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 ļ»æ Psalm 57:1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me; for it is in you that my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge." WORDS OF HOPE The above Psalm, like so many, have been attributed to David, the shepherd boy who became king. This particular verse references the time when the Israelite King Saul was hunting to kill the young warrior David who had sought refuge and hid in a distant cave. Like David’s world, sometimes the world around us may be turned upside down with dangerous threats and loss. We need a sure and safe refuge to anchor our lives and quiet the worries of our heart. The world may offer potential solutions or mind-numbing options, but David models for us the best solution for these moments of crisis... turn to God's loving care. You may hide under the protection of God wings and still get scratches and a nosebleed, but you won't end up mortally wounded! Consider, too, David’s reaction to an incident in his life recorded in I Chronicles 16:8-9: "Give thanks to the Lord, call on God's name, make God’s deeds known among the people. Sing, sing praises to God." After King David fought the Philistines and recaptured the Ark of the Covenant, he brought it safely back to Israelite territory and ordered celebrations. This verse begins a hymn of praise to God. Since then, many official statements and hymns have been composed to praise and thank God. But, what about your personal life experience? Is it filled with genuine thanksgiving to the Creator God? Each of us receives more blessings per hour than we can count. Do words of gratitude flow off your tongue giving thanks and praise to our Lord? Praising God's nature and love is the basis of our spiritual life. From ancient rabbinic literature it is said: "In the world to come, all sacrifice and offering will cease, but the sacrifice of thanksgiving will remain forever. All confessional statements will cease, but the confession of our thanksgiving to God will remain forever. Let it be so in our lives. May our days be filled with an acute awareness of God's blessings and may we experience a closer walk with the Divine One. PRAYER Lord God, as I journey through daily activities, may the multitude of these divinely inspired words help me to focus on your desires for my life. Keep me safe and on the right path with you. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Donald (Luke) Day Order of St. Francis and St. Clare
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Words of Hope Podcast
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SCRIPTURE ļ»æ Psalm 57:1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me; for it is in you that my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge." WORDS OF HOPE The above Psalm, like so many, have been attributed to David, the shepherd boy who became king. This particular verse references the time when the Israelite King Saul was hunting to kill the young warrior David who had sought refuge and hid in a distant cave. Like David’s world, sometimes the world around us may be turned upside down with dangerous threats and loss. We need a sure and safe refuge to anchor our lives and quiet the worries of our heart. The world may offer potential solutions or mind-numbing options, but David models for us the best solution for these moments of crisis... turn to God's loving care. You may hide under the protection of God wings and still get scratches and a nosebleed, but you won't end up mortally wounded! Consider, too, David’s reaction to an incident in his life recorded in I Chronicles 16:8-9: "Give thanks to the Lord, call on God's name, make God’s deeds known among the people. Sing, sing praises to God." After King David fought the Philistines and recaptured the Ark of the Covenant, he brought it safely back to Israelite territory and ordered celebrations. This verse begins a hymn of praise to God. Since then, many official statements and hymns have been composed to praise and thank God. But, what about your personal life experience? Is it filled with genuine thanksgiving to the Creator God? Each of us receives more blessings per hour than we can count. Do words of gratitude flow off your tongue giving thanks and praise to our Lord? Praising God's nature and love is the basis of our spiritual life. From ancient rabbinic literature it is said: "In the world to come, all sacrifice and offering will cease, but the sacrifice of thanksgiving will remain forever. All confessional statements will cease, but the confession of our thanksgiving to God will remain forever. Let it be so in our lives. May our days be filled with an acute awareness of God's blessings and may we experience a closer walk with the Divine One. PRAYER Lord God, as I journey through daily activities, may the multitude of these divinely inspired words help me to focus on your desires for my life. Keep me safe and on the right path with you. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Donald (Luke) Day Order of St. Francis and St. Clare
