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5910 Cedar Springs Road | Dallas, TX 75235
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Daily Devotions


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.

By Thomas Riggs 18 Mar, 2024
SCRIPTURE 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. WORDS OF HOPE When someone compliments me, I have a tendency not to believe the hype. They’ll say: “Oh, you’re such a good husband” or “you take such good care of the people around you” or, my personal favorite: “You’re such a good writer”. It’s not that I don’t believe what a friend or colleague or loved one is saying, I just don’t believe that I am as amazing as I am being told. I believe there’s also some value in not getting too hyped on oneself. So, I have a comeback line that speaks to this. When someone says, “You’re so nice and kind” or “you’re a good caregiver”, I respond with: “I have moments”. I do believe that “I have moments” where I am selfless, forgiving, competent, and insightful. But I also believe that I have many moments where I’m selfish, vindictive, a fake, and clueless. So, I have moments where I am good and moments where I’m not so much. Impostor-ism, perhaps better known as Imposter Syndrome, is a life struggle where people believe that they are underserving of their achievements and high esteem in which they are held. They can’t acknowledge their capabilities and their effort and attribute their accomplishments to external causes. Paul writes in his second letter to the church in Corinth that when it comes to being a “minister of the new promise”, we might not want to believe our own hype and think too highly of ourselves. We might believe that we have studied the scriptures, followed all the right rules, and can argue our theology flawlessly. But Paul asserts that our ministry to the world won’t be done solely, or even mainly, by our own doing. Give all credit to the Spirit. So, maybe there’s something to the idea of a healthy acknowledgement that when it comes to being a minister and good steward. We should humbly recognize that any credit belongs not solely to ourselves, but to the Spirit who inspires, strengthens, and leads us. We can confess that we’re the vessel of the Spirit and come equipped with all good gifts, but we also should give glory to God for the work of Christ through us, given to us not by our own merits, but by God’s good grace. PRAYER -from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer: Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use us, we pray you, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Thomas Riggs

