Fr. Jon Jordan

On Email as an Electronic Mailbox

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 08:19:24 -0500

Below are some email principles that I have adopted (and re-adopted) over the past fifteen years. Nothing original here; I got all of this from other people.

1. Email is an Electronic Mailbox. Treat it as such.

No email on my phone.
Only check work email on my work computer at work.
Email app or tab only open when I am intentionally reading or writing mail.
Ruthless elimination of Junk Mail. Mark as junk. Unsubscribe. Delete. Right away. No second guessing.
Only check email when I have five minutes to process the inbox.
Rules: I have one “Crush the Suck” folder that is a catch-all for a subset of requests that simply have to be done several times a week. Expense reporting, PTO approvals, purchase orders, etc. Instead of processing them one at a time as they come in my inbox, they are automatically moved to a “CTS” folder, which I have scheduled time each day to work through.

2. Work hours are limited. Make the most of that time.

No response needed? Archive right away.
Takes less than 2 min to respond? Respond right away.
Will it take longer? Time block (long), or add to my paper planner task list (short).
4 sentence cap on replies. Needs to be longer? Make a phone call or talk in person.

3. Heed the wisdom of St. Francis.

By creating a CC folder. (Get it?) All emails that I am copied on go to my CC folder, which I check less frequently than my inbox. They remain unread, but skip the inbox.
By being an “instrument of peace.” Where there is disunity, anger, frustration: move the conversation to the phone or in-person.

4. Rinse and repeat. You will fall off the horse; always get back on it.

When you ease restrictions because you think you need to, always add them back as soon as you can. Remember: you set them up when you were thinking most clearly.

Why?

At my best, I try to use email as its namesake suggests it should be used: as an electronic mailbox.

As technology advanced in the 20th and 21st centuries, and the smartphone transitioned from an executive novelty to the norm, very few of us—including myself—stopped to ask whether this was actually a good thing. We can access email 24-hours a day on our phones, but should we?

Are humans the type of beings who are able to flourish when we are never truly disconnected from our work?

I would suggest that we are not. I know with certainty that I am not.

My tendency, like most of us, became to use email as a slower version of instant messaging. I had email access on my phone and on my computer, and each of these devices notified me the instant a new message arrived. I then replied as soon as I possibly could, often feeling as though my work was not finished until I responded to every new email that arrived. This, as you can imagine, led to a sense of never feeling like I was “off-duty.” I am not alone in feeling exhausted by the “always-on” approach to email.

I am now back to trying to use email as an electronic mailbox.

Like my actual mailbox, I will check it throughout the day if I am expecting important information. Otherwise, I will likely only check it once or twice. This means that I no longer have email or internet access on my phone.

You cannot really disconnect from email after-hours if you have any possible way of accessing it on your phone. Delete the native Mail app, and use Restrictions to disable the App Store and Safari. You can not break an email-checking habit without making it impossible annoyingly difficult to check email on your mobile device.

But what about…?

Several but what abouts almost ruined my endeavor to use email as email. Here are some ways I have talked myself back into it.

If someone needs something from me immediately, they can give me a call. If they do not have my phone number, then I am probably not the person that is best equipped to handle their emergency.

If you are thinking, “I would love to do this, but my industry does not allow it,” then I would suggest two things:

(1) I thought the same thing; you are probably wrong, or (2) You are right, but I imagine you can find a way to limit the “always-on” email mentality to regular work hours.

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 20:17:57 -0500

Today I learned that Archbishop Rowan Williams was at Trinity Church, blocks from the Twin Towers, on 9/11. You can watch him speak about that experience here.

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 07:01:07 -0500

My brief remembrance of Wendell Berry is in The Living Church today.

I present Berry as (at least) the unofficial patron saint of going outside, freedom from our political and techno-overlords, those who “can’t shake the feeling of having been led,” and those who seek to form more fully the next generation. All shared through four messages I sent to four groups of friends the night he passed.

Read the essay here Art by Derek Latta

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 15:37:31 -0500

Or—hear me out—you could spend time encountering the biblical texts afresh with your specific congregation on your heart, instead.

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 10:37:51 -0500

Paging the Donatist controversy.

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 15:36:14 -0500

A coat rack to use for stoles and scarves—with a vertical hierarchy of priorities—is now up in the office.

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 15:11:51 -0500

Two stunning features of the Transfiguration as we celebrate that Feast today:

That Moses and Elijah are there to talk with Jesus about his pending Passion.
That Jesus’s pending Passion is called “his exodus.” (Grateful that the RSV keeps that translated as “exodus” and not “departure.")

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:15:31 -0500

This is a beautifully hand-crafted gift from one of our graduates. Designed to fit the edition of Screwtape Letters I have used in class for years.

