Grace Cathedral
Dear Friends,
In these challenging times, it is important to remember the transformative power of gathering together to break bread, share stories, and create a shared vision for the future.
In the next month, there are many opportunities for the Grace Cathedral family to gather in the community.
Every year, on the first Saturday of May, thousands around the globe participate in World Labyrinth Day, a moving meditation for world peace and a celebration of the labyrinth experience. Grace Cathedral is proud to host this year’s gathering. Join us this Saturday from 11 am to 2 pm to walk our indoor and outdoor labyrinths, accompanied by live music, thoughtful conversation, creativity, and community.
This Sunday, May 4, at 1 pm, we will be joined by groundbreaking culinary activist, author, and entrepreneur Miyoko Schinner for a conversation on Breaking Bread and Stewarding Resources. For thirty years, Miyoko has advocated for a food system built on sustainability, equity, and compassion for all creatures. While her work involves extensive innovation, Miyoko’s philosophy remains that people can help heal the planet by gathering together to share food and stories. We will reflect on this as we break bread together over a plant-based meal. An RSVP would be helpful for catering purposes.
This coming Memorial Day weekend, we have an opportunity to gather in the community for the Congregation Retreat at the beautiful Bishop’s Ranch in Sonoma. This weekend promises beautiful blue skies and every form of delight beneath them as we gather for fellowship, food, and fun together. Please register by May 11.
Members of the clergy and lay leaders at Grace Cathedral continue to gather to affirm their commitment to caring for our world, and to consider how to respond to the congregation of Grace Cathedral’s desire to be involved in the work of eco-justice.
Wednesday night, a group of clergy and lay leaders from the Diocese of California and Grace Cathedral gathered to hear from the Executive Directors of California Interfaith Power & Light and San Francisco Baykeeper. Heartfelt thanks go to Amy Quirk for hosting this gathering. In addition to being richly informative, this evening provided us with the opportunity to share our own perspectives on the work of eco-justice. We revealed our early experiences of delight in the natural world, as well as the first moments we realized not all people had the same access to clean water or green spaces. We named our deeply held hopes and fears, our questions, and our desires to act for the sake of our world and our children. We spoke of the words of scripture and the stories of our faith that call us again and again to the care of creation.
What was apparent from our gathering Wednesday is that eco-justice is a guiding focus for the Grace Cathedral community, a focus that will shape much of our justice and formation work in the years to come.
The gathering was also a powerful reminder of how much can be achieved when we meet in community in the seemingly simple act of sharing a meal. We can address the problems we face as our ancestors always have: through gathering in the community to share stories, break bread, and find a common way forward with the faith that God is with us.
In celebration of Earth Month, the cathedral has reinstalled the glorious Earth Window and Sky Steps by Sukey Bryan. Visitors to Grace can ascend a carpet of azure sky shot with threads of icy white cloud and gaze up the green and blue planetary orb encircling the Rose Window.
These works call our attention to the eternal presence of God. God who at the beginning of time placed a dome in the midst of the waters and separated the seas from the dry land is with us now as we seek to protect this paradise.
With God’s help, we can do many things as individuals and in community to care for the planet.
With gratitude
Steph
Steph McNally
Formation Programs Manager for Children, Youth, Families, and Adults
Dear friends,
Christians are often described as followers of Jesus.
This phrase can evoke the kind of journey described in last Sunday’s gospel reading from Luke, where the first disciples left everything they had to follow their Lord (5:11).
Our church teaches us that following Christ involves stillness as well as movement. We are called not just to embrace new ways of being but to be open to being transformed by Scripture and traditional practices. We can draw closer to God by immersing ourselves in the sacred texts and practices from which people of faith have drawn comfort and guidance for many centuries. Through these, we can discover God’s vision for our lives and how we will be in the world.
As we draw closer to Lent, the great season of contemplation that has formed and strengthened followers of Jesus throughout the ages, Grace Cathedral is offering a series of formation sessions on the traditions and practices of our church.
