Love Not Fear

I've put Google Analytics on this blog. It's a free tool I can use to see how many times this site is read, and where in the world they are. The idea is that everything on the web is "out there", and anyone anywhere can read it. I consider this a very very very very good thing, especially for our group and the content here. I really hope that we're getting hits from China or Ireland or even maybe Mississippi! Google Analytics isn't giving me any personal information, like your name or your favorite kind of toothpaste or anything. Even if it did, I'd throw it away without looking at it. I'm not going to sell advertising. Mostly, this is just for a warm fuzzy on my part, to let me know what this particular tool is doing, all on its own.

Update: Due to a bad reaction from everyone who saw the original version of this, I changed the title (which meant actually thinking about the title), and made some minor edits (no content change). Also, if you happen to get the allusion in the new title: shame on you. One of our youth are preparing to preach a sermon soon (May 11 - Pentecost Sunday). We do this pretty much every year, so I thought I'd put here what accumulated knowledge I have after having preached a few times as an elder. Writing for the Ear The main thing to remember, and probably the hardest thing to remember when you're writing a sermon, is that you're writing to be heard , not read . In other words, your sermon is for people's ears, not their eyes. That makes a difference because there are a number of things you can do with your eyes that you can't with your ears. You can read something again, but you can't "rewind" a live sermon. You have to remember that if your listeners'