Contextual Ministry I:
Homiletics and Liturgics (TH560A)
Winter Term
Class Sessions: Tuesdays, 1:30 - 4:20 PM
Practicum Sessions: Selected Wednesdays and one Monday (see below)
Prof. David Schnasa
Jacobsen
Phone: 884-1970 ext. 3493 (office)
E-mail: djacobse@wlu.ca
Office Hours: by appointment or when the door is open...
Learning
Goals:
The purpose of this course is to help students gain basic competence as worship
leaders and preachers of the gospel in light of Lutheran traditions viewed
ecumenically. Competencies are:
1. techniques like
style, rate, pause, emphasis, and presence for leading public worship;
2. multiple
ways of interpreting pastoral contexts and situations;
3. employing
theological imagination for enriching the practice of preaching and liturgy;
4. understanding
the practice of preaching and worship as more than matters of personal
taste, aesthetics, or historical precedent, but primarily as spoken and enacted Gospel.
To meet these learning goals, the instructor is more than happy to help students individually during office hours or by special appointment.
Required Texts:
Keifert,
Patrick R. Welcoming the Stranger: A Public Theology of
Worship and Evangelism.
Taylor, Barbara Brown. The Preaching Life.
White, James. History of Christian Worship.
Wilson, Paul Scott. The Four Pages of the Sermon.
Required
González, Justo and
Catherine. Liberation Preaching.
Grading:
The percentage of the final grade of each assignment goes up as the term
progresses. One goal of this course is
to set a trajectory for learning. It
values especially students' improvement over time. Students need not
fret that a difficult first paper or sermon exercise dooms them to homiletical purgatory or the liturgical penalty box. In fact, as the semester progresses, the
opportunities for growth and improvement only increase. Nonetheless, since beginning pastors almost
always have to produce weekly sermons and services regardless of circumstances,
late papers will result in an automatic reduction of grade by one letter. Your professor also reserves the right to
sigh, grumble, and/or harrumph when late papers are submitted. So there.
Format:
The schedule on the following page shows that the course's format varies: lectures, workshops, discussions, etc. Still, you can figure out what will happen by
looking at the typeface. The stuff
I do is in regular type. The stuff you do is in bold.
Course
Schedule
Session 1: January 9
First Hour: Syllabus, Theology of Word & Sacrament: Preaching & Worship as Gospel
Second Hour: Lecture: "Reading Scripture: Voice, Presence, Phrasing, &
Emphasis"
Third Hour: Dry Run Practice
Scripture
For next session: Read White’s Brief History of Christian Worship, pp. 9-74
Session 2: January 16
First Hour: Discussion of White’s Brief
History of Christian Worship
Second Hour: Lecture: “Liturgy and Structural Meaning”
Third Hour: Practice Scripture
For next session: Read White’s Brief
History of Christian Worship, pp. 75-180
PRACTICUM I: Mon,. Jan. 21, 10-12, 12:30-2:30 PM “Liturgical Presidency and Using the New Hymnal” (Rev. Dr. Mark Harris)
Session 3: January 23
First Hour: Discussion of
White’s Brief History of Christian Worship
Second Hour: Assignment 1, Practice
Third Hour: Preaching Law and Gospel: discussion of video of Barbara Brown
For next class: read chaps. 1-3,
PRACTICUM II: Wed., Jan. 30, 8:30-10:30 “Hymnody/Working w/ Musicians” (David Hall)
Session 4: January 30
First Hour: Sacred Time:
Calendar and Liturgy
Second Hour: "Choosing a
Preaching Text in light of the Calendar and other Contexts"
Third Hour: "First Impressions about Texts and How they Help You Preach"
For next class: read chaps. 4-7,
PRACTICUM
III: Wed., Feb. 6, 8:30-10:30 “Chanting
Psalms and Liturgy” (D. L. Ludolph)
Session 5: February 6
First Hour: "Concerns of Text & Sermon: Test Cases for Preaching Law and Gospel"
Second Hour: "Resources for Homiletical Exegesis"
Third Hour: Sacred Space for Worship
For next class: read chaps. 8-11,
Session 6: February 13
First Hour: Assignment #2 due,
Debrief & Resource
Second Hour: "Law &
Gospel, aka Trouble & Grace:
Concerns Taking Shape"
Third Hour: History and Theology of Baptism
For next class: read chap. 12,
February 18-22
Reading Week. No class!