This Sunday at 12:45 pm, Roberta Sauter and Robert Ward will lead a lively and interactive grounding in Episcopal 101. As the name suggests, this session has been designed specifically for those who consider themselves new to the study of the Episcopal Church. It will cover topics including an introduction to the Book of Common Prayer to the foundations of Anglicanism and the structure of the Episcopal Church. This session is highly recommended for those seeking to prepare for Baptism, Confirmation, or Reception during Lent.
Next Sunday, February 23, the Rev. Canon Anna Rossi will lead us in a session designed for those seeking to observe Lent with traditional practices and disciplines: My Soul is Thirsting. On March 9, the first Sunday of Lent, the Rev. Canon Mary Carter Greene will lead us in a session exploring Christian Contemplative Practices for Lent.
In a time of seemingly constant change, young people continue to be drawn to the cadence and practices of the Lenten season. The Children, Youth, and Family Ministry is offering a program of study, service, and worship for youth in middle and high school during Lent. Through this program, we will accompany youth as they explore spiritual practices and consider how to integrate these into their faith journeys.
Formation is a lifelong journey that brings us closer to God and each other. It is a gift to be a member of this community and to journey in faith and love with you all.
Our worship this Sunday will include a special form of processional journey. To celebrate Lunar New Year, the 11 am Choral Eucharist will conclude with a procession led triumphantly by lion dancers. Please join us for this joyful celebration of the Year of the Snake. Please also note that traffic may be busy due to the many joyful celebrations across the city. The SFMTA website has updates on road closures and public transport.
With gratitude
Steph
Grace Cathedral is working with Braid Mission, a team-based mentoring program providing life-changing mentorship to youth in care for the last decade. Let’s work together to bring extra seasonal joy to foster youth in care and their families this holiday season!
We will provide gift cards and greeting cards and host a holiday party for 40 youth in care, their kinship, and foster carers.
Two ways to help
Gift card drive:
You can support our gift initiative by:
- Giving a foster family a gift card – click here to purchase
- Donating to our PayPal account
- Writing seasonal cards (please email Steph for more information)
We would be grateful for donations by December 7.
A celebration at the cathedral:
We would welcome baked items for our holiday gathering on December 7 and volunteers to help us bake and decorate on the day. Please email Steph McNally for more information.
Thank you!
Steph McNally
Grace Cathedral
1100 California Street
San Francisco CA 94108
Dear Friends,
Our all-ages formation program is kicking off a year of creation care at Grace Cathedral.
Seventy percent of 2024 Grace Cathedral survey respondents said climate change was a pressing concern. The views raised through the survey reflect our shared desire to care for the planet and all those who call it home.
This year, Grace Cathedral’s formation programs will focus on creation care and how we can respond to this great issue of our time as people of faith. Over the next year, we will offer classes and events that provide all members of the congregation opportunities to gather in faith and love to respond to our common call to be stewards of our planet.
Join us this Sunday, September 1, for a special gathering to mark the beginning of the Season of Creation, a celebration of our planet observed by churches across the globe.
All are warmly invited to gather in the Chapter Room after the 11 am Eucharist for a Season of Creation Bible Study. In a session led by the Rev. Sally Bingham, the Canon for the Environment, we will begin reading the Creation Care Bible Challenge, an award-winning text featuring scripture passages and reflections from leading theologians of the Episcopal church, including our Dean, the Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young. Copies of the book will be available for participants, and all will be invited to remain in conversation as we continue our reading journey through fifty days of scripture and insights.
Grace Cathedral children and youth will also be celebrating the Season of Creation. Our youth group is participating in the California Coastal Clean-up on Saturday, September 21. Our Sunday classes for children will explore the wonders of God’s world in preparation for Saint Francis Day and the celebration of the saint who helps us see God in all creation.
