Rosalind C Hughes

Advent I It is not as simple as the poet makes it sound to transform the form of metal, a sword into farm equipment. Just hit it with a hammer, the prophecy implies, and all will fall, seeds into their furrows and nations in obeisance to the Prince of Peace. Yet rumours of the spoils of war echo in the ears of rulers,

Advent I

Seven And then, imagine it from her point of view: seven lifetimes of love, regret, loss, laughter. Seven lifetimes of abuse - pray not. Seven lifetimes of blessing, despite the woes, hope despite it all. Seven lifetimes and here, in eternity, she was no one's to own: the richest woman with lifetimes to spare in a sky-blue heaven, the angels attendants, …

Seven

Woe to you who are self-satisfied Be the blessing that will bring us closer to the kingdom of God that Mary and Hannah sang of. Do the good in this moment, at this time and in this place, that will let others know the enduring love of God, who feeds us on bread and wine. Listen, heed the warnings that Jesus offers to those who think that they are untouched by the needs of others. Love God, love your neighbour, change their world, change our world.

Woe to you who are self-satisfied

All hallows It took so long to get the fire lit, even though the wind blew as though the Holy Spirit fanned the flames of Pentecost herself. The children in their costumes came and went without judgement, candy-sweet. When the tinder finally caught, I sought bric-à-brac of twigs from across the neighbour's yard to keep it fed. Consider, I thought, the fires of heaven, and us poor fuel, damp and easily consumed, yet within each the spark of holiness.

All hallows

It took so long to get the fire lit, even though the wind blew as though the Holy Spirit fanned the flames of Pentecost herself. The children in their costumes came and went without judgement, candy-sweet. When the tinder finally caught, I sought bric-à-brac of twigs from across the…

Contempt and condemnation There’s a deep irony to this parable, that whenever we read it, we are tempted, aren’t we, to mutter, “Thank God I’m not like that Pharisee!” …

Contempt and condemnation

Persistence (a sermon)

You’ve heard it said that prayer is not about changing God, but about changing us. That, I think, is what this parable and these teachings are about. God is not slow to love every piece and person of creation; so let’s pray persistently and consistently and robustly and…

The little flower The salvation of the world is not in our hands, but the promise of prayer is. And while the peace of God passes our understanding, it is at hand. It is found in the smallest act of love, a little flower growing between the cracks of a fractured and fractious world, persistent in its beauty, brave in its beauty, and unstoppable in its reach toward the sun.

The little flower

The salvation of the world is not in our hands, but the promise of prayer is. And while the peace of God passes our understanding, it is at hand. It is found in the smallest act of love, a little flower growing between the cracks of a fractured and fractious world, persistent in…

Prayer for a BANI world BANI, a framework developed by Jamais Cascio, stands for Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible. For people of faith, there is one reliable place to turn ​when human understanding no longer works. Hence this prayer for a BANI world.

Prayer for a BANI world

BANI, a framework developed by Jamais Cascio, stands for Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible. For people of faith, there is one reliable place to turn ​when human understanding no longer works. Hence this prayer for a BANI world.

Jealousy vs joy Jealousy is the thief of joy. It keeps the elder brother from the family reunion. It prevents the citizen from celebrating the rescue of the refugee, the wealthy from celebrating Jesus’ announcement of good news for the poor and the meek. It resents the love of God for its rival, and leads to the casting of golden calves to spite them all. It clouds the vision of the scribes so that they do not even recognize the Word of God when he is standing right in front of them, telling stories from heaven.

Jealousy vs joy

Jealousy is the thief of joy. It keeps the elder brother from the family reunion. It prevents the citizen from celebrating the rescue of the refugee, the wealthy from celebrating Jesus’ announcement of good news for the poor and the meek. It resents the love of God for its rival,…

You mean thou just, like, shalt not?

Foundering As though created in mid-airand surprised, the lamb fellwithout foothold down the cliffand into the stream where we,speechless, sandwiches halfwayto open mouths watched itpick up and shake itself backto life , quiet waters clinging to wool,green pastures calling, it ran onas though pursuedby all the hounds of heaven.

Admittedly late in the day to be #preparingforSundaywithpoetry
Foundering

Truisms

Hatred shared is never hatred halved. The blood of an enemy will not cure anaemia of conscience. Suffer the little children never meant to sacrifice them. The mortality of another will never lessen our own. The immortality of another will never lessen our own.

Thou shalt not kill.

Halfway through weekend #3 post-poison ivy and I have to ask: why?

I read something yesterday about the timing of the Dept of War exec order in relation to China and its parade.
But what about the timing in relation to sending troops into US cities?
That’s what’s chilling my blood.

To count them A meditation on verses from Psalm 139

This week's #preparingforSundaywithpoetry focuses on Psalm 139, and comes from this morning's prayer, which involved lying on the floor for a while.

Labour

In which we breathe in solidarity with the breathless. In which we groan in harmonic relationship with the suffering. In which we dream in creative union with the author of life's manifesto: decrying death, deploring despotism, denouncing the cynicism of despair, and all of its minions and…

Sabbath rest It is Jesus who initiates the interaction with the weighed-down woman. It is he who chooses her healing, her liberation, before she has even a chance to ask for it. He is continuing his call, living into and living out the promises of our life-giving, liberating, loving God, whose first gift was life and all that sustains it, and perhaps whose second was sabbath: rest, relief, jubilee joy.

