Stewardship Sermon Award
2012 Award Recipient
The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Stewardship and Development staff is pleased to announce that The Reverend James C. (Jay) Leach is the recipient of this year's Stewardship Sermon Award for his sermon entitled "The Infinite Enlargement of the Heart," shared with the First Unitarian Church of Columbus (Ohio) on Sunday, February 5, 2012. Jay serves as Senior Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Charlotte.
Jay skillfully weaves the values of interdependence, working for the common good and generosity into his sermon. He surges us to counteract the prevailing culture of individualism and intolerance by taking action of the common good in ways that are in integrity with our Unitarian Universalist (UU) theology and values. One of these ways is to be intentional in our stewardship and in our generous financial support of our congregations and our UU Faith. Jay reminds us that the question is not "What's in it for me?" IT should be "What isn't it for us?" After all, we are in this life and in this world together.
Rev. Jay Leach’s sermon The Infinite Enlargement of the Heart was deemed by the Stewardship Sermon Award Selection Committee as the submission most effective in exploring and promoting financial support of our Unitarian Universalist faith.
Read more about past award recipients.
Call for Sermons!
Have you heard a dynamic sermon promoting the financial support of Unitarian Universalism as it affirms our faith, vision, and future? If so, please send a copy to apf@uua.org! We want to share these sermons with the rest of our UU community.
The UUA will present the annual Stewardship Sermon Award this summer. Excellent sermons on generosity given by UU professional religious leaders or those in at least their second year of studying for professional leadership will be eligible for consideration.
About the Award
The Stewardship Sermon Award was established in 1984 and is given annually for the sermon judged most effective in exploring and promoting financial support of our UU faith. It is sponsored jointly by the Annual Program Fund (APF), the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association (UUMA) and the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA).
Eligibility (2013)
The sermon must have been delivered before a Unitarian Universalist congregation between January 1, 2012, and February 18, 2013. The sermon should explore and promote financial support of Unitarian Universalism and should directly address money as it relates to affirming our Unitarian Universalist faith, vision and future.
All Unitarian Universalist professional religious leaders, as well as those studying for professional leadership (in at least their second year), are eligible to be considered for this award.
Sermons are judged through a blind process by a panel of UU professional religious and lay leaders.
The recipient will receive a $1,000 cash award and will see the sermon on the UUA, the UUMA and the LREDA websites.
Submission Format
Sermon text must be received by the Annual Program Fund Office no later than Monday, February 18, 2013, in order to be considered.
Please format the sermon using Times New Roman font, size 12, single-spaced, with one line separating each paragraph, and align all text to the left. Only the sermon title should be included at the top of the first page of the sermon. A separate cover page must include the sermon title, author's name, congregational affiliation, mailing address, telephone number, email address and where and when the sermon was delivered. Please omit any page headers and footers.
As much identifying information as possible should be removed from the body of the sermon. Please substitute congregation names with "this congregation" or "our congregation" or some other un-identifying text. Likewise, do the same for state, region, town or geographical landmark names. Where possible, substitute people's names with their roles in the congregation. For instance, instead of "Susan Smith called me," write "the Chair of the Canvass Committee called me."
Entries may be submitted electronically as a Word attachment to apf@uua.org
Submission Terms and Conditions
By submitting your sermon for consideration, you are (a) agreeing to grant to the UUA, the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association (UUMA) and the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA), a non-exclusive, three year, royalty-free license, to publish your sermon in any and all publications and websites of the UUA, UUMA and LREDA, and their affiliate organizations; (b) representing and warranting to UUA, UUMA and the LREDA that your submission is an original work of yours and to the best of your knowledge, does not copy or otherwise infringe anyone else's work. The license referred to above includes the right to edit your work for space saving considerations. Attribution will be made each time your work is published. As the copyright owner, you have the right to use the sermon as you see fit at any time.
For more information contact apf@uua.org.
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Last updated on Wednesday, May 2, 2012.
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