Hybrid worship, zombie avatars, virtual reality hugs.

Wherein RantWoman will:

--try VERY hard to cut back from howling the words "ableist BS" after every other sentence to maybe only every fourth, fifth, tenth sentence

--actually sincerely mean "poor dears" for people who just don't feel the same thrill RantWoman does when she sees names dear to her in the Zoom participants list or hears the joy in the voices of Friends long separated from shared worship by transportation challenges.

Some of the seeds of this post

go to Western Friend and put Hybrid in the Search bar

Comment part of a LOVELY email discussion generated when RantWoman admitted after worship one day that what she has read of the Western Friend discussion made her cross:

"I am posting this link from an essay in today's New York Times because it contains some thought provoking ideas about the nature of community worship. Admittedly it is from the point of view of clergy in a Christian church, but it addresses right on point the wisdom of continuing a zoom alternative meeting. I hope everyone will read it and that we can discuss it at some point soon."

Why Churches Should Drop Their Online Services - The New ...https://www.nytimes.com › church-online-services-covid

RantWoman finds the above headline horrifying. RantWoman has neither read all the items in Western Friend nor ventured beyond the New York Times paywall. RantWoman has listened to the lived experience of Friends on an FWCC call and noted the many configurations of people worshipping together during the last meeting of the FWCC Section of the Americas virtual gathering. So RantWoman is going to comment on the basis of what has come to her so far:

YES, being in person matters, makes a difference. But so does connection, however tenuous and challenged by the modes of mediation.

NO RantWoman does not absolutely HAVE to have others in the same room to experience the presence of God.

Here it matters to have a good interfaith network of people who interact about what nurtures worship. Even better if the network includes people who share RantWoman's zany sense of humor. A friend, the former Senior Warden of a local Episcopal cathedral (role includes a giant ring of keys and "more meetings that God.") spoke of a piece she read about young people who might like virtual church with all kinds of avatars. 

For those not baptized in modern techno-lingo avatars are the persona one creates in digital spaces. Avatars have visual logic. They also frequently represent someone who for any number of reasons is physically or psychically different from who a person is in real life IRL, or as some disability advocates put it "in meat space." 

RantWoman is too blissed and tired in connection with a very cool thing that happened today to want to let all the zany avatars and hyper edgy gaming memes and virtual reality church concepts on her mind spill out into the blogosphere. However, RantWoman has a time or two let her mind wander toward, OH HORRORS, virtual reality hugs. RantWoman first thought about this in the case of interplanetary space travel. RantWoman does not necessarily that interplanetary pioneers will want to pack the whole fam up in a space ship for the whole round trip. Also the several minutes of signal delay are going to need some algorithmic help for any kind of realistic experience. So one might, say want to leave a supply of hug outlines with one's loved ones at home AND pack a supply of hug outlines from the loved ones one can't take along. 

Sound weird? Sound better than no hugs at all while one's spouse is off at sea or out conquering the world for months or years on end?

RantWoman brought up the concept of virtual reality hugs around some younger collaborators who really are all in for virtual reality. Virtual reality hugs had surprising resonance.

And yes, people SHOULD definitely resume visiting in person as it becomes safer to do so..