a $2500 scholarship contest for ELCA seminary students
(the Greg M. Johnson Homiletics Award)
OUTLINE OF THIS WEB PAGE
Entrant list
News
Purpose
Quotes
Eligibility
Passages
Prize
Participation
Criteria for judging
Deadline
Judges
Notice
Questions
Instructions on how to submit an entry
Useful Links
Frequently Asked Questions
SUCCESSFULLY RECEIVED ENTRIES as of 08/15/2006 8:24 PM Eastern time
091804 103106 121380 233435 233610
NEWS AND CORRECTIONS
We've got an entry! :) (8/13/06)
Rearranged the page to put News at top. How's everyone doing? Less than a month to go! (7/21/06)
Added a link to Martin Luther's sermon on Luke 14. (5/16/06)
Corrected a typo in the scriptural passages list. The correct list is below, and repeated here for clarity: Proverbs 25, Psalm 112, Hebrews 13:1-16, Luke 14:1-14. (5/16/06)
Contest officially open. (05/16/06)
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 Explanations to the Fifth and Seventh 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'. You've got folks who say we ought no longer teach the doctrine of original sin and folks who gripe when any churchwide entity mentions fruits of original sin in the boardroom or battlefield, as if the Fall never hit these institutions.
The successful articulation of both ideals-- truth and love, orthodoxy and compassion-- is to be celebrated and encouraged within the church."
"Almighty God, you gave your son both as a sacrifice for sin and a model of the godly life. Enable us to receive him always with thanksgiving and to conform our lives to his, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen"
"Blessed are you, O Lord, Our God, Maker of All Things. Through your Goodness, You have blessed us with these gifts. With them we offer ourselves to your service and dedicate our lives to the care and redemption of all that You have made for the sake of Him Who gave Himself for us, Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen."
"A lay delegate from New Jersey was heard to remark to his pastor that he did not realize we had to make a choice between theological orthodoxy and compassion."
"Here too we express penitence both for our neglect and for having sometimes regarded evangelism and social concern as mutually exclusive."
"[T]he theology of the Cross defines repentance as contrition and faith rather than contrition and human determination. While the preaching of the Law will lead to contrition or sorrow over sin, the preaching of the Gospel will produce faith in the redemptive work of Christ Jesus."
"Now, I've got three advanced degrees. I've had four years in Greek and Hebrew and I've got doctorates. And how did I miss 2,000 verses in the Bible where it talks about the poor? How did I miss that? I mean, I went to two different seminaries and a Bible school; how did I miss the 2,000 verses on the poor?"
"'One guy, a Saudi, told me that he had once been tortured in Saudi Arabia and that this metal chair treatment was worse than any torture he had ever endured or could imagine."
"I don't expect to work for free, and yet that is the standard for so much of the world."
"Among themselves the merchants have a common rule which is their chief maxim and the basis of all their sharp practices, where they say: "I may sell my goods as dear as I can" They think this is their right. Thus occasion is given for avarice, and every window and door to hell is opened. What else does it mean but this: I care nothing about my neighbor; so long as I have my profit and satisfy my greed, of what concern is it to me if it injures my neighbor in ten ways at once? There you see how shamelessly this maxim flies squarely in the face not only of Christian love but also of natural law."
"To say there is a crisis of disobedience in the evangelical world today is to dangerously understate the problem."
"I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering."
Check back at this page frequently for news on the scholarship deadline and detailed instructions on how to submit an entry. Should a theologically orthodox Christian equate humanitarianism with the Gospel-- either in content or in importance?
How can truth be opposed to love?
Do I have to cover passage X? Can I talk about a concept which organically spills into the next chapter?
How did you choose the passages?
What would be the audience of the sermon?
Why am I signing away my copyright?QUOTES
"[The devil] always sends errors into the world in pairs --pairs of opposites. And he always encourages us to spend a lot of time thinking which is the worse. You see why, of course? He relies on your extra dislike of the one error to draw you gradually into the opposite one. But do not let us be fooled. We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight through between both errors."
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Lutheran Book of Worship, post-communion prayer, p. 74
Lutheran Book of Worship, offetory prayer, p. 68
the (26 October 1984) Forum Letter, vol. 13, number 10, seen in "One WELS Pastor’s Evaluation of the New Lutheran Church"
by Reuel J. Schulz
The Lausanne Covenant, , The Lausanne Covenant for World Evangelization, 1974.
Don Matzat, "A Theology of Glory and a Theology of the Cross"
Rick Warren, interviewed at "Myths of the Modern Mega-Church"
Fawzi al-Odah, Guantanamo detainee, quoted in Guantanamo man tells of 'torture'
Sara Groves, "A Crash Course in Christianity," CCM Magazine, April 2006
Martin Luther, Sermon on Trade and Usury
Ron Sider, Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience
The LORD, Exodus 3:6-8
ELIGIBILITY
The contest is open to any student currently enrolled in a degree granting program at any ELCA seminary during the Spring 2006, Summer 2006, or Fall 2006 terms. This includes those serving in their vicar internship. There are no restrictions as to the students' actual denominational affiliation.
PRIZES
Cash prizes will be awarded to the writer selected entries:
PARTICIPATION
In order to participate, entrants must:
PASSAGES
CRITERIA FOR JUDGING
The criteria used to determine winning entries shall include:
DEADLINE
Email entries by 11:59PM, August 15, 2006
JUDGES
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.
INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO SUBMIT AN ENTRY
USEFUL LINKS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
No. One should not. Confusion occurs not only when one confuses the fruit (love for the unlovely) with the faith itself, but also when one refers to this fruit as a distraction from or a sign of having lost the faith. I see both kinds of confusion rampant in the church today.
My juxtapositioning of these two words with scare quotes can be viewed two ways to illustrate my concern.
In one way of looking at the words, compassion for the suffering masses of the planet is "love" and a respect for the unchanging truths of Christianity, from scripture to the confessions, is "truth". I'm bummed that too often those who excel at one theological virtue fall behind at the other virtue.
On the other hand, the concepts of "truth" and "love" are sometimes seen as synonyms for "law" and "gospel". Here the labels on the two extremes switch. Some humanitarian-minded folks actually seem to have a good grasp on Old Testament Law-- at least the parts about responding to the suffering of the poor-- while orthodoxy-flag-wavers seem to have a good grasp of the Gospel-- that Jesus' work on the cross is primarily to combat sin, death, and the devil.
Truth and Love. Love and Truth. Law and Gospel. Sacrifice for sin and a model of the godly life. Theological orthodoxy and compassion. Care and redemption of all that God has made. Theology of the Cross and a resounding lack of contempt for humanitarian, environmental, and human rights concerns.
I don't want anyone to ignore a passage in their sermon. But God may speak to you through the text in a way that has nothing to do with my agenda.
The goal of this project is to encourage law and gospel preaching about a passage which is viewed by many as a source of humanitarian concern. I chose an interesting gospel lesson, then went to Textweek's list of passages that are typically preached alongside it in various lectionaries. Then I used some license in choosing ones from the list that were interesting to me.
Try to make it like one you would give to a congregation you were called to. It won't do either of us much good for you to practice writing sermons to me. :)
You are not giving up rights but assigning me some. The key word is "non-exclusive". You don't lose right to publish this sermon in your memoirs, you just give me right to put on the web. Or if I get a few hundred life-changing sermons, I might be able to publish a book or something.