My Preaching Stats

Because, let's face it, all pastors should have trading cards. Here--in order to procrastinate just a little on a dreary, really dreary, way too dreary (seriously am I in Oregon right now?) kind of Friday--are the sermons I've preached by books of the Bible.

Book	#
Genesis	19
Exodus	5
Leviticus	0
Numbers	1
Deuteronomy	1
Joshua	0
Judges	0
Ruth	1
1 Samuel	0
2 Samuel	4
1 Kings	4
2 Kings	0
1 Chronicles	1
2 Chronicles	0
Ezra	0
Nehemiah	0
Esther	0
Job	0
Psalms	12
Proverbs	0
Ecclesiastes	4
Song of Solomon	1
Isaiah	5
Jeremiah	1
Lamentations	0
Ezekiel	0
Daniel	1
Hosea	0
Joel	1
Amos	1
Obadiah	0
Jonah	2
Micah	0
Nahum	0
Habakkuk	0
Zephaniah	0
Haggai	0
Zechariah	0
Malachi	0
Matthew	6
Mark	6
Luke	26
John	19
Acts	6
Romans	6
1 Corinthians	6
2 Corinthians	1
Galatians	5
Ephesians	1
Philippians	0
Colossians	1
1 Thessalonians	1
2 Thessalonians	0
1 Timothy	0
2 Timothy	0
Titus	0
Philemon	0
Hebrews	0
James	0
1 Peter	0
2 Peter	0
1 John	2
2 John	0
3 John	0
Jude	0
Revelation	15

What a boring, un-annotated list that is! OK, here's something better. (Wait, you're thinking, this topic could be potentially not-boring? Maybe that's a stretch, but less boring perhaps.)

The key stats:
Total sermons: 165
# on the OT: 64
# on the NT: 101
OT books preached on at least once: 17 out of 39
NT books preached on at least once: 14 out of 27
Book preached on most often: Luke (26 times)
Books preached on more than ten times: Luke, Genesis (19), John (19), Revelation (15), Psalms (12)
# on the Torah: 26 (15.7%)
# on the History/Writings/Wisdom of the OT: 27 (16.4%)
# on the Prophets: 11 (6.7%)
# on the Gospels: 57 (34.5%)
# on Acts/Letters of the NT: 44 (26.7%)

A few words of interpretation. I don't know what any of this says about me, except that I almost always follow the lectionary anyway and since we've been using the Narrative Lectionary for the last couple of years it's pretty natural that I'd have a lot from Luke (and this year from John, so that # will go up this year). But the emphasis on Genesis and Revelation may be confusing, except that our congregations read through those two books the last two summers.

Also, some books have undue influence from funerals or weddings. Of the six times I've preached on 1 Corinthians three have been weddings (1 Cor 13, of course) and one a funeral, five of the times I've preached on the Psalms has been at funerals, and the only times I've preached on Ruth, Song of Solomon, or Colossians have been at weddings. Finally, even though I've preached on Ecclesiastes four times, two of those have been funerals, one wedding and one for a class... so basically I've never actually preached on Ecclesiastes on Sunday morning.

Anyway, I should get back to actually working on a sermon and not just musing on silly things like this. On a dreary day like this I fear I have done nothing to keep any of you awake...