Category Archives: lectionary reflection

Monday 2020: Cleansing the temple

Posted on April 6, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Monday morning: disinfecting doorknobs, disaffecting traders, tilting tables to wipe them down, zealously sanitizing sacred space, swiping between compassion and contempt; mask slipping, brow sweating, having tested positive for mortality Also from Monday’s Daily Office readings: How lonely sits the … Continue reading →

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Ostriches and jackals

Posted on April 3, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

(This Lenten meditation for the daily series from the Diocese of Ohio was composed before our part of the world was turned upside down by COVID-19; but God’s mercy endures forever.) Continue reading →

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The question of Lazarus

Posted on March 28, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

“Tell me, mortal,
can these dry bones live?”
Lazarus, coughing and blinking
replies, or would
if breath permits, Continue reading →

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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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Sermon from the edge of a pandemic

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Jesus was not great at social distancing. Wherever he went he attracted crowds that pressed against the lake shore, against one another, against him and the hem of his garments. Once, he filled a house so full that they had to take the roof off to fit one more person in.

Even out in the sticks, he managed to find the one woman next to a well, and asked her for a drink. 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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Living and dying

Posted on March 1, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

As the plane began to descend, it picked up some crosswinds. By the time the ground reached out to greet us, it was rocking like a boat on the wide ocean. I braced myself for a hard landing; but instead the plane pulled up sharply and we found ourselves once more climbing over the city, going around to try again. Continue reading →

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Ash Wednesday: grace is not in vain

Posted on February 26, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Lent is a good discipline for me. The soul-searching, the self-denial, the study of God’s grace is something that I need constantly if I am to recognize the enormity, the ridiculous span and spread of God’s mercy.

But constantly is hard to do. Continue reading →

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Words matter

Posted on February 16, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Jesus does not want us less than whole. He does not want our bodies abused, nor for our relationships to become a prison or a torment. The instructions he gives us, time and again, are to love God and to love one another; anything more is hyperbole; anything less is parody. Continue reading →

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Salt of the earth

Posted on February 9, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Both of them, Isaiah and Jesus, are preaching a political message, about the end of oppression and the elevation of equality, about the mercy and justice of God, and that new world order, the kingdom of God.
You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world. 
You are God’s gift, God’s political campaign contribution. You are God’s PAC. Continue reading →

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