All rights reserved
© Rosalind C Hughes and over the water, 2011-2026. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Rosalind C Hughes and over the water, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
A Family Like Mine: Biblical Stories of Love, Loss, and Longing
https://bookstore.upperroom.org/Products/1921/a-family-like-mine.aspxWhom Shall I Fear: Urgent Questions for Christians in an Age of Violence
https://www.amazon.com/Whom-Shall-Fear-Questions-Christians/dp/0835819671-
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
RevGalBlogPals
Meta
Category Archives: sermon preparation
Where two or three gather: thoughts from a Sunday afternoon cycle
Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” When I first started out, it was a means to an end: lose some weight, gain some strength, save some money and planet … Continue reading
Bearing
It is such a little thing, to hang above my heart, given me at baptism, my magpie hands clutched at its shiny surface, all glistering and light; once clasped I hardly know I’m wearing my golden cross while sunrise shadows … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation
Tagged baptism, cross, Matthew 16:21-28, talisman, Year A Proper 17
Leave a comment
Who do you say that I am?
One with the patience to measure the countless millimetres between here and eternity; his father taught him to measure twice, cut once. He would joke around the workshop that he had come to bring not peace, but a saw; brandishing, … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation
Tagged carpenter, Jesus, Matthew 16:13, Year A Proper 16
Leave a comment
Year A Proper 15: send her away
Matthew 15:21-28: the Syrophoenician/Canaanite/canine woman. Some problems for the preacher. What’s in a name? You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. You old dog. Sly old dog. Dirty old dog. Dogged. Hot dog. Dog eat dog. Why keep a … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation
Leave a comment
Ye of little faith
It feels less like walking on water than drowning in mid-air; the perfume of your presence is too heady to bear. I make myself thin to slip from your embrace; breathe once more the comfortable air of an ordinary, little faith.
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation
Leave a comment
Leftovers
One made bread pudding. Another, croutons for soup. One mashed them in milk for the tomorrow baby’s breakfast. The important thing was, they got to keep the crumbs; no more maggots in the manna; they got to bring it home, … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation
Leave a comment
The patient God
This Sunday, we read the pinnacle of Paul’s poetry: I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation can separate … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation
Tagged call, dream, God, judgement, Romans 8:38-39, salvation
Leave a comment
Early week wordplay
Let tares grow, let tears flow; there is no justice without tearing our selves apart; Until life’s ending, we are left tending weeds tenderly as the wheat field. alternatively Let tares grow, let tears flow; there is no judgement without … Continue reading
Wormfood
Whilst musing over this Sunday’s parable (the sower and the different soils), I hit upon the Dummies.com article, “How to Improve Soil Quality for Healthy Plant Growth,” by Sven Wombwell. Sven suggests that “Worms really are a gardener’s best friends. … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation
Tagged graveyard, matthew 13:1-8, parable of the soil, parable of the sower, soil, worms
Leave a comment
Year A Proper 9: Little Donkey
When I was growing up, a trip to the seaside meant buckets and spades, sandcastles in the sand, fishing nets, for catching shrimps in the rockpools, ice cream, and late in the afternoon, before loading up the car for home, … Continue reading
over the water 