Traffic Implications

One of the little tools we bloggers have is the capacity to monitor traffic on our site. No big deal. How many hits, what pages hit, how long somebody stays on - general stuff like that. Last week there was one post in particular that caused my meter to spike (spike is a relative term, I grant you, but it was a spike for me). That post has been previously dealt with.

But the post that is causing me most curiosity for the traffic it is receiving was written almost a year ago. In the last month, the amount of hits for the post containing my 2007 Maundy Thursday homily is stunning. I'm getting two or three hits on that post a day. People from IP's all over the world are hitting that page.

Not knowing what the big deal was, I went back this morning to look at it myself. It's short, pretty much right to the point - hardly stellar, but solid.

And then it occurred to me - who among us, at this time of year, would be searching out homilies for Holy Week?....your average lay person? Uhhh, Nope.

Based on the sites I hit and "find inspiration" for the preaching moment, I wonder how much of my homily is going to be shared from pulpits in the UK, New Zealand, the US?

If it is, is that a good thing? Some days I wonder.

And then, what the heck am I going to do for Maundy Thursday this year? Is what I wrote a year ago "my" Maundy Thursday homily?

Everyone I've preached up until then is, I think, a variation on that theme. The difference last year is that I took the time to write it down in a manuscript form rather than crib notes.

So I spent some time today looking around "for inspiration" to begin to frame what I'd say on Holy Thursday night, beings as it's only a couple of weeks away.

I went back to mine, and realized upon looking at it, that I'm not done with it yet. Some of my choices made then are not what I'd say now, or at least not quite in the same way - - and some others need more meat on the bones.

Is that homiletical laziness? I don't know, maybe.

But I'm going to revisit this work for Holy Week and see where it takes me ...something I would have never considered if it were not for a blog counter.