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Words of Hope Podcast
By Thomas Riggs 18 Mar, 2024
SCRIPTURE 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. WORDS OF HOPE When someone compliments me, I have a tendency not to believe the hype. They’ll say: “Oh, you’re such a good husband” or “you take such good care of the people around you” or, my personal favorite: “You’re such a good writer”. It’s not that I don’t believe what a friend or colleague or loved one is saying, I just don’t believe that I am as amazing as I am being told. I believe there’s also some value in not getting too hyped on oneself. So, I have a comeback line that speaks to this. When someone says, “You’re so nice and kind” or “you’re a good caregiver”, I respond with: “I have moments”. I do believe that “I have moments” where I am selfless, forgiving, competent, and insightful. But I also believe that I have many moments where I’m selfish, vindictive, a fake, and clueless. So, I have moments where I am good and moments where I’m not so much. Impostor-ism, perhaps better known as Imposter Syndrome, is a life struggle where people believe that they are underserving of their achievements and high esteem in which they are held. They can’t acknowledge their capabilities and their effort and attribute their accomplishments to external causes. Paul writes in his second letter to the church in Corinth that when it comes to being a “minister of the new promise”, we might not want to believe our own hype and think too highly of ourselves. We might believe that we have studied the scriptures, followed all the right rules, and can argue our theology flawlessly. But Paul asserts that our ministry to the world won’t be done solely, or even mainly, by our own doing. Give all credit to the Spirit. So, maybe there’s something to the idea of a healthy acknowledgement that when it comes to being a minister and good steward. We should humbly recognize that any credit belongs not solely to ourselves, but to the Spirit who inspires, strengthens, and leads us. We can confess that we’re the vessel of the Spirit and come equipped with all good gifts, but we also should give glory to God for the work of Christ through us, given to us not by our own merits, but by God’s good grace. PRAYER -from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer: Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use us, we pray you, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Thomas Riggs
By Dr. Pat Saxon 14 Mar, 2024
READING “At the table of grace, the cup’s never empty, and the plate’s always full and it’s never too late to come and be filled with love never ending. You’re always welcome at the table of grace.” Connie Rae Harrington and Anna Hutto. WORDS OF HOPE The following devotion is an editorial piece I wrote for a small spiritual journal in the winter of 2013 after a morning serving at BACH. I reprint it here in dedication to all the faithful volunteers of the Breakfast at Cathedral of Hope program, past and present, and in memory of “Bam Bam,” one of our former guests, a veteran with Stage IV cancer, who loved nothing more than to meet Jesus at the table for communion and prayer. He now abides in the embrace of Love forever. The Hunger! Oh, the Hunger! Mother Moses came to breakfast Saturday morning. Rising from the round table where she shared a full meal with her sisters and brothers, she looked at me and spoke with conviction: “Sister Pat, THIS is the kingdom of God!” Five years ago, our church began serving breakfast to the homeless, the underserved, the poor, the veteran, the mentally ill, the wandering stranger, the aging on a fixed income, and those on disability. It is here that I regularly see the faces of hunger. The physical hunger is only the most obvious. Some people come to stretch their sub-minimum wage earnings a little further for children’s clothes, for medicine, for electricity payments. Some guests eat until they almost founder—as if trying to stave off the gnawing ache of the night. Some eat to sober up, to diminish the dread hold of alcohol or drugs. For many, the companionship of the table is a meal in itself. As dire as the physical hunger is, the hunger of the heart and spirit cries out all around. Angel hungers for a taste of the American Dream for his son, a promise that his life will hold more than breading chicken in a restaurant shift after shift. Guarded and protective of his mother, ten-year-old Joshua yearns for stability—for a home where he is not caught between his parents’ hostilities. Sarah, sexually abused by her father and living with a possessive and sometimes violent man, hungers for safety, to know she is not “dirty,” to know the embrace of a loving God. Each week the hunger for hope is palpable. What nourishes my own hope is the compassion of the communities who serve with our gay and straight church members: volunteers from the Ismaeli Muslim community, from an African-American Methodist Church, from the National Honor Society of a predominately Hispanic high school, from a recovery house for teen addicts. Surely, our best hope is in Jesus, the one who meets us again and again—no matter our condition—at the table of grace. In this sacred encounter, we learn to be held, lifted up, blessed, broken open and offered. Bread for the world. PRAYER Fountain of Life, Pour your sustaining love into us as we meet you at the table of grace. Fit us for the work of your kin-dom, that no one is turned away hungry in body or spirit. Amen.  DEVOTION AUTHOR Dr. Pat Saxon
By Don (Luke) Day 13 Mar, 2024
SCRIPTURE Psalm 37:8 Refrain from anger, leave rage alone, such only leads to evil. WORDS OF HOPE As we continue our Lenten journey together, I am often reminded of the many words of wisdom from Psalm 37. In our contemplative prayer time, we may recall the words, "be still and wait for God's response". That simple message can serve as an antidote for today's reading about about anger and rage. Our current world is filled with loud and angry voices. They surround us as an unending trap to generate anxiety and intense anger in our lives. It's so easy for us to transfer our strong emotion in words and then to place that same negative emotion on the person who is talking. Suddenly, they become the target of our emotion. Consequently, we find ourselves extremely angry with them as well as their words. At that point, we discount the conduct or value of that other individual. That person suddenly becomes all that is wrong with this world. As we fret about our emotional response (I call it regurgitation), it may be driven into higher gear, even to rage. Rage is anger out of control. It is when anger takes over emotions or actions and leads to a breakdown in possible social interaction with each other. Both of these negative emotional reactions may persist for a long time and poison any potential future interaction with that person. This breakdown of a conversation, perhaps even of a friendship, could have been prevented if we had just remembered the words of the Psalm, "be still and wait for God's response". This doesn’t mean for us to wait for God to whisper a comeback in our ear, but to wait for the godly response within us. When we take a brief moment to be still, we are no longer controlled by irrational anger, but led by the love of God. “Refrain from anger, leave rage alone, such only leads to evil.” PRAYER Lord, in Your Mercy, remind us daily that we cannot walk peacefully through God's garden of life while carrying such anger in our hearts. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Donald (Luke) Day Order of St. Francis and St. Clare
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