Each year participants may enter a preaching submission that was written or preached as a result of the Hosanna Preaching Project experience. The prize-winning sermons hold their communities accountable to biblical and contemporary international standards of justice.
In 1915, the ten-year-old Osanna Panian walked over the mountains into Iran, escaping and surviving the Armenian Genocide. She lived her life as a refugee, always hoping and expecting to go home to Armenia. Because she was born on Palm Sunday, she was named Osanna (Hosanna in Armenian), which means “We beseech you, save us!” The Hosanna Preaching Prize is established by Noushin Framke in honor of her grandmother Osanna Panian (1905-1986), with the hope that all refugees might find their way home. Read more about the Hosanna Project backstory here.
2018 Hosanna Project Winner
On April 26, 2017, eleven pastors and seminarians gathered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina to consider and discuss their preaching on the topic of Blessed: Preaching "Israel" as Ancient Symbol and Contemporary Reality, based on the November 26, 2017 Reformed Lectionary texts for texts (Christ the King Sunday) Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 & Matthew 25:31-46. Their goal was to understand and challenge ways of reading scripture and practicing faith which privilege one group, and set apart their relationship to God as superior. It is also language which sits at the theological heart of the Israel/Palestine conflict.
Rev Dr. Jeff Paschal, pastor of Guilford Park Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina was our winner this year with his sermon “God of the Underdog.”
2017 Hosanna Project Winners
Exceptionalism—the view that a particular nation or people are a special privileged agent of God—fuels, justifies, and perpetuates injustice. Our times cry out for courageous preaching firmly rooted in love and justice that will challenge exceptionalism.
On October 26, 2016, twelve pastors and seminarians gathered at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary to consider and discuss their preaching on the topic of Blessed: Preaching "Israel" as Ancient Symbol and Contemporary Reality, based on the March 12, 2017 Reformed Lectionary texts for the 2nd Sunday in Lent; Genesis 12.1-4a & John 3.1-17.
Our 1st Place Winner, Rev. Randy Bush, Senior Pastor at East Liberty Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA, won with his sermon, “My Country Right or Wrong.” Our 2nd Place Winner, the Rev. Heather Schoenewolf, Associate Pastor at East Liberty Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA, won with her sermon, “Chosen.”
2016 Hosanna Project Winners
The 2016 Hosanna Preaching Prize is awarded to Addie Domske, Seminarian, McCormick Seminary (1st place) and Rev. Jon E. Cole and Rev. Lisa M. Lopez (co-2nd place winners).
This year's prize recipients participated with diverse colleagues in ministry and the seminar leadership team in the first annual Hosanna Preaching Seminar, a 1-day educational event featuring readings, presentations, and dialogue held at the Cenacle Center in Chicago in October 2015. The seminar delved into creative, theologically responsible ways to challenge exceptionalism and to connect the liberating themes of the gospel to the crucible of Israel-Palestine.
The seminar participants prepared a sermon on the lectionary passages for the 3rd Sunday in Epiphany, preached it in their congregational settings, and wrote a reflection paper on the experience of preparing and preaching the sermon, as well as the congregational feedback they received.
2014 Hosanna Project Winner
Nov. 17. 2014 - The Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is pleased to announce the winner of the 2014 Hosanna Preaching Prize, the Reverend Loren McGrail. Rev. McGrail is a United Church of Christ (UCC) pastor serving Global Ministries for the Disciples of Christ and the UCC in Israel/Palestine. She works there with the YWCA of Palestine, work which is also supported by the Church of Scotland and the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Rev. McGrail’s sermon, entitled “Serve Life” was delivered at St. Andrew’s Scots Memorial Church in Jerusalem on August 24, 2014, at the height of Israel’s invasion of Gaza. Centering her thoughts on the actions of Shiphrah and Puah, the midwives who defied the orders of the Pharaoh to kill Hebrew children (Exodus 1:8-20), Rev. McGrail explores our obligations to the children of Israel/Palestine and our responsibility as Christians to serve life rather than death.
2014 Press Release - Announcing Hosanna Prize
The Israel Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) [IPMN] is pleased to award the Annual Hosanna Prize. The award recognizes preachers who challenge and inspire believers to heed God’s urgent call to justice and reconciliation in Palestine and Israel. Up to two $1,000 prizes—one on an Old Testament text and the other on a New Testament text—are awarded annually.
The prize-winning sermons will raise a vision of God’s love that embraces all people, especially those who are oppressed and persecuted, exposing the theological error of using biblical passages to rationalize injustice to or by Jews or Palestinians.
Prophetic Preaching Examples
Looking for inspiration on preaching prophetically? Click here for a collection of sermons by Jewish and Christian clergy that meet the prize criteria for the Hosanna Preaching Project prize.
We offer up prayers for your prophetic preaching.
Let the words of our mouths
and the meditations of our hearts
be pleasing to you,
Oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer.