Category Archives: current events

Monday 2020: Cleansing the temple

Posted on April 6, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Monday morning: disinfecting doorknobs, disaffecting traders, tilting tables to wipe them down, zealously sanitizing sacred space, swiping between compassion and contempt; mask slipping, brow sweating, having tested positive for mortality Also from Monday’s Daily Office readings: How lonely sits the … Continue reading →

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Palm Sunday 2020

Posted on April 5, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

After the psalms have died away and the palm leaves dry and brittle in the dust have crumbled underfoot; after the streets have emptied, crowds drained through doorways, their thunder spent, a stone heart whispers still, Hosanna: saviour, save us.

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Mushroom

Posted on March 31, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Early in the morning, we would wipe our hands with grassy dew, gather field mushrooms sprung up overnight; only the wise old wives knew whether their white canopies shed spores of health, or of the other thing. Featured image: Scottish … Continue reading →

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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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Salt of the earth

Posted on February 9, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Both of them, Isaiah and Jesus, are preaching a political message, about the end of oppression and the elevation of equality, about the mercy and justice of God, and that new world order, the kingdom of God.
You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world. 
You are God’s gift, God’s political campaign contribution. You are God’s PAC. Continue reading →

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It is too light a thing

Posted on January 19, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

We see our fellow godchildren as like us, or not like us, or invisible to us. But it is God’s salvation that we proclaim, and that we claim for ourselves, and God created light to shine from one end of the universe to the other.
The light of God’s salvation is for everyone. It is the light which enlightens every body, which lifts every burden, which anoints every wound with healing. Continue reading →

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Race and guns: a call to the occasion “For Such a Time As This” with the Rev. Sharon Risher

Posted on November 16, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

I was honoured to offer this opening prayer and call at lunch with God Before Guns and the Rev. Sharon Risher at Forest Hill Presbyterian Church, Cleveland Heights, today. What do guns have to do with any of this? That … Continue reading →

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