Grace Cathedral

Dear Cathedral Family,

Our Dean Emeritus Alan Jones’ death this week is such a loss for us. I just came out of our weekly clergy meeting. We feel his absence so profoundly. I’m very grateful for all the people who reached out to the cathedral by email and through social media, sharing stories about his life.

Alan’s funeral will be at 2 pm on Wednesday, January 24, 2024.

For a few of you, Alan’s death seemed very sudden. Since mid-August, Alan’s health has been declining, and over the last few weeks, he has grown uncharacteristically silent. Alan has been very ill over the last five months, although we have also had some profound conversations during that time. I’m very grateful for the way Cricket took care of Alan over these last years. She had such a tender way with him every day as she helped him manage ordinary concerns and spiritual ones too.

Every night this week, I have been up late reading Alan’s books and articles, and listening to his old recordings. Alan profoundly understood our shortcomings as human beings. And yet he also constantly reminded us that our life is a work of art, that we are a mystery and the work of God’s hand. We do not need to justify ourselves or deny our fragility or mortality.

Alan taught us that we need to wake up to who we are. That when we look in the mirror, we should see someone who is unique and unrepeatable, someone who is remarkable and loved by God.

During this time, more than ever, I am grateful for the Grace Cathedral community, which Alan nourished for a quarter of a century. Below you will find a poem Alan particularly appreciated by Derek Walcott, and information about our upcoming 

Annual Meeting.

Love,
Malcolm

“Love After Love”
Derek Walcott

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread, Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

Join the Annual Meeting and Cast Your Votes!
January 28, at 9:30 am

Join us next Sunday morning at the Annual Meeting in person in the Nave or online from 9:30 to 10:30 am to participate in this important annual expression of the cathedral’s essential work, dreams, and joys. All pledging members are eligible to vote. Your vote matters, so please make your 2024 pledge today!