Category Archives: current events

All Saints 2022

Posted on November 6, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

All Saints’ Sunday 2022; Luke 6:20-31 _____________ According to Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Laurentius (St Lawrence) was the “principal of the deacons” serving in Rome in the middle years of the third century, when yet another round of persecutions of … Continue reading →

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Come, let us argue it out

Posted on October 30, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

A sermon for October 30, nine days before the US midterm elections. The readings are for Year C Proper 26, Track 2, and include Isaiah 1:10-18 and Luke 19:1-10, the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus. ______________________________ What does repentance look … Continue reading →

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An “unsafe peace”

Posted on August 14, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

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 →

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At the intersection

Posted on July 9, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

At the intersection of futility and ragehangs a monument to discord,its anthem the harsh horn punctuatedby arguments, epithets, and gunshots.It is not rooted in earth or tarmac,not rendered in stone or broken glass.You will breathe it unknowing in air hung … Continue reading →

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Peace, and if not peace, then protest

Posted on July 3, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

If we feel as though defeat is always at hand, may it be a reminder of the cross of Christ, and be turned to our hope. If we feel as though the world is at war with itself, with us; if we think the world we thought we knew is strange and full of wolves, may it be a reminder of our own status as lost sheep, dependent on the love of our shepherd to find us and bring us home. If we feel as though peace has dissolved into protest, may we lift up our feet and find ourselves on the way of the Cross. Continue reading →

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#GunstoGardens

Posted on June 29, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

Pistols into ploughshares Starve a fever, feed cold steel barrels into the forge Beneath scorched earth cool claythe kiln at earth’s core;creation’s heart of stone Beneath the concrete floorreverb of the hammer starts a rumour – revolution, evolution, healing – over the anvil, fever … Continue reading →

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Among the living and the dead

Posted on June 19, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

When the demons saw Jesus, they were afraid. They begged for their lives. When Jesus showed mercy even to the demons, they proved their destructive nature by plunging the herd of swine into the sea. Did he not know it must be so? It was their nature to be evil spirits. It was, it is Jesus’ nature to be love. Continue reading →

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Goose

Posted on June 17, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

I knew that just because I was inadequate to the task, that did not let me off the hook for doing what I could to try to relieve the suffering of another creature. Seeing his pain made me, in some obscure way, responsible for his healing. Continue reading →

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It’s not nothing

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

What we did is not enough, but it was, I believe, inspired. What happened in DC this weekend is certainly not enough, nor is it yet even a done deal, but if it is a beginning, it is something. I remember learning about inertia in high school physics: a body at rest is inclined to continue to do nothing. A body that begins to move has the chance to collect momentum. Continue reading →

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Pentecost: fear and tailfeathers

Posted on June 5, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” (John 14:27) “I do not … Continue reading →

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