Grace Cathedral

The yoga community at Grace Cathedral is excited to announce a new series of yoga practices for the month of December, with music, uplifting words and asanas to feed your body and soul. This special series will feature a new practice each week, focusing on how the experience of the pandemic connects to cathedral art and architecture, our 120-year history, Christian tradition, and yogic spiritual principles.

The first practice is called Resilience. This moment is an opportunity to learn how to face challenges, bounce back and keep moving forward. The Rev. Canon Jude Harmon shares the remarkable story of a wedding chalice created in 1868, and its heroic rescue from the crumbling ruins of Grace Church in San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake. Join this practice on 12/8 at 6pm PST or later. It will be available throughout December.

We’re calling the next practice in the series Pregnant with Hope. The labyrinth where our Yoga inside the cathedral began is a symbol of deep maternal nurture, designed to help us access our creative potential. This practice will help you unlock your creative self during this time of extraordinary change. What barries are you confronting? How does your practice help you access the beauty and complexity of your inner life, which drives your growth? Join this practice on 12/15 at 6pm PST or later. It will be available throughout December.

The December Reflection Series are a collection of restorative hatha yoga practices led by instructor Darren Main, with music accompaniment by Destiny Muhammad and Amber Field. Yoga with Grace is made possible through the support of yogis like you. Suggested donations are $15, but please give what you can.

Stay safe and strong.

For over fifteen years, the Rainbow World Fund (RWF) World Tree of Hope has stood as a symbol of global unity to promote peace, love and humanitarianism. For the first eleven years, the tree was displayed at San Francisco City Hall, and for the past four years Grace Cathedral has been honored to host the Tree with the message that we are all one human family.

The RWF World Tree of Hope is a gift to the San Francisco Bay Area and the world from the LGBT community and is the largest origami holiday tree in the world, standing over 23 feet tall and decorated with over 17,000 origami cranes and stars, each hand folded and inscribed with wishes for the future of the world. The cranes are not mere decorations in a holiday display; they are representations of hopes and dreams, which is why it is so fitting that the Tree is displayed at Grace Cathedral. The wishes come from people of all ages, all faiths and all walks of life, from world leaders such as Barack Obama to school children, from San Francisco to Sir Lanka. These wishes make the RWF World Tree of Hope a powerful expression of people coming together to create a better world.

Founded in 2000, Rainbow World Fund is the world’s first and only all-volunteer, LGBTQ-based humanitarian aid organization. RWF works to help people affected by natural disasters, hunger, poverty, disease, oppression and war by raising awareness in, and funds from, the LGBTQ community to support both LGBT and non-LGBTQ people locally and around the world. RWF’s core values — empowerment, sustainability, peacemaking, and measurable impact — and mission — to promote peace, unity and hope by leading the LGBTQ movement in participating in humanitarian relief efforts — align perfectly with those of Grace Cathedral.

New Beginnings

For nearly 75 years, Christmas concerts at Grace Cathedral have been a beloved San Francisco tradition. That tradition lives on despite the pandemic, allowing us the opportunity to pivot online and reimagine what Christmas at Grace Cathedral can be. This year, from December 12 through Twelfth Night, we invite you to grab a warm cup of cocoa and gather with us online to share joyful music performed in the cathedral. The best part is — you’re guaranteed a front-row seat!

This Christmas offering will bring so much joy to a community in desperate need of something familiar and cheerful.”
Benjamin Bachmann, the Diana Dollar Knowles Canon Director of Music

Music of the Season

Beginning with A Cathedral Christmas: Music of the Season, enjoy classic carols and sacred masterpieces captured in our beautiful cathedral! While the Choir cannot sing all together, you will see gorgeous solos by our Choir Boys. Quartets from the Men of the Choir will get you in the holiday spirit. Meanwhile, special guest appearances by Camerata, our mixed choir, will fill you with cheer. Finally, the wonderful sound of brass with Grace Cathedral’s 7,466-pipe organ, along with other surprises, round out our Christmas concerts!

“I am so grateful to all of you that believe in the mission of this program,” says Benjamin Bachmann, the Diana Dollar Knowles Canon Director of Music. “This Christmas offering will bring so much joy to a community in desperate need of something familiar and cheerful.”

Soulful Joy @ Grace

If you’re looking for something a little different from our regular Christmas concerts, experience Soulful Joy @ Grace. Hear a new sound for the holidays led by Destiny Muhammad and her eclectic Sonic Ensemble of Bay Area Masters. Leon Joyce, Jr., Tammylynn Hall, Brown Sturgis & Brown and Ron Belcher bring jazz and a hint of storytelling. Reflect and reimagine the holiday spirit with the music of Stevie Wonder, Vince Guaraldi, Donny Hathaway and more! Additionally, sacred movement by Carla Service and James Mario Bowen complete this Christmas concert. Help kick off this beautiful new tradition at Grace Cathedral!

