a $2500 scholarship program for ELCA seminary students
(the Greg M. Johnson Homiletics Award)
Successfully Received Entries with email postmarks on or before 02/05/05. If your entry is not on this list, please email me immediately (address in large type below).
061502061722
070871
080879
091426
091804
101581
103077
113003
192944
200116
209934
547510
892604
992604
News
NEW CONTEST WITH AUGUST 2006 DEADLINE: See: http://www.geocities.com/pterandon/truthvslove3.htmlStill reading! Will announce winners by March 28th, 2005, if not sooner. (03/12)
Fifteen entries submitted. Right now I'd guess it will take me three weeks to read them.(02/06)
Submissions now being accepted at the email address below.(01/04/05)
Rule clarification: "the 2004-2005 school year" should be interpreted as being open to students enrolled in either the Fall 2004 or Spring 2005 semesters/terms.(01/04/05)
Deadline for entries is February 5, 2005.
An error was corrected in the sample TXT submission file which incorrectly stated the school year (on 11/30/04).
Purpose
Greg M. Johnson is a lay member of an ELCA congregation who has served in the areas of social ministry and education of both adults and children.
"I have a conviction that not only is there room for social concern within the historic tradition of the Church, within Lutheran orthodoxy, but also that social concern is a natural fruit of the tradition. I grew up in an LC-MS congregation with a very healthy orthodoxy, or grounding in theological conservatism. It was however not until my late twenties that I discovered the body of writing from the church fathers on social justice-- and all those bible passages which mention the poor-- and the secrecy of these texts was a great scandal to me. At the same time, I've met Methodists and Quakers who practically became ill upon mention of the poor, in that they felt that a secularized humanitarianism was all that they ever got from their hometown congregations. Even today the ranks of Christianity too often seem divided by two opposing forces. On one extreme, you have folks who wave the flag of 'biblical orthodoxy' yet express contempt for 'social agendas' and 'peace and justice'-- or what they've labelled as mere 'social gospel'-- using language that would also invalidate many of Luther's best writings, starting with his Explanation to the Ten Commandments. On the other extreme you have folks who wear their 'humanitarian' credentials on their sleeves yet express contempt for 'old teachings' and are completely unalarmed by modern authors who have rejected the Apostles' Creed in a search for a 'new humanity'.
The successful articulation of both ideals-- truth and love, orthodoxy and compassion-- is to be celebrated and encouraged within the church."
Eligibility
The contest is open to all students enrolled in a Master of Divinity, 4-year program in a seminary of the ELCA during the 2004-2005 school year. This includes those serving in their vicar internship. There are no restrictions as to the students' actual denominational affiliation.Passages
- Psalm 91
- 1 Tim 6:1-6
- Luke 16:19-31
Prizes
Cash prizes will be awarded to the writers of four selected entries:- $1000.00
- $750.00
- $500.00
- $250.00
Participation
In order to participate, entrants must:- Provide a 1500- to 3500-word sermon in electronic format. Only emailed submissions will be accepted. Check back with this page for details on how to upload your entry.
- Grant Greg M. Johnson permission to verify enrollment in a seminary of the ELCA;
- Grant Greg M. Johnson a non-exclusive, transferrable right to publish your sermon in media including, but not limited to, the web and print.
- Agree to accept the decisions of the judge(s) as final.
Criteria
The criteria used to determine winning entries shall include:- Inclusion of elements of both Law (God's command of what is and/or what is not to be done) and Gospel (the promise of the grace of God to forgive sins). in the tradition of Phillip Melanchthon's Loci Communes Theologici, Luther's Heidelberg Disputation or Walther's Law and Gospel. You are not expected to quote these documents but it is expected that your sermon would include both law and gospel in the tradition of these documents.;
- Incorporation all three scripture passages into the sermon;
- Existence within the sphere of Lutheran doctrine;
- Making reference to one or more examples from human history or personal observation
Deadline
Email entries by 11:59PM, February 5, 2005Judging
Greg M. Johnson, a lay member of an ELCA congregation, and any additional persons named by him at a later time, are the judges. Additional judges may be clergy.Notice
The Greg M. Johnson Homiletics Award is open to all Master of Divinity students of seminaries of the ELCA regardless of race, sex, national or ethnic origin, citizenship, religious affiliation, or disability. Entrants must accept the decision of the judge(s)s as final. This project has no connection with any church body or organization other than myself.Questions?
Contact me via email.
Check back at this page frequently for news on the scholarship deadline and detailed instructions on how to submit an entry.
Instructions on how to enter
- Pick a 6-digit identifying number for yourself. It should be a number you'd immediately recognize. It could be a series of digits from the phone number at your hometown pizza parlor, it could be your high school locker combination, your favorite athletes' jersey numbers-- any unique number you'd recognize. For the purposes of the rest of the instructions, we'll call the number 123456. The purposes of this identifying number are several:
- It will greatly aid our ability to communicate to you which entries have been successfully received. Once the site is set up to receive entries, this page will display a list of serial numbers of the successfully received entries.
- It is not our intention to embarass you or any institution if your entry were not deemed the winner or worthy of an honorable mention. The use of an identifying number will allow you yourself some privacy.
- We will make a reaosonable effort to judge the contest blind, that is, to minimize the information that the person has about you when they are judging the sermon. It is hoped that this will help minimize distractions about "you" and make it more about "Him".
- Create a txt document with the required personal information. The file type should be plain ASCII DOS text with the filename info123456.txt. Click here to see the template with the required information. Send this document as an attachment to the email address above.
- Create a Word format document with your sermon. This document should have the filename sermon123456.doc. This will be your sermon. Arial as a type face is highly preferred. Put a header of 123456 on every page (View_-> Header and Footer). Click here for a template with the preferred format. Send this file also as an attachment to the email address specified above.