Grace Cathedral

Dear Friends,

Traditional disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving mark the season of Lent, but sometimes those general categories are expressed in very particular ways in our lives. For me, that has been a move. We’ve traded the keys to a rental house in the East Bay, where our sons moved from middle school to high school and are now at the beginning of college, for a flat within walking distance of our San Francisco workplaces. The welcome, if dramatic, change has left me with a clear sense of Lent as homemaking and homecoming, at once unsettling and promising.

Anything we undertake or shed during the season is done under the rubric of making us more the selves and the community that God made us to be. So the journey, while reflecting shared patterns, is personal, particular, and contextual. This week marks a midpoint in the season. How is your Lenten journey unfolding? What themes are emerging for you?

Lent is traditionally a time of preparation for people who wish to be baptized, confirmed, or received. I’m grateful that two leaders in the congregation, Roberta Sautter and Robert Ward, are guiding a 6-week series that will serve as preparation; it is also an excellent opportunity for those who wish to explore or deepen their faith generally. The series will begin this Sunday, March 12, at 12:30 pm.

Finally, Lent prepares us for Easter, for resurrection, and new life. The wisdom of our tradition is that it is most fruitful to walk the whole path through the Lenten desert, the last supper, betrayal, crucifixion, and death, and to sit at the tomb. Then we are most prepared to meet the Risen Christ. We make this pilgrimage together as a community during Holy Week, which begins this year on Palm Sunday, April 2. Mark your calendars with updated information about Holy Week and Easter.

With gratitude for our shared pilgrimage,
Anna

The Rev. Canon Anna E. Rossi
Canon Precentor
Director of Interfaith Engagement