All rights reserved
© Rosalind C Hughes and over the water, 2011-2026. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Rosalind C Hughes and over the water, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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-
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
RevGalBlogPals

Meta
Author Archives: Rosalind C Hughes
Year A Advent 2: Snakes and other stories
There are a lot of snakes in today’s readings. In Isaiah, a small child plays over the nests of asps and adders. In Matthew, John the Baptizer calls the Pharisees a brood of vipers. Now, a quick survey of biblical … Continue reading
In memoriam
Earlier this year, I preached a sermon about fire and forgiveness, looking back and looking forward. Nelson Mandela, gravely ill at the time, was a great inspiration: I know that I am not the only preacher this morning who looked … Continue reading
Year A Advent 1
And so the season, the year, begins in the middle – in the middle of the story, in the middle of a field where two men are working, and there then was one; in the mill, where two women are … Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged Advent, Christmas, family, Isaiah 2:1-5, Matthew 24:36-44, Matthew 5:23-24, Noah, Psalm 122, reconciliation, relationship, Romans 13:11-14
1 Comment
Year A Advent 1: starting in the middle
In the middle of the story, in the middle of the day, when two women are in the middle of a studied silence over the millstone. They are not speaking. One of them is not speaking so hard, she disappears. … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon preparation
Tagged family, forgiveness, healing, left behind, Matthew 24:36-44, Noah, regret, relationships, resentment, the flood, Year A Advent 1
Leave a comment
Sermon for Christ the King 2013
The gospel of Luke, which we have been reading since last Advent; the gospel of Luke, from its beginning to its end, is about a revolution, the quiet revolution of the Magnificat, the secret story of a young woman who … Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged Advent, Christ the King, crucifixion, gospel of Luke, Magnificat, paradise, revolution, rudolf bultmann, Year C Proper 29
Leave a comment
Christ the King
The honest thief Don’t tell me you are saving me while we hang here side by side in searing pain under a searing sun; don’t talk to me of gardens of ease where mercy falls down like a river when … Continue reading
Hoping and praying
Illuminated by hope, prayer chatters across the garden fence between earth and heaven, clouding the air with gossipy details… When hope has set beyond the horizon, prayer retreats into the house, slams the door, draws down the shades, unwilling to submit to … Continue reading
Posted in poetry
Tagged depression and spirituality, hamlet, heaven, hope, optimism, pessimism, prayer
Leave a comment
Year C Proper 28: Work and do not be weary
They are words that strike terror into the hearts of the unemployed, the underemployed, the working poor, the uninsured. They are words that form a hard and heavy stone in the stomachs of too many people, even in these enlightened … Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13, anchorites, Crossing the Unknown Sea, David Whyte, food stamps, Julian of Norwich, liturgy, Martha and Mary, prayer, SNAP, work, Year C Proper 28
2 Comments
Anything but straightforward
“Those who will not work will not eat:” There are several nuances to the seemingly harsh sentence that we miss when we reduce it to a slogan. … … there is the description of work itself. We use the word work … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon preparation
Tagged 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13, Eucharist, food, labour, poverty, preaching, work, Year C Proper 28
Leave a comment