Photo: By Chris Montgomery on Unsplash.
The deep web: Rosemary Field facilitates worship
‘There have been many joys in this form of ministry.’
For more than four years I’ve been a facilitator for online worship for Woodbrooke Europe & Middle East Section, for the thirty-minute Meetings at 7:00am on Tuesdays. That must mean that I’ve facilitated over 200 Meetings.
There have been many joys in this form of ministry. The role involves being a Zoom host and an elder. Together with a co-host, in this case Grace Ogilvie, we: greet Friends as they appear on screen; open and close the Meeting; and manage any Afterwords. That’s the hosting part. As elders we seek to ensure right ordering and, I hope, nurture the spiritual life.
I know that some Friends find online worship unsatisfactory, but there are others who find it deeply meaningful, and it may be a lifeline for those confined to their home. This was not just a pandemic necessity; it is something that has proved to be of enduring value, evidenced by the numbers of attenders who join each week. One recent morning we had Friends from Norway, France, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Eswatini and Singapore, as well as those from the UK. Some Friends join just once a week; others make the most of the Meetings that take place every day except Saturday.
Over these four years we have developed a sense of community, and I know other online Meetings have found the same. I look forward to meeting Friends each week, and being a member of the continuing group. We have shared major events in each other’s lives, in a light-touch way and with warmth and a sense of appreciation of each other. There is a regular group of twenty to thirty but, most weeks we have someone new, too. For a while we had a Friend in the US who joined in the middle of her night, from her camper van festooned with fairy lights.
Most significant is the depth of the worship, the openness to the sacred in the deep silence, and even the sense of a gathered Meeting. I love this practice, each opening ourselves to the sacred. There may be spoken ministry or ministry posted in the chat box, sometimes followed up in Afterwords. This week’s ministry spoke to many of us – it was on prayer as attunement to life and love. We also have an extended afterword once a month, when regular attenders take it in turns to lead a worship-sharing session on an advice or query they have chosen.
This Meeting for Worship complements my Local in-person Meeting. It provides some of the top-up I need to keep my focus on ‘the things that are eternal’. Meeting early in the day also helps with that commitment.
Woodbrooke trains and supports worship facilitators, arranging Zoom meetings once a month when we can raise queries and share experience. These are invaluable, and there’s also an online retreat once a year. The Woodbrooke team is unfailingly helpful: responsive to calls about technical problems, wise in the advice they give, and skilled in providing access to expert resources such as safeguarding.
Woodbrooke is always looking for more facilitators, so if you’ve enjoyed online worship and would like to offer this service, contact them on learning@woodbrooke.org.uk.
