News

Siblings in Christ

This weekend the United States of America celebrates its anniversary, commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. This has been a Federal Holiday since 1941 and is marked in numerous ways. 

While we continue to celebrate “America’s Independence” we also continue to witness the erosion of many of the freedoms that were once taken for granted. We must remain vigilant and stand strong to the values of our faith that calls for love, equality, and justice for all. As Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., reminds us, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” He was echoing the words of Jesus and many of the Prophets in the Hebrew scriptures who invite us to “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the orphan and plead the cause of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17)

During the month of July, the Cathedral of Hope community comes together to engage in acts of service with and for our community. You can read more about this on our website cathedralofhope.com/month-of-service.

We serve because we are called to build one another up, to ensure that all who are hungry are fed, and to show and share the healing and empowering love of God. To live a life of service, we must look within ourselves to find endless well of God’s love that sustains us and equips us to serve the world.

Our new sermon series, “Sustaining the Soul: Wisdom of Service and Survival” will call us to embrace service and ritual during July. We will be drawing on the teachings of Howard Thurman and Jesus to find wisdom for sustaining our souls. Our service is an act of ritual and connects us with our spirituality and its values. It also sustains us as we not only bless others but find blessing ourselves.

If you need words of hope that might inspire us to be sustained in our soul, this is a season for you, and I sincerely hope that you will make every effort to join me on Sunday.

I look forward to welcoming you to worship on Sunday!

We are still actively signing people up for small groups and the response is overwhelming—if you aren’t in a small group, you are missing out on a key part of the life of the church! Our next term starts the week of July 3, so you still have time to find a group that fits you.

I want to tell you about a group that Rev. Jeremy will be leading during the next term, the “younger adults” group. You might ask, “who is a younger adult?” And the answer is, “you get to decide if you fit the ‘younger adult’ category.” We will be following the sermon series in July and August and this allows those in groups to dive deeper into what they experience on Sunday. However, you don’t have to have heard the Sunday sermon to participate, the guides will give you all you need to participate.

Friends,

We are still in PRIDE season here at Cathedral of Hope and throughout this month we have been celebrating and remembering moments of PRIDE throughout history, as well as pointing toward a future hope for a more equal and just world. 

This weekend is Juneteenth. This year is the first time that Juneteenth will also be a federally recognized holiday. Throughout the country we will commemorate the emancipation of enslaved African Americans as well as celebrate black culture. Juneteenth originated in Galveston, Texas and here at Cathedral of Hope we are honored to be a part of this celebration. Coat of Colors, one of our ministry councils, will host an immersive experience to celebrate Juneteenth. For all those registered, the event starts at 12pm this Saturday. Please check here for more information. 

Juneteenth and Pride month are tied to important milestones. For those who are gay and Black, the intersection of these two events highlights some of the unique challenges that many face every day. Dallas Southern Pride is also this weekend (see link for more information https://dallassouthernpride.com/) 

On Sunday June 19, Reverend Andria Davis will preach at both the 8:30am and 10am services, Reverend Jeremy Rose will preach at 11:45am and Pastor Alejandro Gonzales will preach at the 1:30pm service. 

I am taking a planned vacation next week and will be joining you online and looking forward to experiencing what many in our community experience as they join our live broadcast from around the world. I look forward to being back on Sunday June 26 as we end this current sermon series, “Open Doors”. 

May God bless us as we live out our lives, not from a place of fear, but a place of Pride and Liberation, calling all of us to reflect the likeness of Christ in our comings and our goings. 

Blessings,

Friends,

First, may I say a big thank you to all those who helped, supported, volunteered last weekend with so many PRIDE events. It was inspirational to see so many of us staffing our two booths at the festival and over 100 of us marching today in the parade on Sunday. We had a very good response to our presence and we, once again, witnesses to the amazing love of God. 

Last Sunday was Pentecost and we welcomed the presence of the Holy Spirit among us. We reminded ourselves of the fear that had gripped the early disciples and followers of Jesus and how the Spirit fell afresh on them – sending them out of a locked room and into the marketplace where each heard the message of Jesus in their own language. 

Fear is something that many of us grapple with. Real or unrealized, it can be overwhelming and paralyzing. I know that recent times have raised the anxiety and fear levels in many of us and I want you to know that this church is ready to stand with and for our LGBTQ+ siblings and speak words of compassion, love, and acceptance – to speak the words of Jesus to all. Our current sermon series. “Open Doors” echoes this theme as we spend this month celebrating PRIDE. This Sunday’s sermon title is “Safe Spaces” and we will give thanks for the many spaces, throughout history in which we have felt “safe”. 

