Friends,

Before I get to you about my point, let me info-dump on you about our AV ministry.

When the pandemic was declared, St. Luke’s rose to the occasion to keep people connected to their faith community. This meant outdoor worship with an FM transmitter at 8:00 am on Sundays, and getting high quality streaming for the 10:00 am service. This was made possible by some generous donors, and the skills and hard work of our former associate Rev. Chip Russell. I arrived when this was our regular rhythm, and it was how I initially got to know our congregation.

The cameras, microphones, and control panels are largely unchanged from when we were broadcasting in an empty Church, and I am happy to say that is about to charge. A generous donation has enabled us to get the cameras and control panel out of the pews, and it will give our AV volunteers a lot more control. It should enhance how we do this ministry while making everything more discreet. I am thrilled.

The livestream gets broadcast directly to YouTube and Facebook, and we are averaging just over one hundred views between the two websites, though most people do not watch live. My goal is to download that livestream every Monday and I edit out the sermon and one piece of music to repost to our website, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram (most of the time) and TikTok. This is low hanging fruit and is an easy way to greatly expand our reach. I’ve had two sermons get some serious traction on TikTok, but for the most part my sermons rarely make it over one hundred views on the other services. For whatever reason, YouTube loves our music it is not uncommon for our music to get thousands of views just on YouTube.

You would be surprised how many times people come up to me on Sunday and say, “You don’t know me, but we’ve been watching you all for some time online.” Even if we were reaching one person who would otherwise not attend, this would be worthwhile. Richard Maple and the other people who keep this ministry vibrant are doing incredible work. Thank you.

Now to my point: People can be stupid and petty, especially online. Believe it or not, when people leave comments or reactions, they are overwhelmingly positive, but jeez, when they negative, they get really negative. When it’s about stuff I’m doing, I get incredibly self-conscious and I feel painfully vulnerable. The funny thing is, when they get weird about the music I just laugh, because they come across as painfully particular, mean-spirited, and often ill-informed. Others tell me that my occasional trolls come across the same way, but I just can’t see it because I’m blinded by my insecurity.

One complaint that we received on a particularly popular music posting is that it was mislabeled, but it turns out they just didn’t know what an arrangement was. Others complained that they didn’t like the arrangement, which made me curious why they took the time to listen to something they didn’t like and then write something about it. This was clearly a case of people who knew a little bit about a topic putting someone down to make themselves feel smarter. The pettiness was comical from my very non-musical perspective.

Another complaint we get is about background noise. People seem to think this should sound like a recording done in a studio, but it is in the context of live worship, so you will hear children in the background. Those imperfections are signs that the next generation is being exposed to beautiful music, and in my opinion, should be celebrated.

With one massive exception, I highly doubt that any of them would have said anything if they had heard these arrangements in-person on Sunday morning. Trolls thrive in comment sections. Not only do they get to ignore the humanity of the person on the other side of the screen, they can ignore their own humanity through perceived anonymity.

We could bemoan the existence of online trolls at all and conclude without a thin layer of social pressure the true nasty state of humanity reveals itself. For me, I see this phenomenon as good news. We are all guilty of sins that we cannot begin to fathom, while we are able to see the sins of other clearly. It’s good that we are not ephemeral sprites composed of the manifestations of our virtues and shortcoming. God made us to be highly emotional and inconsistent fleshy creatures that are capable of tremendous love and good works, as well as prejudice and evil deeds. Every single one of us is a mix of both sides. The good news is that when we interact with each other in person, we generally get along. It’s when we put a remarkably small bit of ourselves out there for people to judge with impunity that things get mean.

As a friend recently reminded me through an article, people need to be isolated to act like there isn’t a human on the other side of the screen. Trolls are generally just sad people that want to make up for their shortcomings by putting others down. Unfortunately, we live in a world where that isolation and lack of social empathy can lead to real world consequences. I highly doubt any of those music trolls will show up and make trouble because of an arrangement we plan on singing, but for others who put themselves out there, this can be a real threat.

One of the things I love about our church is that we do not have the luxury to dehumanize the person sitting next to you. Pick literally any hot topic in society, and if you went to a forum in our building to discuss it, there will be hot disagreement. People may even get angry, say something they regret, then they’ll look around and feel embarrassed, and if we’re lucky, apologize. If you think a certain type of person epitomizes what is wrong with the world, you will likely pass the peace with that person in worship at St. Luke’s. We will strive for justice and truth in this Church, and when those sinners we disagree with get sick, we will visit them and bring them casserole.

Our AV ministry has done incredible work, and what I love about our videos the most are the imperfections. We do not deliver anything finished, but just the efforts of a community as they exist in that moment. Online, we may seem monolithic and stagnant, but our hope is that people will make it in and see all of the glorious humanity present that somehow keeps it together, and is bond together in the hope that God has given us through Christ our Lord.

Blessings,

Nick