Category Archives: prayer

Call to prayer

Posted on April 14, 2021 by Rosalind C Hughes

It was only a minute and a half into that Palm Sunday service that I heard it for the first time: a single, swift, unmistakably electronic “beep”. Continue reading →

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The midwives

Posted on April 11, 2021 by Rosalind C Hughes

Afterwards, whenthey found you again,did they use their ointments, spices, clothto bandage your wounds? Hairline scratches from the halo of thorns; how did you bear the grass beneath your feet? Midwives of the body,did they wipe your hands with aloe,wash … Continue reading →

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Washed in the word

Posted on March 30, 2021 by Rosalind C Hughes

Beside a lake melted into being by glaciers I bathe my feet in your word made water – the fluidity of creation – dry them in the sand, scourings of the land eroded, as all flesh, remade asa million grains … Continue reading →

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How I discovered that I have no sense of smell

Posted on March 29, 2021 by Rosalind C Hughes

if my devotions appear lacking or incomplete,
charge it I pray to my imperfect property,
and not to my intent. Continue reading →

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Holy Saturday

Posted on March 27, 2021 by Rosalind C Hughes

Sealedin a tomb innocentof inscription, the stoneworn smooth by centuries of rain, the tears of heaven shedfor this, the day of dereliction, God’sChrist is dead;his body, unanointed, plumbsthe depths of human dissipation,And will he find me there,*buried in my own … Continue reading →

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Hear my prayer

Posted on March 24, 2021 by Rosalind C Hughes

The lake has melted. Sand and shale
strewn by the winter floes litter the beach.
I pick out the pebbles that hint at a heart
of stone. My prayers are rocks
thrown heavenward; Continue reading →

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Ash Wednesday comes around again

Posted on February 16, 2021 by Rosalind C Hughes

Ashes line the grate after the great snow storm. Chill strikes down the chimney; a ghost stepping over the grave of last night’s fire. Ashes lift and shiver, settle and sigh, whisper to the warm wood tales of passion; eagerly, … Continue reading →

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A prayer for a bad day

Posted on February 10, 2021 by Rosalind C Hughes

(Save it for when you need it. May you never need it.) This post first appeared at the Episcopal Cafe, Speaking to the Soul, on February 10, 2021 There are days that will not let go.They drag at you like … Continue reading →

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red white and blue

Posted on February 6, 2021 by Rosalind C Hughes

Content warning for fear of gun violence at a school sirens stretch the air like an old jazz horn lights the color of a fresh wound pause snow around the school drive pounded into ice by parents pacing out their … Continue reading →

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A prayer for the preacher when words fail

Posted on January 9, 2021 by Rosalind C Hughes

January 9, 2021 Beyond Jordan, the baptizer cried repentance, preaching to snakes, devouring locusts, razing the wilderness with his words, confronting kings and drowning sins. At his neck, the knowledge of his own humility, the prickling of glory about to … Continue reading →

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