Grace Cathedral

Dear Friends,

My phone is ringing off the hook today with calls having to do with the fires around Los Angeles County. We have been praying so much for everyone down there. As I write, I think the evacuation border is only a few blocks north of my old office at 100 Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica. The suffering experienced by our neighbors, friends, and family members down south is unfathomable. I am sure we will see many evacuees worshiping here with us on Sunday.

It feels especially strange to not be able to pray for everyone in the cathedral during the weekdays this week. The Cathedral has not had electricity and has been closed for long-scheduled major work on our electrical systems.

And yet, the week has been filled with blessings, too. On Tuesday night, there was an Interfaith service for our new mayor, Daniel Lurie, at Temple Emanu-EL. The Rev Miguel Bustos wrote a beautiful prayer for the occasion, and I was able to do the final blessing on behalf of the 800 communities of faith in San Francisco. It was beautiful, but by far the most powerful moment came when the new mayor’s father, a rabbi, laid his hands on the mayor-elect and prayed for him in Hebrew and English. 

There does seem to be a new spirit of hope and cooperation around the city this week. At Grace Cathedral we have a central role in the renewal of our shared life together. I am grateful to be doing this ministry with you.

Wherever you find yourself today—filled with concern for loved ones and yourself or discovering unexpected joy in this warm weather as God feels more tangibly present—I am praying for you. May God bless you and keep you.

Love,

Malcolm

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young
Dean

A Prayer During California Fires

Lifegiving God we thank you for the Santa Monica mountains, the San Gabriel mountains, the San Bernadino mountains and all the beauty of the California Southland. As fires consume the chaparral in the parched hills, as so many neighborhoods across Los Angeles erupt into flame, we pray for the safety of all first responders and for residents who live in the path of danger and destruction.

We pray for those who have lost their lives. We pray for those who seem to have lost everything and for all those who have been evacuated. Bless them with calm minds, wise decisions, ready helpers and the physical and spiritual resources that will bring them safely through these days of fire.

We pray for their families, friends and all those who worry about them. We pray that when they feel hopeless and exhausted this experience will be accompanied by a sense of your life-giving presence. 

Bless the City of Angels and all leaders, government officials, workers and experts who give assistance. Help us to provide for all those who have no homes, for those who live in poverty, who suffer from illness and addiction. Let us build a society where every person is cared for and belongs.

Finally, transform our minds so that we learn to put the well-being of the earth and all of its inhabitants first. Show us how to heal our world. We pray this in the name of the one who comes again and again in your name, Jesus. Amen.

Blessing of the Mayor

Almighty God, the Heavens declare your glory. You made the universe with all of its marvelous order, its atoms, worlds and galaxies, along with the infinite complexity of living creatures. On the edge of this continent, looking west at the vast Pacific Ocean we thank you for this city that in its best moments seems so inspired by the generous faith exemplified by Francis of Assisi.

May we share a portion of this trust as we ask your blessing on Daniel. On the evening before he takes up the mantle as our city’s mayor we especially thank you for his compassion.

Help him to always remember those who have no home, those who are old or sick and those who have no one to care for them. Give him the spirit of wisdom, charity and justice to safeguard the dignity of every person, to ceaselessly battle poverty, prejudice and oppression. Help us together to make San Francisco a place where people from different cultures with differing talents may find they belong.

Magnify in Daniel the intelligence to distinguish between what is personal and what is not. Help him to continue to act not out of a sense for his high office but through his love of service. May all those he serves and those who work with him know that he sees and respects them. When someone fails or disappoints him may he show graciousness and build bridges to reconciliation and renewal. Let him learn even to welcome criticism.

Help him to be a deep listener. Grant him the gift of finding the healing word. Bless him with friends who will share uncomfortable truths freely. Let him love the way this new role will allow him to grow.

Finally, thank you for the generations of ministry the people of Temple EmanuEL in our city. Thank you for gathering us together tonight from Excelsior to Land’s End, from the Embarcadero to the Outer Sunset, from Bay View to Union Square. In this far too busy life we are grateful for moments to thank you for our existence and to celebrate with joy what is new and what gives life and hope. Amen.