Category Archives: prayer

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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Pray as though nobody’s listening

Posted on March 11, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Oh, but what about those things that “our Father who is in secret” will see? And what will be their just reward? What is behind that other door, the one within our hearts and souls, which attempts to guard my guilt and my ungraceful, unpaintable, distressed and unfading mantras even from the sight of God, let alone myself? Continue reading →

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Naming the idols

Posted on March 2, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Some are easy to spot, sporting colourful plumage;

they make fast promises they cannot keep. Continue reading →

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Kittens

Posted on January 29, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

There is a lot going on in the world, in the country, in our communities and families.
Sometimes, the best antidote to overwhelm is to give in to [ahem – kittens] the overwhelming, particular, peculiar love of God. Continue reading →

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Star of Bethlehem

Posted on January 3, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

I scour the skies to find The light shines in the darkness a false star rising and the darkness did not overcome it haloed with fire power When they saw that the star had stopped (not everything that wears (he … Continue reading →

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Bethlehem

Posted on December 28, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

In the ancient city, haunted by memories of feast and famine, exile and exodus, the earth itself makes room, Creation shifting and splitting as angels sing Glory out of cold stars shining with old light. Out of the holy darkness, … Continue reading →

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Underwater Jesus

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

Today is a heavy travel day here in the US. For many, a trip home brings feelings of relief and deep joy. For others, the air is electric with anxiety and dangers. For some, there is no going home, only the wilderness wandering within sight but not touch of the Promised Land. For not a few, the opening of the holiday season begins a pilgrimage to the abyss of grief. 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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On the need to pray, and not to lose heart

Posted on October 20, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

I pray so as not to lose that heart of God that keeps insisting that justice is possible, that mercy is reasonable, that resurrection is coming. I pray, not so that I can change anyone else’s mind, let alone God’s, but so that God, by her insistence and irritating persistence can change my own heart and mind, bringing them more in alignment with the will and word of God. I pray so as not to lose heart, to hear over and over and over again that widow’s word that God’s justice is eternal, preexisting, loaded with mercy, and final. Continue reading →

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I should get out more

Posted on October 11, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

In my collar, I notice people respond to me passing them by, for better or for worse. I smile, pass the time of day. Then someone stopped me short:
”Don’t you remember me?” Continue reading →

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