What Now?

[Leisesturm]

Don't know about the rest of you, but I am home this morning. First time in recent memory. Church is closed. Minimum of two weeks. Possibly as long as 'indefinitely'. May or June realistically. I don't know, the Praise Band think they can livestream services during the hiatus. They've been itching to take over the Music Ministry. None of them read music. The two guitarists strum chords only (maj/min/maj7th) the Bass player ... they hold the instrument up and look good doing it is about the kindest way I can put it. The drummer just sits at the kit with the sticks in their hand. There is a pretty good drummer that won't play with them anymore. They still come to church and watch the new drummer struggle. I have been putting the Bass down under the guitars and also a healthy amount of fill for the more complex chords and chord progressions. We also have a pianist, a true senior near 80 but at least able to read music. The pianist, and myself on organ and keyboards ARE the Praise Band. That certainly wasn't my intention or expectation when I took that job.

I'll be 61 in April and they are saying that makes me too old to join the Worship Team Livestream. They simply weren't able to get anything on air today. And it is doubtful they can ever put anything together that is watchable in any amount of time. For two years I've been telling them to practice and become more familiar with their instruments but no, they simply didn't have any time. "Besides, we don't sound half bad". Of course not, you had competent keyboard musicians filling in your blanks.

This has all happened so fast I'm a little shell shocked. As recently as this Wednesday I still thought there would be church this Sunday. How are y'all coping? Any thoughts?

[timnc]

Good time to take out that challenging piece that we put back in the drawer thinking "I'll get back to it when I have more time." But, yeah, I don't know what to do with myself, other than get more practice time.

[jbird604]

Interesting story, L-sturm. Who knows, this might be the end of what sounds like a pretty laughable "praise team." I suspect you are correct -- they will never be able to pull together anything worth broadcasting, so there will be no music on the livestream unless they bring you into it.

Actually, this all sounds fishy to me. Yes, if you're "over 60" you're more at risk, but honestly -- I am more confident about the survival of my healthy 68-year-old body than I am about many 40-year-olds I know who suffer from various maladies. Sounds to me like somebody just wanted to prove some kind of point, like "we can do without the organist." Perhaps the lesson will turn out to be just the opposite!

Your church's leadership may change strategy right away. We only made our decisions Thursday, and may well do something entirely different next Sunday. Today, our little church, which normally sees about 50 to 60 present on Sunday, had about 30 sturdy souls present, and oddly enough, several of them were 80 or older! For reasons of their own (and good ones no doubt) most of our younger adults with children were not there.

But that aside -- and we didn't stream the service -- we just had a slightly simplified version of the regular service. I played MORE organ than usual, as there were fewer distractions, and of course the organ is a "one man band" that can provide whatever music is needed on the spur of the moment, such as when it took much longer than normal for communion (everybody had to come up to the altar and pick up their pre-packaged wafer/juice).

While home, keep your fingers limbered up and your reading sharp. You will be greatly appreciated when things get back to normal.

[Piperdane]

I'm 71 and participating in our live streaming of 2 worship services. We normally have 4 weekend services but two of those have been suspended indefinitely

I was given a choice on whether or not I wished to participate in my usual capacity. I said, "yes, absolutely".

We will also do our mid-week Lenten service in the same fashion - live stream (audio and visual).

We are, of course, not doing Holy Communion and the Offertory is still present (music only). We have things set up so that people can donate electronically by texting or through automatic withdrawal from their bank accounts.

[andijah]

I tried streaming from church yesterday. Didn't work. Not enough bandwidth. And we don't have a landline in church that we could use instead.
Oh well. Gotta sing and pray at home then.