Category Archives: sermon

Dreamers

Posted on December 22, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

On the night before Jesus died, his closest friend denied three times that he even knew the man. In the nights before Jesus was born, Joseph dreamed. Would we be ready to stake our reputation on the acknowledgement that yes, Jesus is the Son of God; that yes, the way of the Cross, the way of self-giving, selfless, vengeance-denying love is the way to life, liberty, and the pursuit of heaven; that yes, Jesus, born of Mary, is God Incarnate, Emmanuel, God with us? Continue reading →

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Be patient

Posted on December 15, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

When our children were small and there were too many things to do with the two hands that I have, one of the children, wise and observant, noticed that often their requests were met with the same, repeated phrase. I realized this one day when they asked me, “for a drink, now please, and not in a minute.”
Be patient, beloved. Continue reading →

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The imagination of eternity

Posted on December 4, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

There is danger, nonetheless, in rendering Christ in wood and ink, oil and water, his features flattened, pressed under the weight of our expectations and experience, Mary’s milky flesh lightened and whitened, the divine darkness artificially brightened with gilt and gold. There is the danger that instead of conforming our imaginations to Christ’s likeness, we will attempt to fix him in ours. Continue reading →

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Sneaky Jesus

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

We cannot righteous our way to redemption. That’s where Jesus comes in. Continue reading →

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Building up

Posted on November 10, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

It is tempting to read Haggai’s prophecies as an allegory for our times. We could imagine him coming into this space, our space, and asking, “Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now?” Continue reading →

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For all the saints

Posted on November 3, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

Even your tears are formed from living water. Even your hunger is a sign of God’s blessing, a sign that you know, deep in your belly, that God has more for you, that God intends you for greater satisfaction. That is the faith of the apocalyptic visionaries: that already, God is making all things new, that death’s days are numbered. Continue reading →

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Fight the good fight

Posted on October 27, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

The good fight, Paul has learned, is the one that he doesn’t mind losing, so long as he may keep his martyr’s crown, so long as he has hold of the hem of Jesus’ robe.

After all, Jesus himself faced the same judgement of the empire, and the same ignominious, criminal execution at its hands. His enemies thought that it was a defeat. They were wrong. 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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What are we worth?

Posted on October 6, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

No matter what we do, it is no more than Christ has ordered us to do, no more than our baptismal promises to resist evil, to strive for justice and peace among all people, to respect the life and dignity of every human being; to become slaves to the love of God and of God’s family in creation.
But, “worthless”? Continue reading →

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To move mountains

Posted on October 3, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

When she was old and fading –
her gray hair paling,
her skin thinning and softening –
my grandmother painted watercolours. Continue reading →

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