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 Ephesians 3:18-19 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. WORDS OF HOPE Today’s passage comes from a letter of Paul written to the Ephesians. It is a prayer that ends the letter and is given to encourage hope within the readers. Probably written while Paul was in prison in Rome around AD 62, it resembles other Pauline letters and was essentially an “inner-office” memo to the church in what is now Turkey. Though the message was for a specific group of believers, the sentiment still resonates with me today. The idea that “the love of Christ surpasses knowledge” speaks volumes. It tells me that God’s love is something mystical, something beyond my meager reasoning. I have thought about this a lot recently as I look at the newest photos from the Vera C. Rubin telescope. The images are the highest resolution ever taken and reveal a vastness of the universe that puts in perspective how small and precious life on Earth is. They also fill me with awe at the inconceivable fullness of the universe. My power to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of creation reminds me that I can never know it all, and that is alright with me. I am content to marvel at creation and live in the mystery of it all. It’s mystery also reminds me that the spirit of love and creation which I know as God is always with me, even in the vastness of our universe. PRAYER May we find the spirit of God in our lives and the love of Christ which sustains us. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Hardy Haberman
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Words of Hope Podcast
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SCRIPTURE ļ»æ Ephesians 3:18-19 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. WORDS OF HOPE Today’s passage comes from a letter of Paul written to the Ephesians. It is a prayer that ends the letter and is given to encourage hope within the readers. Probably written while Paul was in prison in Rome around AD 62, it resembles other Pauline letters and was essentially an “inner-office” memo to the church in what is now Turkey. Though the message was for a specific group of believers, the sentiment still resonates with me today. The idea that “the love of Christ surpasses knowledge” speaks volumes. It tells me that God’s love is something mystical, something beyond my meager reasoning. I have thought about this a lot recently as I look at the newest photos from the Vera C. Rubin telescope. The images are the highest resolution ever taken and reveal a vastness of the universe that puts in perspective how small and precious life on Earth is. They also fill me with awe at the inconceivable fullness of the universe. My power to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of creation reminds me that I can never know it all, and that is alright with me. I am content to marvel at creation and live in the mystery of it all. It’s mystery also reminds me that the spirit of love and creation which I know as God is always with me, even in the vastness of our universe. PRAYER May we find the spirit of God in our lives and the love of Christ which sustains us. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Hardy Haberman
SCRIPTURE Matthew 6:25-27 Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? WORDS OF HOPE Happy New Year! Who’s ready to do a little house cleaning? When I was young, each church revival service would include my pastor's admonition that we must "clean out every closet in our life and let God's Spirit fill all of our life". To a little boy, it was very dramatic; however, it took teenage years and older experience for that to really have potent meaning. If we are honest, we all have areas of our life in which God does not rule. The entrances to those "closets" are blocked by old junk which we have piled up there for the purpose of keeping those areas private and off-limits from outside change. They're our personal places of unforgiveness, greed, dishonesty, etc. (you can fill in the etc. yourself). We all know that the Holy One is a God of absolute perfection, purity of goodness, forgiveness, love and kindness. And that God wants our lives to manifest as much purity of motive and action as possible for us to achieve. Now, there is the rub... "for us to achieve". Even with our best efforts, by ourselves we usually fail to fling open those closet doors and let the goodness and forgiving light of Christ Jesus flood those spaces of living. It requires divine help and forgiveness for us to unstack and remove the piles of junk (excuses, delays, distractions, etc.) which have blocked God out of those life areas. With the help of divine power, you can pitch out a lot of garbage which is not worthy of a garage sale and thus open wide all aspects of your life to God's presence. The Holy One can work only in areas of life which we make available for the divine living presence! We need to regularly seek out those closeted areas and pray that God's presence will "fill every nook and cranny" of our life! And a brand New Year is the perfect place to start. PRAYER Throughout 2026, may the Living Presence of Christ Jesus fill every nook and cranny of my being to grow me to be a more effective and faithful servant of yours. DEVOTION AUTHOR Donald (Luke) Day Order of St. Francis and St. Clare
SCRIPTURE Joshua 1.9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. WORDS OF HOPE Today’s Scripture reading wraps up the first chapter of the Book of Joshua and references the transition of the leadership of the ancient Hebrew people after the death of Moses. Joshua had been Moses’ assistant, confidant, and communicator of the commandments throughout most of their wilderness wanderings. He was now given the honor and task of leading them into the Promised Land. Today we interpret the Promised Land in many ways. In Christianity, the Promised Land is spiritually and metaphorically symbolic of divine promises fulfilled. In Judaism and Islam, it is seen as the same divine fulfillment, except literally, and the land they are talking about is the same land. Therein lies the conflict as God-ordained ancestral homes become geopolitical conflict. That was the problem facing Joshua as he was about to step into a much-coveted territory that would begin a 3,000-year long dispute that has yet to see a viable settlement. He had to be strong and brave, without fear, and had to guard against discouragement. To be confident that his God would be with him throughout his journeys and military confrontations within this new homeland he had been promised. How much of the Book of Joshua is fact and how much of it is retro-fitting God’s will into a conflict over territory we can’t ever know, but the Book does teach us that even in what may seem to be an impossible situation we can be encouraged to aspire for the same strength, bravery, courage, and drive that Joshua demonstrated in this book about wars within ourselves and with others. This is Twelfth Night, the last night of Christmastide, and we stand thankful for the gifts of God during the now completed year. As we stand at the beginning of another New Year, as fresh as Joshua was as he received the mantle of Moses, we must remember that eternal promise made to him is the same one made to us today: “the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” 2026 is our current Promised Land from God. The rest is up to us. PRAYER God of Promises, thank you for the opportunities, challenges, lessons, and learnings, trials and triumphs of the exciting year before us. May we always carry the assurance that you will be with us wherever we go. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Dan Peeler Order of St. Francis and St. Clare
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