Pandemic Church Services Virtually Zooming Ahead

Someone was unmuted and talking, interrupting the church service, and we could see who it was. Welcome to pandemic church.

This wouldn’t happen in normal times where everyone is seated in pews in a church building. There, everyone except small children knows they are unmuted. But we aren’t in normal times. So, thanks to the pandemic, we now are having church by internet – virtual church. It’s supposed to be virtually the same as being there.

Video conferencing was not even a reasonable option until a few years ago. But it has evolved into a cost-effective meeting option, making it a popular method of holding church services during the pandemic. Yet, many who would seldom miss a service at church now don’t attend online because they don’t have the tech skills or equipment. While they can attend by phone, it is not very fulfilling and is only marginally better than church services on the radio.

I got involved with the production of internet services for Christ Episcopal Church in Red Wing when we were confronted with the virus and the shutdown of the church. Many churches were ahead of the game, already posting their regular church services on the internet either live or recorded. We had been looking into it but now were forced to act. We took the same route as a lot of organizations – Zoom.

Zoom is just one of many available video conferencing programs. It works well, is low-cost, and even has a free version. It was available at the right time. It’s sort of a Hollywood Squares thing where each attendee is viewed in a small window on the computer screen. Whoever is talking pops up over the others. This includes an unmuted congregant’s dog barking. 

We have had about seven months of Zoom services now. Remember, while these services are an attempt to remain consistent with regular church services, they can, at best, be only virtually the same.

That means there are limitations. There can be no communion, no real eye-to-eye passing of the peace and no collection plates.

Members need to be reminded to maintain their pledges, part of which help maintain the physical church no one is allowed to enter. Because of internet traffic delays, singing or reciting as a group is out unless the intent is to sound like arguments at the Tower of Babel. You can’t prevent wiggling the smart phone or tablet you are watching from if you hold it – an annoyance to others.

We have held some small, distanced outdoor services including funerals that were also streamed live on Facebook so others could watch online. Communion was carefully provided at each of them.

The Episcopal Church in Minnesota (diocese) has developed guidelines for church operation during the pandemic. Phase 1.0 was basically a complete shutdown of the church. We have now advanced to Phase 1.5 which allows limited church operations. The offices can be staffed and limited services can be recorded in the church. The ceiling fans in the nave are turned off to limit air circulation. A church committee spent numerous hours writing a specific plan to meet approval.

Phase 2.0 will allow more people to attend in-person services but no singing by the congregation will be allowed. A choir is allowed if properly distanced. Communion will be allowed with special rules. We may buy disposable plastic goblets that provide both the bread and the wine. The wafer is accessed from the sealed bottom of the goblet, then washed down by turning the goblet over to unseal the top and consume the wine. Functional and sanitary if somewhat wasteful.

So, at 1.0, we have begun prerecording services at church, combining tech with proper safeguards such as face masks, distancing and a limit of 10 participants. Our choir consists of four singers located in the middle pews, two on each side of the aisle. They appear like the four corners of a square separated by at least 14 feet so they don’t need a mask. They sing toward a microphone placed in the middle of the aisle.

The one camera we use faces the sanctuary and the recording is controlled at the back of the church by two of us. The clergy wear masks except for the sermon. We will be switching to clip-on microphones because over-the-ear ones interfere with masks. A hanging mask is a bit unsightly.

For best recorded sound, we had to turn off the main church speakers. So for participants the experience is less than ideal. The service includes a condensed version of communion without the bread and wine. Viewers are not encouraged to provide their own. 

During my lifetime it was extraordinary if a church service was canceled due to a blizzard, extreme cold or a failed boiler. No one imagined a pandemic that affected the elderly the most, the very people still holding many churches intact. They are also the ones least likely to be able to attend a virtual church service.

The pandemic will change church life forever just as it will change everyday life. How many members will return when it reopens? How many will have passed away?

It’s an Old Testament story set in current times.