Monday Mailing 9

May 24, 2020

When Zoom is Not Your Friend

A little cray-cray (crazy) this morning, eh? I am writing this on Sunday afternoon, and we have learned a number of things. Zoom did some maintenance over night . . .no word on the connection there. The UK had issues with Zoom long before we did. Zoom appears to be working well now . . . our siblings in Christ on the West Coast are rejoicing. Oh, and we managed pretty well.

For the record. . .I tried a number of things this morning. . .and was wondering why no one was gathered with me at 10 to the hour. We tried closing then opening the meeting – with me not seeing you/hearing you/your hearing me/your not hearing me (some really liked that option!). . .and finally, through a free account, a smaller than normal group were able to join together to cram worship into the allotted time.

I left our Zoom to go to a Facebook live worship that a friend was offering. She is usually on Zoom, too. . .but being in CDT, she had a few moments to change the church plans. We didn’t. We were changing things on the fly. And you know something wonderful? God was worshiped in spite of Zoom! Some of you were able to join (at least partially) a meeting a member quickly set up and for which had Charlotte Hasselbarth send the link out. Others of you probably read through the bulletin we sent out. . .using it as a devotional of sorts. Even if you cannot sing, you can read the words and share together. And even when we skipped a song or two, I saw a couple of you singing it anyway – mute is a beautiful thing!

I wrote the following to our Facebook Zoom group, knowing that others had not yet experienced what we had: Let me be an encourager this morning. . .the world did not end because we had Zoom issues. In fact, the world outside of Zoom probably didn’t even know we had issues. As I reminded our folks when we were finally able to connect (mostly) “I would apologize, but there is nothing I did to cause it. I’m just sorry for the inconvenience.”

Be models of flexibility. Be models of resilience. These are the most unusual of times, and expecting that our Sunday worship is going to happen without hiccups is kinda crazy, eh? Cut yourself a break, and help the congregations we serve to understand that the things humans do can and will be filled with hiccups. . .it happens. . . Grace abounds. . .and have a great Sabbath, y’all!

Zoom is only a tool. Our buildings are only a tool. The staff you employ are only tools. . .tools to help you in your worship of God and your mission in the world. You are God’s gift to the world. . .be the gift.

Peace be with you!

Pastor Janice
518-598-2989