All rights reserved
© Rosalind C Hughes and over the water, 2011-2026. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Rosalind C Hughes and over the water, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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-
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
RevGalBlogPals
Meta
Category Archives: holy days
Monday 2020: Cleansing the temple
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
Posted in current events, holy days, lectionary reflection, poetry
Tagged cleansing the temple, COVID19, Holy Week
Leave a comment
Palm Sunday 2020
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.
Posted in current events, holy days, poetry, prayer
Leave a comment
Chasing clouds
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
Posted in current events, holy days, lectionary reflection, poetry, prayer
Tagged coronavirus, Daily Office, Easter Vigil, Exodus 13:20-22, pandemic, Psalm 97:1-5
Leave a comment
Naming the idols
Some are easy to spot, sporting colourful plumage;
they make fast promises they cannot keep. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, lectionary reflection, meditation, poetry, prayer
Tagged idols, Lent
Leave a comment
Ash Wednesday: grace is not in vain
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
Posted in holy days, homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10, Ash Wednesday, church calendar, confession, fast, grace, Lent, reconciliation
Leave a comment
When we can’t see the end of the story
It can feel sometimes as though Jesus has withdrawn to the backwaters of Galilee, , and we do not know when we will see him again, nor whether he will come with whips and cords to clean out the temples of power, or even our own house; or whether he will come in chains, bowed down by the burdens of the principalities that still oppose the reign of God, its justice, its mercy, its peace; or whether he will come in glory, a light to shine the world toward salvation. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, lectionary reflection, sermon, story
Tagged gospel, grief, Luke 2:22-40, Nunc Dimittis, Simeon and Anna, The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, waiting
1 Comment
It is too light a thing
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
Posted in current events, holy days, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged anti-Semitism, immigration, Isaiah 49:6, light, Martin Luther King Jr, Matthew 11:28-30, racism
1 Comment
Light speaks
light whispers, flushed and fevered,
smouldering out of sight to
the point of conflagration. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon, sermon preparation
Tagged Isaiah 49:6, light, Martin Luther King Jr, Year A Epiphany 2
Leave a comment
Baptizing Christ, becoming Christlike
With God’s help, we baptize her. With God’s help, we rise refreshed with her, remembering that God is with us, Emmanuel, come hell or high water, and that God has anointed us to bring that good news to the world. Continue reading
Epiphany 2020: First, do no harm
If we are people of the Epiphany, then we, too, are stargazers. We have been told, commissioned by angels and dreams, to find another road. We worship the Prince of Peace in a world at war. We would rather offer gifts of gold to helpless babies than bribes to politicians or kings. We find truth in the gospel of love rather than the mantra of success. We worship the God of the manger and the Christ of the Cross. We follow Christ through the empty tomb, knowing that the star can take us only so far. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Epiphany, Le Chambon, magi, nonviolence, Philip Hallie
Leave a comment
over the water 