I’m writing my sermon for Sunday in Google Docs. It’s on 1 John 1:1-4.
Here’s the Google Docs analysis of what I’ve written so far:
| Counts | Selection | Document |
| Words: | – | 3815 |
| Characters (no spaces): | – | 16912 |
| Characters (with spaces): | – | 20720 |
| Paragraphs: | – | 82 |
| Sentences: | – | 524 |
| Pages (approximate): | – | 5 |
| Readability | Selection | Document |
| Average sentences per paragraph: | – | 6.39 |
| Average words per sentence: | – | 7.28 |
| Average characters per word: | – | 4.43 |
| Average words per page: | – | 763.00 |
| Flesch Reading Ease: [?] | – | 84.78 |
| Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: [?] | – | 3.00 |
| Automated Readability Index: [?] | – | 3.00 |
That’s the formula (from this test) that gives a readability level of 3. I guess that’s good. It’s probably not helped by the number of sentences. I write punchy sentences for sermons. I also speak naturally at about 160 words a minute (that’s the broadcast standard for journalism) – but should slow that down. At that pace this sermon should go for about 23 minutes.
Here are the stats on the passage itself:
| Counts | Selection | Document |
| Words: | – | 103 |
| Characters (no spaces): | – | 433 |
| Characters (with spaces): | – | 535 |
| Paragraphs: | – | 1 |
| Sentences: | – | 5 |
| Pages (approximate): | – | 2 |
| Readability | Selection | Document |
| Average sentences per paragraph: | – | 5.00 |
| Average words per sentence: | – | 20.60 |
| Average characters per word: | – | 4.20 |
| Average words per page: | – | 51.50 |
| Flesch Reading Ease: [?] | – | 78.33 |
| Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: [?] | – | 7.00 |
| Automated Readability Index: [?] | – | 9.00 |
I think it’s a good thing that my sermon is more simple than the passage right? Shouldn’t an explanation be easier to understand than the thing you’re explaining? Otherwise it would be pointless.
Out of interest I pulled one of dad’s sermons off the MPC website and ran a comparison.
| Counts | Selection | Document |
| Words: | – | 3032 |
| Characters (no spaces): | – | 12835 |
| Characters (with spaces): | – | 15893 |
| Paragraphs: | – | 58 |
| Sentences: | – | 276 |
| Pages (approximate): | – | 4 |
| Readability | Selection | Document |
| Average sentences per paragraph: | – | 4.76 |
| Average words per sentence: | – | 10.99 |
| Average characters per word: | – | 4.23 |
| Average words per page: | – | 758.00 |
| Flesch Reading Ease: [?] | – | 82.04 |
| Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: [?] | – | 5.00 |
| Automated Readability Index: [?] | – | 4.00 |