Central Philadelphia Meeting’s message to worshippers

The following is an adapted text of the email our office sent to Friends inviting them to worship via Zoom, with some introduction and pointers about how to join the meeting and deal with the technology.

Friends-

Welcome to CPMM’s experiment with virtual meeting for worship. We’ve never done this before, so be aware that we’ll probably have some problems. You might have technical difficulties yourself. Be patient, read the tips below, and call our “tech support hotlines” if you still have a problem. We’re all learning how to do this together.

We will be starting the Zoom meeting at 10:30 in order for those who would like to sign in early and test their connections and to hopefully address any technical issues. Worship will begin at 11.

To Download the Zoom app on a PC/Mac- [the url for the Zoom meeting appeared here]
The app is also available in the Apple Store and on Google Play.

Then followed the login information, meeting ID and the dial in for Friends joining by phone, all of which Zoom automatically provides when you schedule the meeting.

The text resumes:

Meeting for worship will begin at 11 am. A member of the Worship and Ministry committee responsible for the care of the meeting will introduce him/herself and describe how the worship will proceed.

Our worship together, grounded in the silence, will last about an hour. Our experience suggests that it takes an opening period of worship in silence, without speaking, for those present to settle and gather into a deeper, more centered space. This is a time when we wait expectantly on the Divine, open ourselves to the Spirit moving among us and within us, and enter into prayer. Out of a deeper silence, people may be led to speak, feeling deeply moved by their experience of the Spirit within. Sometimes, however, the hour will pass without any vocal ministry. It is our usual practice to speak no more than once during the Meeting and to leave a period of silence between each message.

Worship will end when the person who opened meeting signals that our worship time together is done. We then will move on to worshipful sharing of Joys and Sorrows in our usual manner. Last, we will have an opportunity for people who are new to our fellowship, or who have not been in meeting for a long time, to introduce themselves.

To start:
Use your computer’s or your device’s speaker and microphone, rather than a plugged in external speaker system or microphone—unless your computer doesn’t have a built-in camera, in which case, see below. Otherwise, unplug that other stuff.

Using an external camera?

  1. Check to see whether your own face appears in one of the windows. If it does, you’re good to go. If not …
  2. Click on the little up-pointing carrot to the right of the camera and the microphone icons in the lower left hand corner of your screen to make sure your external device is checked.

Having problems?

  • Call our “tech support”. Note that they may already be busy helping someone else, so leave a voicemail and we’ll get to you as soon as we can.
  • Names and cell phone numbers of three Friends who volunteered to be the tech support appeared here.

Joining the meeting:

  1. Click the link in the email from the office.
  2. Click the link “Download and run Zoom.”
  3. Click “Join with [computer] audio” and “Join with [computer] video” if these prompts appear. [If you’re on a tablet or phone, it will probably prompt for that device.]
  4. Click “Gallery View” in the upper right hand corner if you want to see everyone at once in little windows; click “Speaker View” if you want the current speaker or the image of the meeting room as the main screen and participants in little thumbnails. Note that a highlighted yellow frame surrounds the window of anyone who is speaking, if you’re in Gallery View.
  5. Click Stop Video in the lower left hand corner if you do not want to show a close-up of your face in everyone’s screen; they will just see your name.
  6. Click Mute in the lower left hand corner to mute your microphone. At the start of meeting the host will mute everyone. If you decide to speak, click it again to activate your mic, then mute yourself when you’re done. This will give us deep silence and help with the quality of the audio and video by eliminating ambient sounds from everyone’s environment.

Here are a few resources to help with Zoom:

Good luck and Trust in the Spirit