In the coming months, we will offer creation care activities ranging from beach worship to eco-friendly holiday activities, a plant-based Agape feast, and a small group program using the Episcopal church curriculum Love God, Love God’s World.
The 2024-25 Organ Recital Series also kicks off this Sunday! Join us at 4 pm for a recital by sensational young German organist Raphael Vogl, currently a doctoral student at Juilliard. His program will feature works by Max Reger and Anton Bruckner.
As people of faith, we know that love drives out fear and that, with God’s help, all things are possible. It’s reassuring to be part of this loving, thoughtful, and courageous community. In the coming months, we will respond together, with hope and faith, to the challenge and invitation of caring for God’s creation.
Congregation Sunday, September 8, provides another wonderful opportunity to gather! Please join us on the plaza after the 11 am Eucharist for this celebration of congregation life and the opportunity to meet with representatives of the ministries that make our church flourish. This is your chance to learn how to get involved while enjoying food, fun, and fellowship!
With gratitude,
Steph McNally
Formation Programs Manager for Children, Youth, Families, and Adults
You can contribute to our backpack drive through our Amazon Registry here.
Each year, we are overwhelmed by the generosity with which our community at Grace Cathedral, led by the Congregation Council, responds to our drive for backpacks and school supplies for Bayview Mission. Through this generosity, we have been able to ensure many children and their families can enter a school year with the equipment and confidence they need to flourish.
This drive removes a source of financial stress from families struggling to make ends meet in one of the most expensive cities on earth. “It is easy to overlook families who cannot purchase nice backpacks loaded with school supplies,” the Ven. Canon Nina Pickerrell, Executive Director of Bayview Mission, has remarked. Our drive allows us to demonstrate to the families of Nina’s ministry we see them and carry them in our hearts.
Beyond easing a financial need, our drive is designed to contribute to the emotional flourishing of our precious young people. The difference that starting a school year with the necessary materials makes to a child’s confidence and sense of belonging is profound. Each backpack we send to Bayview Mission has a personal note for the child who will receive it. We have heard from Canon Pickerrell that this hand-written note is often part of the gift that is received with the most joy and wonder.
This year, we are also writing cards for youth in foster care served by Braid Mission. Braid Mission’s Cards of Hope program ensures that youth who may otherwise never receive a birthday card or note of encouragement know that they are loved and cared for. We are excited to be partnering with this ministry of our church. Braid Mission will be giving a special presentation on their work, including Cards of Hope, on July 21 after the 11 am Eucharist, sharing their perspectives on ways to support and encourage young people facing challenges.
This drive is an important source of giving. It also is an initiative that gives back to the giver, allowing us to participate in something that will have an impact on others. As you can see from the images, there is joy to be had in this drive! There are many ways in which you can be part of this joy:
Make a contribution: Please visit our Registry Page to make a donation or purchase items. We are inviting congregants this year to consider making a donation to a bulk purchase fund. This will allow us to reduce the amount of packaging and deliveries we receive; through this eco-friendly approach, we are caring for creation as well as each other!
Write cards: Please email Steph McNally if you would like to write some cards.
Help us pack and deliver the backpacks: We would love your help packing our backpacks on August 4, after the 11 a.m. service!
Thank you for being part of the Grace Cathedral community, and for all the ways you bring grace to the world!
Dear Friends,
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
(Acts 2:1-2)
Hearing the account of Pentecost read in the church is a transformative experience. The power of the text sweeps us up and carries us to the moment when and where the church began. We find ourselves standing with the astonished and joyful crowd gathered in Jerusalem to hear Peter speak prophetic words of salvation, as the Spirit weaves us together into a single community of witnesses.
Pentecost reveals a divine vision of the church as a diverse and unified community. Peter, speaking the words of the prophet Joel, testifies to the authority of all, young and old, male and female, disenfranchised and empowered, to bear witness. The members of the crowd he is preaching to speak different languages and come from many different places. The miracle is that all can see and understand each other as never before. As Lisa Sharon Harper notes in The Very Good Gospel, “the power of God (has) made it possible for unity in the midst of diversity.”
