Category Archives: sermon

Anything but straightforward

Posted on November 16, 2013 by Rosalind C Hughes

“Those who will not work will not eat:”  There are several nuances to the seemingly harsh sentence that we miss when we reduce it to a slogan. … …  there is the description of work itself. We use the word work … Continue reading →

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Year C Proper 27: No such thing as a stupid question?

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Rosalind C Hughes

You know how we always tell each other, and especially our children, that there’s no such thing as a stupid question? I have to think that the Sadducees were pushing the envelope on this one. It wasn’t because they were … Continue reading →

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Responding to a Sadducee

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Rosalind C Hughes

Resurrection is not “a conjuring trick with bones,”* nor is the resurrection a reality-tv show about the life of seven brothers and their unnamed widow-sister-wife Resurrection is not undone by the cynicism of the resurrected one blinking, bewildered in the … Continue reading →

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All Saints

Posted on November 3, 2013 by Rosalind C Hughes

The letter to the Ephesians makes a perfect sermon all by itself for All Saints and a day of baptism. I hardly feel as though I need say more. But there is more. Listen to the words that come just … Continue reading →

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Year C Proper 25: Stand closer

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Rosalind C Hughes

Have you ever read the brilliant dystopian novel, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley? I won’t give the whole game away, but one of the themes in the book is social engineering, which is achieved by a mixture of genetic … Continue reading →

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Prayers, overheard

Posted on October 26, 2013 by Rosalind C Hughes

Each stood away from the other, his face turned anyway but there, no meeting of eyes for these two, let alone hearts, minds. One looked up to heaven, his prayer belying his blindness to the other, “Thank God I am … Continue reading →

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Year C Proper 24: On the need to pray always and not to lose heart

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Rosalind C Hughes

The days are coming, says the Lord, says Jeremiah, the days are surely coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. I will be their God, and they shall be … Continue reading →

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The widow’s might

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Rosalind C Hughes

I might be tempted call her a nag, or a scold, or a hag, or worse. A woman I knew said, “My husband says I am an advocate for our child; but I know that’s not the word that the … Continue reading →

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Your faith has saved you

Posted on October 11, 2013 by Rosalind C Hughes

There are those who believe that a world in which miracles happen is one in which we could not live without the unpredictability driving us insane. Others feel that a world without miracles is one in which we would not … Continue reading →

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Year C Proper 22: All that we need

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Rosalind C Hughes

Whether the Psalm is spoken or sung or whispered behind closed doors, there is no softening that last line, with its vicious dreams of vengeance. We might be tempted to ask what it’s doing in our Bible, or at least … Continue reading →

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