PRACTICUM
IV: Wed., Feb. 27, 8:30-10:30
“Visuals, Space, & Architecture” (Revs. Lavergne/Bosch)
Session 7: February 27
First Hour: Assignment #3 due,
Debrief & Resource
Second Hour: "The Fine Art
of Filming: Analogies, Examples, Illustrations"
Third Hour: History and Theology of Eucharist
For next class: read
PRACTICUM
V: Wed., Mar. 5, 8:30-10:30
“Presiding at Sacraments” (Rev. Dr. Mark Harris)
Session 8: March 5
First Hour: Discussion of Taylor's
Book, cultivating your imagination as a preacher, Second Hour: Gardner Taylor video
Third Hour: Liturgical Action:
Symbol, Ritual, and Ordo
Session 9: March 12
First Hour: Assignment #4 due,
Debrief & Resource
Second Hour: "Introductions
and Conclusions"
Third Hour: Order of Service I:
Entrance
Session 10: March 19
Assignment #5, Practice Sermon _______ ________ ________
________
Session 11: March 26
Assignment #5, Practice Sermon _______ ________ ________
________
For next class sessions: Begin reading Kiefert’s Welcoming the Stranger
PRACTICUM
VI: Wed., April 2, 8:30-10:30
“Funerals, Weddings, Healing: Theology,
Practice and Pastoral Care” (Rev. John Fogleman)
Session 12: April 2
First Hour: Order of Service II:
Word
Second Hour: Order of Service III:
Table
Third Hour: Order of Service IV:
Sending
Session 13: April 9
Assignment #6 due, discussion of Keifert’s book
Chrysostom, Evaluations, Fudge Pie
Note: Non-Lutheran WLS degree/diploma students can
opt out of Practicum Session V provided they contract with their field
placement supervisors to cover those 2 hours at their field placement
site. LOP Students are welcome to take
the practicum, but are not required to do so.
Practicum sessions are required for all Lutheran students, but will have
no graded assignments. The only mark for
the practicum will be for attendance taken at the beginning of each session.
Assignments:
1.
Choose a scripture reading that you might plausibly read in your Contextual
Ministry field placement. Liturgical
types, for example, may wish to select an upcoming lectionary text. Free church types,
well, can choose freely! Members of the
class will respond gently to your reading as a way of helping all of us to
think about our ministry of reading scripture aloud. Since even the most experienced preacher can
expect that it won't go perfectly, go ahead.
Sin boldly.
Due Date: Session 3 (1/23)--Percentage
of Grade: 5%
2.
Concerns of Text and Sermon for
Your Pericope
Keeping in mind Wilson's concern for sound exegesis and the imaginative spark
between Biblical text and contemporary situation, develop a one or two page
list of concerns of the text and concerns of the sermon. The first should list concerns of the text
arrived at through your own interpretive work supplemented by the help of
others (e.g., commentaries, etc.). Use
the class handout as an example. The
second should list some of those same text concerns (marked with a T:) next to their
corresponding concerns of the sermon (marked with a S:). After the list, please
cite any commentaries or other works you consulted in a brief
bibliography.
Due Date: Session 6 (2/13)--Percentage
of Grade: 5%
3.
Law/Gospel (aka, Trouble/Grace)
Concerns of Texts with Transpositions
Using the list of paired concerns from the previous assignment, identify each
concern as “law” or “gospel.” After
you’ve identified each concern, choose one “law” pair and one “gospel” pair—the
two should be related “antiphonally,” as we discussed in class. These two circled pairs will be the concerns
that govern the law pages (pages 1-2) and the gospel pages (pages 3-4) of the
sermon you will be developing for class.
Due Date: Session 7 (2/27)--Percentage
of Grade: 10%
4. Sermon Structure with TTDNIM and Stories.
Submit a one or two page sketch of your sermon that shows its four-page
structure (including TTDNIM), filming strategies (analogies, examples,
illustrations, images, metaphors, etc.) for each, and a clear statement of the
major concern (remember, your major concern is always a “Gospel” or “Grace”concern). Try
not to number them like points. Allow
the Law/Gospel or Trouble/Grace logic of your sermon to come through on the
page.
