Tuesday - November 3, 2026

SCRIPTURE  Joshua 4.8-9 The Israelites took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant had stood. And they are there to this day. WORDS OF HOPE Today’s Scripture reading is an excerpt from the narrative about memorializing God’s parting of the Jordan River before the Holy Ark of the Covenant. The story ends saying the cairn (a human-made stack of stones) is “there to this day.” That would have been written between 600-500 years before the birth of Christ. The stacking of the stones would have occurred about 500 years earlier. There’s no sign of the stone marker now. Building monuments to our achievements or significant historic incidents is an ancient human practice. They always last many years or even generations after their builders, but whether torn down by other people or by time, they never stand forever. Our generation continues the tradition, from small historic markers along the road to massive sculptures like Mount Rushmore, we are surrounded by our own versions of the cairn of Joshua. One of my historian cousins was once employed to search the countryside for sites of incidents worthy of historical markers. One of her markers stands on an early 1800’s cemetery near my house. The gravestones are mostly illegible, and my cousin is gone as well, but her diligent work still stands. My cousin’s name was Kay. She left behind many miles of markers celebrating the history made by other people, but not one to herself. Kay was a lifelong member of the largest Presbyterian in Dallas and involved in every humanitarian endeavor the church had to offer. She chaired countless ministries to foreign countries, serving the poorest of the poor and helping them help themselves by working with women’s cooperatives in Guatemala and Mexico, selling their hand made textiles at mission markets across the region. She would also always bring home loads of beautiful woven crafts and home decorations which she would market through several churches and benevolent organizations, with 100% of the profits going to the villages. Kay’s marker was her life, her spirit more durable than any stone, and she will be remembered for generations by the people Jesus loved the most. Her spirit is alive in her daughters as well. It seems to be a generational blessing in that branch of my family, and I have no doubt it will continue long after her daughters’ works are completed. Joshua honored the works of God with a stone memorial. Kay honored the works of God by doing them. There are powerful people in Washington DC today eager to clutter the environment with stone memorials to themselves. I pity them. Everything they build will crumble, but the works of the spirits of people like my Cousin Kay will live forever. PRAYER God who inspired our ancestors, we thank you for the lives and legacies of people like my Cousin Kay and for the spiritual monuments they left behind. May their examples continue to be the foundations for the markers we each have the opportunity to build every day. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Dan Peeler Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

SCRIPTURE  Joshua 1.9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” WORDS OF HOPE Tomorrow is All Hallow’s Eve, so it’s time to unpack your Playsuit. Did you ever have one of those? The Sears catalog when I was a child had what they called “Playsuits,” their versions the big-name superheroes like Superman or whatever cartoon character that was popular on TV at the time. Plus, a host of other occupational outfits like police and firemen, doctors and nurses. Boring. That said, I always loved the generic superhero suits. They had a day-glo green “spider guy” who vaguely resembled a makeshift sort of alien Spider-Man. In fact, there were all kinds of generic knockoffs for frugal shoppers like my mother. Generic Captain America, a watered-down version of Daredevil, which we all knew used to be Batman but was painted red instead to get another use of the same mask mold. Then there were costumes marketed specifically to satisfy churches that insisted on calling Halloween a “Harvest Festival” because they thought the designation “Halloween” was of the Devil. In a super conservative Christian home, you might be sent out as Jesus or maybe Moses. God knows merchants could have raked it in if they had thought about calling their mummy costume Lazarus. How embarrassing for those kids whose parents weren’t as well-versed in their Bible knowledge to know the Good Book is full of bad guys and makes plenty of mentions about witches, ghosts, monsters like Leviathan, and whole colonies of giants bigger than Goliath. Halloween was a big deal in my Christian-Lite home. It still wasn’t as big as Christmas, and it had not become the obsession it has become today. Nowadays, for fear of the actual monsters behind some strangers’ doors, Halloween for kids has evolved into benevolent parking lot events such as trunk or treat, often scheduled in full daylight. Great for safety, but in my generation’s estimation, Spooky music and bounce-houses do not a Halloween make. Today’s kids will never know what we had back then. Halloween was cool. There were rules to creatively dressing up if you wanted to earn your candy. There. I said it. Halloween was earned and every Bit-O-Honey and Tootsie Roll you got were the fair wages of participating in ghoulish delight. It was a fun sort of pretend scary. And whether we were aware of what walking around to scare off the evil spirits meant, we were carrying on the original traditions in All Hallows’ Eve’s history of purifying the place for All Saints’ Day. I’m not saying the holiday is no longer fun. It is. Plenty of haunted houses and parties happen still. But it’s become another heavily commercial holiday, cashing in on pre-made stuff and less on home-grown creativity and bowls full of spaghetti worms. I do miss those spaghetti worms! PRAYER Thank you for holidays that bring us closer together, and for the one we call Halloween that teaches us creativity, laughter, and especially love, can conquer all our fears. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Charlie Rose Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