Sun, 02 Aug 2026 22:39:26 -0500

Classes I am teaching this year:

Here There Be Dragons: an introduction to classical moral theology cleverly disguised as a reading course about dragons. An elective course for students in Grades 5-8.
Junior Capstone in Christian Wisdom: a year-long research project culminating in a classical argument paper and speech.
Co-Teaching Senior Theology with a dear friend who is both a baptist and a patristics PhD.
Auditing Theology of Craftsmanship: a new offering for our school, in which our students read theology, repair things, and build things.

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 18:11:25 -0500

Excited to serve this year as Theologian in Residence for the ORIGIN program at Art House Dallas!

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 22:47:48 -0500

Finished reading: Moonbound by Robin Sloan 📚

I can’t recall why I stopped reading this a year or so ago, but I started over this summer and am glad I finished. First of all: it was a fun read. Arthurian legends and the White Stripes were not on my bingo card, but alas, Sloan delivered.

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 12:28:59 -0500

Current print and audio reads:

Alexandria by Paul Kingsnorth
Moonbound by Robin Sloan

Next up:

Why We Drive by Matthew B. Crawford
Galahad and the Grail by Malcolm Guite

I will revisit the print edition this year, but for now I will enjoy Malcolm’s voice being the first to tell me the story.

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 16:23:19 -0500

Do Spurs have the most interesting midfield in the Premier League? is worth watching if (1) you are a Tottenham supporter and need to recover from last season by indulging in some (false?) hope, or (2) you enjoy a good laugh. If (1) and (2) are both true, then this becomes a must watch. ⚽️

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 15:31:08 -0500

Mortimer Adler on the virtue of Temperance:

If the poets and the historians describe the prevalence and the range of man’s intemperance, the moralists tend to be unanimous in recommending self-control or moderation. There is hardly any variety of moral theory . . . which does not recommend the discipline of desire by reason and which does not condemn sensuality, self- indulgence, unchecked appetites, or passions run wild.

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:50:23 -0500

Kept near the keyboard:

We must picture Hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment.

From the Preface to the 1961 edition of Screwtape Letters.

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 12:32:40 -0500

Rhythms of Habit proofs are complete! Pre-orders will ship on September 15.

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 12:25:55 -0500

I kept a few thoughts throughout the tournament scribbled in a notebook. I shared many of those World Cup reflections in today’s edition of my personal newsletter.

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 17:27:57 -0500

I have found myself on a bit of a Michael Crichton bender; I finished Jurassic Park this week, and then started and finished Prey.

Then what happened? A junior in our school came to my office today to talk about his Capstone paper topic for the year: de-extinction and its ethical implications.

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 12:51:55 -0500

Currently reading: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton 📚

In prep for an impromptu book club later this month. The movie is one of my all-time favorites; finding it hard to put the book down!

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 11:50:28 -0500

A consolation on the morning after a disheartening performance by an otherwise excellent USMNT:

Great World Cup teams have already been knocked out of this tournament, and for the first time since I’ve started following soccer, the US is one of them.

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 22:08:11 -0500

An ordered list of World Cup teams I am pulling for this summer, to be updated as teams are eliminated.

USA plus two motherlands, along with nations in which people we love live or for whom players we admire play.

~~🇺🇸 (16)~~
~~🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (4) ~~
~~🇩🇪 (32)~~
~~🇸🇳 (32)~~
~~🇭🇷 (32)~~
~~🇰🇷 (Group Stage)~~

Reading St. Paul with Dylan, Screwtape, and the Didache (Proper 8 Sermon 2026)

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 10:32:32 -0500

I invite you to begin this sermon by closing your eyes, so that you can use your imagination to bring a scene to life. (If you are used to closing your eyes in the middle of a long sermon, then consider this invitation to do so right from the start a gift from me to you!)

Here is the scene:

You live on a small homestead right on the border of two competing Landlords. It’s quaint, but it usually provides what your family needs to survive, even after accounting for your Master’s share of the crops. It’s next to a river, which is wonderful outside of flooding season.

The river means something, not just to you and your family, but to your Landlord. That river is the barrier between his kingdom and the neighboring Lord. It always has been. As far back as you know, these two opposing Lords have been planted squarely where they are, divided by a river.

Your Landlord is not kind, to put it mildly. When he wants to wage war against other Lords he forces you into his service, with all sorts of threats if you refuse. Ruin your crops, burn down your house, kill your children. You know, Landlord types of threats.

And so you comply. He says jump, you say “how high and may I come back down now, sir?” No matter the cost.

Because while he is cruel, you also believe he is right. You trust what he says about the Landlord on the other side of the river.

That the Lord across the river is the real tyrant. That he is out to cramp your style, to make you live a life of boredom and prudishness—constantly telling you to stop doing what you want and start doing what he wants.

Your current Master has no delusions about his own harshness, but you believe him when he says that at least he allows you to follow your desires wherever they take you.

As long as you occasionally join with him in following his desires wherever they take him.