Sing You A Merry Christmas

There is also fun to be had for the whole family! Sing You A Merry Christmas lets you and your loved ones sing along at home to your favorite holiday carols! Watch as the toys of St. Nicholas’s workshop lead you on an extraordinary journey, filling children, young and old, with the joys of the season. Subsequently, you can make the joy come alive with a Play Along Surprise Box! Receive special treats and toys mailed to you for more at-home fun!

Christmas won’t be the same this year, but that doesn’t mean it has to be bad! Our three holiday offerings will bring sparkle to the season and can be viewed on demand at your convenience. Grace Cathedral’s Christmas concerts have been a cherished tradition for many and we’re keeping that tradition alive this year. Christmas concerts at Grace Cathedral celebrate moving from darkness to light, the joyful anticipation, and preparing for Christ’s coming in our hearts, our lives and world. Light will shine in the darkness this Christmas. Help be a part of that light and experience the deep connection between spirit and art at Grace Cathedral.

As the election draws to a close, Dean Malcolm Clemens Young asks us to come together as one people and face our challenges with courage and reason.

In this same spirit, Grace Cathedral’s theme next year will be “The Year of Healing.”

Diversity. Happiness. Community. Reliability.

The pandemic has changed life for all of us here at Grace, including how the teachers at The Community Preschool approach learning and building community.

Over the past six months teachers, students and families transitioned to online learning back at the start of the shelter-in-place mandate. Following public health guidelines, including wearing masks and practicing social distancing, students were able to return to on-site learning back in late August after five months away. Now, with a focus on public health and safety like never before, The Community Preschool held its first all school zoom parent gathering to see how COVID was impacting families. It was about asking questions, and listening.

“We focused on how we can build authentic community together, especially in a pandemic,” says Brooke Giesen, Community Preschool Director. At the beginning of the meeting Ms. Giesen asked the parents to anonymously participate in a poll and answer one simple question: What do you expect from a school? At the end of her presentation, she asked again, more specifically: What do you expect from this school? The responses were beautiful, meaningful and upended a lot of the typical American top down models of what school “should” be.

“Social,” “exploration,” and “creativity” were words that families expected from schools. Specifically relating to Grace Cathedral Community Preschool, families expected “diversity,” “happiness,” “community,” and “reliability,” to name just a few.

A Focus on Family

“We all need support,” says Ms. Giesen, “regardless of socio-economic status.” Looking over the words the families put together, the Community Preschool’s mission — to provide a program that addresses the emotional, social, artistic, language, literacy, motor skills, scientific inquiry and critical thinking skills of every child — becomes even clearer. “For us to be a truly inclusive, participatory and supportive program for not only our students, but almost more importantly, their families, we must build it together, intentionally.”

To build that program “requires trust, vulnerability and safety.” To ensure the program meets those requirements, all preschool staff have been trained in a program called Strengthening Families’ Protective Factors, a think piece on love and belonging, not just “tolerance,” and a blog post from The Greater Good about the importance of connecting with strangers.

“We, as the school must build [this program] with the families in order for us all to truly be able to share, support and lift up each other,” says Ms. Giesen. “We all need it.”

Everyone in America deserves to have their voices recognized at the ballot box.

Heather Millar, a congregation council member and jail ministry participant, knows this better than most. Join Heather and Grace Cathedral, both in heart and in spirit, at the polls, and vote yes on Proposition 17.

Heather’s letter is below.

I am thrilled that Grace Cathedral is choosing to publicly support California Proposition 17, a statewide measure on the November 2020 ballot that would restore voting rights to offenders who have been released from prison and are on parole.

One of the many reasons I make Grace Cathedral my spiritual home is that the commitment to social justice is clear: both from the clergy and from the 500 or so households that make up the cathedral’s congregation. The Grace Cathedral that I know and love has long been a participant in movements to right wrongs, to bring those at the margins into the center.We worked for labor rights in the 1930s, for civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s, for women’s rights in the 1970s. During the 1980s and 1990s, the Cathedral led an effort to serve those impacted by the HIV/AIDS crisis.

A Black friend in our congregation, Regina Walton, sums it up beautifully, “We are called as followers of Christ to fight for justice. Let’s get to work.”