SCRIPTURE Romans 2.17-29 (The Inclusive Bible) Now, if you place your confidence in your religious identity, if you rely on your understanding of God’s teachings and take pride in your relationship with God. WORDS OF HOPE National Cat Day Lions, tigers, and tabby cats?? Today is National Cat Day, and I’m convinced God has a sense of humor. I imagine God winking: “Yes. This is how I intended it to be.” Cats are affectionate, stubborn, dramatic, and ridiculous. They race through apartments, ponder empty walls, then curl into sunlight. Perhaps we need creatures who remind us to laugh and slow down. We buy expensive toys, only for cats to declare a cardboard box the greatest gift imaginable. Apparently, I don’t decorate my apartment; my cat, Nelson does. Maybe there’s theology here. We chase what is impressive, forgetting joy in simple things. Sometimes the cardboard box is enough. I’m convinced God created cats to make sure gravity exists. Pens, cups, phones, anything near an edge becomes an experiment. Newton had an apple. I have Nelson. My orange tuxedo cat believes gravity requires lifelong research. Perhaps cats are secretly liquid. How else can they curl into balls, become loaves, and squeeze into impossible spaces? Nelson tests physics daily and keeps humans humble. Nelson depends on me for food, water, shelter, and affection, but I depend on him for companionship, laughter, and comfort. When he rubs against me, I imagine him saying, “Of all the humans in the world, this one is mine.” Nelson is my unofficial therapist, philosopher, comedian, treat inspector, computer supervisor, guru, and occasional menace. This may be my apartment, but it’s Nelson’s home. I pay the rent. He apparently owns the place. Perhaps cats can teach us to rest. We live in a culture that measures worth by productivity, where sitting still can feel like failure. Meanwhile, a cat sleeps for hours without guilt. Rest is not laziness. Joy is not frivolous. We are human beings, not productivity machines. When Nelson curls beside me and purrs, I remember I can stop, breathe, and simply be. His purr becomes a soundtrack for Sabbath. One of my favorite saints is Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, a seventh-century abbess in what is now Belgium. She devoted herself to prayer, hospitality, and caring for the poor and travelers. Her association with cats developed through later tradition. Her story reminds me holiness isn’t about escaping everyday life; it’s about meeting life with generosity and care. Love is rarely tidy, and grace rarely arrives on schedule. The sacred doesn’t always announce itself with stained glass or choirs. Sometimes it arrives with four paws, whiskers, a loud purr, and a ridiculous sleeping position. Compassion can mean welcoming a stranger, helping a neighbor, or sitting beside an animal. Today, I’m grateful for cats, especially Nelson, my orange tuxedo philosopher. I’m grateful for the laughter, toys, zoomies, gravity experiments, naps, and purrs. Creation reminds us love needs not be grand to be real, and holiness needs not be complicated to be profound. Sometimes holiness has whiskers. Sometimes grace has four paws. Sometimes wisdom comes in an orange-and-white package covered in fur. When Nelson purrs beside me, I imagine God whispering, “See? There is still joy here today.” PRAYER God of all creation, thank you for the cats who teach us to laugh, rest, wonder, and love. Bless the animals who share our lives and comfort us when we need it. Hold close those we have loved and lost, and help us notice the sacredness in every purr, every raised tail, and every moment of companionship. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Reed Kirkman

