Following successful events last year, Church House Publishing is offering five Visual Liturgy training days as follows:
28 Feb: Going deeper (advanced) course
6 March: Get started (basic) course
27 June: Get started (basic) course
20 Sep: Going deeper (advanced) course
13 Nov: Get started (basic) course
More information is at www.churchcommstraining.org
Happy New Year to Visual Liturgy users! We have prepared an update mainly for Daily Prayer but recommended for all. To get the update, choose Online Update from the Edit menu in the top bar, and tick and download the Software update and the Calendar update (subscribers only).
When we prepared this calendar update we noticed and corrected a problem which has existed in Visual Liturgy for many years. In the book Calendar, Lectionary and Collects, most events have readings for the Principal Service, Second Service and Third Service. However, Holy Days have readings for the Principal Service, Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer. This was originally entered in Visual Liturgy so that Morning Prayer maps to the Second Service and Evening Prayer to the Third Service. This is incorrect, and the Second Service should map to Evening Prayer, Third Service to Morning Prayer.
There is no problem with using Third Service readings for Evening Prayer or vice versa; it is a free and valid choice. However, this did cause problems for the Daily Prayer lectionary on Holy Days and Eves, especially on Eves where there is no Third Service provision. We have now corrected this. This will not affect you, unless you have custom service templates which assume the incorrect entries in Visual Liturgy’s calendar. If this is the case, you just need to amend them so that Evening Prayer uses the Second Service readings.
A few snippets of news for Visual Liturgy users. First, we have fixed a small problem with the text of the Advent Sunday service. If you find that text is copying with a small font for half of the service, or that the second half of the service does not display properly, you need to download the latest update called General updates and corrections.
To get the update, go to Online Update on the Edit menu in the top bar in Visual Liturgy. When the online update window appears, check this update (and any others you need) and click OK to continue.
Second, we have updated the calendar for Methodist and Church of Ireland users for 2012. If you use one of these lectionaries, update your Visual Liturgy using online update.
We are currently working on Holy Week and Easter resources so look out for news on that soon.
Visual Liturgy Live users with an active subscription can now download the full contents of Times & Seasons President’s Edition. This 2010 volume makes it easier and quicker to incoporate the many seasonal variations included in Times and Seasons (2006) into Sunday services.
In addition, the following updates are now also available for all Visual Liturgy Live users to download:
These updates are available via the Online Update feature in Visual Liturgy Live.
You can renew your subscription at any time online at www.visualliturgylive.net.
We have published a guide to one of the handiest features in Visual Liturgy. This is called Open in Word Processor. When a service is open, simply right-click over the text, choose Open in Word Processor, and there it is in your word processor, where you can easily reformat or edit the text, and print using all the rich facilities your word processor provides. It can be tricky to configure though, and we also have some tips that can speed your work. The guide is here:
Due to popular demand, there is an extra date for the "Delving deeper with Visual Liturgy Live" training on 2nd November.
This is in addition to the VL training day on 21st September.
Delving deeper with Visual Liturgy
21 September 2011 or 2nd November 2011 10am-5pm
Church House, London SW1P 3AZ
£80 per person
Have you started using Visual Liturgy Live but want to be able to use its advanced features? Spend a day learning how to develop further your skills in Visual Liturgy Live in our IT training suite.
Who is the course for?
• Anyone who has had some experience with Visual Liturgy Live and who wants to get more out of this powerful programme. This course can be seen as a follow up to the course “Getting to grips with Visual Liturgy Liveâ€
What will you learn?
• Beneath the bonnet of Templates – how they can be customised
• Using the Lectionary Planner to plan readings for services ahead of time and create sermon series around particular themes
• The fine details of searching with the browser and accessing hymn and song suggestions
• Working with styles and properties within Templates- accessing the advanced features of these tools
How to book
Please email comms.training@churchofengland.org with the name of the course you would like to book on and your contact details. You will receive an invoice for the course fee in due course.
We have posted a small update to correct the second reading, NRSV version, for Sunday August 7th. The error meant that the reading might appear in small type or in some cases not at all, when exported.
We have also fixed a problem in Morning Prayer on Sunday (Ordinary Time).
To get this update, use Online Update, on the Edit menu in the top bar, and tick the content update.
In case you are wondering, there are also several more substantial additions to Visual Liturgy which are under way, so look out for more news soon!
A VL training day for more advanced users will take place on 21st September.
Delving deeper with Visual Liturgy
21 September 2011 10am-5pm
Church House, London SW1P 3AZ
£80 per person
Have you started using Visual Liturgy Live but want to be able to use its advanced features? Spend a day learning how to develop further your skills in Visual Liturgy Live in our IT training suite.
Who is the course for?
• Anyone who has had some experience with Visual Liturgy Live and who wants to get more out of this powerful programme. This course can be seen as a follow up to the course “Getting to grips with Visual Liturgy Liveâ€
What will you learn?
• Beneath the bonnet of Templates – how they can be customised
• Using the Lectionary Planner to plan readings for services ahead of time and create sermon series around particular themes
• The fine details of searching with the browser and accessing hymn and song suggestions
• Working with styles and properties within Templates- accessing the advanced features of these tools
How to book
Please email comms.training@churchofengland.org with the name of the course you would like to book on and your contact details. You will receive an invoice for the course fee in due course.
As we approach Easter here is a guide to seasonal resources in Visual Liturgy along with news of a Holy Week and Easter book from Church House Publishing.
Of course the standard services in Visual Liturgy will automatically include the proper readings and collects during this season. But there are also further resources:
Proclaiming the Passion has dramatic passion narratives based on each of the Gospels and in shorter and longer versions.
Times and Seasons has sections for Passiontide and Holy Week, The Easter Liturgy, and for the Easter Season. These resources can be found by expanding the sections under Common Worship on the Visual Liturgy home screen.
In addition, Church House Publishing have recently published Common Worship: Holy Week and Easter. It is designed for use at the altar, at the lectern and on the move, with durable binding, lie-flat pages, six ribbons, new musical settings and the complete Passion Gospels in both dramatic and continuous form.
If you order this direct before 15 April from
http://www.chpublishing.co.uk/product.asp?id=2396567
you will also receive a free copy of Using Common Worship: Times & Seasons Lent, Holy Week & Easter (plus free postage and packing). Just add Holy Week and Easter to your basket and checkout as normal and the free book will be supplied automatically.
Visual Liturgy has many features, but how do you get the best from it? It can be a challenge to find your way around at first.
There is online help in Visual Liturgy and also a manual online:
http://www.visualliturgylive.net/standard.aspx?id=32
This is the same one that comes in the box if you have a boxed copy of the software. Unfortunately it is a little out of date and does not cover the newest features.
In order to supplement the manual we have started posting answers to common questions online:
http://www.vislit.com/blog/?page_id=172
If you have a question that is not answered here, let us know by email and we will try to add it.
Some dioceses have Visual Liturgy training so it worth asking your diocesan resource officer about this.
Keep an eye on Visual Liturgy news too, as we post tips here from time to time.