The Cathedral today continues the work begun in earlier decades, while responding to the injustices and needs of the moment. Right now, many issues press in upon us all, but three seem particularly crucial: Our system of policing and incarceration. Racial injustice. Voter suppression. If it passes, Proposition 17 would make a positive difference in all these areas.

In our culture, there’s lots of talk about the need for offenders to “pay their debt to society.” But even after a person is released from prison, the punishment continues: In many California cities, felons cannot get public housing until five or 10 years after release. It’s difficult for them to find jobs. In many cases, they’re saddled with “restitution” fines they cannot hope to repay without decent employment. Proposition 17 is one step moving away from this punitive approach toward criminal policy that emphasizes rehabilitation.

Black people, and people of color, are far more likely to be locked up than white people. Blacks make up 6 percent of Californians, but 26 percent of parolees. Caucasian felons also make up 26 percent of paroles, but a far greater percentage of Californians: 40 percent. The reasons and history are complex, but the reality is simple: BIPOC offenders are far more likely to be arrested. When arrested, they are far more likely to receive harsh sentences. If you want more information, you can find exhaustive detail supporting this statement in the book, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.

By restoring voting rights to felons earlier, Proposition 17 begins to right some of these wrongs.

Finally, Proposition 17 extends the franchise, the right to vote, to people who have been profoundly affected by public policy. “Three strikes” laws, sentencing guidelines, prison funding and programming—these issues are decided at the ballot box. Yet because they are incarcerated at greater rates, and thus have less opportunity to vote, BIPOC people have less of a political voice to weigh in on issues that affect them.

Proposition 17 restores this political voice to those who have served their time.

When we’re not coping with a global pandemic, I volunteer in the San Francisco County Jail through a Cathedral ministry. Each month, I interact with a dozen or so inmates. I have no idea

why they’re in jail; we’re not allowed to ask. But I do know that many of them follow politics and are acutely aware of the issues outlined above.

I’m thinking of one inmate in particular, a Black man in his 40s. Let’s call him “John.” John seeks me out each month. He wants to talk about current events. He wants to know what I think, and he wants to tell me what he thinks.

When someone like John gets out of prison, they should be able vote. Proposition 17 would make that possible.

Heather Millar is a member of the Social Justice Committee of the Grace Cathedral Congregation Council.

Graphic by @truebluestationary on Instagram

Sunday, October 11th is National Coming Out Day, a day to honor coming–out, sharing our stories, and being seen.

At Grace Cathedral, we’re celebrating the 32nd anniversary of the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights with a special rebroadcast of our Online Yoga on the Labyrinth yoga class. Created in partnership with the Live Be Yoga national tour and Yoga Journal, the gentle and restorative hatha class from Darren Main is welcoming and inclusive. ‍♂️ ‍♂️ ‍♂️ ️‍ ‍♀️ ‍♀️ ‍♀️

Take the class on the Yoga Journal website.

The Rev Jude Harmon, Canon for Innovative Ministries at Grace Cathedral and Founding Pastor of The Vine, shared a message of welcome in a recent interview:

“I hope we will reach folks out there struggling with their gender identity or sexuality, letting them know that they have an ally in the cathedral, and in all progressive Christian churches. I hope people realize that the church can be a safe space to process their own coming out, and that God loves them as they are, where they are, and who they are.”

For announcements of upcoming Yoga on the Labyrinth classes sign up for our email using the Connect with Us link below. Grace Cathedral is proud to celebrate living openly, and excited to return to the mat with you. Om, om, om!

For years, Grace Cathedral has opened its doors to all people, providing not only a place of worship, but services and volunteer work to help benefit our neighbors. With the pandemic and shelter-in-place mandate, Grace Cathedral has had to pivot in the way we worship and serve our community. Thanks to technology and a willingness to learn, both on our end and the part of our congregation, Grace Cathedral’s online transition has been a successful offering of old and new.

Moving Online

Thankfully, with the help of technology like Zoom, many of Grace Cathedral’s offerings were able to move online, mostly uninterrupted. Despite not being able to gather in the Cathedral, our Sunday 11 a.m. Choral Eucharist continues through streaming on our website and Facebook, as does our Vesper Light, The Vine, Choral Evensong and Weekday Morning Prayer services. Bible Study, Book Study, Children, Youth and Family Ministry, the Education for Ministry, the Congregation Council, and the Deanery have all also moved online, meeting regularly and carrying on as best they can. Women in the Community continue to meet periodically, staying in touch and checking in with one another.