When we gather in fellowship, the miraculous can happen. We can greet one another as beloved children of God, drawing strength from each other’s perspectives and gifts.
Through our life together at Grace Cathedral, we are given many opportunities to build community and encourage each other.
This Sunday, at the 11 am Choral Eucharist, we can celebrate with families whose children will be baptized into our community. We will offer our prayers and renew our baptismal vows as the Holy Spirit unites us in mystical and life-giving communion.
After the 11 am service, all are invited to an open house in the library hosted by the Education for Ministry (EfM). This is a great chance to learn more about this wonderful ministry, including the rich texts that participants read together. The book for this year’s EfM summer series, Why the Bible Began, explores how deeply divided groups can become one community, speaking again to the power of faith and fellowship.
Please note that the Bay to Breakers community will also be gathering this Sunday for their annual run, and that you may want to plan your journey accordingly! The only north-south crossover points along the route are at the Embarcadero and Howard Street in SOMA and Crossover Drive in Golden Gate Park. Information about street closures and Muni service changes can be found here.
Wherever you find yourself this weekend, may you feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and the joy of being part of our community of witnesses.
With gratitude,
Steph McNally
Formation Programs Manager for Children, Youth, Families, and Adults
Dear Friends,
What are the calendars that shape our lives?
The long-awaited season of spring has finally come. For many high school seniors, this time is significant for another reason: letters from the colleges they have applied to will arrive in the next couple of weeks.
Waiting for news to come can be difficult. I am sure we can all remember when we waited so long for an important letter or email to arrive that it felt like we would be waiting forever. Now is a time we can pray for seniors and their families who are going through this experience. We can pray that the news, when it comes, will bring much-deserved relief and joy. We also can pray with love and compassion, for those for whom the news may bring disappointment.
Applying for college is an all-consuming process that asks a great deal of young people and their families, academically and emotionally. This process may inadvertently lead some young people to see their future happiness and even their worth as linked to admission to a certain college. Letters with disappointing news can cause sorrow and other painful emotions that take time to work through.
Now is a time we can reach out to families we know are due to receive this or another kind of result, including the many in San Francisco who learned this week what elementary, middle, or high school their child will attend. We can also reflect on how we can continue demonstrating to young people how loved, valued, and remarkable they are. We are all beloved as miraculous children of God. It is so important for our precious young people to hear and know this now and in every season of their lives.
Our time of waiting and preparing through Lent has led us, finally, to Holy Week. We will gather this Sunday at 11 am for the Palm Sunday Eucharist, a service that commemorates both the triumphal procession and the passion of Jesus. Before the service, you are invited to participate in palm cross making, which will take place from 9:30 am in the cathedral. The crosses we make will be distributed and can be kept until the Sunday prior to Lent, when they can be brought back to the cathedral to be made into ashes for Ash Wednesday. Like so many in our faith, this process connects us to our church’s calendar and its cycles of preparation and renewal. It helps us contemplate the mystery and comfort of the seasons that shape our faith and lives.
What a privilege it is to live and walk this great journey of anticipation, courage, and love with you.
Steph McNally
Formation Programs Manager for Children, Youth, Families, and Adult
Dear friends,
How do our relationships with each other shape our relationship with God?
Our Choral Evensong last week celebrated the life and work of Florence Li Tim-Oi, the first woman ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion. The Rev. Dr. Paula Nesbitt shared in her sermon that this was made possible by both Li Tim-Oi’s faith and courage and the faith and courage of those who supported her, from the rector and congregants at her church who saw a priest in their midst to the bishop who broke with tradition to ordain her to the priesthood.
“A call is personal, but not solitary,” the Rev. Dr. Nesbitt observed. “Our calls are linked to others.”