To an outside observer you are clearly enslaved to your Master. You may even know this deep down. But the fear of what other sort of tyranny dwells on the other side of the river keeps you where you are.

You have done things for your Master that make you ashamed … but at least he leaves you to the devices and desires of your own heart most of the time.

We’ll pause the story here to make a point. (You can open your eyes if you have not nodded off yet.)

Scenes like this have happened in every generation of human history. As the story began, perhaps many of you pictured an ancient roman landscape—something like the recurring glimpses of Russel Crow’s homestead in The Gladiator—while others of you may have found yourself picturing what you imagine life in the Middle Ages to look like. Still others might have in mind what we consider to be a more modern scene, like occupied Poland in World War II.

Whatever cinematic or historical or literary scene you saw in your mind, you likely also noticed something familiar in the story.

This vignette captures something true about the human experience. A reality that we find ourselves in on a cosmic scale, which is why we have seen it play out in every human society. It is the scene inside our own hearts.

We know what it means to serve a cruel master that we don’t know how to quit.

We know the feeling that we must indulge our appetites whether they are good for us and those around us or not. That we must take what is ours regardless of the ripple effect it may have on others. That we must run down whatever path pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, lust, sloth, and greed invite us to follow.

Regardless of the hesitation we feel at times to go down those roads, and the resolve we try to muster up within ourselves to change, we find ourselves believing the lie that our limbs and joints and mind and heart must serve our own desires.

It would appear that this is simply what it means to live as a human person.

In his letter to Christians living in first century Rome, St. Paul recognizes that this way of life is the default. It is what we find ourselves trapped in.

Sin is our Master. We must obey. Our bodies and minds and hearts must serve our own desires and the desires of the evil one.

But St. Paul’s message in this part of Romans is this: All of this would remain true—it would be our inescapable reality—if it were not for Jesus of Nazareth.

The Messiah came to establish his kingdom here and now. And in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, he invites all of humanity to cross the river to live under his rule. A kingdom in which temperance, fortitude, justice, wisdom, faith, hope, and love replace the vices we formerly embraced.

Earlier in this chapter, St. Paul tells us that our baptism was not merely a sweet ceremony that meant a lot to our family and the church.

It was a death. A dying to a former master.

In our baptism we crossed a river, leaving behind our service to our former master. And we setup a new homestead, pledging fidelity to a new master.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey your passions. Do not yield the members of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield your whole self to God as someone who has been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness.

Yield your whole self to God.

We are a freedom-loving people. Which means that we can be quick to misunderstand what Christian freedom means.

It absolutely means freedom from slavery to sin and the evil one. But Christian freedom does not mean to be without a Master.

In the Gospels, Jesus tells us that we cannot serve two masters. But this morning St. Paul reminds us that we also cannot serve zero Masters.

As Bob Dylan—one of the wise sages of our age—puts it:

Well, it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

Our new Master, the Lord on the other side of the River, is a good Master.

Our old master was lying to us about him, and in many ways is still trying to lie to us about him. He tells us that God wants to limit who we are and who we will be; that he wants to restrain us, to hold us back. That by serving God we will become shells of who we could be if we were to follow our own desires without restraint.

But that simply is not the case; in fact, reality is quite the opposite.

In The Screwtape Letters, a seasoned demon writes letters of advice to a junior demon as he seeks to tempt his human patient away from God.

In one of those letters, the demon Screwtape is ashamed to admit that:

“To us a human is primarily food; our aim is the absorption of its will into ours, the increase of our own area of selfhood at its expense. But the obedience which God demands of men is quite a different thing. One must face the fact that all the talk about His love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not (as we demons would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth.

… We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons.”

It is by renouncing our former Master, and embracing our new one as Lord that we are set on the path to become more, not less, of who we were made to be.

When you were slaves of sin, you were “free” from righteousness. But what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.

I’ll close with the opening line of an ancient discipleship manual called the Didache, used in the early church to prepare adult converts for Baptism—for the crossing of the river from the domain of a former master, into the domain of Our Lord.

“There are two Ways, one of life, and one of death. And great is the difference between them.”

There are two Ways.

You, Christian, have crossed through the River and now serve a Good Master. Do not turn back to the way you used to live; do not seek to return to your old master. That Way leads to destruction and death.

Embrace your new Master; live out your Baptism with your mind, your heart—even your body—this week, and watch as you become more fully who you were created to be. Amen.

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 08:53:59 -0500

Currently consulting Bob Dylan’s commentary on Romans 6:12-23 as I prep for Sunday.

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 22:19:28 -0500

I understand what is and what is not at stake in this match. But I find myself squarely on the audere est facare end of the spectrum. So I say send Pulisic in and win the match for the glory of the game and the pride of the nation. 🇺🇸⚽️

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 15:33:19 -0500

The Christian Union Sports Club (Colombia) putting the beautiful in the beautiful game.