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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
Unashamed
If I deny the love that Christ has even for my enemies, I become like the people at the dinner table where Jesus sat, who prided themselves on being in his presence, while he only had eyes for the weeping woman at his feet. I become like the nine who were healed, who received mercy, who went on their way happy, no doubt, and whole, but who missed out on the profound and deep joy of the Samaritan who saw more clearly than any of them the depth and breadth of God’s grace, and fell on his face before Jesus in gratitude for the limitless love that he embodied. Continue reading
Of faith, tides, and tables
Paul writes to Timothy (in so many words), “Do not be ashamed of the faith whose testimony I have given”; faith is a gift, but not one to be locked away in a secret safe, nor set on the shelf for later, nor even hung as a piece of art, an installation, or an exhibit. Like a musical instrument, like a precious crystal flute, as it were, faith is designed to be taken out and played, not merely looked upon, but heard, heeded, acted upon, perhaps even danced with. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Cnut (Canute), faith, hurricane, Luke 17:5-10
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Angel
Hide stretched taut, a little frayed at the edges – homage to the fantasy of feathers – humming as the updraft plays its song of praise to the author of breath; you have become an instrument of glory, the terrible call and echoing, empty response, symphony on skins full of … Continue reading
The chasm
There is no chasm that Christ cannot and has not crossed for us.
However, we can divide ourselves from one another pretty effectively, and in doing so create hell on earth for some. Continue reading
The Call of Matthew
If you were to write a gospel, what would you include? What might you leave out? Would you slide in a cameo of the time that Jesus, passing through your toll booth, caught your eye, mouthed, “Follow me”? … Continue reading
Power and piety
When we come to a crossroads, and the gospel calls us to walk one way, and the world tells us that way leads to ruin, or rejection, Jesus wants us to have the courage to follow him, even in the way of the cross. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Bonhoeffer, hate, Jesus, Jewish Annotated New Testament, love, Luke 14:25-33, Year C Proper 18
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Did Jesus dream?
Did Jesus dream? Were his dreams oracular, spectular, unconsciously omniscient, encompassing future and past, nebulae and black holes? Were there days when night hung from his shoulders, unlight, leaden remnants of memory or premonition? Did Jesus delight in the absurdity of dreamscape? Was he … Continue reading
Things I made this week*
BreadA dressCommunionA poemGoat milk vanilla bean ice creamA discovery: the cats adore goats’ milkLoveA sermonA cross out of dismantled gunmetalA deal with the lake, God, and the skythat if they will endurea little longer so will I *some details may … Continue reading
Posted in poetry, prayer, story
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Miracles break the rules
Jesus breaks, not the holy laws of the Sabbath but our imagined laws of cause and effect, sin and sickness, the very cords which bind us in order to set the woman free, in a miracle.
And this is Sabbath for her, and for us: that God is indiscriminate in mercy, unstinting in grace. Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged D066, gender affirming care, Luke 13:10-17, miracle, sabbath, trans rights, Year C Proper 16
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An “unsafe peace”
It is strange that peace should be so divisive: that putting love before enmity, generosity before gain, gentleness before vengeance, patience before pride, kindness before triumph, justice before profit should be a less popular way forward than winning at all cost. But that division has been our shadow side since Cain slew Abel out of envy and Jacob cheated Esau out of his inheritance by using his own hunger against him. Continue reading
over the water 