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A Family Like Mine: Biblical Stories of Love, Loss, and Longing
https://bookstore.upperroom.org/Products/1921/a-family-like-mine.aspxWhom Shall I Fear: Urgent Questions for Christians in an Age of Violence
https://www.amazon.com/Whom-Shall-Fear-Questions-Christians/dp/0835819671-
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Author Archives: Rosalind C Hughes
Genesis
I heard that they found a cave on the moon. Even from this twilight I can see craters and cliffs; I cannot imagine that there would not be a cave, but this, they said, could become a home from home, … Continue reading
Let Jesus be Jesus
For us, and for the sake of our country, this is not a choice between the bullet and the ballot box. This is a choice between the bullet and our souls. Jesus had a choice: call down legions of angels or go to the cross, subvert the power of political violence by defeating death itself. Defeat hatred with the overpowering love of God. Overwhelm vengeance with the suffocating aroma of mercy. Break open the patterns of this world, and let in the kingdom of heaven. Continue reading
Posted in current events, gun violence, homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Herod, Jesus, John the Baptist, mass shooting, political violence, Trump
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Expectations
“He could do no deed of power there,” they say, “ – oh, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.”
It makes you wonder what their expectations were. Laying hands on the sick and healing them sounds pretty powerful to me. No doubt, for the people healed, for their friends and families, it was life-changing. But to the gospel writer, apparently, no big deal. … Continue reading
Posted in homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged hometown prophet, Mark 6:1-13, Year B Proper 9
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Healing miracles
Let’s look for the good news, though. Jesus supports our efforts toward healing, whether they be grand gestures or creeping, shuffling steps through the crowd. Jesus affirms our faith that things can be better, and that he will help make it so. For the sake of Jesus, we are gathered not as individuals wounded by violence, but as a community pulling together to heal one another’s hurts, to pray and to salve with balm the troubled spirit. Continue reading
Posted in gun violence, homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged community healing, gun violence, Mark 5:21-43, Psalm 130, Year B Proper 8
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The Nativity of John the Baptist
How terrifying to give birth through these bones that ache with age, flesh that bears the scars of the hungry years; and nearby, Zechariah wrings out words with his eyes: Breathe. Just breathe. Pleasedo not cease to breathe. The birth waters reach their flood; over them the … Continue reading
Posted in holy days, poetry
Tagged birth, Eizabeth, John the Baptist, nativity, Zechariah
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The ship
A sermon on Mark 4:35-41 – Jesus stills the storm Jesus, do you not care that we are perishing? Many years ago, as I was preparing for ordination, I was assigned to do fieldwork at a church far, far … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon, story
Tagged church, Mark 4:35-41, storm, vocation, Word of God, Year B Proper 7
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To speak in parables
To speak in parables: to open the teeth and loose the tongue, to taste truth beyond the metaphor, spit out outrageous similes for God, who is similar to nothing and almost everything; to explain them to his friends: to draw … Continue reading
The having of forgiveness
It seem to me that the way to remain unforgiven is to look forgiveness in the face and to mistake it for something altogether other, like a child in a hall of mirrors who sees distortion as reality and recoils … Continue reading
Pride
I think that the message that Jesus is sending here is that we do not need to deny that we are hungry, aching, withered, beloved and loving, marvelously (fabulously) made; but to know that God feeds us, heals us, restores us, loves us; that this is what sabbath is about: resting in the love of God. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged God loves you no exceptions, Jesus, LGBTQ, love of God, Mark 2:23-3:6, Pharisees, pride, psalm 139, sabbath, Year B Proper 4
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Sabbath
Sabbath jubilee: release for the withering will, slow unfurling of a sharply-curved grasp to rejoice in defiant mercy, revolutionary rest; the gift and obligation to lie down like a branch strewn before the quiet feet of God After a hiatus, … Continue reading
over the water 