SCRIPTURE ļ»æ Revelation 2. 9-11 I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. To the one who has an ear, hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. WORDS OF HOPE Every time one of our daily lectionary readings is from the Book of the Revelation, I think about Martin Luther who was a vocal critic of many books of the Bible. He famously detested the Epistle of James, labeling it an "epistle of straw" due to its perceived lack of grace by emphasizing justification by faith. And the Book of Revelation! He just wanted to trash the whole thing. He saw it as a writing that was not Christ-centered at all, no gospel of love anywhere in sight, all about punishment, hatred and revenge. The Book is actually about the Roman Empire’s persecution that believers must endure due to their faith, full of metaphors about outrageous mythical tyrant beasts who finally burn forever in the pit of fire. The words of a brighter future in it, however, come when they are encouraged to remain faithful even to the point of death with the promise of eternal glory as a reward, emphasizing the assurance of security to believers. The “pie in the sky when you die” that was preached so often in some evangelical churches of my youth. Even though Martin Luther knew a lot of persecution himself, he just wasn’t buying it. It wasn’t speaking to his generation. He was right. Whenever we attempt to adapt some of the metaphors and monsters understood by the first century readers into warnings and predictions meant for our era, we have a problem. The bad guys in Revelation were the Roman Emperor and the corrupt leaders of their religious system, not the list of individuals we don’t like today, people we like to call Satan, the devil, or the Anti-Christ in our memes. The stories that keep modern Prophecy Seminars well-attended and profitable. The message I like to take from Revelation is not about the gospels of hatred and revenge, but the importance of faith in the worst of times, the faith that directs us to the gospel missing in the Book: the gospel of Love. PRAYER May love continue to bind us together, regardless of the trials and persecutions of our lives, and regardless of promises of future rewards for our faith, knowing that the true reward, the true comfort, is living that gospel of love this day. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Dan Peeler Order of St. Francis and St. Clare
SCRIPTURE ļ»æ You are the God who sees me. Genesis 16:13 WORDS OF HOPE In Genesis 16, Abram and Sarai wrestle with the tension between God's promise and their present reality. As they wait for the child God has promised—a descendant whose family would one day outnumber the stars—they pursue a human solution to accomplish what God had pledged to do. And as the waiting became painful, Sarai proposed a solution that seemed practical: Abram would have a child through Hagar, her servant. What followed was a cascade of hurt, jealousy, conflict, and regret. It is tempting to read this chapter as a story about impatient adults making poor decisions. Adults caught in their own struggles, fears, and retribution. Hagar fleeing into the wilderness, feeling used and discarded. Racism, agism, jealousy, faithlessness, ambition, and disappointment run rampant through the narrative. This story of Abram, Sarai, and Hagar is that—but it is also about a child. While adults often focus on their own selfish desires, displeasures, motivations, or conflicts, God sees the children who are affected by those choices. He sees the child caught in family tension. She sees the child impacted by broken relationships. They see the child whose future may be shaped by decisions made long before they have a voice. God sees the children in Gaza who are helpless victims of a conflict not of their making. God sits with the 1 in 5 children who live in a food-insecure household in America. God can count the 14 million children worldwide who have lost access to nutrition services, vaccination campaigns, clean water initiatives, and disease prevention efforts because of global aid funding cuts. God sees them all. And implores us to see them too. When Hagar was in the wilderness, the angel of the Lord met her there. God’s message to her included a promise not only to her, but to her child. Ishmael mattered to God. This reminds us of an important truth: whenever a child is involved, God is paying attention. God still sees every child. While adults wage war, withhold resources, and raise family tension, God sees the children who are affected by those choices. She sees the child impacted by broken relationships and developmentally stunted by hunger. He sees the child whose future may be shaped by decisions made long before they have a voice. God's compassion extends beyond the main characters we tend to focus on. Hagar, a servant woman with little social standing, was seen by God. Ishmael, an unborn child whose existence resulted from human failure and dysfunction, was seen by God. Neither was forgotten. Genesis 16 assures us that God's eyes are not limited to the powerful, the successful, or the central figures in the story. She sees those on the margins. God sees the children. And in a world where children suffer, God implores us to see them too. PRAYER Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the realm of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14 DEVOTION AUTHOR Thomas Riggs
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