It. Was. In. The. Newsletter.

prioritizing what matters

This is a short one today - my sabbatical ended a week ago and I’m still catching up.

But still, something is stuck in my craw and it has everything to do with information.

Namely, the information that gets announced in worship, is put in the order of service, is in the weekly e-blast, in the monthly newsletter, on the website, and on social media.

That you swear you never saw.

Yes, I’m talking to a specific audience again - those of you who don’t pay attention to the information your congregation sends out.

You are the people who say you didn’t know about a thing and complain that you didn’t know about it. As though someone should personally come over, have a conversation with you about it, and put it on your calendar, complete with buzzing reminders.

And the people who make sure it’s been announced practically every way they can think of (short of skywriting and chryons over your favorite TV shows) are exhausted by your lack of attention.

I don’t imagine it’s because you don’t care, because you clearly care enough to be upset when you miss something.

Is it because you’re overwhelmed by information? I get it - we all are. The information is already 12 years behind, but according to this 2015 article in Fast Company,

Information scientists have quantified all this: In 2011, Americans took in five times as much information every day as they did in 1986—the equivalent of 174 newspapers. During our leisure time, not counting work, each of us processes 34 gigabytes, or 100,000 words, every day. The world’s 21,274 television stations produce 85,000 hours of original programming every day as we watch an average of five hours of television daily, the equivalent of 20 gigabytes of audio-video images. That’s not counting YouTube, which uploads 6,000 hours of video every hour. And computer gaming? It consumes more bytes than all other media put together, including DVDs, TV, books, magazines, and the Internet.

Imagine how much worse it is now, in 2023.

The solution is remarkably simple: prioritize your congregation.

I get tons of emails - we all do. Besides the work emails, I get emails from a variety of places - shops I like, subscriptions I buy, restaurants and entertainment facilities, non-profits I support, various organizations that matter.

Do I read them all?

NOPE.

But I do read the ones that matter, that I have prioritized. I read my professional association’s weekly email. I read the emails from the Kennedy Center, Smithsonian, and Shakespeare Theatre Company - because I live in DC and always discover amazing programming that enriches my life. I read my home congregation’s newsletter (okay, largely I scan it for big information, because I am no longer local).

My point is this: if the place matters, you pay attention. You do more than read, you notice. You take in. You mark stuff down. You engage with the information that matters. You push aside some of the 35+ GB of information to make room for this thing that’s important to you.

Does your congregation matter to you?

Then prioritize its communication.

It’s that simple.