Image by Marvin Mennigen from Pixabay
Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I’m there with them.” That verse gets misused a lot because it’s taken out of context. But I think it gets at an underlying principle: the verse doesn’t guarantee prayer answered, but rather recognizes we don’t “do” a relationship with God all by ourselves.
We currently face circumstances that prevent us from safely gathering in the same space, and I understand why those restrictions are in place. Think of it this way: if we have 50 people together, the odds that at least one of them has the virus that causes COVID-19 are pretty high. If one person has the infection, s/he could infect all 50 people present. On the other hand, if only three people gather, the odds that at least one has the virus are pretty low, and even if someone does have it, s/he will only infect two other people.
I would not want to be the person who carried the infection to other people. I want to make sure you all get cared for, and I also must recognize that a) I’m in the population most at risk if infected, and b) I have a severely disabled daughter for whom exposure would likely prove fatal. So, though I love y’all and I will do everything I can for you over the phone or the Internet, for the most part I’m staying home, and I urge you to do so as well.
But that doesn’t mean we aren’t in community.
Practical gathering
Community doesn’t just happen on Sundays, but Sundays form a core for believers, and we miss it when we can’t gather. Some subscribers belong to one of the churches I pastor, but many of you do not. I want to invite all of you to take advantage of this virtual resource to support you during these challenging times.
The rest of this post tells you how to join in with the good folks from Lincoln Park United Methodist Church and Lynnwood United Methodist Church for “virtual church” for the duration of this crisis. You have two “live” ways and two “delayed” ways.
Note that we are figuring this out on the fly, so no doubt we will hit some bumps on the way. We will laugh, learn from the experience, and move on.
Facebook Live
Facebook Live is our first “live” option. (If more people want to access via YouTube, we will do YouTube Live on future Sundays and post the video to Facebook for later viewing.)
At 10 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday, if you go to the Lincoln Park UMC Facebook Page you can view a Facebook Live feed of a short message along with prayer time. Since the page is public I think you can see the feed even if you don’t have a Facebook account, though I don’t have a good way to test that theory.
When we ask for prayers requests, you can use the comment box to type that in.
The advantages/disadvantages of this include:
You get both audio and video.
You experience it together with other viewers in real time, enhancing the sense of community.
You can use the comment box to make prayer requests and otherwise make comments. (I may or may not be able to see them while I broadcast, though, so this is not ideal.)
If you miss the live broadcast, you can later watch a recording on the same page.
If you have Facebook, this is the easiest way to access virtual church. It should work on either a computer or a smart phone/tablet.
If you’re on wifi, this is completely free. Be careful if you’re away from wifi, though, because this can eat up your data plan on a cell phone.
It feels like more of a one-way broadcast than a conversation, since I will be the only one able to talk. All other interaction happens just through text.
Conference call
At the same time we broadcast on Facebook Live, we will dial in to a conference call that anyone can access from any telephone.
If you’re interested in this, make sure you have this information handy at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday.
Phone number: 602-610-2058
Conference code: 395416
Dial the phone number. When you connect, you will hear a prompt to enter the conference code. Use the keypad to enter the six-digit conference code. You join the conference call immediately after that. We will start with everyone muted so that we don’t all hear, for instance, dogs barking in the background.
When we ask for prayers requests, you can “raise your hand” by keying in 5*. I will unmute you for you to speak your prayer request. (That will avoid multiple people speaking up at once.)
The advantages/disadvantage of this include:
It doesn’t require much technical ability, nor does it require a computer or smart phone. Anyone with a telephone can join in.
It will be easier to speak prayer requests than to type them.
If your phone plan doesn’t include long distance for a flat rate, you will incur a long-distance charge for making this call since the number is not local to Knoxville.
Obviously, this will be audio only.
The quality of sound isn’t as good since it is limited by the quality of the telephone connection.
It will require a computer to access the recording later.
YouTube
As our first “delayed” option, after services conclude we will take the video from the Facebook Live session and post it to YouTube. You can find it on Lincoln Park’s new YouTube channel. (Note: if more people want to access via YouTube, we will do YouTube Live on future Sundays and post the video to Facebook for later viewing.)
The advantages/disadvantage of this include:
You don’t have to join at a particular time. You can access the recording indefinitely.
Many people have a computer or a smart phone who, for various reasons, do not “do” Facebook.
Even though it’s delayed, you can still comment on the video to put in a prayer request.
Anyone with a computer or smart phone/tablet can access it.
Audio recording via web site
For several years we have posted audio of the Sunday sermon. This “delayed” option will remain available. As I write this, I’m a couple of Sundays behind, but we will get this caught up. Along with the ability to access the recording via a link to the conference call web site, a copy will go into the Soundcloud account along with all the others.
The advantages/disadvantage of this include:
It’s familiar. You may have been listening to audio of the Sunday sermons for a long time. Just keep doing that.
There will be no easy way to enter prayer requests, but you can make such requests via a form on our web site, or by sending email to donn@lincolnparkmethodist.org.
You do have to be able to reach a web site via either a computer or a smart phone/tablet.
Figuring it all out
Virtual church will never take the place of actually gathering together. Nevertheless, it is good to have this tool as a means of staying connected and gathering together in at least some sense, at least until we can meet together again. Every cloud has a silver lining, they say, and at least in this circumstance one is that many of the subscribers to Thriving in Exile are scattered across the country. Some of you may have had little or no community. If so, this is a way for us to support you wherever you are. We hope you’ll take advantage of this means of community.