Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The Wordle Test for your Sermon...



MPJ did a Wordle on his Blog for his D.Phil thesis on Martyrdom. So I wondered if a good sermon ought always to have Jesus at the center of a Wordle created from that sermon. I know that simple word count is very different to coherent Christ-focused content. But still...

I tested my theory out on my sermon on John 3, (it took 3 seconds) and above is the Wordle.

So I guess I passed.

(Click on the picture to see the Wordle properly.)

Sam asked me in the comments about how my theory holds for Old Testament. Hmmm. This one is from Deuteronomy 6 -- I guess its still Trinitarian, since Jesus is in the center...



Test your sermon...

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10 comments:

John said...

Wordle is amazing :).

Justin said...

Are you a reader of The Blogging Parson, JH?

John said...

Indeed, great stuff.

Anonymous said...

I failed miserably, but then, I preach from an outline rather than a full manuscript.

Preaching from Ephesians 6:10-17, I had "gospel" in the centre...

Anonymous said...

Does your theory hold for OT passages?

My 1 Kings sermon came up with some different statistics.

Justin said...

Sam -- Just did Deuteronomy 6 and amended the Blog. Jesus is still there in that one...

This has given me some pause...

Jim said...

This is great!

Good for analysing propoganda or advertising as well and see how you can be brain washed!

Nathan said...

Here's a talk I'm giving to students in a few weeks:
http://wordle.net/gallery/Commitment_Talk_-_FOCUS

Keith said...

Hmm - pause for thought: http://keithbaker.blogspot.com/2008/06/rom-7-wordle.html

But maybe Jesus will feature slightly larger in a narrative text about Jesus, where you are discussing the characters, rather than an epistle?

Unknown said...

oh no!
http://wordle.net/gallery/Jude_8-16

Jesus is off to the side in my Sermons!....People are almost at the middle...

...obviously my Jude Sermon needs some work.