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
Christmas Day: John’s Prologue
Two of the three gospel readings that are offered for Christmas services in our lectionary use the story of the nativity from Luke, the story acted out in Christmas pageants and plays, the story of the manger and the shepherds … Continue reading
Posted in meditation
Tagged Christmas Day, Emmanuel, Incarnation, John 1, nativity, prologue
Leave a comment
Christmas Eve: Good news
“I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.” Good news. “To you is born this day a Saviour, the Messiah, the Lord.” Good news indeed. The shepherds were, it is safe to say, not used … Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged angels, good news, gun violence, Luke 2:1-20, manger, N.T. Wright, newborn, Romans, Rowan Williams, shepherds
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
over the water 