We are all called to draw closer to God. We experience this call in different ways, each deeply personal. However, we don’t need to undertake this journey alone. Our church teaches that Christian formation is “a lifelong process of growing in relationship with God, self, others, and all creation.” The work of knowing God is not a solitary undertaking but a journey to be shared.
Grace Cathedral has several formation opportunities planned for 2024.
This Lenten season, adults and youth discerning calls to baptism, confirmation, and reception will be undertaking preparation classes hosted at Grace. Together, participants will listen for the voice of the Spirit in Scripture, liturgy, and the actions of our church’s prophetic leaders, those who, like Florence Li Tim-Oi, help us understand God’s dream of the beloved community. As a graduate of the adult class of 2018, I can attest that powerful formation will take place through participants sharing their stories, beliefs, doubts, questions, and epiphanies with each other.
In a time when we constantly hear about the decline of the church, it is wonderful to share that we are anticipating one of the largest adult cohorts in this class for a long time. This reflects the work of the many ordained and lay leaders who have contributed to this series, including current lay leaders Roberta Sautter and Robert Ward. It also reflects how our desire to be in a relationship with God is mirrored by a desire to be in a relationship with others.
Grace Cathedral’s class for adults preparing for baptism, confirmation, or reception begins on Sunday, February 18, and all who feel called are warmly invited to register online.
Grace’s youth confirmation class begins on Sunday, February 25, and parents of those interested are invited to email me.
As God’s people, we are all invited to a life of “continuous learning,” as the Episcopal Church’s “Charter for Lifelong Christian Formation” suggests. There are many ways to undertake this journey of learning at Grace.
Upcoming opportunities include the Rev. Dr. Greg Kimura’s series on Buddhism and its relationship to Christianity on Sunday, February 4 and 18, and Joanne and Richard Compean’s book study of “Together” by Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, MD, on Sunday, February 11 and 18.
The 4 pm Book Study on Zoom begins its spring series with a study of Barbara Brown Taylor’s “The Luminous Web” on Sunday, February 11, while the Thursday Morning Bible Study continues its journey through the Gospel of Mark.
We will continue to update our Classes for Adults page with formation opportunities throughout the year. We are so grateful for all that you bring to our shared journey!
With gratitude,
Steph
Steph McNally
Formation Programs Manager for Children, Youth, Families, and Adult
stephm@gracecathedral.org
Children can help us remember, and re-connect with, the joy at the heart of something. This is especially the case with the holiday season. Children respond to this season with a joy that teaches us all to be joyous and an excitement that reminds us of the great hope of this time.
The love children have for the holidays is a sacred and beautiful thing. Nurturing this hope, and providing a joyous holiday experience for children, can be the source of stress for many families. This is especially the case for families experiencing financial and housing insecurity, where parents and caregivers have to make careful financial choices every day.
The Office of the Congregation, the Congregation Council, and Women in Community are working with the Homeless Prenatal Program (HPP) to celebrate and support families this holiday season. In December, we will be welcoming a number of families who participate in HPP programs to a holiday party at Grace. This will be the first in-person holiday gathering the HPP has held for families since 2019, and we are delighted and honored to support this important act of re-gathering.
At this party, taking place on a date near the Feast of Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick will present gifts of pajamas and books.
If you would like to contribute to this gift-giving, please visit our Amazon wishlist.
We are collecting until Sunday, December 3. We appreciate your interest and contribution in supporting the preschool this holiday season!
We also would welcome offerings of baked goods, as well as volunteers to help wrap the gifts and ready the room for the festivities! Please do contact Steph McNally with any questions.
We would gratefully appreciate your support in this celebration for families whose courage and strength so richly deserve to be celebrated.
This is a truly “grace-filled” initiative: we are grateful to Joanne Compean and members of Women in Community, as well as members of the Council’s Social Justice Subcommittee, for their partnership.
It is a gift to a member of a community where congregants practice welcome to families and all who come to Grace, and embody the joyful hope of this season. In a time where we make room in our hearts and minds for the family seeking shelter, I give thanks to the great and loving family of Grace.
