Grace Cathedral
Grace Cathedral is an Episcopal church in San Francisco. A house of prayer for all people, and a center for social justice, the arts and service.
Baruch 5:1-9
Canticle 16 (Lk. 1:68-79)
Philippians 1:3-11
Luke 3:1-6
Who will you be? For a while you have been living away from the place where people really knew you before you put on this current identity. Something has brought you back to town for a couple of days. You have some extra time so you think about seeing that one friend who really understands you (and yet still likes you just the same). You have some hesitation about going over there because that friend sometimes asks hard questions and really gets down to truths that we mostly don’t feel like dealing with.[i]
The conversation feels so natural at first. Your friend asks, “What have you been up to?” You have a lot to say. The second question is more difficult. “What are you working on now?” You know that your friend isn’t just asking how you fill your hours. Your friend means something more like, “What’s really challenging you, what is pushing you past your limits, are you learning from your mistakes and growing?”
This is that uncomfortable part which you expected and made you hesitate to check in. You stumble along, hoping that by bringing up a lot of different activities, your friend will not focus on any one of them. But your friend calls you on it and says, “which of these really matter?” You had tried to keep everything casual by joking and being cool but now you are in too deep.
At the same time part of you wants this. You have a lot of people you can hang out with for shallow conversation, but something made you hungry for the truth and so you say it. “Really none of those things are what matters.” You feel embarrassed but then you go on to talk about your real dreams and frustrations. It feels good to have someone else hear what’s in your heart. Everything in your life seems to conspire against accomplishing what you think is really important.
[i] This idea and this conversation is a close paraphrase from: Samuel Wells, “A Chat with the Refiner’s Fire,” The Christian Century, 16 May 2017.
Beyond COVID fears and family drama, many US Americans wonder: how can you square the Thanksgiving extravaganza and the reality of Indigenous experience — including genocide and land theft? In today’s readings Jesus stands before Pilate to testify to the truth. His faithful witness leads us through our doubts and dilemmas to a highly nuanced grasp of truth. We can’t deny history, but we can construct a more just future and witness to a complex truth. We can extend our tables and expand our minds, to celebrate Thanksgiving, as well as Native American Heritage Day.
Yesterday in the brilliant fall colors and dazzling warm light of Los Altos we buried my friend Jim McKnight in the columbarium of our old church. Jim and I had a strange relationship. He is my parent’s age. We first met when he was in his fifties and full of wisdom. And yet he had just been ordained the year before and so he didn’t know what I did about running churches.
One of my most vivid Pandemic memories Pandemic involved shopping for survival supplies at Smart and Final in the Outer Richmond. Raise your hand if you remember doing something like this. At that point we didn’t feel confident that grocery stores would remain open or that there would be enough food. Do you remember those lists of disaster supplies on the Internet (tarps, water storage containers, tools for turning off the gas, etc.). One included a shovel for burying bodies in the backyard.
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Baruch 5:1-9
Canticle 16 (Lk. 1:68-79)
Philippians 1:3-11
Luke 3:1-6
Who will you be? For a while you have been living away from the place where people really knew you before you put on this current identity. Something has brought you back to town for a couple of days. You have some extra time so you think about seeing that one friend who really understands you (and yet still likes you just the same). You have some hesitation about going over there because that friend sometimes asks hard questions and really gets down to truths that we mostly don’t feel like dealing with.[i]
The conversation feels so natural at first. Your friend asks, “What have you been up to?” You have a lot to say. The second question is more difficult. “What are you working on now?” You know that your friend isn’t just asking how you fill your hours. Your friend means something more like, “What’s really challenging you, what is pushing you past your limits, are you learning from your mistakes and growing?”
This is that uncomfortable part which you expected and made you hesitate to check in. You stumble along, hoping that by bringing up a lot of different activities, your friend will not focus on any one of them. But your friend calls you on it and says, “which of these really matter?” You had tried to keep everything casual by joking and being cool but now you are in too deep.
At the same time part of you wants this. You have a lot of people you can hang out with for shallow conversation, but something made you hungry for the truth and so you say it. “Really none of those things are what matters.” You feel embarrassed but then you go on to talk about your real dreams and frustrations. It feels good to have someone else hear what’s in your heart. Everything in your life seems to conspire against accomplishing what you think is really important.
[i] This idea and this conversation is a close paraphrase from: Samuel Wells, “A Chat with the Refiner’s Fire,” The Christian Century, 16 May 2017.
Beyond COVID fears and family drama, many US Americans wonder: how can you square the Thanksgiving extravaganza and the reality of Indigenous experience — including genocide and land theft? In today’s readings Jesus stands before Pilate to testify to the truth. His faithful witness leads us through our doubts and dilemmas to a highly nuanced grasp of truth. We can’t deny history, but we can construct a more just future and witness to a complex truth. We can extend our tables and expand our minds, to celebrate Thanksgiving, as well as Native American Heritage Day.
Yesterday in the brilliant fall colors and dazzling warm light of Los Altos we buried my friend Jim McKnight in the columbarium of our old church. Jim and I had a strange relationship. He is my parent’s age. We first met when he was in his fifties and full of wisdom. And yet he had just been ordained the year before and so he didn’t know what I did about running churches.
One of my most vivid Pandemic memories Pandemic involved shopping for survival supplies at Smart and Final in the Outer Richmond. Raise your hand if you remember doing something like this. At that point we didn’t feel confident that grocery stores would remain open or that there would be enough food. Do you remember those lists of disaster supplies on the Internet (tarps, water storage containers, tools for turning off the gas, etc.). One included a shovel for burying bodies in the backyard.