Blog

I’m sorry, I was having problems with my cameras this morning so the service today is in sound only.

The documents for the AGM on 25th April are now published here! Or see the link on the home page.

Little by little I’m improving the quality of our recorded services. There are still some quirks in OBS Studio, which I use to record the service and I plan a third camera for the congregation. The little cube cameras which I use are rather difficult to set up, but once in place, they will be far less prominent than a regular video camera. There is flickering on the altar camera which is difficult to remove without editing the whole video. And I am getting a noise-cancelling effect in the sound although it is de-selected in OBS Studio (Noise-gate). It has dawned on me that maybe Windows is doing this for me! But here is the service in its complete unabridged form! In stereo!

I am getting flickering the video on the altar camera. It is a common problem due to interference from the church lighting, so I’m looking into how to fix it. Some of the sound is a little other-worldly and low level. I think this is due to my lack of understanding how the audio mixer connects with OBS Studio. So I’m doing tests at home before recording the next service. One problem I have is that it takes about 30 minutes to set up all the sound gear before a service because I can’t just leave it in place during the week. So, preparing for the service is a bit of a rush. Oh for the sound and projection location at the church in Barcelona! High up and completely secure. Steve

On every first Wednesday of the month, we distribute food to families who are registered as in need with Social Services. Eduardo is the organiser.

The morning of the distribution, he, or sometimes Adam, drives down to Banco de Alimentos by Merca Centro Comercial, which is between Telde and Las Palmas. At the back of church, we already have stock from previous times, and these are augmented by this new product which they collect from Merca.

Each family has a page in Eduardo’s book with the producs that they require. The distribution starts at around mid-day and continues into the afternoon. Usually, there are 3 or 4 families waiting patiently in the garden, ready to be called up to the south door of the church. I never actually asked, but I guess they are given a time slot to avoid all arriving at the same time!

I went along as an observer on 1st April so that I could write about it here, but as you can imagine, I soon ended up helping out too! Eduardo was on his own, this particular day, so it was appreciated. Sometimes Rick also comes along to help.

This is the first service recorded using the audio mixer and laptop. There were a few problems. The lectern mic didn’t work at the start, so that was edited out. And there was flickering on the video of the altar. I suspect it had something to do with the lighting in the church.

Click on the link below to see the video.

https://youtu.be/H1bgj-fABs8

It is rather a “rough cut”! I will edit it more later today or tomorrow (Monday). We are testing parts of the recording system in preparation for a full properly edited service. Or, of couse, a streamed service. So it will always be recorded “as live” thus minimising the delay in editing it.

To be published at 4pm today

Reflection from today.

From the depths of grief and waiting,
new life is already stirring. Today we
stand close to deep emotion — grief,
waiting and hope. Psalm 130 cries “out
of the depths,” reminding us that honesty
is the beginning of prayer. In Romans we
hear that life is found not in fear or
narrow thinking, but in a Spirit-filled
way of living that brings freedom. And
in the raising of Lazarus, even in tears,
new life emerges where all seemed
finished. The thread through all three
readings is clear: from the depths, life
can still rise.

I’m on the Church House Pulishing mailing list. They are the official publishers of the Church of England and have an interesting selection of Christian books which maybe we could offer for sale (or maybe loan) at the back of church. Here is the link to their website.