Category Archives: homily

Healing the holidays homily 2014 edition: holding out on hope

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Rosalind C Hughes

Six months before the Angel Gabriel to earth came down, as the story goes, he was hanging out in Jerusalem, visiting with Zechariah. Zechariah and Elizabeth were much older than Mary – which is not to say that the young … Continue reading →

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Poisonous legacies and new tongues

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Rosalind C Hughes

The basic hagiography of Francis Xavier goes something like this: Born in 1506 in the Navarre region of France, Francis met Ignatius of Loyola as a young man, and was greatly influenced by his friendship. Together, with others, they formed … Continue reading →

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Good Friday 2014

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Rosalind C Hughes

With condolences to all victims of violence and their families. Last Sunday, a short while after the Passion Gospel was ended in churches across the nation, across the world, a man took a shotgun to the parking lot of a … Continue reading →

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Maundy Thursday: footprints

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Rosalind C Hughes

Almost all of you have heard this poem at one time or another, or seen it printed on pretty pages in the inspirational section of the bookstore or Christian gift shop. I refer, of course, to the both famous and … Continue reading →

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Ash Wednesday : heart-rending, heart-mending

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Rosalind C Hughes

“Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing,” says the prophet. Rend your hearts: “a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise,” says the … Continue reading →

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A reflection for a community celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Rosalind C Hughes

Delivered at Lakeshore Christian Church, Sunday 19 January 2014 Last spring, when word got out about the women who had escaped from a cruel kidnapping, about the decade that they had spent imprisoned in an ordinary little house in an … Continue reading →

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A light reflection for Christmas Day

Posted on December 25, 2013 by Rosalind C Hughes

Why do we read John on Christmas morning, instead of one of those cute pageant stories from Matthew or Luke? It is because for John, this is Christmas: that Christ was born before the worlds began, as old as God, … Continue reading →

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Sermon for a Christmas Eve with pick-up pageant

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Rosalind C Hughes

This sermon was written for a Christmas Eve on which the Church of the Epiphany hosted a pick-up pageant, invited any and all children to come and pick out a costume to join in the play as they arrived in … Continue reading →

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Blue Christmas 2013

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Rosalind C Hughes

There is a scene in the extended poem by W.H. Auden, For the Time Being, that has never left me since I first read it. The language is so visual I can almost see it. Transplanted into contemporary England – … Continue reading →

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John of Damascus

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Rosalind C Hughes

A homily for Evensong at Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland. In a characteristically involving novel, Kazuo Ishiguro broached the subject of souls. I don’t want to give too much away, in case you still want to read the book or see the … Continue reading →

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