Pick a church that has a working link to a full-length service recording available for June 7. Then, prepare to do
your observation of that church service. Watch the service all the way through, jotting notes to yourself about
what you see, hear, and experience. Describe the setting and features of the video production. Who is featured
in the video? What do they look like (e.g., physical characteristics, clothing/jewelry, perceived identities such as
gender, race, etc.)? What do they sound like? Do they say what their role is? What are they saying? What is their
body language like? What emotions are being expressed? What are the songs about (e.g., titles, themes, bits of
lyrics)? What kinds of readings take place? What is the sermon on? What kinds of stories are told? What kinds of
assumptions are made? What images or messages appears on the screen? What do they tell you about church
activities or priorities? What if anything is mentioned about COVID-19? I want you to take descriptive fieldnotes
on everything you see, but pay special attention to anything said, expressed, or presented about race. What do
you perceived the race/ethnicity of people shown in the recording to be? Who is doing which tasks in the service
(e.g., the music, the preaching, the reading, etc.)? Use any transcript that might be provided (e.g., in YouTube) or
pause the recording and write down a few key quotes if and when the topic of race comes up. What is it like to
be participating, in some ways, as a viewer of the service? What might other participants have faced in watching
the service online? Use all of your senses to produce a thick description of this virtual church service.