Due Date: Session 9 (3/12)--Percentage of Grade: 15%
5. Sermon Manuscript
Students will write out a brief sermon (approximately 10-15 minutes in
length) to preach before the class based on the exegesis of the Biblical text
chosen. Whether you use one or not in
the pulpit, your professor expects a full manuscript to be handed in to the
seminary office and placed in my box by the close of the business day (4 PM) one day in advance of practice preaching
sessions. Please remember: late manuscripts will receive a deduction of
one full grade. If at all possible,
students should be scheduled to preach their sermon in class before they preach
it in their field placement. This way,
students can use the comments of their peers and instructor to improve the
sermon for Sunday.
Any
revisions to a sermon after preaching it in class or in the field placement
setting will be cheerfully accepted in addition to the practice sermon
manuscript. Students who wish to improve
their grade this way may do so as long as they submit their revised sermon by
the last day of class. Grace happens.
Due Date: The Day before Sessions 10 or 11 (that means either 3/18 or 3/25) by
4 PM in my box at the Seminary Office--Percentage of Grade: 30%
6.
Analysis Paper: Eucharistic Service (approx. 8 pp.,
double-spaced)
Using Keifert’s Welcoming
the Stranger as a guide, analyze a Eucharistic service at your
placement. How accessible is the service
to the outsider? Begin with a
description of what it’s like to enter the building, get accustomed to the
space, etc., but focus primarily on the liturgical actions and words used in
that assembly. What is the explicit and
implicit theology of worship there and how “welcoming” is it to the
stranger? Please attach a copy of that
service’s worship bulletin to hand in together with your paper.
Due Date: Session 13 (4/10)--Percentage
of Grade: 30%
X.
Lecture Attendance and Group
Participation
In order to learn preaching and worship together regular attendance is expected
at both the Wednesday class sessions and the practicum sessions. We will attempt to learn how to lead worship
and preach in community. By struggling
together with our papers and sermons we will also grow together in ways that we
can hardly imagine. This aspect of our
time together will necessarily require the voicing of perspectives that many of
us often ignore. Yet this is the
greatest blessing presiders and preachers can
receive. After all, the gospel may not
come to us, unless it comes first through the voice of Another. Paul put it well: faith comes by hearing.
Due Date: Every Session--Percentage of Grade: 5%
FINAL NOTES:
Students with disabilities or special needs are advised to contact Laurier's Special Needs Office for information regarding its services and resources. Students are encouraged to review the Calendar for information regarding all services available on campus.
Although, sermons are oral events and rarely footnotedpreachers do need to identify in their sermons when they have borrowed from elsewhere. “There’s a story about....” or “Paul Tillich notes, “yada yada yada” is usually sufficient to identify that the preacher has borrowed material. In those (hopefully) rare moments when a student uses first-person illustrations, the assumption of course is that the material is indeed from oneself and never borrowed. Please see your instructor if you need further guidance on these or other matters of preaching ethics.
Since
Waterloo Lutheran Seminary is a gospel-centred
community, faculty expects that students will not use language which might
cause some to feel excluded from the gospel promise. This is both an important ethical issue and
an issue of gospel communication.
Guidelines for language use prepared by the
Summary of Practicum Topics, Leaders, and Sessions
Liturgics
Practicum
Keffer
Chapel
Practicum Topics: Schedule
Liturgical Presidency Mark Harris Mon., Jan. 21, 10-12
Writing Prayers and Missals, Mark Harris Mon., Jan. 21, 12:30-2:30
Using the New Hymnal, and
Lent/Holy Week/Triduum
Hymnody/Working with Musicians David Hall Wed., Jan. 30, 8:30-10:30
Chanting Psalms/Liturgy Debbie Lou Ludolph Wed., Feb. 6, 8:30-10:30
Visuals, Space, and Architecture P. Bosch, A. Lavergne Wed., Feb. 27, 8:30-10:30
Sacrament of Baptism Mark Harris Wed., March 5, 8:30-10:30
and Presiding at the Table
Funerals, Weddings, Healing: Jon Fogleman Wed. April 2, 8:30-10:30
Theology, Practice, and Pastoral Care