Category Archives: holy days

Maundy Thursday: the mother of all mercy

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Rosalind C Hughes

What should Jesus have done about Judas? In a way, Thursday was the final chance. There is a pipeline from here to the tomb. Once Judas has left the table, Jesus knows that his fate is sealed. Yet earlier in … Continue reading →

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Holy Week

Posted on April 11, 2017 by Rosalind C Hughes

Seven days. Seven shades of suffering silence. Seven last words: thirst, famine, fever, finality, yet, too, there is forgiveness, family, a future spit from split lips, a dry tongue still willing to kiss the face of God

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Palms and passion

Posted on April 9, 2017 by Rosalind C Hughes

A sermon for Palm Sunday, 2017 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was an acclaimed theologian of the twentieth century. He became iconic after his martyrdom at the hands of Hitler’s Nazi government, shortly before the end of the second World War. According to … Continue reading →

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Fear of falling 

Posted on March 5, 2017 by Rosalind C Hughes

The lectionary lessons for today are about Adam and Eve, the fall, temptation, redemption, resistance … The devil dared him to be fearless. The devil dared him to be brazen, in God’s face; a son so independent in his own … Continue reading →

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Hope in the ashes

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Rosalind C Hughes

There is hope in cold ashes. We do not “do” Lent, we do not approach the fast as those who have no hope, or as though who fear the fire. For God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and … Continue reading →

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Penitence

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Rosalind C Hughes

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 →

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Epiphany

Posted on January 8, 2017 by Rosalind C Hughes

A sermon for the Church of the Epiphany, Euclid, Ohio, January 2017 Outside of the main city, down through the wilderness, is the lost city of Petra. The intricately carved rock edifices bound deep valleys and lead for miles. Once … Continue reading →

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Magi

Posted on January 6, 2017 by Rosalind C Hughes

Stargazers, seeking signs in the old, cold light of the heavens; startled to find God’s grace reflected instead by the bright tears of a child, if only they will stoop so low to pay him homage.

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The Holy Name

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Rosalind C Hughes

The Feast of the Holy Name, January 1, 2017 In the very name of Jesus is our prayer. The name, which was not chosen by his parents but given to them as a sign when his birth was announced by … Continue reading →

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Christmas Eve

Posted on December 24, 2016 by Rosalind C Hughes

A message for and from the Church of the Epiphany, Euclid, Ohio There’s something strange about the sign that the shepherds outside Bethlehem received that Christmas night so long ago. After all, if a choir of angels appears above the … Continue reading →

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