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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
Year C Advent 4: The Magnificat
Mary went out with haste into the hill country. A young woman, a teenager pregnant with a baby of uncertain paternity, an unwed mother in first-century Galilee – you can bet that she got out of town with some haste. … Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged Mary and Elizabeth, pledge, reign of God, salvation, teenage pregnancy, the visitation, Year C Advent 4
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Out of the mouths
“Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings…” – isn’t that what the Bible says? Yesterday, the NRA broke its quite understandable, even welcome, silence following the news out of Newtown last week. More guns, they suggested, would prevent more … Continue reading
Posted in other words
Tagged Matthew 21:16, NRA, school shootings, security, Violence
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Twenty-eight bells
In a few minutes, I will sound the bells at our church twenty-eight times, in memory of the people who died in Newtown, CT last week in an incident which has filled our country with grief, horror and sorrow. Over … Continue reading
Blue Christmas homily
I remember one Christmas Eve years ago, when I was a Sunday School teacher trying to wrangle small children dressed as shepherds and herd animals dressed as small children and deal with both kings and wise guys and try not … Continue reading
Posted in homily, sermon, story
Tagged anger, baby, Blue Christmas, Christmas, Christmas Eve, God, Jesus, joy, pageant
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How long?
Last week, as I was leaving my children’s school after the morning drop-off, a fluttering thing caught my eye. I realized that it was a red and black ribbon, tacked to a tree at the end of the driveway. It … Continue reading
Posted in other words
Tagged change, Chardon High School, gun violence, Newtown CT, ribbons
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Year C Advent 3: Rachel refused to be consoled
Here’s Matthew’s gospel, telling what happened not long after Jesus was born: Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in … Continue reading
Words
There are no words for some days; there are no words to take away the grimness of the children’s story, fantastic in its horror, incredible yet all too real; we reel, we recoil; there are no words. Even as we … Continue reading
Broody vipers
“John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You broody vipers!” (Luke 3:7 … almost)
Posted in image, lectionary reflection
Tagged brood of vipers, broody vipers, John the Baptist, Luke 3:7, Year C Advent 3
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Year C Advent 2: John’s story: to be continued
The first in a two-part mini sermon series at Church of the Epiphany, Euclid There is a backstory to today’s gospel. Luke gives us lots of context: who was ruling where, and had been for how long; he gives us … Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged baptizers, flashback, Herod, John the Baptist, Luke, Tiberius, Year C Advent 2, Zechariah
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John’s backstory
(Sunday sermon spoiler alert!) There is a backstory to today’s gospel. Luke gives us lots of context: who was ruling where, and had been for how long; he gives us a snapshot of the political situation, the state of the … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon preparation, story
Tagged flashback, John the Baptist, lectionary, Luke, Pontius Pilate, Year C Advent 2, Zechariah
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over the water 