A memory flashed across my devices: a photo of my Zoom-Church set up in 2020, while the world was contracting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A tour of this photo serves as a deep dive into the rich memory of that season in history.

When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, I didn’t know what to do. I sucked at video editing. So I turned on the only technology I knew how to do: Zoom. For a good year, we worshiped together via Zoom. We maxed out the house with online schooling and so my Zoom studio was the garage. It never ceased being a garage, I just squeezed tables, lamps, microphones, etc. into the space. Here is what it looked like on that particular day. And the details warm my heart in strange ways.

1. Five Gallon Bucket of Pistachio Shells…I spent a lot of time out here and ate a lot of pistachios. I filled the 5-gallon bucket and it nourished my compost pile.
2. Hand-Written Order of Worship…Worship really evolved in the garage. I would prerecord hymns to sing together, we abbreviated parts, and we experimented a lot. The Storytelling around All-Saints was really good. I found that on Zoom, it really worked because we talked a lot with each other. It was a lot less Pastor-to-Congregant and lot more All-of-us-together. My role then was more facilitator than preacher.
3. Bible…Open to Matthew 5 & 6. I was preaching through the Beatitudes that Fall. Even on All-Saint’s Sunday, the lesson was ultimately on the basics of Christ’s teachings.
4. United Methodist Hymnal…Opened to the Lord’s Prayer. I wonder if I didn’t use an alternative version of the Lord’s Prayer on this Sunday. I always have to have it printed out. There was a stretch early on in my career where I would routinely forget a line in the Lord’s Prayer. Or, I would get them out-of-order. I now know that was a stress response to a bad placement…but ever since then, I read the Lord’s Prayer.
5. My Guitar…I just played a lot of guitar at that time, mostly to record or offer music in worship. But, it became a go-to crutch in a time of crisis.
6. A Family Photo in Front of Multnomah Falls…my family was really just a few feet away inside the house. But this particular photo was to remind me that we would go places again someday. Now, I am so grateful for this little tribe of mine. It’s so conventional on one hand, but a true blessing nevertheless.
7. Microphone…I like how the table is holding a lot of bendy-holdy things: microphone, lamp, laptop stand…the key to success in spatial organization was to think vertically.
8. Zoom-Room…this almost deserves it’s own post.
   1. Two of the attendees here are now deceased.
   2. One of them never un-muted and never turned on the camera and we suspect he was enjoying an adult beverage at 10am on a Sunday.
   3. One of them was the first Zoom champion among the seniors in that congregation: when she got the device to work it was a modern-day miracle. Then she began coaching other seniors in how to get online.
   4. One of them, because this was the Sunday before the 2020 election…this was the last moment of peace between the two of us.
   5. One of them was tuning in from the car, which was really very cool.
9. Singing Bowl…This was how we called each other to prayer. I had brought it in from the sanctuary to add a little bit of normalcy to the totally abnormal way we were doing things.
10. Logo Survey…One thing we did while sequestered was contract for a new logo design. This page was the survey that started the whole process. There were moments of tedium in that process, but I was really pleased with the result. You can see the logo here:
11. Hot Wheel…I began collecting Hot Wheels during the pandemic. Every trip to the grocery store included a car or two or three for the kids…and me.
12. Care Package…That was a tough year to be 3,000 miles away from Mom and Dad. They kept me afloat with care packages. Some of which included baseball cards. This one likely was a Halloween theme with candy and other little goodies.

So…a little bit of memory lane for me.