Category Archives: sermon

Anointing

Posted on April 6, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

They say that scent is the closest sense to memory; I wouldn’t know, but Jesus, enveloped in the memory of myrrh – his mother Mary eked it out, birth by birth – his mortality laid out end to end, Jesus … Continue reading →

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Refreshment Sunday: Going over Jordan

Posted on March 31, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

For Christians, when God says, “I have rolled away your disgrace,” can it help but bring to mind the rolling away of the stone from the tomb that is to come in a few short weeks, the hope beyond Good Friday? Continue reading →

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People want answers

Posted on March 24, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

What is our role, as the church, as Christians, when we are faced with the questions that arise after a disaster, asking where is God when trouble happens, and what it means when God is or is not seen to intervene? What is our line? Continue reading →

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Citizens of heaven

Posted on March 17, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

Our citizenship is in heaven, declare the confident and the confused, the helpless and the hopeful, in every language invented under the Word of God; and the kingdom of heaven is at hand, says Jesus, where love is unwavering and indiscriminate; where death is defeated by the stubborn and resilient love of God, and the hope of heaven. Continue reading →

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Hungry for God

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

If we could turn stones into bread to feed the food insecure, the child whose father goes without to turn away her crying hunger, the mother who works night and day to provide for them; if we could turn beach sand into bread rolls, wouldn’t we do it? Continue reading →

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Remembrance, repentance, and reconciliation

Posted on March 6, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

In Lent, we bury [the word of ululating praise] beneath our tongues, yet even in dust and ashes it is our song, tuning in to Christ’s love, our hope, the truth of God’s undying mercy. Continue reading →

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Bright cloud

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

There are those bright clouds in which we recognize God’s presence already among us, working in us and through us as we struggle to do the right thing, even when the way is obscure and foggy, even when we are terrified, even when we confronted with anger, grief, failure. The way of the cross is not an easy road, but it does lead to deliverance, to freedom from unclean spirits, eventually to resurrection. Continue reading →

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An ordination sermon: submittere

Posted on February 27, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

It is in the most intractable problems of the world and its children that we find ourselves unable to proclaim our own greatness, nor believe in our own glory. It is here, at the end of hope, that we find ourselves gathered once more with Jesus at the table, with the people whom he most loves, the ones who are broken like bread, scattered like crumbs, poured out like spilt wine. Continue reading →

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How to love your enemies

Posted on February 24, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

Love your enemies, says Jesus. Let God take your anger and turn it into something beyond your imagining – just as Jesus turned the horror, the terror, the death of the cross into the astonishment of the Resurrection. Continue reading →

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The truth will make you free

Posted on February 20, 2019 by Rosalind C Hughes

To preach the commemoration of Frederick Douglass is an exercise in humility for a white woman of considerable privilege. To try to bring his words and example to bear upon the way in which we hear the gospel today, without reduction or exploitation or appropriation, is an exercise in repentance. My repentance will not be perfect, so I ask your forgiveness up front. Continue reading →

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