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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
Penitence
After William Wordsworth’s “Preface to Lyrical Ballads,” 1800 Recollected in tranquillity, passions burnt beyond their embers. Unguarded breath conjures dust devils, smoke without fire, echoes of disgrace remembered by the ashen light of dawn. Dignified in variegated gray, sifted, judiciously, … Continue reading
Posted in holy days, poetry, prayer
Tagged "recollected in tranquillity", Ash Wednesday, Lent, penitence, sin, Wordsworth
2 Comments
The sun also rises
The love that Jesus describes is unflinching, unafraid, and it is relentless. Rebuked and reviled, love nevertheless persists. It refuses to be overcome. It will not give way to injustice. It turns the other cheek. Continue reading
For the love of libraries
Yesterday was the commemoration of Thomas Bray, who founded scores of lending libraries and founded the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge and the Society for the Promulgation of the Gospel. The gospel reading appointed for his festival is … Continue reading
Healing Spiritual Wounds, by Carol Howard Merritt (Book Review)
I love a good story, and Carol Howard Merritt’s book, Healing Spiritual Wounds: Reconnecting with a Loving God after Experiencing a Hurtful Church, is full of them. But it is not just a memoir of leaving one theological tradition for … Continue reading
Truth, love, and justice
Jesus has some advice: tell the truth. Let your yes be yes, and your no be no. Do not bluster, do not brag. Tell the truth, says our Way, our Truth, and our Life. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged #alternativefacts, beatitudes, divorce, fake news, Matthew 5, sermon on the mount, truth
4 Comments
Bitter
Stone on my tongue cold and bitter grit rasps my teeth sets them on edge sharp and dangerous; my heart is in my mouth. Take this heart of stone the bitter grit; feed me sweet flesh feed me sweet honeyed … Continue reading
Salt and light
Salt is not only a matter of good taste. It is elemental. It is sacramental. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged church, light of the world, Matthew 5:13-20, salt of the earth, sermon on the mount
1 Comment
Return
Without prayer my words are empty air Without silence I bellow in the wind Without praise my anger turns to bitterness Without passion my blood runs wasted cold Without humility endurance loses its endeavour Without return disquiet finds no rest … Continue reading
Posted in current events, poetry, prayer
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Broken
At the parish where I celebrate Communion week by week, we use pita for the bread – a nice Middle Eastern connection. I tear off a small piece for each person who presents themself at the altar rail, place it … Continue reading
Beatitudes
A sermon for the fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, and the aftermath of an executive order turning away refugees and other immigrants (including green card holders) from seven nations. The Gospel was the Sermon on the Mount: the Beatitudes (Matthew … Continue reading
Posted in blessings, current events
Tagged beatitudes, immigraton, Matthew 5:1-12, Micah 6:8, refugees
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over the water 