Category Archives: homily

Bread of life

Posted on August 19, 2018 by Rosalind C Hughes

I knew, in my body and in my soul and in the core of my being that what was offered at that altar was something I needed, something I wanted, something I could not live without. I still can’t quite explain it; I still know that it is true. Continue reading →

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Your faith

Posted on July 1, 2018 by Rosalind C Hughes

A sermon for hard times. The readings include Mark 5:21-43, in which a woman with a 12-year chronic condition sneaks up to the hem of Jesus robe to be healed, and a child is restored to her parents. There is … Continue reading →

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Pentecost: love and fire

Posted on May 20, 2018 by Rosalind C Hughes

If fire represents the Holy Spirit, then we have blasphemed the Spirit of God by making fire the creature of our destruction instead of the essence of our life.

The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, cannot be tamed, and does not destroy when given free reign, because she is not our creature to control, but she is the very essence of God, who is love. Continue reading →

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Stealing the gospel

Posted on April 19, 2018 by Rosalind C Hughes

More guns bring more violence, and we have had enough of the ‘gall of bitterness and the chains of wickedness.’ Continue reading →

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A perfectly imperfect marriage

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Rosalind C Hughes

I think John Henry was lonely, and that Christ was as much his consolation as his committed husband.
He approached his ordination like a wedding, with excitement and dread, with joy and cold feet. Continue reading →

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Christmas Eve 2017

Posted on December 25, 2017 by Rosalind C Hughes

As we contemplate the vulnerability of a God who would be born homeless, human, humble, we remember the power of love to change the world. Continue reading →

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When the heavens open

Posted on December 22, 2017 by Rosalind C Hughes

And Jesus: little, embryonic, speck of Jesus; what does he see, from such a soft and secret place? What does he know, from such a small beginning? Continue reading →

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Kamehameha and Emma

Posted on November 29, 2017 by Rosalind C Hughes

These two monarchs are commemorated with the same gospel as we read on Christ the King Sunday, because they modelled their reign on public service, serving as shepherds of their people, and feeding the flocks entrusted to them with justice and mercy, except, it seems, for the occasional accident. Continue reading →

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Good Friday: his own people

Posted on April 14, 2017 by Rosalind C Hughes

At the beginning of the Gospel according to John, we read that, He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and … Continue reading →

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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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