Category Archives: sermon

The Magi by Night

Posted on January 5, 2021 by Rosalind C Hughes

They travelled by night.
They followed his star, meaning
they had to wait for darkness to fall as a mantle
about their shoulders to know the way; Continue reading →

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Not there yet

Posted on January 3, 2021 by Rosalind C Hughes

In recent months, we turned 2020 into a scapegoat, piled on our woes: a global pandemic, economic uncertainty, health worries, the inability of our election magically to make everyone finally agree; even murder hornets. But the year has turned, and has a new name, and we are still some way from the solid ground of familiarity, of home. … It’s going to take patience to find our new beginnings this year. Continue reading →

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Mary and Joseph’s no good, terrible, wonderful year

Posted on December 24, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

A homily for Christmas Eve, 2020 At the turning of the year, as the days began to push back against the pushiness of night; as the light grew longer and the shadows shorter, the people were going about their business … Continue reading →

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Among you

Posted on December 13, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

“Among you stands one whom you do not know,” said John, and if you knew, if you were to turn and recognize the Christ among you, the anointed one, then the Holy Spirit would be unleashed upon you in that cataclasm of time and eternity and you would have no need to turn from God to speak to one another because you would see the love of God, the spark of Divine breath, the image of God through it all. Continue reading →

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Comfort; comfort my people

Posted on December 6, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

The good news of Jesus Christ begins with a voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way, make straight the paths.” The straight and clear way to prepare love this Christmas is to stay at home. Continue reading →

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On judgement

Posted on November 15, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Only the unjust know no shame, and say that because God does not change the dynamic of cause and effect, but lets us lead human lives of substance, agency, and consequence; only the foolish say that this means that God, our Judge and our Redeemer, does not notice nor care what goes on in our hearts, nor in our homes, nor in our nation. Continue reading →

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It’s not about the oil

Posted on November 8, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

They were each one fixated on having her own lamp lit, and none had time nor bandwidth nor the imagination to think outside the oilcan.
If we each look to our own interests and neglect the needs of our siblings, we miss the point of the parable. If we abandon our cousins to the outer darkness, we miss the whole point of the gospel. Continue reading →

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Promise and practice

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

Promises require practice. It is our call and our promise to bring comfort to the broken-hearted, to make peace without sacrificing justice, or mercy, for peace cannot survive without them. … It is our call, and our promise, to resist evil, to proclaim the gospel by word and practice, to serve our neighbour as Christ himself, to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being. And God promises us eternal life and an end to this separation, this wrenching of the spirit, not because we do these things, but because Christ does these things. Continue reading →

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The wedding parable

Posted on October 11, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

What if this wedding were not about the king and his slaves, the guests and their clothing, the invited and the uninvited and the smited?
What if this parable were about the bridegroom and his beloved? Continue reading →

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Good tenants

Posted on October 4, 2020 by Rosalind C Hughes

But there is no bluster that can deceive God. There is no violence that can bend God’s will away from the justice, the tender mercy, the harvest of righteousness that God has planted. This disruption, this violence, this evil will not be allowed to stand. Continue reading →

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