Dear friends
“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage,
need not be lived again.”
– Maya Angelou, ‘On the Pulse of Morning’
These words are written on the side of the Legacy Museum, the first site our youth group visited on their Racial Justice pilgrimage, and became the defining mantra of our journey.
The Legacy Museum and other sites we visited during our week-long journey presented many wrenching truths about this country’s history of racism and racial injustice.
Our group of youth and adults, traveling from Grace Cathedral, were called repeatedly to engage with this history and its modern legacy, to try to comprehend images of lynchings, footage of mobs attacking students at lunch counters, modern-day photos of incarcerated children too small to fit into the prison jumpsuits swaddled about them like blankets.
Our youth group, on every occasion, responded to the challenge of facing history with the courage Maya Angelou calls on us all to summon. They sat quietly and listened when the moment required them simply to listen, to hear the truths of others. Other times they asked question after question, undaunted in their desire to understand and know what they could do to stop such histories from being lived again. Their courage and determination gave their adult chaperones the courage to keep going, to continue through this troubled history that defines our present.
We sensed we were not alone in this journey. Many guides and angels welcomed us. These guides pointed to the great courage of those who fought against near-impossible odds to change the lives of others, from the enslaved people who built the First African Baptist Church in Savannah at nighttime to the many heroes of the Civil Rights Movement immortalized in the mural at the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church.
We found ourselves in constant communion with the souls and saints who changed the world. And everywhere, everything we saw pointed us to God, through whom all things are possible, and all wrongs are eventually righted.
Our youth group made many friends and had many guardians and advocates. Special thanks must be given to our remarkable adult chaperones, Grace Cathedral staff members Alina Dennis and Dan Chiapelone. Their witness, courage, and care profoundly shaped our journey and the outlook of our youth.
Our youth group shared this journey with each other. They sang and prayed together, laughed in joyful moments, and sat close together when history presented them with a particularly wrenching truth, posed a question about humanity that only the Spirit can answer. They served as great ambassadors to our cathedral and their generation.
I saw, to my great joy, how our young people’s constancy, grace, and openness had such an effect on many that we met. Last Sunday, we had the opportunity to worship at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Savannah.
Each member of our youth group served in some capacity during the service.
The clergy and many congregants shared afterward how moved they had been to worship with our youth group. Thank the Rev. David Wantland and Ministry Coordinator for Children and Families Betsey Bass for welcoming us.
I am overjoyed to share with you that the youth group of Grace Cathedral has fulfilled the commission given to them, undertaking this pilgrimage with grace, compassion, and courage. I know they would be delighted to share their experiences and reflections with you, and I invite you to speak with them when you see them! We also look forward to sharing further images and footage at Congregation Sunday, September 10, following the 11 am Choral Eucharist.
With gratitude,
Steph McNally
Formation Programs Manager for Children, Youth, Families, and Adults
Dear Friends,
As a child, I spent much time at my neighbors’ homes. I was not always an invited guest. Like many Australians (and Americans), I grew up in a suburb of a mid-sized town on a street that offered a wealth of front yards ripe for exploration. These gardens were my playgrounds. I rummaged in these magical places for bugs, looked hopefully in birdbaths for a glimpse of a mythical bunyip, and (during a Nancy Drew phase) foraged for evidence of crimes needing solving.
I don’t remember meeting my neighbors that often, except when something (usually me) got stuck up a tree. Looking back now, I realize how much I flourished through the care of my unseen neighbors, the invisible angels whose patience and quiet watchfulness enriched my childhood so greatly.
Many of us who have moved to the Bay Area from a suburb or smaller town yearns to hear the happy shouts of kids walking home from school or playing driveway sports in the evening. Those of us in high-rise apartments and condos can feel like we are dislocated from the community where we live, removed from the experience of the “neighborhood” that shaped our childhoods.
There are still many ways we can be good neighbors to each other.
