Author Archives: Rosalind C Hughes

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About Rosalind C Hughes

Rosalind C Hughes is an Episcopal priest, poet, and author living near the shores of Lake Erie. After growing up in England and Wales, and living briefly in Singapore, she is now settled in Ohio. Rosalind is the author of A Family Like Mine: Biblical Stories of Love, Loss, and Longing , and Whom Shall I Fear? Urgent Questions for Christians in an Age of Violence, both from Upper Room Books. She loves the lake, misses the ocean, and is finally coming to terms with snow.

Chasing clouds

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Not as children naming
animals in a fluffy sky; nor yet
storm chasers, seeking secrets
funnelled from heaven to earth; more
refugees from understanding,
lost in bewilderment, following
clouds across the wilderness
desert dry-mouthed – Continue reading →

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Why did this happen?

Posted on March 22, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

When Jesus and his disciples come across a blind man begging, the disciples ask a question that the sages have answered in various ways throughout the ages: why is there suffering in the world? Why do even the unarguably innocent – babies and children – suffer? Why do we live with these questions from birth and throughout our lives, even in the midst of joy, even in the midst of love, even with Jesus walking right next to us? Continue reading →

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The longest Lent

Posted on March 19, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

After forty days, he was tempted to give it up: the faith, the fast, the body, lay down among the dry bones. Continue reading →

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Sermon from the edge of a pandemic

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Jesus was not great at social distancing. Wherever he went he attracted crowds that pressed against the lake shore, against one another, against him and the hem of his garments. Once, he filled a house so full that they had to take the roof off to fit one more person in.

Even out in the sticks, he managed to find the one woman next to a well, and asked her for a drink. Continue reading →

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Pray as though nobody’s listening

Posted on March 11, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Oh, but what about those things that “our Father who is in secret” will see? And what will be their just reward? What is behind that other door, the one within our hearts and souls, which attempts to guard my guilt and my ungraceful, unpaintable, distressed and unfading mantras even from the sight of God, let alone myself? Continue reading →

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Naming the idols

Posted on March 2, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Some are easy to spot, sporting colourful plumage;

they make fast promises they cannot keep. Continue reading →

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Living and dying

Posted on March 1, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

As the plane began to descend, it picked up some crosswinds. By the time the ground reached out to greet us, it was rocking like a boat on the wide ocean. I braced myself for a hard landing; but instead the plane pulled up sharply and we found ourselves once more climbing over the city, going around to try again. Continue reading →

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Ash Wednesday: grace is not in vain

Posted on February 26, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Lent is a good discipline for me. The soul-searching, the self-denial, the study of God’s grace is something that I need constantly if I am to recognize the enormity, the ridiculous span and spread of God’s mercy.

But constantly is hard to do. Continue reading →

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Words matter

Posted on February 16, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Jesus does not want us less than whole. He does not want our bodies abused, nor for our relationships to become a prison or a torment. The instructions he gives us, time and again, are to love God and to love one another; anything more is hyperbole; anything less is parody. Continue reading →

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Valentine

Posted on February 14, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Happy valentine’s day; no matter your circumstance today, you are beloved, more than words can say. In the meantime, my valentine said I could share this with you: The undertow sucks sand from underfoot, but I stand firm. Wild horses … Continue reading →

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