Paperwork 10.17.2024

     Asana is a company that provides project and work management software for individuals and teams. The origin story for the company comes from the system the company's founders put into place at Facebook to streamline work processes. Every job has a disproportionate amount of what Asana calls “work about work.” These tasks are, in Asana's marketing often derided as drudgery, “make work”, or mere paper-pushing. However, for real people living in the real world these tasks are vital, even essential to doing what we might call “adult person” work. These unfashionable duties are often the bones and sinews that hold together projects, bring work in on time, and provide context for the next project. This is no less true of the critical work of studying and preparing to preach

    When “work about work” is denigrated, marginalized, overlooked, or just plain ignored, when you don’t pay attention to those details you can endanger or even shipwreck the entire operation. The Asana mythology is nice. Out here in the real world, we realize that “work about work” is, in fact, actually just work. Plain old, unglamorous, painstaking, detailed work that needs to be done well  so that tasks can be approached appropriately, work product can be usefully stored, and the final output--in this case our weekly sermon--is ready to be presented.  

    In the 21st century the physical aspects of virtually any job have been altered by our digital reality. I’ve personally used computers to research and write sermons since 1985. It is really within the last 20-25 years that we have been able to move virtually the whole research, writing, storage, filing, tracking process into local or digital storage.  Here’s a quick review of the analog process for you youngsters who be too young for the "age of paper".

     In 1997 (just picking out a year) I would start with  a case of legal pads and other necessary stationary. This meant a hanging file folder for each sermon series. Depending on the part of Scripture each series came from I might also have a separate hanging folder just for research. In the “Sermon” folder went a manilla folder for each sermon. Into that folder would go all notes, outlines, illustrations, clippings, drafts, edits, and final preaching copy for that particular sermon. Given all that paper, most preachers could have had “Tree slayer” as their nickname.  Notes and typewritten copy were stored on a computer. Much of the time I stored each years work its own floppy disk. In addition to the stationary products there were consumables for the computer and printer and the final piece of the puzzle--filing cabinets for storage. Besides preaching preparation there also was Pastoral work, Professional growth and interaction, Planning and Leading, and Programming. Even in a ministry setting with secretarial or administrative assistance most of that "work about work" was mine to organize and execute. 

    The digital age has both changed the process and intensified it. It is possible for me to read, review, and research far more material and keep richer records because none of it ever leaves my computer. Virtually all of it is  in the cloud accessible on every device available to me. Since 2012 virtually every sermon and point of research I have prepared is available to me on phone or iPad. I rarely print paper for notes. I still take take a lot of handwritten notes and if what I write down is something essential that I need to keep for possible future reference I snap a scan of if with my phone and store it in the appropriate folder on my computer.  

    It is somewhat easier to do this basic administrative work with our interconnected digital technology. Yet It is still important to review and consider these mundane processes because the depth and breadth of the information, coming at us at ever greater velocity,  still needs to be organized and accessible—not merely “piled” on a distant hard drive. 

    I’m preparing to preach from Matthew this winter. I have at least five complete sermon series from Matthew available to me at the click of a button! I need to know what I have said in the past, what I’ve said recently, and what materials I have researched and to what degree. Yes, it is easier to just rifle through files on a computer than it is to pull and review a physical folder. Easy or difficult, digital or analog it’s got to be done and despite the Asana folks wanting to shill on doing away with such paper-pushing, real jobs require personal and institutional context. That context comes by intentionally connecting the past to the future. That process is real, necessary work.

    And we must do it. During Sermon Calendar month I will go into the folder on my hard drive cleverly named: 2025. I have already labeled the following folders: 1. Preaching. 2. Pastoral Care. 3. Planning/Leading. 4. Professional. 5. Programming. The primary focus of this month will be that first folder--Preaching. I have prepared subfolders: A.M. Preaching. Theology. Improving Interpretation. Sermon Calendar Work. There are a few scattered files that will be properly filed as I go through the process. A.M. Preaching has a subfolder already for each series I’m planning. Each sermon series gets subfolders for research, preaching manuscript, slides, handouts. This system takes a few more clicks than some methods. I can also do a quick search using the Alfred utility on my Mac and just find it the hard way. Following the folder tree reminds me that this is not a random process. There is a purpose and direction to what I’m doing. No. You certainly don’t have to do it this way. If you want to use card stock and envelopes that’s fine. You either are organized or not. Yes it takes time. It can be drudgery and I do work as quickly as possible to just hammer through the "paperwork" so that I have as much time reserved for study as possible. The time is not wasted. Presumably that study will result in notes, drafts, preliminary outlines, and strategies. If I'm going to be able to find it 12 weeks from now that will only be because I've done that administrative work in advance. 

    If you are not organized, you will spend a lot of time simply looking for things that you have but can’t find. You will likely not prepare preliminary drafts and do much editing because you’ll find it difficult to remember where you’re at in the process. You’ll be able to leverage the power of modern computing to find things, but you won’t really know where they’re at, or why. Much of what I write in this space encourages you to be thoughtful and intentional in your preparation and preaching. Part of that process is storing the fruit of study so that you are able to use it. Real study should be a journey of discovery. Don't get lost in the undeveloped country of your own work. 

    You might be thinking “I didn’t get into ministry to do paperwork.” Get over it. Real jobs include real work. Adults don’t just get to have fun. Doctors need to take and maintain good notes. I want engineers to keep their materials organized rather than risk unnecessary road or bridge failures. Lawyers do briefs and are organized. Accountants keep accounts straight. Even professional athletes study their playbooks, review their film, and keep notes on their past performance and the tendencies of their competitors. Simple or complex, real jobs have work product and deliverables. Preaching has a different focus and domain, but you still do the work (work product) so that you can preach on Sunday (deliverable). 

    My point is, given that we will do something let’s make sure that it is intentional, storable, usable, and discoverable. Your life’s work needs more attention than a tangled mess. If we are going to heed God’s call on our life and do the work, let’s do it well.