We will also remember how some of those spaces have been violated. We will recommit ourselves to making a safe place for all people here at Cathedral of Hope. We cannot forget the many who have lost their lives in acts of violence; LGBTQ+ people who have been targets of violence and two of our own congregation who, this past week, have experienced vandalism at their home in Corsicana. These acts bread fear and while we are reminded that “perfect love casts out all fear”, we are better able to make this true and real when we come together. 

That is why I am inviting you to join me this Sunday at Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ. We are better together, and we can face anything when we stand alongside one another in love and solidarity. I do hope that you will join me again this Sunday at 8:30am, 10am, 11:45am and 1:30pm. 

You will be glad you did! 

Sincerely, in Christ

Friends in Christ ,

This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday …. And PRIDE! Yes, Pentecost and Pride Sunday fall on the same Sunday this year and you are encouraged to come to church in a festive mood. 

Pentecost is often called the “birthday of the church”. It was the time when the Holy Spirit showed up in a locked room where the disciples were meeting and called them from fear, to hope. They were sent out, – into the world to bring good news to those who were in Jerusalem – all speaking different languages, yet they all heard in a tongue that was known to them. 

This Sunday we will have some special elements in the worship services to welcome the Holy Spirit in our midst and to call upon that same Spirit to breathe new life into each of us. 

It seems fitting to me that, following services on Sunday we too will be sent out to bring good news. We too will speak a language that may not be familiar to our LGBTQ+ community – a message of God’s love for all people. We will march, wave our PRIDE flags, and speak words of love, not hate, hope, not fear and bear witness to what God did all those years ago. The Holy Spirit sent those gathered from the prison of a locked room to a parade that would become a festival of love. 

I do hope that you will want to join us as we bear witness to God’s amazing love, declaring that “God thinks you are FABULOUS!” 

Please join me on Saturday at the Pride Festival and on Sunday at 8:30/10am, 11:45am and 1:30pm Worship and then let us go together to proclaim Christ through faith, hope and love. 

Blessings

Friends

Last weekend 45 members and friends spent three days in Granbury experiencing time out of the world, spending time with God. I have heard that it was a transforming experience, and I am looking forward to welcoming them back this coming Sunday. These experiences can help us in deepening our understanding of God and God’s purpose for our lives and I sincerely hope that you might consider going on “The Walk” when it is offered again in the future.

We held our new member’s orientation this past Saturday in the Interfaith Peace Chapel here at Cathedral of Hope. Eighteen new members gathered to learn more about the church and their role in it. Membership in a church like Cathedral of Hope is a choice. It is one than involves a covenant between the church and the individual and the individual and the church. We will welcome these new members on Sunday, and I will continue our sermon series, “Ask Me Anything”. This Sunday we will think about what it means to be a member, and while membership is not a requirement to be a part of this community, many say that becoming a member says something about our claiming our place in a spiritual community.

I am carefully watching the swing in societal and political attitudes that are affecting us spiritually. Many of us are awaiting decisions that will be coming from the Supreme Court in the coming weeks. These decisions will have their impact regardless of how they fall. As people of faith we believe in fairness, justice, and equality for all. These are values that are lived out in Jesus and that we are called to live by as well. Please be assured that your church, while not partisan, politically, will respond with these values at the center of its being. It is the Christ-like thing to do!

Friends, we need one another, and we need to gather as often as possible to claim that God is still speaking and making a difference in our lives. I do hope that you are planning to join me, in person or online this Sunday. Check out our website for relevant information.

Peace and blessings,

Greetings 

We are now in the third week of our current sermon series, “Ask Me Anything”, and as I add, “theologically!” Over the past couple of weeks, we have been responding to some of the questions that you requested us respond to as we grapple with faith and the deeper questions that we may have pondered.  

This Sunday is Mother’s Day and the question that we ponder is “Was Jesus Married?” I am eager to tackle this question, especially considering the Scripture that has been selected for this Sunday. Over this past week there has been a lot to process, specifically in relation to the unrest in our country and in our world. 

The leaked opinion of a potential reversal of Roe vs. Wade and the domino effect that this opens, affecting minority groups and legal protections. It is another time in our movement to remain vigilant and activated and I want to assure you that we will do everything we can, in response to our faith, to protect the most vulnerable in our community and in our world. Jesus speaks of his mother often and we see her at many significant moments in Jesus’ life.  

