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
Biblical widows and Granny Lyle
Granny Lyle was widowed in 1957. For as long as I knew her, she lived alone in a house not her own; she had never lived in her own home, going from her parents into service with the local doctor … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon preparation
Tagged 1Kings 17:17-24, Daily Office, family, grandmothers, lectionary, Luke 18:1-8, Luke 7:11-17, Widows, Year C Proper 5
3 Comments
Raising the dead
They say that Elijah raised a fatherless child, stretched out corpselike over his body, breathing for him, with him, breathing until his new life began. His mother, from then on, developed a habit of peering over his shoulder into the … Continue reading
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
Leave a comment
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
3 Comments
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
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment