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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
On judgement
Only the unjust know no shame, and say that because God does not change the dynamic of cause and effect, but lets us lead human lives of substance, agency, and consequence; only the foolish say that this means that God, our Judge and our Redeemer, does not notice nor care what goes on in our hearts, nor in our homes, nor in our nation. Continue reading
Posted in current events, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, COVID-19, Jesus, judgement, karma, racism, Year A Proper 28, Zephaniah 1, Zephaniah 3
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It’s not about the oil
They were each one fixated on having her own lamp lit, and none had time nor bandwidth nor the imagination to think outside the oilcan.
If we each look to our own interests and neglect the needs of our siblings, we miss the point of the parable. If we abandon our cousins to the outer darkness, we miss the whole point of the gospel. Continue reading
In the meantime
From my weekly email to my parishioners: At the time of writing you this morning, the US 2020 election has yet to be definitively called. Many of us are waiting on the final results with a mix of anxiety, hope, … Continue reading
Promise and practice
Promises require practice. It is our call and our promise to bring comfort to the broken-hearted, to make peace without sacrificing justice, or mercy, for peace cannot survive without them. … It is our call, and our promise, to resist evil, to proclaim the gospel by word and practice, to serve our neighbour as Christ himself, to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being. And God promises us eternal life and an end to this separation, this wrenching of the spirit, not because we do these things, but because Christ does these things. Continue reading
Posted in current events, holy days, sermon
Tagged All Saints, baptism, beatitudes, COVID-19, election, grief, Matthew 5:1-12, Romans 8:38-39
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A more perfect idolatry
Reconciliation will not happen while anyone’s human dignity is denied, and repentance is more creative than repairing the machine that got us here. Continue reading
Posted in current events
Tagged church and politics, Genesis 3, Mark 10:17-18, US election
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Pine
They strew palms before the hooves of a donkeylike candy beneath the wheels of a slowly-moving car. My God has laid before me a path of pine needles,and will I hesitate to cry Hosanna?
The wedding parable
What if this wedding were not about the king and his slaves, the guests and their clothing, the invited and the uninvited and the smited?
What if this parable were about the bridegroom and his beloved? Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged bridegroom, Ephesians 5:25-30, Jesus, Luke 10:38-42, matthew 22:1-14, wedding garment, wedding parable
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Currents
Looking to a goose feather floating on the surfacefor a landmark is rank foolishness; yet its inconstancy may be no greater thanthe line of seagulls ranged along the rocksnor the white-capped waves,the deck-chaired people on the sand, even the lake … Continue reading
Good tenants
But there is no bluster that can deceive God. There is no violence that can bend God’s will away from the justice, the tender mercy, the harvest of righteousness that God has planted. This disruption, this violence, this evil will not be allowed to stand. Continue reading
Standing up to Stand Your Ground: an open letter
We are not at war with one another. We are not at war with our fellow citizens or other Ohio residents. We do not need a law that assumes an attitude of antagonism between neighbors. Continue reading
Posted in current events, gun violence
Tagged #StandWithOhio, Matthew 26:52, racism, stand your ground laws
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over the water 