Sabbath rest

It is Jesus who initiates the interaction with the weighed-down woman. It is he who chooses her healing, her liberation, before she has even a chance to ask for it. He is continuing his call, living into and living out the promises of our life-giving, liberating, loving God, whose…

Division A sermon for the tenth Sunday after Pentecost, August 17, 2025 You have heard it said (perhaps you have said it yourself) that we are living in the most divided era of our common and shared country, world, creation, since — well, you name it. What I hear from both Jeremiah and Jesus this morning is that division amongst ourselves does not mean that God is far from us; far from it.

Division

A sermon for the tenth Sunday after Pentecost, August 17, 2025 You have heard it said (perhaps you have said it yourself) that we are living in the most divided era of our common and shared country, world, creation, since — well, you name it. What I hear from both Jeremiah and Jesus this…

Fire Storm that breaks the sealon the dome that holds the watersof the heavens apart from watersthat brooded life into creation Storm that breaks the heateven as fire is splitting the sky,falling to the ground wrappedin quenching rain Mirrored against the glory of God,the bow formed by the prism of lovearced across the quivering earth —

Fire
#preparingforSundaywithpoetry

Heart/broken I said I needed to reflect on it. If we've met, you know that means poetry, the *word* that tells me more of what it means than I tell it ...

Heart/broken

I said I needed to reflect on it. If we've met, you know that means poetry, the *word* that tells me more of what it means than I tell it ...

Teach us to pray The story that Jesus tells suggests that we are in this together; that while one person is begging for bread, the one who is secure, safe and comfortable and tucked up in bed with their well-fed children, is the one who is called upon to answer, “and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”

Teach us to pray

The story that Jesus tells suggests that we are in this together; that while one person is begging for bread, the one who is secure, safe and comfortable and tucked up in bed with their well-fed children, is the one who is called upon to answer, “and in the place where it was said…

Bread Bread Who, in the night, would give their neighbour stones and say, "Here, make bread."

Bread

Who, in the night,
would give their neighbour stones
and say, "Here, make bread."

#preparingforSundaywithpoetry

Mire Save me, O God;I am sinking in deep mire,and there is no firm ground for my feet. I am not getting out the same wayas I landed in this predicament,ensnared by gravity and half-digested decay,trapped in the peat bog where I might stayundisturbed, preserved for eons; insteadI surrender myself to the yielding earth,

Mire

Save me, O God;I am sinking in deep mire,and there is no firm ground for my feet. I am not getting out the same wayas I landed in this predicament,ensnared by gravity and half-digested decay,trapped in the peat bog where I might stayundisturbed, preserved for eons; insteadI surrender myself…

Who is my neighbour? Unseen in the shadow of the story, a young cub of the mountain watching the value of love lavished like oil, profligate pity; following at a distance to see if kindness was really worth the weight of stolen gold

Who is my neighbour?
#preparingforSundaywithpoetry
after a “little” hiatus

Our Mother of the cocktail bar Under the stairwell of the cocktail bar the hooded figure lays out objects of everyday ritual: teaspoon, lighter, tourniquet. Behind the bar an ersatz courtyard paved with astroturf, foxgloves painted on the wall, purple digitalis for the broken heart. From her corner the Mother watches, whether stone or plaster, her eyes impassive, unable to look away. On the street below, the hunger in the eyes of the seeker, looking for change, would turn water into wine.

Our Mother of the cocktail bar.
I haven’t posted any poetry in a little bit, but this scene has been haunting me since it happened. Mother of God, have mercy upon us now, and in each hour …

Not as the world When he says, “My peace I give to you,” Jesus is not describing a passive peace. It is the peace not of the grave, where Jesus himself was restless, but of living waters, rolling down like justice, roaring like a vision, aflame with mercy. It is the profound and urgent love that fanned the waters of creation and produced life.

Not as the world

When he says, “My peace I give to you,” Jesus is not describing a passive peace. It is the peace not of the grave, where Jesus himself was restless, but of living waters, rolling down like justice, roaring like a vision, aflame with mercy. It is the profound and urgent love that…

This is going to be good …

Love one another?

A sermon for the fifth Sunday of Easter in 2025. Love is not a light undertaking. Love will break your heart. Love will ask you to move mountains. Love will require that you sacrifice your most closely held prejudices, melt down your idols and break their pedestals. Love is…

Mother’s Day Including words from the original Mother’s Day Proclamation by Julia Ward Howe The very Earth is heaving beneath the weight of war. Fire consumes and leaves no food for the rest of God’s creatures; lead pollutes the soil, the seas, the blood of the children. Earth, their mother, of whose clay they were formed, bone from bone, groans with the labour of holding the poles 

Mother’s Day

Including words from the original Mother’s Day Proclamation by Julia Ward Howe The very Earth is heaving beneath the weight of war. Fire consumes and leaves no food for the rest of God’s creatures; lead pollutes the soil, the seas, the blood of the children. Earth, their mother, of…