Category Archives: sermon

When is a door not a door?

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Rosalind C Hughes

Jesus is posing his listeners a riddle when he talks of himself in the language of the sheep pen. We only get part of the passage today; we don’t hear Jesus, today, call himself the Good Shepherd. That comes immediately … Continue reading →

Posted in sermon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Year A Easter 2: Thus and so

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Rosalind C Hughes

“But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.” So says Peter to the masses of the Jewish people gathered in Jerusalem in the aftermath of the … Continue reading →

Posted in sermon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Easter 2014: Do not be afraid

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Rosalind C Hughes

DO not be afraid. Not the way you expect Easter to begin: do not be afraid. After all, the hard part is over, the trial, the cross, the tomb, the harrowing of hell. What is there left to fear? Yet … Continue reading →

Posted in holy days, sermon | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in holy days, homily | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in holy days, homily, sermon | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A sermon for the Palms and the Passion

Posted on April 13, 2014 by Rosalind C Hughes

At the beginning, the tempter had urged him to make bread, to bow down, to throw himself from the temple and be saved by the angels. In the end, the people would taunt him and tempt him to leave his … Continue reading →

Posted in sermon | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Year A Lent 5: Lazarus and other resurrections

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Rosalind C Hughes

Of course, they all would ask him about it, after the event. What was it like, being dead? Lazarus would tell them, “I don’t know what I can say to you about that. I can tell you what it was … Continue reading →

Posted in sermon | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dry Bones

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Rosalind C Hughes

I cried so long my very bones were dry; I couldn’t raise my head, lay loose-limbed, sunken. I heard a voice cry, “Prophesy!” My body jumped, of its own volition, to attention, knocking the stale breath out of me with … Continue reading →

Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation | Tagged , | 2 Comments

An Interview with Lazarus

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Rosalind C Hughes

Of course, they all would ask him about it, after the event. What was it like, being dead? Lazarus would look at them with strange eyes. He would tell them, “I don’t know what I can say to you about … Continue reading →

Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon preparation, story | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Blind

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Rosalind C Hughes

He sent me away. I don’t know why, having shared with me his spit and mud, he wouldn’t lead me to the pool, cup the water in my hand; he didn’t see the wonder through. If he had, the first … Continue reading →

Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment