to new people. We will be online from now on–through live streaming the in-person worship and other online services. New opportunities for innovative and creative worship, classes and interactive gatherings. We will be capable of offering multiple services for a diversity of people. How amazing is that?
So, again, please hang in there. Help us by responding to the SurveyMonkey that is coming soon and participating in the Town Hall meeting. Be patient with the production of the online service. And pray! Pray! Pray!
With thanks to God!
Peace,
Pastor Kim
P.S.–I will be having knee replacement surgery on August 27th and anticipate a quick recovery! Tricia Wiig will lead worship on August 30 and Pastor Betty Pagett will inspire us again on September 6th. I look forward to returning to leading worship in person on September 13th–God willing!
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