Do you ever feel the Holy Spirit?I awoke Monday and logged on to learn that something horrible had happened. An individual known by many in my ever widening cyber circle had died tragically (see below). By the time I got home from work and was able to log into Face Book, the blogs I follow, e-mail, etc. it was clear to me that many, many of my Internet friends and acquaintances were in pain, grieving the unexpected loss of a friend.
I went to bed that night with their thoughts and comments whirling in my brain. That's when I felt the Holy Spirit. You see, I couldn't sleep because this idea took hold of my tired brain and it wouldn't go away. The idea was that I must organize a cyber funeral for these folks. It was all right there, I could use Face Book to coordinate and gather the folks, I could create a virtual chapel by creating a blog dedicated to the service, I could use Hipcast to record and post the readings, the music, the homily. I could use the status updates on FB to lead folks through the service. It kept spinning faster and faster and in the end I was forced to get out of bed past midnight and turn on my computer.
Within minutes I had created Emmanuel Cyber Chapel. I picked a "theme" for the blog and only later realized that the series of connecting squares were a symbol of our lives in cyberspace. I typed in the description - "we are all connected...God is with us." That idea is a foundation of my personal beliefs and also a wonderful descriptor of how I am connecting with folks via the web.
I then went to Face Book and created a Face Book Group Page, which also served as virtual chapel space and here I was able to create an event - the memorial service. I then invited some of the individuals who I knew were hurting and finally went to bed around 1AM.
The response was phenomenal. In the end local and cyber friends of Lee contributed recordings of the readings, people shared music files or made suggestions, I began to type up a Word document of the service so I could cut and paste. The best and final piece - the Homily -one of the individuals I connected with said he could do the homily and I thought "great." What I didn't realize at the time was that this man was Lee's pastor and friend and what he proposed doing was recording the actual homily he delivered earlier today at the real life funeral service.
By this afternoon I was so excited and so nervous. After all, I had no idea if this would even work, if I was able to communicate to the attendees my assumptions about the computer software so that they were having the experience I was hoping for. In the end I believe it was an awesome event. Picture 40 or so people scattered over the continent - California, Canada, North Carolina, Maryland, Michigan, Colorado, Missouri, Florida, New York, Virginia, Tennessee - even one person in France - all praying together. We even had a symbolic Eucharist. Individuals were encouraged to have "bread" and "wine" ready. Fr. Mark assured me that he would say the words and do the appropriate hand movements as I sent the bits of Eucharist prayer out through the web.
Now I am relieved and content. People who couldn't possibly have flown across the country to attend the funeral of someone they never met in person were able to celebrate his life in the venue in which they knew him. The Spirit worked through me this week and I am glad for it. Peace to all my brothers and sisters who supported this wonderful service, and rest in peace, Lee.
I went to bed that night with their thoughts and comments whirling in my brain. That's when I felt the Holy Spirit. You see, I couldn't sleep because this idea took hold of my tired brain and it wouldn't go away. The idea was that I must organize a cyber funeral for these folks. It was all right there, I could use Face Book to coordinate and gather the folks, I could create a virtual chapel by creating a blog dedicated to the service, I could use Hipcast to record and post the readings, the music, the homily. I could use the status updates on FB to lead folks through the service. It kept spinning faster and faster and in the end I was forced to get out of bed past midnight and turn on my computer.
Within minutes I had created Emmanuel Cyber Chapel. I picked a "theme" for the blog and only later realized that the series of connecting squares were a symbol of our lives in cyberspace. I typed in the description - "we are all connected...God is with us." That idea is a foundation of my personal beliefs and also a wonderful descriptor of how I am connecting with folks via the web.
I then went to Face Book and created a Face Book Group Page, which also served as virtual chapel space and here I was able to create an event - the memorial service. I then invited some of the individuals who I knew were hurting and finally went to bed around 1AM.
The response was phenomenal. In the end local and cyber friends of Lee contributed recordings of the readings, people shared music files or made suggestions, I began to type up a Word document of the service so I could cut and paste. The best and final piece - the Homily -one of the individuals I connected with said he could do the homily and I thought "great." What I didn't realize at the time was that this man was Lee's pastor and friend and what he proposed doing was recording the actual homily he delivered earlier today at the real life funeral service.
By this afternoon I was so excited and so nervous. After all, I had no idea if this would even work, if I was able to communicate to the attendees my assumptions about the computer software so that they were having the experience I was hoping for. In the end I believe it was an awesome event. Picture 40 or so people scattered over the continent - California, Canada, North Carolina, Maryland, Michigan, Colorado, Missouri, Florida, New York, Virginia, Tennessee - even one person in France - all praying together. We even had a symbolic Eucharist. Individuals were encouraged to have "bread" and "wine" ready. Fr. Mark assured me that he would say the words and do the appropriate hand movements as I sent the bits of Eucharist prayer out through the web.
Now I am relieved and content. People who couldn't possibly have flown across the country to attend the funeral of someone they never met in person were able to celebrate his life in the venue in which they knew him. The Spirit worked through me this week and I am glad for it. Peace to all my brothers and sisters who supported this wonderful service, and rest in peace, Lee.
3 comments:
Our parallel universe is working again, at almost the same exact time, with one hour time difference. I just posted on MY blog!
I was so frustrated to be able to see responses but not able to respond myself. One should not try to text at 75 mph in the wind and rain, not to mention bendy roads and lots of traffic. I should listen to the sermon to see if I can hear myself laugh. Others seemed too shy. And I was sitting with the choir so I was close.
I'm glad you didn't try and text responses, bad enough you were driving and reading at the same time at those speeds in those conditions, eh?
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