Meadville Lombard, Week I

I've finished my first class at Meadville Lombard Theological School: an intensive preaching course. There were 16 students, and each of us gave 2 sermons. So, including the sermon preached by our teacher, we were inundated with 33 sermons over the course of 5 afternoons. Wah...!

The teacher was the Rev. Dr. William F. Schulz, who served as president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations from 1985 to 1993 and as executive director of the US division of Amnesty International from 1994 to 2006. In addition to teaching a couple of intensive classes a year at Meadville Lombard as an affiliated faculty member, he is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and an Adjunct Professor of International Relations at The New School.

That's by way of supporting this "Wow!" He is a very good teacher.

Fitting an entire semester's worth of work into a single intensive week presents its challenges. But I enjoy it. At the end of the course, the beginning material is still fresh, making it easier to summarize the total experience rather than just the final tidbit.

Each morning we had intense discussions about philosophical and practical contexts for preaching. Dr. Schulz was very good about directing the discussion and refusing to let people off the hook once they opened their mouths and took a position, forcing us to follow through to logical conclusions. Then each afternoon, we heard the sermons scheduled for the day and twice in the week delivered one. We critiqued the sermons we heard and received the constructive criticism of both our peers and Dr. Schulz. It was pretty intense!

The mix of students added greatly to the experience too. We had ministers who have been preaching for several years - one more than 25 - a couple of beginning students plus one person considering whether to study at Meadville Lombard, and the whole range in between. The mix made a very nice dynamic for this kind of class.

And then lunch time allowed the possibility of going to lunch with classmates and getting to know people from far and wide. Very nice.

I'm tired and have two more intensive classes to go, but I learned a lot and had a great time in this class.

Wonderful!