All rights reserved
© Rosalind C Hughes and over the water, 2011-2021. 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
Tag Archives: Jesus
Peter said no
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
Posted in Holy Days, homily, sermon
Tagged footwashing, Jesus, Maundy Thursday, Simon Peter
Leave a comment
Sleep, prayer, grief, and Jesus
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
Posted in Holy Days, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged gethsemane, Holy Week, Jesus, Palm Sunday, Passion Gospel, prayer, Ukraine
Leave a comment
The level place
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
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Jeremiah 17:5-10, Jesus, level ground, Luke 6:17-26, selfishness, sermon on the plain
Leave a comment
On the sabbath, he went to the synagogue
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
Posted in current events, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged antisemitism, conspiracy theories, Jesus, Luke 4:14-21, synagogue
Leave a comment
When worlds collide
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
Posted in current events, Holy Days, homily
Tagged Epiphany, insurrection, January 6, Jesus, magi
Leave a comment
Holy Innocents: a pieta
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
Posted in Gun control, gun safety, Holy Days, story
Tagged #WearOrange, gun violence, Holy Innocents, Jesus, orange stoles
Leave a comment
Follow
The man in the story is caught on the cusp of conversion, teetering on the brink of repentance, swaying toward Jesus but anchored by the lifestyle he has always known, the way it has always been. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Amos, church, Jesus, Mark 10:17-31, Year B Proper 23
Leave a comment
Envy is the enemy of the gospel
A sermon for Sunday, September 26 at the Church of the Epiphany, Euclid. In the readings, disciples of Moses and Jesus object to unauthorized deployment of the Spirit. In the news, images of border patrols chasing immigrants with horses, and … Continue reading
Posted in current events, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged envy, grace, immigration, Jesus, peace, salt
Leave a comment
Vengeance is not ours
When we allow even small things to breed evil intentions in our hearts, to divide us from the humanity of another, we are headed for trouble. Jesus is heading us off, reminding us to stay close to God’s law: the law that begins with loving God, and ends with loving our neighbours as ourselves. To develop and feed habits of the heart and soul that lead to life, rather than to revenge. Continue reading