Dear friends,
Attached is the bulletin for tomorrow morning’s service. Those of you who tuned in last Sunday know that we have changed the venue and set up for Sunday mornings. For the last 4.5 months, we had been live-streaming Sunday morning Eucharist from our dining room. That became necessary early in the pandemic when the bishop said we were not allowed to livestream from the church itself. We were able to broadcast from our dining room and still have music because Joseph Henry found an app that allowed him to insert pre-recorded videos into the livestream. So Cameron each week made a separate video of each piece of music, then emailed them to Joseph Henry, who worked his magic on Sunday mornings.
But now Joseph Henry has gone back to school, so we had to find a new way to do Sunday mornings. Fortunately, we are now allowed to live-stream from the church. We know from past experience that the echo in the empty sanctuary makes understanding the spoken word difficult. So we have set up in the parish hall, which, of course, was the sanctuary and general all-purpose room in St. Dunstan’s early days. The carpet helps absorb some of the sound there, so it is better for live-streaming than the church. But last week we got a lot of feedback about the sound and the lack of intimacy in that space.
We’ve made some adjustments this Sunday that I hope will help with both of those issues. As you can see in the pictures below we’ve taken the screens that are used to display art and formed a horseshoe around the altar and piano. These are not acoustical panels, but they do absorb some of the echo. We’ve also moved the camera closer so there is a tighter shot of the altar/lectern. That also helps with the sound and with the feeling of intimacy.
Of course, it’s not going to be as intimate as our dining room. But we are in the space of the church, and Cameron no longer has to make all those videos. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow, and if we need to make more adjustments we will. As with everything the last five months, this is a work in progress. Nothing is going to feel like all of us together in the church. But we are most likely many months from that joyful reunion. In the meantime, we’re doing everything we can to make it the best worship for all of us. Please have patience!
See you in the morning.