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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
Citizens of heaven
Our citizenship is in heaven, declare the confident and the confused, the helpless and the hopeful, in every language invented under the Word of God; and the kingdom of heaven is at hand, says Jesus, where love is unwavering and indiscriminate; where death is defeated by the stubborn and resilient love of God, and the hope of heaven. Continue reading
Posted in current events, sermon, story
Tagged #christchurchmosqueshooting, Luke 13:34, Philippians 3:17-4:1, Year C Lent 2
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Hungry for God
If we could turn stones into bread to feed the food insecure, the child whose father goes without to turn away her crying hunger, the mother who works night and day to provide for them; if we could turn beach sand into bread rolls, wouldn’t we do it? Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged devil, Jesus, Lent, Luke 4:1-13, Psalm 91:11-12, temptations
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Remembrance, repentance, and reconciliation
In Lent, we bury [the word of ululating praise] beneath our tongues, yet even in dust and ashes it is our song, tuning in to Christ’s love, our hope, the truth of God’s undying mercy. Continue reading
Revealed, by Angela D. Schaffner
Dr Schaffner’s psychological insights guide her readers through a journey into a Bible which does not lecture, chide, nor always even guide us so much as hold up a mirror to our own lives and relationships, inviting God into those reflections, and recognizing where God’s grace is already at work within us. Continue reading
Posted in book review, story
Tagged Angela D. Schaffner, Bible, psychology, Revealed, spiritual growth, Upper Room Books
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Bright cloud
There are those bright clouds in which we recognize God’s presence already among us, working in us and through us as we struggle to do the right thing, even when the way is obscure and foggy, even when we are terrified, even when we confronted with anger, grief, failure. The way of the cross is not an easy road, but it does lead to deliverance, to freedom from unclean spirits, eventually to resurrection. Continue reading
Posted in current events, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged grief, Jesus, justice, LGBTQ, Transfiguration, UMC
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A prayer for the weary preacher
Abundant Word, your economy of language makes wine out of water, a feast of fish and bread, breaking nets out of sleepless nights I come with crumbs, with unslept eyes, high on the fumes of the day, my shredded garment … Continue reading
Posted in poetry, prayer
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An ordination sermon: submittere
It is in the most intractable problems of the world and its children that we find ourselves unable to proclaim our own greatness, nor believe in our own glory. It is here, at the end of hope, that we find ourselves gathered once more with Jesus at the table, with the people whom he most loves, the ones who are broken like bread, scattered like crumbs, poured out like spilt wine. Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged 2 Corinthians 4:1-6, deacon, discipleship, Luke 22:24-27, ordination, servant ministry, submittere, William Temple
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How to love your enemies
Love your enemies, says Jesus. Let God take your anger and turn it into something beyond your imagining – just as Jesus turned the horror, the terror, the death of the cross into the astonishment of the Resurrection. Continue reading
A prayer for the woman preaching
You remember us as the woman who anointed Your anointed one … Continue reading
The truth will make you free
To preach the commemoration of Frederick Douglass is an exercise in humility for a white woman of considerable privilege. To try to bring his words and example to bear upon the way in which we hear the gospel today, without reduction or exploitation or appropriation, is an exercise in repentance. My repentance will not be perfect, so I ask your forgiveness up front. Continue reading
Posted in homily
Tagged Frederick Douglass, Kelly Brown Douglas, racism, slaveholder Christianity, White supremacy
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over the water 