As for the cathedral’s senior community, we remain resilient while also acknowledging the emotional loss of being physically apart. Prioritizing the health and safety of our especially vulnerable community, we use both traditional and innovative ways to creatively connect. We immediately started making calls to each Senior with Grace in our records and established an email list for those connected to the internet. We’ve offered free, lovingly made face masks to our seniors (through St. Veronica’s Guild and Fill-A- Need). If someone is in need of community support (even groceries, etc.), we do our best to assist. We have a casual newsletter that includes lighthearted stories and cathedral updates in addition to useful information regarding available resources during the crisis. And for those so inclined, Senior Zoom Tuesdays offers a chance to meet virtually every second and fourth Tuesday for the duration of the crisis.

Though nothing can replace being able to conjoin physically, online ministry provides a sense of community during the pandemic.

Filling the Need

While many forms of worship were able to move rather seamlessly online, other services still require a physical component. Keeping in compliance with health and safety regulations, Grace Cathedral is able to continue its support of Bayview Mission, a Special Mission of the Episcopal Diocese of California, providing much-needed services, food and supplies to residents of the Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhoods. In conjunction with Bayview Mission, Fill-a-Need continues on, making and distributing masks to the cathedral community and those in need. Since March 17, the Stitching Ministry has made and distributed 175 baby hats, 207 masks, 13 lap robes, 50 adult hats and scarves to the Homeless Prenatal Program, Bayview Mission, and the San Francisco Night Ministry, meeting on Zoom the first and third Sunday of every month.

The Garden Guild, though not organized and with no specific agenda, continues to weed, prune, replant and maintain the landscaping and gardens around the cathedral. And while we are not able to gather and cook together, Dinner with Grace contracted with a socially conscious caterer to prepare and deliver individually boxed meals to each SRO. The spirit of community thrives at Grace, despite the extra work that goes into these services in making them socially conscious and responsible.

On Hiatus

Of course, some services are not able to transition online. The Visitors Center, for example, tours by The Cathedral Docents, the Carillion Ministry, the Healing Prayer Ministry, the Bread Bakers Guild, the Ushers Guild and the Altar Guild are all currently on hold while the cathedral doors remain closed, though members do continue to meet periodically online to retain a sense of community. While our volunteers are unable to meet with prisoners in San Francisco jails as part of our Jail Ministry, we are working with the sheriff’s department to continue sending books on behalf of prisoners. While we are eager to reopen our doors and bring back these ministries and guilds, our community’s health must remain our top priority.

Together, Apart

Grace Cathedral thanks you for your help and understanding during these uncertain times. We have weathered this storm, and while it is not over yet, it is clear that we will get through this together. We cannot predict when we might begin to gather again for in-person worship, but any return to our pre-Covid custom will be gradual, and we’ll need to re-learn how to lead worship together. Meanwhile, our love for God and one another finds expression in live-streamed, Zoom-based, and other online services. When we do resume in-person worship, we’ll be delighted to welcome veteran and new volunteers in the many ministries that support our worship.

Everyone in America deserves to have their voices recognized at the ballot box. Currently, offenders who are released from prison on parole do not have the right to vote until their period of parole is complete. If passed, Proposition 17 — a statewide measure on the November 2020 ballot in California — would reinstitute parolees’ right to vote in the next election.

Why It Matters

Because Black Californians make up a disproportionate percentage of California’s prison population, denying voting rights to California parolees disproportionately disenfranchises black citizens. Blacks make up 26% of parolees, but only 6% of California’s adult population. Looking at Proposition 17 through this lens, it becomes clear that this is a social justice measure.

Grace’s Role

Grace Cathedral has worked towards social justice for many years. In the 1930s, we supported labor rights, in the 1950s and 1960s, civil rights, in the 1970s, women’s rights, and in the 1980s and 1990s, the cathedral was at the forefront of serving our brothers and sisters impacted by HIV/AIDS. With humility and also with courage, we strive to be a beacon for social and racial justice. In the words of Regina Walton, a congregation member speaking from her perspective as an African-American woman: “We are called as followers of Christ to work for justice. Let’s get to work.”

Reinstating Voices

Prop 17 will restore voting rights to 50,000 people in California who are returning home after finishing their prison term. Voting is a constitutional right and a fundamental way in which citizens participate in our democracy. A fundamental principle of our democracy is that anyone convicted of a crime, having served their sentence, has the right fully to rejoin society. Denying voting rights to parolees tells them that even though they have served their sentences they are not welcome home.

