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 Matthew 19:13 Then children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them, but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” WORDS OF HOPE Today is Celebration of Life Day. This holiday of unspecified origin is a day set aside to celebrate children and grandchildren. The Bible, and Jesus in particular, mention children a lot. If you go to one of the online Bibles and do a search on the word children, you will be very surprised how often children are mentioned. As the passage above indicates how important children were to Jesus. And this is not the only place in the book of Matthew where Jesus references his children. In another verse, he says that unless you become like small children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. He refers to peacemakers as the children of heaven in what has become called the Beatitudes. Too often in our world today, children suffer because of the callous disregard for the self-centered actions of adults. Famine, war, abuse and disease often affect children most since they are the least capable of doing anything about these things. Often children are disowned by their families because of their sexual orientation or their beliefs. And to be fair, many children are adopted in the loving families. Many people work with children as teachers, mentors, and spiritual guides. And these people, whether they realize it or not, are doing God‘s work. For your devotion time today, celebrate the children in your life. If possible, share the day with a child, grandchild, niece or nephew. Here are some suggestions from the National Day Calendar. • Read a book with a child. • Get on the floor and put a puzzle together. • Build something with your child. • Invite all the cousins to play board games. • Bake cookies and decorate them. Even the smallest child will learn something. • Make popcorn and watch a movie. • Tell the story of how the grandparents met. • Get out the art supplies and create. PRAYER Magnificent Creator who we look to as our parent, give us the mind and heart of children so that we may come to you through Jesus as little children, open to learning, open to loving, open to being loved. DEVOTION AUTHOR Weber Baker. Order of Saint Francis and Saint Clair
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Words of Hope Podcast
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SCRIPTURE ļ»æ Matthew 19:13 Then children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them, but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” WORDS OF HOPE Today is Celebration of Life Day. This holiday of unspecified origin is a day set aside to celebrate children and grandchildren. The Bible, and Jesus in particular, mention children a lot. If you go to one of the online Bibles and do a search on the word children, you will be very surprised how often children are mentioned. As the passage above indicates how important children were to Jesus. And this is not the only place in the book of Matthew where Jesus references his children. In another verse, he says that unless you become like small children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. He refers to peacemakers as the children of heaven in what has become called the Beatitudes. Too often in our world today, children suffer because of the callous disregard for the self-centered actions of adults. Famine, war, abuse and disease often affect children most since they are the least capable of doing anything about these things. Often children are disowned by their families because of their sexual orientation or their beliefs. And to be fair, many children are adopted in the loving families. Many people work with children as teachers, mentors, and spiritual guides. And these people, whether they realize it or not, are doing God‘s work. For your devotion time today, celebrate the children in your life. If possible, share the day with a child, grandchild, niece or nephew. Here are some suggestions from the National Day Calendar. • Read a book with a child. • Get on the floor and put a puzzle together. • Build something with your child. • Invite all the cousins to play board games. • Bake cookies and decorate them. Even the smallest child will learn something. • Make popcorn and watch a movie. • Tell the story of how the grandparents met. • Get out the art supplies and create. PRAYER Magnificent Creator who we look to as our parent, give us the mind and heart of children so that we may come to you through Jesus as little children, open to learning, open to loving, open to being loved. DEVOTION AUTHOR Weber Baker. Order of Saint Francis and Saint Clair
SCRIPTURE Matthew 9.14-17 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are ruined, but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” WORDS OF HOPE Having achieved the status of being “vintage” at age 75, I sometimes feel like one of those “old wineskins”. I think sometimes it’s good to hear the words of scripture anew and look at them as though I have never seen them before. Then let them speak to me fresh. For me that means I have to put away my “little Golden Book of Bible Stories” and read the words as an adult, with all my life experience included and yet I try to read them, listening for a new message. I find I can be old and yet still have the ability to preserve the “new wine” of the Scriptures. These words speak to me and give me the hope I need to face the day. Reading them I feel like Jesus is with me, his voice a soft whisper in my ear. He lets me know I am part of that wedding party, and I am filled with gratitude that I can still find truth that resonates with me in words written millennia ago. Not the simple words of a story, but underlying truths that are eternal. PRAYER May I always find myself as a new wineskin ready to receive the new wine of God’s word. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Hardy Haberman
SCRIPTURE Philippians 4:7 CEV God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel. WORDS OF HOPE Paul was writing to the Philippians who were under control of the Roman Empire in what was known as the ‘Pax Romana’ (the ‘Roman Peace’) where no-one was allowed to disturb the peace. So, one sure way to safeguard compliance, was to install a professional army ensuring everyone complied, and anyone rebelling, was crucified or murdered. While times are a bit unsettling today, we are reassured through numerous versus in the Bible, hundreds of books, and pod casts which explain the many ways one can become more peaceful. There are even herbs, potions, symbols and air fresheners designed to create a more peaceful presence. However, none of these external factors can bring the kind of inner peace that is promised when we release our thoughts and give our fears to God. I read a story about an artist who painted a roaring waterfall, under a dark sky with lightning all around. At closer inspection he had included a bush at the edge of the falls and painted a tiny bird nesting peacefully on her eggs. The art was titled “peace”. The artist illustrated the bird in this small bush who was waiting patiently to birth new life even in the midst of chaos. PRAYER Creator God, in the midst of our chaos give us the courage to change our heart and mind with your supernatural, calming, assurance of peace. In Jesus name, Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Donna Jackson
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