‘Clearly the reluctance to change, with all its rationalisations, is a sign of age.’

All that jazz: Helen Johnson gives in and signs up for Zoom

I know I belong to an ancient generation. My favourite singer by a country mile is Ella Fitzgerald. And this period of social isolation has given me time to explore the lives and work of Miles Davis and Bill Evans. So, we’re talking about a focus on the late 1950s – which is a long time ago, even for me. A lot of things have happened between then and now.

Apart from musical tastes, one of the symptoms of being such an age is that I’m starting to choose whether or not I bother to ‘keep up’. My bank is clearly annoyed that I don’t use their online services because of what I regard as legitimate security issues. I have even been known to write the occasional cheque. But recently I’ve given in to the expectations of friends to use bank transfers to pay for theatre and other shared expenses.

Clearly the reluctance to change, with all its rationalisations, is a sign of age. But sometimes there is a wider discussion to engage in. I’m afraid my first reaction to the idea of Quaker Meetings on Zoom was to be somewhat bemused. All these individuals sitting alone at home and sitting in (almost) silence. In many ways, after the reluctance to join any group is got over, it does seem to be the total introvert experience. You don’t even have to leave the house. And, I hold my hands up: to be honest, I was more than slightly intimidated by the technical and experiental issues. How does it work, how can I get in and participate – and what will the Meeting actually be like? There is something about sitting with others together in a circle in the Meeting house. Something does happen. Will a Zoom Meeting be remotely the same?

I’d enjoyed the What’sApp group we’d set up though. So I gave the Zoom a go. A local Friend, Laura, kindly helped me get in and, after that, it was a piece of cake (though it was the only piece of cake I was going to get – but I did get a wave from Cathy from her house). Was it a deep spiritual experience? No, it wasn’t for me as a first-timer. But, somehow, I realised that this new type of Meeting cannot be dismissed and ignored. (A step-by-step handout – perhaps even written on a piece of paper – explaining quite how to get in and what to do might be helpful.)

Perhaps the Zoom Meeting is not the entire future but it is certainly going to be part of it. It was the first Meeting of this type, I guess, that many of us had experienced. I realised that this is a change – out of pure necessity and technological advance – that has to be supported and given time to develop spiritually. After all, we do have to keep in touch and in sight of each other.

---

Comments

The step by step guide you referred to is available on the Woodbrooke website here: https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/about/online-mfw/setting-up-mfw/
, where you can download the Guide to Online Worship and Meetings.

It gives an easy to read explanation of being in meeting for worship online, and there are instructions on how to join a Zoom meeting.  These are designed for first-timers, and tailored for each type of device you might be using - including an ordinary telephone.  There is also a handy one-page reminder you could print.

We are all learning and experimenting, and it does become more familiar the second and third time.

By jonathan.carmichael@ntlworld.com on 30th April 2020 - 17:02

---

Please login to add a comment