Restoring voting rights to Californians who have completed their prison term helps them to reintegrate successfully into society and to become active members of our communities. They are our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, and they are working to rejoin us and to rebuild their lives. Jesus teaches us to work for the reconciliation and inclusion of all people because every person is a beloved child of God. As a matter of social justice, equality, and fairness, Grace Cathedral supports Proposition 17, and we encourage you to vote faithfully in the November election.

The Community Preschool at Grace Cathedral reopened its doors on August 24 after five months of distance learning. Now, with precautions in place, students are able to once again interact and explore.

Back on site

Teaching on site during the pandemic has offered a host of unexpected challenges, but thanks to Community Preschool Director, Brooke Giesen, and her dedicated team of teachers, the learning experience has hardly missed a beat. The preschool’s equitable and inclusive mission remains intact: to provide a balanced educational learning experience for children and their families from all socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities, religious traditions, places of national origin, gender identity, ability and family structure.These students benefit from a program that addresses the emotional, social, artistic, language, literacy, motor skills, scientific inquiry and critical thinking skills of every child.

Equity and inclusion

The equitable and inclusive mission is on full display in a video taken on the 4th day of Preschool this year. “While these two children speak different home languages, Spanish and Thai, they enjoy an interaction together on the dizzy disk,” explains Giesen. “Even though they are wearing masks, they push and spin each other and take turns without spoken language.”

But even these simple interactions offer a dilemma for the teachers. “What if the Teacher had maintained 6ft social distancing? What if the Teacher has told the child to stop running inside? What if the Teacher had enforced disinfecting the dizzy disk in-between uses,” ponders Giesen. “These are the split second decisions Teachers are navigating these days which highly impact the interactions, development and joy children are able to have.”

Education and Care

All across the world, teachers are having to make these decisions, transitioning to a world of teaching they could never have possibly fathomed. Over six months ago, teachers had to pivot to online learning and figure out new ways to keep their students engaged. The Preschool has legally been able to be open since June 1 here in California, which is not the case for K-12. Preschool Teachers are having to balance an almost impossible balance of providing essential care for Families, doing their best to avoid financial collapse, keeping themselves, their families and their student safe from covid-19 all while trying to honor their professionalism of following developmentally appropriate practice.

Practice is the key word at this time, as Preschool Teachers are having to make adjustments to their practice that go against what they know to be best for children’s development. Practice has deeper meaning these days as Teachers continually try new ways, and make adjustments in order to best serve the needs of all of their students.

The Community Preschool gratefully acknowledges the generous foundations, corporations and individuals who help fund our annual operations. If you would like to join in supporting this high-quality, intentionally diverse program, please consider a gift to The Community Preschool today!

PHOTO: Video screen-shot, Grace Cathedral staff

For years, the Community Preschool at Grace Cathedral has offered children and their families a safe, inclusive space for optimal learning and growing. During the shelter-in-place, administrators worked hard behind the scenes to pivot to online learning while still maintaining the same high-quality education and sense of inclusion. Now, five months after the start of the pandemic, with precautions securely in place, the Grace Cathedral Community Preschool reopened its doors on August 24.

It wasn’t an easy road

One can imagine the challenges online learning presents, especially as it relates to early childhood development, where interaction and exploration are key pillars of the curriculum. Thanks to Community Preschool Director, Brooke Giesen, and her dedicated team of teachers, however, the learning experience hardly missed a beat during the transition to online learning.

Daily Zoom meetings, as well as weekly check-ins for families to be able to express their feelings during these uncertain times, offered a true sense of community, despite the shelter-in-place mandate. It is this Grace community (and the knowledge, resilience, spirit and financial support they provide) that makes it possible to follow the city guidelines and create a healthy space for the Community Preschool to be able to open while so many other schools around San Francisco are unable to.

Building diverse classrooms and communities

The reopening of the preschool, with four teachers, one director and ten students on site, brings a renewed dedication to its equitable and inclusive mission: to provide a balanced educational learning experience for children and their families from all socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities, religious traditions, places of national origin, gender identity, ability and family structure who will benefit from a program that addresses the emotional, social, artistic, language, literacy, motor skills, scientific inquiry and critical thinking skills of every child.

While the pandemic has offered a host of challenges, it has also provided the opportunity for learning and growth. Transitioning to online learning, and now back to in-person education with social distancing guidelines in place, the Community Preschool is an extraordinary example of an early childhood program that prepares children not just for kindergarten success, but for life itself.

Thanks again to the families, supporters and teachers that have brought love and learning to these young students during this time of tremendous change and challenge. We appreciate you.

Note: Due to the California fires and smoke, preschool students are staying solely indoors but will otherwise be able to go outside.

It wasn’t an easy road

Building diverse classrooms and communities