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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
The wedding robe
White lace cut down to a christening robe. Later, a doll with curly blonde hair wore my mother’s leftover wedding weeds, a moulded Miss Haversham preserved in plastic, dressed for the feast, rosebud lips perpetually parted for love.
Year A Proper 22: parables and other stories
There is a kind of through the looking glass feel to this parable. If you think of the classic fairy tale structure, where a king sends three messengers on a quest to redeem his belongings, in this case the wine … Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged baptism, Ebola, fairy tale, God's mercy endures forever, Isaiah 5:1-7, Jesus, Matthew 21:33-46, oppression, parable, Psalm 80, vineyard, Year A Proper 22
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Four weddings and a funeral
Over the past few months, I have heard and read more times than I can remember the sentiment of my clergy colleagues who “would rather do ten funerals than a wedding.”* With two in a row the next two Saturdays, … Continue reading
Vineyards
I cannot grow an apple tree, aromatic herbs, fresh flowers. I dig and plant and water and weed; everything dies. I drink the wine of another’s vineyard, climb the walls to scrump the orchard, cadge the scent of another’s roses … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation
Tagged Isaiah 5:1-7, Matthew 21, parable, Psalm 80, scrumping apples, vineyard
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Year A Proper 21: a problem with authority
Based on today’s New Testament texts: Philippians 2:1-13; Matthew 21:23-32 Let the same mind be in you that is in Christ Jesus. Here’s a little window into the mind of Jesus; the humble one, the slave, obedient unto death, even … Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged authority, Christ Jesus, church, Matthew 21:23-32, Phillipians 2:1-13, race, racial profiling, reconciliation, religion
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Year A Proper 21: By whose authority?
Rarely does Jesus give a straight answer to a straight question; but rarely, too, is he quite as direct about his indirection as he is here. Leading to the following reflection: Can you imagine being Jesus’ mother? I don’t mean … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon preparation
Tagged authority, childhood, Jesus, Mary, Matthew 21:23-32, Messiah, Year A Proper 21
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Year A Proper 20: Jonah and anti-Jonah
Poor, petulant Jonah. If he couldn’t give the Ninevites hell, he wanted to at least give them purgatory. I’ve done all of this work, he said, endured all of this drama: the running away the wailing and gnashing of teeth, … Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged fair pay, God, Jesus, Jonah, justice, living wage, love, mercy, minimum wage, Nineveh, parable
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The Gospel according to Jonah
In the form of a bedtime board book: I love you to the end of the ocean. I love you to the depth of the sea. I love you to the belly of the whale and back. * I love you … Continue reading
Seeing the light
On the carriageway out of the castle about halfway down, the tunnel bends sharply. They told us that a dray horse, poorly schooled in perspective, would find it hard to believe that the tight, bright portal at the end of … Continue reading
Year A Proper 19: forgiving
You remember the Joseph story: “Way way back many centuries ago, not long after the Bible began…” Jacob was the grandson of Abraham, and the father of the twelve tribes of Israel – in fact, it was Jacob who was … Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged favouritism, forgiveness, Genesis 50:15-21, Jacob, Joseph, Matthew 18:21-35, parable
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over the water 