Our Grace Cathedral 2023 Backpack Drive is an invitation for us to show our care and support for the families of the great neighborhood of San Francisco. We seek to collect backpacks and school supplies for 115 children, with a personalized card to accompany each package. This drive will remove one source of pressure on families seeking to make ends meet in one of the most expensive cities on earth. It’s a chance to let our strong and remarkable families know that we are grateful for all they do to raise the next generation of San Franciscans.Through supporting this drive, we can be the “invisible angels” of the khat we had in our childhood, whose care helped us flourish and thrive.
This drive has been designed in partnership with two organizations that support the flourishing of our rich and diverse communities in San Francisco: The Community Preschool and Bayview Mission. It has also been shaped by the involvement of the Congregation Council, whose work is instrumental in making Grace an enriching and nurturing spiritual home for so many. Our city will remain loving and thriving as long as organizations like these are with us!
You can donate items to our drive through our Amazon Wishlist. Just to let you know, all contributions are asked for by August 7. I also invite you to learn more about the drive and card writing activities through this wonderful blog post by Eva Woo Slavitt.Eva and her team are also angels and sources of invaluable support to this initiative!
Steph McNally
Associate for Children, Youth, and Family Ministry
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
(Acts 2:1)
Dear friends,
Recently, I met up with a former student of mine from Australia who was in town for the day. (They were doing the thing Australians in their twenties tend to do and traveling the globe). When I asked them what they most wanted to do in San Francisco, they replied without hesitation, “See as many rainbow flags as possible.”
We went immediately to the Castro. A broad smile broke across their face as they saw the enormous flag on the corner of Market and Castro Streets. Their smile grew even wider as we traveled down Castro Street to the famed Rainbow Crossing. There was a new bounce in their step as they crossed this landmark.
I felt so proud that I could be there with my student as they experienced this place that celebrated them.
On Sunday, June 4, at 6 pm, we are all invited to gather for Grace Cathedral’s Pride Mass 2023. Some may assume that this service is offered primarily to those in our community who identify as LGBTQIA+. It is, however, also a wonderful opportunity for all who would be allies to gather with pride and love.
Like the city it serves, Grace Cathedral has led the way in creating safe and sacred spaces for the LGBTQIA+ community, from creating the AIDS Interfaith Chapel to innovative services like The Vine. The faithful allyship of cathedral leadership, and that of the Episcopal Church, has helped spread a message of love and inclusion that has resonated across the nation.
Now, in a year when a record number of anti-LGBTQIA+ bills are being introduced in the US, we are called to continue in the sacred tradition of allyship that has defined our faith.
On June 4, at 6 pm, we are all invited to gather in one place for Pride Mass 2023. We will celebrate a liturgy led by our Canon Pastor, the Rev. Mary Carter Greene, lift our voices to sing with the glorious GLIDE Ensemble and open our hearts to receive the prophetic words of acclaimed preacher Marvin K. White.
Pride Mass is an invitation to worship in communion with each other and the souls and saints whose names are written in the Interfaith Chapel and on our hearts. It is a chance for us to be together in one place, living into God’s dream for the world and the church.
This Sunday, May 28, is the Day of Pentecost, one of the principal feasts of the church year. On this day, we hear of the spirit descending on the Apostles who have gathered in one place, enlivening them to begin their work of building the church. Those of us present at the cathedral this Sunday will have the opportunity to be inspired by the lifelong activism of the Rev. Norman Fong, who will be in conversation with the Rev. Dr. Greg Kimura at The Forum and preach at the 11 am Festal Eucharist honoring AAPI Heritage Month. A number of us will be gathered at the beautiful Bishop’s Ranch for our annual Congregation Retreat, where we also will be listening for the voice of the spirit.
I trust that wherever you are this Pentecost, you feel joy, peace, and the enlivening presence of the spirit!
With gratitude
Steph McNally
Associate for Children, Youth, and Family Ministry