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Bret Lortie, who has just finished up his third year at Meadville Lombard, has been awarded the Borden Sermon Award student prize. This award is in the amount of $10,000 and allows him to give the sermon at General Assembly, the annual gathering of Unitarian Universalist leaders from throughout the U.S. and the world, held later this month in Fort Worth, Texas.

Lortie submitted the sermon, "Music and Meditation: Resolving Conflict in a Warring World," in which shows how music can “teach us how to hear the world differently,” as jazz critic Jed Rasula once said. In the sermon, Lortie draws on his experience as a member of the Air Force jazz band, as well as the academic work he has done at Meadville Lombard, including text from Sharon Welch, a professor of religion at the University of Missouri, and a member of the Meadville Lombard Board of Trustees.

Awards were also given to current clergy members. First prize was awarded to Rev. Krista Taves, Interim, New Orleans, "The Spiritual Imperative of Choice" and to Rev. Cynthia Frado, Westborough, MA, "Watch One Hour With Me."

The three first place sermons will be preached at GA Saturday, June 25, from 3:45p.m. - 5:00 p.m., The Fort Worth Convention Center, Room 106.

Three other Meadville Lombard students were awarded $500 as runners-up for the award:

John A. Cullinan, “The War is Home;” Eric Kaminetzky, “Eyes on the Prize;” and Claudene Oliva, “What is the Cost of War?”

For more information on the Borden prize go to http://www.uua.org/programs/ministry/development/borden.html.

Contact:
Tina Porter tporter@meadville.edu
(773) 256-3000 ext. 236