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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
Blessed are those who mourn …
Blessedness is not about material success nor even the absence of suffering in this life: it is about walking ever more closely with God. The closer we come, the greater our understanding of the rewards of mercy, the heights of humility, the purity of love, the power of peace. So yes, blessed are those who mourn when God Themself is weeping. Continue reading
Posted in current events, holy days, sermon
Tagged All Saints, All Souls, beatitudes, grief, Matthew 5:1-12, war in the Holy Land
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Afterwords
Dear God, we cry, dear Lord, how much blood can humanity shed before we become something other than the body that you formed, and the spirit that you breathed, and the image that you called very good? My Christ, can … Continue reading
Posted in current events, gun violence
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Blessed
Blessed are those who know God’s poverty: the emptying out of all that is not God. Blessed are those who grieve with God, who know the sorrow of heaven, who nestle in God’s bosom. Blessed are those who have the mind of God, not … Continue reading
Stop the bleeding
Dear God,we cry, dear Lord,how much blood can humanity shedbefore we become something otherthan the body that you formedand the spirit that you breathedand the image that you calledvery good? My Christ,can we lay down our weaponsand crawl beneath your … Continue reading
Posted in current events, gun violence, poetry, prayer
Tagged Maine, mass shooting, war
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Regret
What happens when we stop asking questions? What if instead we had kept on, like a child of God asking why? why? but why? If we had trusted enough to stay in our cautious curiosity, allowed our anger, even outrage to feed a sceptical hope. He was our … Continue reading
The flight to Egypt (through Gaza)
I can only imagine that you went that way, searching the skies by night for a sign of Herod’s madness overtaking, or a message from the Magi flashed through the heavens; at twilight I scan for the satellites that bring news and war to stream down like … Continue reading
Posted in current events, poetry, prayer
Tagged Gaza, Herod, holy family, Holy Innocents, magi, Matthew 2, war
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Render
Give to God what is God’s, he said, and some, taking him at his Word, went out to prepare the holy sacrifice.
God head
Note: this week’s #preparingforSundaywithpoetry takes non-random words from the Gospel and pairs them to unearth (or undermine) the meaning of the exchange. These words appear in the NRSV translation. Continue reading
The erosion of innocence
Every night, we listened to the rockets fall. The one night that all was quiet, no one could sleep. Still, the most danger I fell into that summer was from the heat, high waters, and the inappropriate appetites of certain men. One evening I sat on the hillside with my arm around a friendly Doberman who had planted himself between my body and that of a young man who had tried to separate me from the herd. I felt safe. Continue reading
Posted in current events, story
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Dressed for a wedding or a war
A sermon for 15 October 2023, on Year A Proper 23 readings Matthew 22:1-14, Philippians 4:1-9, Exodus 32:1-14, at the Church of the Epiphany, Euclid, Ohio Paul writes, Beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, … Continue reading
over the water 