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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
Forgive and forget (1)
I do not think that forgetfulness is necessarily helpful to forgiveness. Of course, neither is holding a grudge; but forgiveness, as part of a loving and generous outlook on relationship, depends upon an honest assessment of where we are together; … Continue reading
Posted in story
Tagged abusive relationships, Countryman, forgetfulness, forgiveness, Hebrews 8:12, Jeremiah 31:34, reconciliation
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Religious rituals and summer Sunday attendance
Two days after my mother died, at half past five in the morning, I heard a strange noise outside my bedroom window, the window of the spare bedroom in my parent’s house. It was a rasping, grinding, rolling, grunting, sighing … Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged 1 Kings 18:20-39, centurion, church attendance, community, Elijah, family, funeral, healing, Hebrews 10:25, Jesus, Luke 7:1-10, religious ritual, ritual, summer
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To understand all is to forgive all
I understand from various casual sources that this commonplace was most famously recorded, if not coined, by Leo Tolstoy in War and Peace, which I have yet to read: “Tous comprendre, c’est tous pardonner.” There is a reason it has … Continue reading
Trinity Sunday 2013
(A sermon I won’t be there to preach, ironically because I am “suffering” from shingles. But my love and prayers are with the parish of Epiphany this morning, and I’m so glad to be in a relationship with them.) I … Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Matthew 16:24-25, relationship, Romans 5:1-5, suffering, take up your bed, take up your cross, Trinity Sunday, Triune
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Trinity
Trinity (in preparation for Sunday) When the children were little, and they wouldn’t listen, they wouldn’t play nicely, or tidy their toys, or eat their greens, or let go of the poor cat’s tender tail, I would say, “I’ll count … Continue reading
Posted in other words, poetry
Tagged cats, children, counting, one, parenting, poetry, three, Trinity, Trinity Sunday
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To forgive is divine
the first in a short series on forgiveness. I’m really interested to hear your own stories, insights and opinions “To forgive is divine,” so they say. In some ways, it’s simple. Why forgive? we might ask, and we can enumerate … Continue reading
Posted in story
Tagged anger, Christianity, forgiveness, God, Jesus, John 6, joy, resentment
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Tornadoes and sympathy
When I attended prenatal classes nearly twenty years ago, they warned us that watching the news would never be the same again after giving birth; that we would weep more, suffer more, seeing each vulnerable child in the light of … Continue reading
Posted in other words
Tagged family, grief, loss, oklahoma, storm, sympathy, tornado
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Pentecost 2013
It was Pentecost. The disciples were gathered all together in one place. And the Holy Spirit came among them like a rush of wind, like the breath of god, the sound of a mighty exhalation, god whispering in what might … Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged 25-27, Acts 2:1-21, adoption, children of God, Holy Spirit, John 14:8-17, Pentecost, Romans 8:14-17, Teilhard de Chardin, The Divine Milieu
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Scary monsters at play
This may be irreligious, but… Have you ever had that person in your life (perhaps you are that person) who thought that it was funny to jump out from behind the sofa and yell “Boo!” at the climactic moment of … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon preparation
Tagged creation, God, horror movies, joke, Leviathan, Loch Ness monster, Psalm 104:26, sea monsters
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over the water 