Daily Devotions and Podcasts
Prayer: Lord, help me to see You in every part of my day, even in the places I least expect. Open my eyes to Your presence in the ordinary and the extraordinary moments of life. Amen.
The Cathedral of Hope Devotion Ministry began as an answer to Progressive Christians who wanted to start their days with a little insight, observation, or wisdom about the Christian faith from their own point of view. Conservative internet devotions were abundant, but there was not much out there for liberal thinkers. The need was clear.
Being a large church, we had a generous amount of writing talent available and also a large number of congregants with theological training who were not on the pulpit. In the early days of the ministry, most of the writing was done by the clergy, but gradually the majority of the writers emerged from those lay volunteers.
That dynamic is still in place as new authors are always joining in to keep the ideas fresh. It’s a fitting structure for any center of progressive thought. This particular Body of Christ has many voices and each one has a unique and important story to tell.
SCRIPTURE Psalm 63:1,3-4 O God, you are my God, I seek you, my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water... Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name. WORDS OF HOPE In Love I am moved by this love poem from the psalmist to God. If written from one mortal to another, we would say he was “definitely in love". I still say that he was and believe that it is a wonderful thing to be in love with God. Those who know me well will not be shocked. They know that I am a great proponent of being "in love." I confess publicly that love is a risk and I am a compulsive gambler. Some think that love is a feeling that just happens when the right two people get into close proximity. I believe that it is much more easily understood and predictable. "Falling in love happens when we allow ourselves to be authentic and honest, daring to share things about ourselves that we are afraid may not be acceptable to another. When the other person hears our truth, and understands or even celebrates us as we are, something goes zing within. They are inspired to dare sharing a piece of their truth and experience a zing when we accept. On it goes, until we are both feeling known, really known, and zings abound as we finally declare ourselves "in love". I think I understand how the Psalmist got to the place of writing this beautiful poem to God. The writer bared his soul, accepted that God knew the very worst of him and the depth of his longings, even those for which he had no words. And he allowed himself to experience the love of God both in spite of and perhaps even because of who he was. That is how I believe we too can experience the amazing love that inspired this psalm. PRAYER God, my first lover and my greatest love: I come before you, knowing that you see every truth there is to know about me, even those which I have not permitted into my own awareness. I am humbled by the knowledge that you love me, sometimes in the presence of my bad and my ugly parts, sometimes because of the good or even great that is within me that I cannot see. I love you, God. I love to be in your presence. Help me make time to spend alone with you so that our love can grow. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Carole Anne Sarah
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Words of Hope Podcast
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SCRIPTURE Psalm 63:1,3-4 O God, you are my God, I seek you, my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water... Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name. WORDS OF HOPE In Love I am moved by this love poem from the psalmist to God. If written from one mortal to another, we would say he was “definitely in love". I still say that he was and believe that it is a wonderful thing to be in love with God. Those who know me well will not be shocked. They know that I am a great proponent of being "in love." I confess publicly that love is a risk and I am a compulsive gambler. Some think that love is a feeling that just happens when the right two people get into close proximity. I believe that it is much more easily understood and predictable. "Falling in love happens when we allow ourselves to be authentic and honest, daring to share things about ourselves that we are afraid may not be acceptable to another. When the other person hears our truth, and understands or even celebrates us as we are, something goes zing within. They are inspired to dare sharing a piece of their truth and experience a zing when we accept. On it goes, until we are both feeling known, really known, and zings abound as we finally declare ourselves "in love". I think I understand how the Psalmist got to the place of writing this beautiful poem to God. The writer bared his soul, accepted that God knew the very worst of him and the depth of his longings, even those for which he had no words. And he allowed himself to experience the love of God both in spite of and perhaps even because of who he was. That is how I believe we too can experience the amazing love that inspired this psalm. PRAYER God, my first lover and my greatest love: I come before you, knowing that you see every truth there is to know about me, even those which I have not permitted into my own awareness. I am humbled by the knowledge that you love me, sometimes in the presence of my bad and my ugly parts, sometimes because of the good or even great that is within me that I cannot see. I love you, God. I love to be in your presence. Help me make time to spend alone with you so that our love can grow. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Carole Anne Sarah
SCRIPTURE Matthew 15: 33-38 The disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?” Jesus asked them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all of them ate and were filled, and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children. WORDS OF HOPE This well-known miracle story is one that has been dissected many times, but the phrase that speaks to me is the disciple’s question, “Where are we do get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?” It’s a question we are still asking today. There are countless people in our own city facing what is referred to now as “food insecurity” but I prefer the term “hunger”. We live in a society that has enough riches to create trillionaires yet so many people go hungry. I think the point of the story is not the miracle Jesus performed, but the question of how to do it. If we ask it of ourselves the answer becomes clear. We must share our riches. Whether through taxation or charity, we can feed everyone. We do it at Cathedral of Hope every week, serving literally millions of meals every year to anyone who needs a meal. We manage to do it and yet we still each have enough for ourselves. It’s a “no-brainer”. If we truly want to follow Jesus’ guidance, we should share our resources. PRAYER Help us to learn the discipline of sharing, whether through tithing or acts of generosity. We have enough to make sure no one goes hungry. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Hardy Haberman
SCRIPTURE Acts 2.44-47 All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. WORDS OF HOPE Today’s Scripture reading from the Book of Acts paints a picture of an idyllic and serene beginning of the early church with everyone living in a Christian Camelot and we would not be surprised to hear them bursting into a chorus of : “A law was made a distant moon ago here…July and August cannot be too hot...and there’s a legal limit to the snow here…” The Book of Acts of the Apostles was written by the Gospel writer, Luke, and described a blossoming era well before the letters of Paul which spent a lot of time addressing conflicts in the churches and listing rules of appropriate behavior. In Galatians we read about volatile conflicts between Peter and Paul themselves. No one is immune to being human in the Scriptures, even in the remainder of the Book of Acts. I’ve heard sermons a distant moon ago that declared no one could be a good Christian unless they followed this Acts example of selling all their property and giving their money to the poor. Of course, the scripture doesn’t say that. They sold some of their possessions and property, not all of it. They were basically generous with one another, especially regarding those most in need, as they celebrated their new faith together. I’m grateful to the church councils and faith leaders who compiled the writings that we now call the New Testament. They gave us a good cross section of the best and the worst of times. They let future generations know what to expect. The road to following the Way of Jesus was rocky then and it’s rocky now. Camelot had its problems, too. In Texas, we are assured that July and August temperatures cannot be regulated by the law. And we know that churches are imperfect. Yet, these beautiful words Luke left to us in Acts 2 are always there to remind us that the faith which brought the body of believers together then is the same faith that brings us together now. They set the standard that was a natural result of following the Gospel of Love. PRAYER Thank you, God, for the examples set by those who came before us. May we always remember that the same exuberance for your gospel is alive and in our midst every time we have the opportunity to live it together. Thank you for your church. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Dan Peeler Order of St. Francis and St. Clare
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