As we gather on Sunday, we too will honor those who have been “mothers” to us. Some will have been biological and others who have stepped in and been “mothers” toward us. I look forward to sharing worship this Sunday as we gather in person and online to respond to this question and the many other questions that we face in today’s world. 

We are better, together.

It is always a blessing to be able to take some time away from the office and the many responsibilities that I have the joy of undertaking as Senior Pastor of this amazing congregation. It is also good to visit and worship with friends in other places, knowing that Cathedral is in good hands during my absence! 

This past Sunday Reverend Dr. Michael Diaz launched our new sermon series, “Ask Me Anything”, pondering the question, “Is There Only One Way to God?” Reverend Andre Vlok preached our 11:45am service and Salvador Sotelo preached at our 1:30pm Spanish Speaking Service. If you missed out on any of these, please remember that our services are available on our website, Facebook, and YouTube every week. 

This Sunday we will welcome our children back into the main worship service with a special “Children’s Moment” and many of our youth will also be joining us in worship. I will also be answering the question, “Are My Kid’s Really Welcome?” We will reflect on the way that Jesus welcomed the little children to come to him and how we might follow in this example. 

Later in the month we will respond to the question. “What Does it Mean to be a Church Member”. On this Sunday we will also welcome new members into our community. Our next Membership Class is on Saturday, May 14 at 10:30am, and if you are not already a member, you might consider joining this class. While you are not obligated to become a member following the class, it does give much more information about what it means to be a member of Cathedral. You can sign up for this class now by clicking this link. (More info here) I am already looking forward to being in community with you this Sunday and I hope you are too!

Welcome to Eastertide, Easter people! 

Since last Thursday we had a myriad of worship services that helped us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus throughout Holy Week – Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and yes, Easter Sunday! 

This is the season of resurrection. This past Sunday we welcomed the Risen Christ in our Easter services. It was so good to see so many visitors join us and to have a packed Sanctuary. So many have said that it felt like pre-COVID times! 

I sincerely hope that you found Holy Week and Easter profoundly spiritual and give you hope for the days that lay ahead. This Sunday we will begin our new sermon series, “Ask Me Anything”. Before Easter, we asked you to let us know some of the questions of faith that you would like addressed and expanded on. 

Over the next few weeks, we will explore these questions and seek answers from our Biblical text and experience of God. We all have doubts and questions about our faith and spirituality. Our God allows us to doubt, wonder, think, and ask tough questions.  Our small groups will continue these conversations throughout the week, and I know how important it is to connect our preaching and our small groups. For more information about small groups, please reach out to Reverend Jeremy Rose (jrose@cathedralofhope.com) 

I am delighted that Reverend Dr. Michael Diaz will be launching this new sermon series. He will preach at the 8:30am and 10am services and Reverend Andre will preach the 11:45am service. Salvador Sotelo will preach the 1:30pm service. Please check out important dates and other information in this email to remain connected to the life and ministry of Cathedral of Hope. 

Together we are proclaiming Christ through faith, hope and love and making a difference in the world. 

Dear Cathedral of Hope Family, 

This Sunday, Christians all over the world will celebrate Easter, one of the most sacred days in our faith calendar. 

Here at Cathedral of Hope, there will be many opportunities to worship together this week and to share the good news of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Below you will find our full Holy Week and Easter schedule, including information about our Children’s Church on Sunday and an opportunity to dedicate Easter Flowers (which will be yours to take after the Easter service you attend).

If you’re a visitor or member of our church and haven’t been to one of our services in awhile, I hope you can join us this weekend!

Holy Week Schedule

Maundy Thursday | Thursday, April 14
7:15pm | Taize | Communion 
Good Friday | Friday, April 15
7:15pm | Veneration of the Cross(Incense will be used during worship) 
Easter Sunday | Sunday, April 17
8:30am | 10am | 11:45am | 1:30pm 

Celebrating Easter with little ones? At 11am on Easter Sunday, all kids are invited to participate in a fun egg-stravaganza Easter Egg Hunt in the children’s playground. During our 10am and 11:45am services, our Children’s Church will feature the famous and fabulous Nana Puddin’. 

Want to invite your friends and family to worship with you this Easter? 

Share us on Facebook

Click here to visit our Holy Week page for more details