projector screens

one thing i see a lot in anca churches that i dont like is projector screens dose anyone know why they are so wide spread

 

I confess to being a person who resisted this trend for some time, however, I suspect it is a lost cause.

There are a number of reasons why they are gaining in popularity:

1. Easy to project a larger print size for older eyes
2. Easy to produce a single layout for the liturgy so people don't have to jump from page to page and book to book
3. Easier to cope with granular inclusions for exotic festivals (Ocean Sunday, Aboriginal Sunday, Etc Sunday)
4. Reduction in the use of paper and reduction in carbon footprint.
5. People lift their heads and pray and sing more audibly and perhaps more engaged.

This of course opens the door to the idea that the liturgy is more local and less global, and the variations here may not be the same as the variations in another place, which has the risk that the liturgy in our Church may be "more sound" than the liturgy in your Church, or vice-versa.

Of course, the move forward from projector screens is the advent of large-flatscreen tv panels. This could be nice if you had one on either side of the sanctuary, and it could be used for the display of appropriate meditative artworks, when not showing words for the liturgy.

Whilst in general I share your displeasure, it is also a fight that I am not prepared to have, and just pray that we will learn to use them well. Dare I say it -wellerer soonerer!

I was quite gruff one Sunday last year when the liturgy was delayed for some 20 minutes while they sorted out the technology. In the main, they do it fairly well at our place, but I often don't look at it very much.

 

Cheaper than hymnals, I guess?

All I can say is, if you're ever in Tulsa on a Sunday morning, come to Church of the Holy Spirit (ACNA). No screens in our nave. We have and use the hymnals and BCPs located in every pew. Bibles in every pew, too, although we don't seem to be cracking them open as much as I'd like.

 

LOL! The if our technology didn't work right, the rector would have to raise his voice or the live stream from the phone cam wouldn't go out. That's about the extent of it for us.

 

I see the utility for certain tasks. Generally speaking I would prefer that equipment be back in the Sunday school/small group room. Getting away from the books gives you adults that don't realize there's more than a Communion service in the BCP.

My biggest problem is how amateurish and poorly implemented use of the new tech is. I was watching a video for a colleague a couple of weeks ago and pointed out that if the video presentation was integral to the class, it needed to be visible. His response was that he didn't realize they didn't have the ability to zoom the camera shot until they had started. Don't livestream from a phone or Ipad. Don't count on a camera mic to give you audible sound when the camera is mounted on a tripod 25 ft. away from the speaker. Etc. If you want to get into the A/V game, go down to the local community college and audit a video production class so you know what you're doing.