{"id":55234,"date":"2024-06-26T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T12:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/?p=55234"},"modified":"2024-06-24T20:33:07","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T00:33:07","slug":"winners-of-2024-hare-preaching-prize-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/winners-of-2024-hare-preaching-prize-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"Winners of 2024 Hare Preaching Prize Announced"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On May 15, 2024, homiletics students at Boston University School of Theology gathered to preach for the Edith P. and Augustus G. Hare Preaching Prize, established by Philomena Hare (’11). The prize has two categories: the first for sermons based on a Biblical or other scriptural text, and the second for sermons for a situation of the student\u2019s choice, which could include interreligious meditation, poetry, musical lyrics, or a local community reflection. The winning recipients were awarded a $1,000 prize for each category, and the students were judged by the jury that includes Assistant Professor of Spiritual Care and Counseling and Co-Director of the Center for Practical Theology Dr. Eunil David Cho<\/a> and PhD students\u00a0Joshua Lazard<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0La Ronda Barnes<\/a>. All registered spring 2024 STH students were able to participate in the competition and encouraged to speak from any tradition or spirituality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the second year for us to organize the Hare Preaching Prize, thanks to a generous donation from the Hare family,\u201d said Professor Cho. \u201cIt was such an honor to be part of the jury because I had invaluable opportunities to see our students bringing their whole selves to this sacred practice of preaching. While I was intellectually stimulated by the students\u2019 robust exegesis of texts and in-depth contextual analysis, I was equally inspired by their genuine desire to tell moving stories of mercy, justice, and compassion. I give thanks to all the participants and my fellow jurors, Joshua and La Ronda.\u201d<\/p>\n

More information about the Edith P. and Augustus G. Hare Preaching Prize can be found in the 2024 issue of focus<\/em> magazine<\/a> on page 20.<\/p>\n

Congratulations to all participating students as well as the 2024 award winners!<\/p>\n

Prize 1: Text-based Sermon<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"Amber Jogie, winner: <\/strong>Amber Jogie is a proud Caribbean American woman hailing from Hotlanta, Georgia. She is an MDiv graduate from Boston University\u2019s School of Theology and is passionate about ministering to women and uplifting their stories. Amber is also a spoken word artist and poet. She published her first poetry book last winter, My Favorite Color: A Book for Black Girls in White Spaces<\/em>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"Luke Litz, honorable mention:<\/b> Luke Litz is a first-year Master of Divinity student from Nashville, Tennessee. He is on the Religion and the Academy track and hopes to pursue PhD studies after graduation. He is passionate about the intersection between theology and church life, and hopes to work in both ecclesial and academic spaces after completing his education. Luke attends Church of the Cross in Boston.\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"Rob Powell, honorable mention<\/span><\/b>: Rob Powell graduated with his Master of Divinity from the Boston University School of Theology in May of 2024. He currently serves as the Director of Family Ministries and Connections at Trinity United Methodist Church in Springfield, MA. He lives in Western Massachusetts with his husband, Chris, and child, Janziel.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/h3>\n

Prize 2: Situational Sermon<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"Melissa Vela, winner: <\/b>Melissa Vela is pursuing a Doctorate of Ministry and serves as a Senior Interfaith Chaplain at Boston Children\u2019s Hospital for over 10 years. She serves critically ill infants and their families on the cardiac and neonatal intensive care unit as well children and families on the Heme\/Onc service. Chaplain Vela lives in Roslindale with her wife and two young children and enjoys rock climbing and playing outside with her family.\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
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seigen johnson, honorable mention:<\/span><\/b> Rev. seigen johnson recently received a Master of Divinity at Boston University School of Theology. Her professional and research interests include interfaith spiritual formation and dialogue across lines of difference. seigen is beginning to develop ethical leadership curricula grounded in womanist ethics and liberation theologies. the repair of spiritual injury in spiritual congregations. seigen has been practicing Soto Zen Buddhism for more than 20 years. She lived in residential practice at San Francisco Zen Center for 7 years after working as a budget and public policy analyst for Santa Clara County in California. seigen was ordained in June 2022 in the Soto Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki under the guidance of Daito Steve Weintraub. seigen remains deeply connected to the spiritual lineage of the A.M.E Church in which she was raised. As part of her commitment to interfaith dialogue, seigen aspires to create more opportunities to share Buddhist practice within the African American Christian community.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On May 15, 2024, homiletics students at Boston University School of Theology gathered to preach for the Edith P. and Augustus G. Hare Preaching Prize, established by Philomena Hare (’11). The prize has two categories: the first for sermons based on a Biblical or other scriptural text, and the second for sermons for a situation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12612,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[207,208,203],"tags":[395,390,194,303,307],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55234"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12612"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55234"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55284,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55234\/revisions\/55284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}