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© 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-
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Author Archives: Rosalind C Hughes
Stigmata?
A little Lenten story She found a strange bruise on one foot – stigmata, perhaps, if it spread? – but it soaked away in the bath instead, leaving an emptiness to blossom somewhere behind her left breast, unseen.
Ash Wednesday
Lent is a time, if nowhen else is, not to perform piety, but to practice humility; not to perform beneficence, but to practice generosity; not to perform mourning but to practice grief, for all that is done that should have been left undone; for all that should have been done that has been left undone; with tears and trembling, and the sure and certain knowledge that God, who is compassion and mercy, sees us. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, homily, sermon
Tagged Ash Wednesday, ashes, dust, God, Lent, Matthew 6:1-6 16-12, mercy, repentance
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Shrove Tuesday
O God of branches and hosannas, forgive the dried state of last year’s palms; trampled by Holy Week and scant adoration, they have desiccated, as our hearts too often do, too. Kindle them, our hearts and our psalms, to fresh … Continue reading
Posted in holy days, poetry, prayer
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Dwelling in glory
It takes time for the glory of God to sink in, to make our bones tingle with it, to make our hearts glad of it, and our spirits ready to respond in kind. Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged Exodus 24:12-18, gun violence, idols, MAtthew 17:1-9, Transfiguration, Year A Epiphany Last
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Fall silent
A short (but true) story for the Sunday Last before Lent: “We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven” (2 Peter 1) _______ Every day, at around about eleven in the morning, the world stood still. Teachers fell quiet mid-lesson, … Continue reading
A psalm of lament
We turn to you, Compassionate One,
with your endless forbearance and infinite mercy, and pray that your patience will one day break;
because it seems some days that ours, our capacity for carnage, is everlasting. Continue reading
Posted in current events, gun violence, poetry, prayer
Tagged gun violence, lament, mass shooting, Michigan State, Psalm, school shooting
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Fire and water
The thing about pursuing an ethic of life, an ethic of love, is that it’s going to take a lot of work, a lot of humility, a lot of patience, and a lot of forgiveness. Continue reading
Salt, light, love
A sermon delivered at the Solemn Sung Eucharist service of Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio. The propers are for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany _______________ You are the salt of the earth; … You are the light of the world. … Continue reading
From the forge
I madea heart; hammeredaway at steelhot from the forgeuntil I got into its groove,turned the base untilit barely lookedlike the barrel of a gunany more.I sliced it with the sawuntil it wouldn’t holdany more.I thought aboutthat Bible verse,turning hearts of … Continue reading
Posted in gun violence, poetry
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A Song of Anna
Anna, too, breaks into praises, and she, too, has something to say about what this means, the coming of the Messiah, the birth of the Christ, and his appearance in the Temple. She tells all who will listen – but her words, unlike Simeon’s, are not recorded. Continue reading