Every week hundreds of new UU sermons are created
by UU ministers all across the United States and Canada
—and beyond in the wider world of UU thinking.

    Many of these are created on computers,
which makes them very easy to share
with a world-wide audience thru the Internet.

    The effectiveness of some sermons
depends more on the verbal presentation by the minister
than on the actual content of the sermon.
And sometimes the sheer rapport with the congregation
is more important than what was said.

    But a few sermons do transmit important meanings 
even when shared in writing on the Internet.
These would be the first candidates for cyber-sermons.

    Because the pool of possible sermons is so large,
the FUUCI can seek the very best thinking
to be shared with the world-wide audience.

    We define the best by a vote of the subscribers.
The subscribers to the mailing list of the FUUCI
select the Cyber-Sermon-of-the-Month
by voting on the proposals received.

    These cyber-sermon proposals contain four elements:

(1) a clever title that describes the content of the sermon.

(2) a synopsis of the content of the cyber-sermon
—one or two paragraphs that will catch the interest of readers,
making us want to read the whole sermon.

(3) an outline of the various points to be included.

(4) a description of the minister (or other person)
who is the author of the cyber-sermon.

    Such synopses and outlines are included at the beginning
of each cyber-sermon released by the FUUCI.
The people sitting at their computers all around the world
must be convinced in the first three minutes
that this is a sermon they want to devote 15 minutes to reading.
In contrast to most UU congregations,
the First Unitarian Universalist Church of the Internet is not a captive audience.
We the readers of cyber-sermons are not committed
to reading all the way thru once we begin.
So the title, synopsis, outline, & description of the author
must catch our attention to encourage us to read further.

    This is also one reason these brief proposals
are used as the basis for voting
to select the next Cyber-Sermon-of-the-Month.
If the proposals do not grab those who choose to vote,
the sermons will probably not grab
the attention of readers world-wide either.

    Those who create cyber-sermons should remember
how they will be received: on computer screens.
Besides being short
(about 3 pages, 10 screens, 100 sentences, or 10KB),
they should include section titles,
which themselves might catch the attention of a reader scrolling thru.
(These section titles are often the items of the outline.)

    Ideally, each screen would display
a section title and one or two paragraphs.

    As an aid to easy reading, the lines of cyber-sermons
are divided according to meaning,
as illustrated on this home page.