Preaching (Plenary)

you experience of speaking publicly in this setting before you preach and to learn your styleof oral communication prior to and apart from dealing with preaching.¬ Two short sermon reports (5 percent): Review two sermons, one in your own Christiantradition and one in another Christian tradition. For each sermon, follow this format—donot deviate! Prepare a two-page report, offering the preacher 3 commendations (page 1)and 3 recommendations (page 2). These are to be short paragraphs or 1-3 sentence “bulletpoints.” The assignment is intended to help you listen to sermons critically and to begin theprocess of evaluating them. The assignment is also intended to help you to write concisely.Please follow the above directions!¬ Write a statement of the gospel in fifty (50) words or less (5 percent).¬ Preparation and review of sermons with the instructor for the first three sermons (5percent). The purpose of these sessions is so that I can work with you individually. Theseare live, face-to-face conversations; phone calls and email are not effective for this purpose.Please schedule your appointments for preparation/logjam as soon as possible in the weekprior to preaching; the latest time is 48 hours before the preaching event. Please recognizethat I am meeting with half the class each week, as well as teaching an advanced preachingclass and serving as interim dean of the chapel, so flexibility in scheduling is imperative. Ireserve Friday for other responsibilities, including meetings, writing, completing my ownsermons, and maintaining my own health and well-being. If you would like to explore analternative way of meeting the goal of individual instruction, please make an appointment tosee me.¬ Preach four sermons (50 percent): The first will be on an assigned text. Each student willselect the text for the second sermon; the professor is available for consultation and/orrecommendation. The texts for the third sermon will be selected from Advent/Christmas orLent/Easter Cycle from Year C in consultation with the professor. The fourth sermon will bea 7-8 minute wedding or funeral sermon. After the review of your sermons, whether in classor by the MIC placement, please submit a “Sermon Review/Revision Report” the next week.The format for these reports is found in Appendix A of this syllabus.¬ A short but substantial (6-8 pages) paper entitled “My Theology of Preaching” (15percent). This paper is meant to help you formulate your theology of preaching, i.e., whyyou preach. It is also an opportunity to integrate experience, lectures and discussions, andthe reading for the course. Consider these questions: (1) Why do you preach? (2) What doyou preach? (3) What roles do scripture, the world, the preacher, the hearers, the occasion,and God play in preaching? (4) What makes your preaching “Lutheran” (or your owntradition)? This is your opportunity to demonstrate that you have done the reading forthe course! When drawing upon other sources, it is important to cite them (A quick glanceat Professor Satterlee’s book on St Ambrose reveals how much he likes footnotes). You maybe creative in terms of form. Like a good sermon, the emphasis here is on quality notquantity.¬ Download Lecture Outlines from the course website http://lstcnet.lstc.edu/ics/ :Recommended, not required. These are the actual outlines that I use to present classlectures. I make them available to students (1) to more deomocratize the class, in thatteacher and students have the same information, (2) to free students from the burden ofnotetaking so that they can listen to and absorb the lectures, and (3) so students can helpme get back on track if I go off on a tangent. If you need to take notes in order to learn, ormistakenly believe that one does not need to come to class if one has course content, do notdownload these outlines!¬ Journal keeping: Recommended, not required. A preaching journal is often helpful in