Tag Archives: Jesus

Power and piety

Posted on September 4, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

When we come to a crossroads, and the gospel calls us to walk one way, and the world tells us that way leads to ruin, or rejection, Jesus wants us to have the courage to follow him, even in the way of the cross. Continue reading →

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Did Jesus dream?

Posted on August 31, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

Did Jesus dream? Were his dreams oracular, spectular, unconsciously omniscient, encompassing future and past, nebulae and black holes? Were there days when night hung from his shoulders, unlight, leaden remnants of memory or premonition? Did Jesus delight in the absurdity of dreamscape? Was he … Continue reading →

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Among the living and the dead

Posted on June 19, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

When the demons saw Jesus, they were afraid. They begged for their lives. When Jesus showed mercy even to the demons, they proved their destructive nature by plunging the herd of swine into the sea. Did he not know it must be so? It was their nature to be evil spirits. It was, it is Jesus’ nature to be love. Continue reading →

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Not all at once

Posted on June 12, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

A sermon for Trinity Sunday “Jesus said to the disciples, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” (John 16:12) Jesus knew that we cannot handle everything at once. Jesus, in his mercy, … Continue reading →

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Peter said no

Posted on April 14, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

How hard it is to let Jesus serve us, save us, and know that there is no repayment necessary nor sufficient, that Jesus does not need us to defend him or protect him. Continue reading →

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Sleep, prayer, grief, and Jesus

Posted on April 10, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

Jesus knew that he would conquer death and sin – he had told them over and again that he would rise – but he was grieved and frightened and anguished at the capacity of his human captors for violence. There is no contradiction here: it was from ourselves that he came to save us. That is why he advises his disciples, “Pray that you may not be tested.”  Continue reading →

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The level place

Posted on February 13, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

We stand on ground that is spinning at astronomical speed, hurtling through the immensity of space, at an enormous distance from the sun. No wonder we feel unstable! But Jesus is our level ground. He is here with us still, in the level place, steady and steadfast in a world full of trouble, rising ab Continue reading →

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On the sabbath, he went to the synagogue

Posted on January 23, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

It was the sabbath, so she went to the synagogue. I wonder how many people’s stories began that way last weekend, before the worship of the Jewish people was interrupted yet again by violence. It should be as safe as we feel coming to church. It should be as easy and as natural as the scripture makes it sound: it was Saturday, so he went to synagogue. Continue reading →

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When worlds collide

Posted on January 6, 2022 by Rosalind C Hughes

Today, while our church celebrates and ruminates on the revelation of Christ to the nations – the arrival of the magi at the manger and their joyful homage to the child they recognized as the saviour of the world – the news cycle is full of analysis, unresolved shock, and grief over what happened and what so nearly happened to our nation a year ago today. Continue reading →

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Holy Innocents: a pieta

Posted on December 28, 2021 by Rosalind C Hughes

The stoles are cobbled together from whatever orange fabric I can lay my hands on in any given season; the constant that binds them together as a family – except for the orange colour – is the children’s handprint pattern that finishes each one off at the ends… Continue reading →

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