SCRIPTURE  Matthew 19.16, 21,22 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”…Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”…When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. WORDS OF HOPE Today’s Scripture excerpts are from the Gospel of Matthew relating the story of one of Jesus’ many appearances before a large crowd. A young man in the crowd asks him about the state of his eternal soul, mistakenly thinking that he would have to work his way toward perfection to be secure of his fate. Jesus gives him an answer meant not only for the others in the large crowd to hear, but eventually, words for us to contemplate today. His answer must have made the young man and the crowd uncomfortable, but many of us as well. It was all about money. “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor?” The Young man was wealthy and went away sad. How would you feel? Is this the requirement for following Jesus? In comparison to most of the worlds’ population the majority of America’s population would be considered wealthy; not just the billionaires, but any of us who are not worried about the possibility of even having our next meal, or fearing it could be our last. Jesus knew the minds of his audience and of each individual who came to him for advice or healing. He knew the mind of the young man and what was of the most importance in his life. He didn’t say sell all of your possessions, but the young man heard it that way. The thought of parting from what he held most dear sent him away sad, no longer curious about anything else Jesus might have to say; no longer worrying about his eternal soul. It’s an interesting challenge for each of us. What in our lives is our roadblock to following the examples set by Jesus? What comes to our minds when Jesus’ simple invitation to “follow me” sounds like a monumental task? Do we just lose faith and walk away sad or decide to hang around a while longer and hear what else he has to say? PRAYER Understanding God, help us to remember that often the teachings of Jesus that make us feel uncomfortable are the ones we need to hear the most. DEVOTION AUTHOR Dan Peeler Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

SCRIPTURE Psalm 102:2 Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that people yet unborn may praise the Lord. WORDS OF HOPE Writers of our daily devotionals may choose their own topics, drawing inspiration from the lectionary and various observances. When I saw that today is World Day for Audiovisual Heritage , I thought, surely, I can find something a little more spiritual—and that sounds more like devotional material! But curiosity led me to take a closer look. The purpose of this day of observance is to draw attention to the fragile films, recordings, and digital media that preserve our history, as well as the people who protect them. This reminded me of the twelve stones Israel raised beside the Jordan in Joshua 4. God intended them as a lasting reminder so that when children asked, “What do these stones mean?” their elders could tell how God had brought His people safely through the river. Throughout Scripture, as Psalm 102:2 reminds us, God calls His people to remember His works and share them with future generations. Biblical remembrance is not about living in the past; it strengthens our faith today and teaches those who follow us to trust and obey God. Photographs, recordings, sermons, interviews, and family stories can remind us of God’s faithfulness. Technology preserves voices and images, but their deeper value lies in the stories they tell and the truths they keep alive. CoH Facebook followers likely know Jeanette Bell, whose camera is ever-present at worship, events, and fellowship. By sharing images of welcome, service, connection, and joy, Jeanette creates a ministry of remembrance that reveals God’s grace in ordinary moments Like the twelve stones beside the Jordan, her photographs preserve evidence of God’s faithfulness and invite future generations to ask, “What do these pictures mean?” They can open the door to stories of answered prayer, faithful service, fellowship, and the Lord carrying the congregation through seasons of change. A photograph cannot tell the whole story, but it can become a modern stone of remembrance, prompting us to say, “Look what God has done among us!” Reflecting God’s faithfulness requires neither a pulpit nor a title; sometimes ministry begins simply by paying attention. Cameras and recordings capture moments, but God gives them meaning. A picture shared today may inspire gratitude now and testify to His faithfulness for generations to come. As the Cathedral of Hope celebrates its 56th anniversary, we are reminded of the importance of preserving the memories, stories, and milestones that have shaped our journey of faith. We should do so thoughtfully, honoring the truth and dignity of others while helping future generations see where the Lord has led us. Preserving our stories becomes more than saving information. It becomes a way of passing on the story of God’s faithfulness through ministry, worship, service, and love. That is why World Day for Audiovisual Heritage holds spiritual meaning for us. It reminds us that preserving today’s images, voices, and stories helps future generations remember, celebrate, and praise God for all that God has done and continues to do for us. PRAYER Faithful God, thank You for the many ways You have shown Your goodness among us. Help us remember what You have done and share those stories with those who come after us. Give us wisdom to preserve what is true, grace to honor one another, and eyes to see Your presence in the ordinary moments of life. May every image, voice, and story we share become a testimony to Your faithfulness. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR David Sims, Deacon