Comparing worship service live (in-person), live streaming (online), and playback (of earlier live stream)

 

February 7, 2025 Symposium of Worship at Calvin University

The annual gathering of church leaders in music, preaching, as well as lay leaders held five public worship services during the 3-day proceedings in Grand Rapids, Michigan. These screenshots come from the live stream of the fifth and final in the series about the 2025 theme of parables. The recorded version is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNw-dGSgZl8. The same images are bundled into a slideset, downloadable in PDF for closer viewing and readability of the subtitle text, too.

Having attended the first worship service on the Wednesday in person, now to experience the same venue on a different parable and preacher and music groups, but now via the live stream offered a good opportunity to compare these two forms of engaging in the worship rhythm and substance. Both the in-person and the live-stream contrast to the playback of the uploaded, finished recording of the worship service. So all three ways of engaging can be examined here.

LIVE STREAM: Demonstrated in the Friday final worship service, there is a risk of technical glitches (audio interference on certain frequencies) having to be fixed on the fly. Events unfold in linear sequence; there is no jumping ahead or behind the present moment of engagement. Unlike in-person, the lens and editorial decisions about which camera position to select is restricted. Viewers see what the live editing team has selected. One cannot look left or right, study one person or another, or close eyes to take in the whole.

IN-PERSON at the worship service: This is a multi-sensory presence, wrap-around immersion; of being there: temperature and seat support, light in one's eyes, sound too quiet or too loud for personal preference, surrounding sounds and 3-D sound waves filling the surfaces, and even the smell of fellow worshipers.

PLAYBACK: One can chose the time and location for playback on demand; stop and start, set playback speed and volume. One can read comments by others and add one's own in reply to others and in response to the recording itself, as well. It is possible to make note of bookmarks (time marks) to revisit later or tell others about, to scrutinize or to excerpt. At times a person might want to engage with certain segments non-linearly, jumping back and forth; like reading a book according to one's aims or habits, not necessarily non-stop from start to finish. There is also the risk of distraction, notifications intruding on screen or one's wandering attention and intention (commitment to undivided attention).

In conclusion, when it is practical to participate in-person at the scheduled time and location, that is the richest form of building memories, sparking ideas, and mingling with others. Nextmost immediate is the virtual, ghostly sense of "being there" (almost) in the online live stream. But maybe the most utilitarian and usable is the recorded version to dissect, share, compare and contrast, reflect upon and digest little by little. It can offer rich rewards, according to the effort poured into it. But for most people that is a high bar and so the in-person experience fills the mind and imagination with least effort and most vivid sources of memory.

Symposium on Worship 2020 at Calvin University, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Near the last days of January every winter since 1997 the people at Calvin College (rechristened University in fall 2019) have hosted a Worship Symposium on campus with a steady registration of 1500, plus or minus, in recent years, equally divided between men and women and a slight preponderance of younger attendees in 2020. The Thursday-Friday-Saturday proceedings begin each morning and end the seminar sessions late each afternoon with public worship in 2 and some years 3 concurrent services. This photo is the opening morning at the Chapel (with room for about 300 seated in the round; or rather, in the hexagonal). The larger venue is the auditorium at the Covenant Fine Arts Center (capacity 1100). [click the image for larger display]

before, during, after worship Thursday 8:30 a.m.

People who present or participate come from many denominations and a wide range of locations around North America and, indeed, from countries around the world. Attendees can choose from a variety of sessions to attend, paying for the full symposium, or just by the day. The worship times, though, are free and open to the public.

As a participant observer there are many notes and experiences to articulate and reflect on, but with these pictures the prompt to write about here is the wonder of gathering people at various stages of spiritual growth; with differing stocks of knowledge, life experience, and aspiration or ambitions that motivate them to walk through the door and sit down. Then as the announced start time nears and the organist begins playing, the quiet conversations dissipate until all attention focuses on the words of the worship leader and the sequence of the Order of Worship goes from start to finish. In the end the blessing is given to release everyone into their day's events and the worship space empties, while here and there small groups of fellow travelers to the symposium exchange thoughts or seek out musicians, preacher, or worship leaders for a brief self-introduction or question/answer interchange.

There are no printed Worship Bulletins or other guidance for what amounts to a room filled with mostly strangers to each other, united in their love of God, the name and the word of God, and their own place in this world. And yet, thanks to text projected onto screens with responsive readings or lyrics (but no music notes for those able to sing in parts), and thanks to the mic'd strong singing voices of worship leaders to set the rhythms and melodies, somehow the assembled people, unfamiliar with the way things will go, still are able to join in the congregational singing, react to the spoken word of scripture and preaching, and make meaning of the course of the worship service.

In the eyes of a watchful spectator, it must seem surprising that so many different people from all corners of the world should appear at the appointed time at this location, join smoothly in the flow of events, including singing in unison or harmonizing ad lib, then fill themselves with meaning and learning, and finally depart onto the campus to engage in the sessions they have chosen. It could well be that those skillful worshipers may never cross paths with others in that moment ever again. And yet how very well did the whole experience bloom and produce meaningful fruit.

Of course, it is not as if such huge productions of praise, learning, reflection, prayer, and participation just happen randomly in times and places where you least expect it. The Calvin University annual Worship Symposium is planned as soon as the previously one wraps up and evaluation comments are studied. And the kick-off morning worship service derives from the designated theme or Bible passage for the year. So the shape, the talent, and the general direction for the morning is given to organizers which builds in some deliberateness. But the part played by those showing up, registered or general public (not registered) is unknown. Still the whole thing comes together somehow. That surely is amazing, whether one is a long-time seeker after God's will or a first-time visitor. The morning was streamed online and can be replayed or browsed at https://livestream.com/calvin-university/events/8972364/videos/201358165