On handwriting in the digital age

I am a dinosaur. I know it, and am proud of it. I am at the age where I can remember life without computers and the Internet. Don’t get me wrong, both are wonderful things. I just remember what life was like without them.

I can remember when it was a big deal when a movie premiered on television. I can remember that each August the Wizard of Oz was on national television, and everything stopped cold. In the slightly previous generation it was said that during the commercials during “I Love Lucy” the water pressure in cities would drop as people used the bathroom and flushed in unison.

And, I still write things by hand. Notes at meetings, and most especially, notes for my sermons.

There are really two ways to preach--one is to read your sermon from a manuscript, or to preach extemporaneously. I do the latter, using anywhere from six to eight pages of handwritten notes. A sample is shown here.

Awhile ago a colleague suggested that because I didn’t write my sermons on my computer and didn’t read them from an iPad, I would be considered old-fashioned. So I am. Let it come. I will retire in about ten years, maybe do a couple of interim positions before retiring completely.

I have been preaching for thirty six years, and have never regretted doing it the way I do. No, it isn’t trendy, and I don’t wear trendy clothes either. If that’s what is going to attract people to my church, then that’s pretty shallow. Although some evidence may argue to the contrary, I refuse to believe that my children’s generation is shallow enough to place image before substance.

Many people don’t write by hand that much. No surprise there. A lot of people don’t read books, either. We have ways of communicating that don’t involve a pen and paper--texting, email, Twitter, and all the other forms of electronic instant gratification. Using pen and paper is becoming a lost art.

So, my use of handwritten notes for preaching is a form of rebellion. It is quaint, I guess. The stylish thing is to use an iPad. I understand, that it’s easier than bringing paper into the pulpit. It’s just a modern version of typing out the sermon. It still leaves me cold. Then again, reading a sermon from paper (or an iPad) leaves me cold too.

A number of years ago a parishoner asked me if I could make a copy of my sermon, as it had resonated with him. I told him that I use handwritten notes, and that he probably wouldn’t be able to read my handwriting. He said that he was able to read pretty bad handwriting. So, I copied the notes for him. He told me the next week that he couldn’t read my handwriting, and he appreciated the effort. I told him I sometimes can’t read my own handwriting either. That’s what appears as a pregnant pause.

People will ask me on a Saturday sometimes if I have my sermon done for the next day. I’ll always say “no.” They will ask when it will be done, and I’ll respond that it will be done when I’m done preaching it.  Preaching is always spoken. It’s another one of those arcane things that we do in the church. It isn’t electronic. It’s me and my handwritten notes talking to a group of people.

I like it that way. I believe they do to. Instead of reading to them, I’m talking to them. That's the bottom line.