Reno Friends are gathering for Silent Worship this summer (2021) in our Meeting House Garden. However, if you live too far away to join in person, please considering joining us for Silent Worship on Zoom on first and third Sundays when we hold Hybrid Garden Worship. We also use Zoom for Silent Worship if the weather drives us out of the Garden, which is announced the day before. We will continue to use Zoom for monthly spiritual discussions, yoga class and meetings. Zoom is a web-conferencing program that works on a computer, a tablet, smartphone, or phone.
Guidelines for Silent Worship on Zoom:
For Silent Worship on Zoom, each worship session will use the same, recurring Zoom link, which is below. A Worship Clerk will run Worship just as if we were in the Meeting House. Worship will open at 9:15 am and will remain open after Worship ends for a Zoom Social Hour, that will close at 12 noon.
Please edit your name so we know who has joined us. To do this, click “Participants” on the bottom of your Zoom window. Now find your entry in the participants list. Mouse over your entry, click “More”, and then “Rename.”
When the silence begins at 9:30 am, the Worship Clerk will mute everyone’s microphone. If you wish to offer a message during the silence, you will need to unmute your device:
- On a computer, click your microphone icon in the lower left corner of your Zoom window to unmute your microphone, then click it back off when you are finished. Or, press your spacebar and hold it down while you speak. When you release your spacebar, you will be muted again.
- If you are joining by telephone, press *6 to unmute and re-unmute your phone.
- If you are joining on a tablet, tap the screen and controls will appear at the top. Tap Mute/Unmute to control your microphone
Before sharing a spoken message during Silent Worship, please consider these points first. If you answer “no” to any of these, we recommend that you refrain from speaking.
- Is the message divinely-inspired and not just from you?
- Is it intended for anyone besides you?
- Is it intended for anyone beyond the last speaker?
- Is it intended to be shared in this Meeting right now?
- Are you sure others won’t mistake the message for a political statement, lecture or personal report?
- Is the message truly one Spirit/God is asking you to share?
- And, finally, must you speak?
When we transition to Afterthoughts at 11 am, the Worship Clerk will unmute everyone’s microphone so we can share thoughts, joys and concerns. During the social time that follows, you may direct “chat” messages to individual participants by clicking on their images and selecting “chat.” You can also chat from the Participants list.
As our Silent Worship is open to the public, Worship Clerks are prepared to mute or expel troublemakers from the Zoom Worship, if necessary.
Reno Friends’ recurring Zoom Silent Worship gathering can be found at this link: https://zoom.us/j/98305205938?pwd=cDZseGdLbWMyYWZsZDdiN00rMjRUZz09
Meeting ID: 983 0520 5938
Passcode: 441097
Dial in by your location:
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
Guidelines for Reno Friends Meetings on Zoom, including Meetings for Business, Committee Meetings, Spiritual Discussions, Classes, Brown Bag Lunches, etc:
As a web-conferencing program, Zoom is designed for school classes and business meetings, which means it works best if someone manages the discussion. Each RFM Zoom meeting will have a host or clerk to manage the meeting. A Zoom invitation for each RFM session will be sent out to all members and attenders at least one day before the event by the clerk who is hosting the meeting. The invitation includes a link to the scheduled session. During the session please follow these guidelines:
- Please do not interrupt; if you want to speak, you can raise your hand.
- That said, please give everyone a chance to talk.
- Please turn off any background noise (i.e., don’t let your spouse vacuum…) You can mute your device if necessary.
- Put your screen in front of you.
- If you are on your smartphone or tablet, this works best if you park it somewhere (lean it against something and brace the bottom edge) rather than hold it, because then the video goes jiggly. If you like to use your smartphone for videoconferencing, consider getting a case with a kickstand.
- Check your lighting so we can see your face clearly
- Zoom hosts are following FBI guidelines so as to avoid meeting disruptions by hackers. Please do your part – don’t post the link on social media, or share it beyond the Meeting. The only Zoom link that is public is the one for Sunday morning Silent Worship.
To join on your computer, just click on the link sent in the Zoom email invite. A dialog box will appear saying something like “Open Zoom”. Click on that. Zoom may need to download itself onto your computer, so let it do that. (You can remove it later, if you like) Zoom may take a minute to start up, so be patient. When you see the blue “join with computer audio” button, click that.
To join via your tablet or smartphone, you will need to download the free Zoom Cloud app from the app store beforehand. Then just click on the Zoom meeting link that has been emailed to you.
You can join using your phone if you would rather not use a computer, or you don’t have a computer with a camera and microphone; e.g. you use a desktop, not a laptop. Instead of using the link, dial one of the numbers (perhaps San Jose) listed in the meeting invitation. You’ll hear a “Welcome to Zoom” message and be asked to enter the eleven-digit meeting ID, followed by the ‘#’ sign. Next it will ask for a participant ID; we don’t use those, so just hit the ‘#’ sign. Next it asks for the password; enter the six-digit passcode. If you join by phone, you shouldn’t simultaneously join by computer; having two audio feeds causes loud feedback.
Want to learn more about Zoom? Check out https://westernfriend.org/media/how-use-zoom-videoconferencing.