2013 Interweave Sermon Contest
Each year, the Interweave Continental Sermon Contest rewards the best sermon in support of LGBTQ issues. Entries must have been first preached before a UU congregation or in a seminary setting between April 1 of the previous year and April 1 of the current year. There is a $250 prize for the winner.
Sermons for the 2013 award are now being accepted for submission. The deadline for submission is April 30, 2013. Sermons can be submitted by the sermon author or another individual via email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (Using this address allows the sermons to be passed on to the reviewers anonymously.) Please include the following language with your submission: “Whether or not my sermon wins the Interweave Continental Sermon Contest, I grant non-exclusive permission for Interweave to publish this sermon.”
The award for best sermon will be presented at the annual Interweave Continental banquet planned for the June 2013 General Assembly in Louisville, Kentucky.
Questions about the sermon contest may be addressed to:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Archive
2012
Interweave Continental is pleased to announce the winner of this year’s sermon contest is the Rev. Erin Splaine. Rev.Splaine delivered her sermon, "The Fierce Urgency of Now" at the First Unitarian Society in Newton, MA. The sermon is a response to the Presidential administration’s refusal to sign an executive order to ban discrimination against federally contracted GLBTQI employees in favor of waiting for ENDA to be passed legislatively. Rev. Splaine movingly asks us to reflect on how often GLBTQI people have been asked to wait, a little longer, for equal treatment under the law. How long, she asks us, is long enough? 2 years? (Grassroots march for equality in DC) 8 years? (Equal marriage in MA) 47 years? (Stonewall) 88 years? (1st Gay rights organization in Chicago) We have been waiting long enough. Now is the time!
Each sermon is used on this site by permission of the author. To use it elsewhere, contact the author for permission.
2008
- How to Be a Great Ally, Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern (WINNER 2008)
- Why Gay Pride Matters, Rev. Kathleen C. Rolenz
- A Foot in the Door, Rev. Erik Walker Wikstrom
- Bending Gender, Rev. Douglas Taylor
- Checking the Edge of the Axe: A Call to Self-Questioning, Erik Resly
- Pride, Rev. Bill Neely
2007
- I Believe in You My Soul, Rev. Jennifer Crow (WINNER 2007)
- Get Up!, Rev. Nathan C. Walker
- In Each Other's Shoes, Rev. Erik Walker Wikstrom
- June Brides, Rev. John Morehouse
- Saving Our Children, Rev. Phyllis Hubbell
- Singing For Our Lives, Lisa Kemper, Ministerial Intern
- Straight Talk About Coming Out, Rev. Alison Cornish
- Untying the Knot, Sally Hamlin, Ministerial Intern
- Uttering Leaves, Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz
- We Do, Margaret Allen
- Welcoming Congregation: The Second Wave, Rev. Barbara Child, Rev. Fran Dew
- What Is Marriage For?, Martha Niebanck
Previous Winners
- 2004: Barbara Hamilton-Holway
- 2003: "Living with Courage in the Face of Fear", Deborah A. Rudolph
- 2002: "Straight Talk on Queer Issues", Art Brewer
- 2000: Kathleen Ellis
- 1996: "Living Out Loud", Jory Agate
- 1994: "Gay Liberation for Straight People", Kate Rohde