Grace Cathedral

Grace Cathedral

Calling all kids and teens to a special Christmas chorus that will perform at Sing You a Merry Christmas, the wildly popular Christmas production at Grace Cathedral! Open to children from age 5 to 16, the chorus will take the stage with the cast of Presto! Interactive Opera at the December performances of Sing You a Merry Christmas.

Rehearsals begin in October and take place Wednesday evenings from 6 to 7 pm in Wilsey Conference Center (lower level of the cathedral).

Rehearsal dates are:

  • October 3, 10, 17, 24
  • November 7, 14, 28
  • December 5
  • Mandatory Dress Rehearsal Friday, December 7 from 3 to 5pm.

Chorus members must commit to at least six of these rehearsals plus the dress rehearsal to be eligible to perform. They can choose to perform in some, or all of the performances, which take place:

  • Saturday December 8 at 11 am
  • Saturday, December 15 at 11 am
  • Friday, December 21 at 3 pm
  • Saturday, December 22 at 11 am

No audition or prior experience necessary, and there is no cost to participate (participants will need to purchase a costume for around $30 that they can keep). 

 

Sign-ups are now closed. Thank you!

 

Last night, hundreds of guests, dignitaries, representatives from faith groups and members of the congregation filtered into the cathedral to learn how we can take action together to address global climate change. This service was one of the many events organized around the Global Climate Action Summit led by Governor Jerry Brown. The Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus, Bishop of California and climate activist, played an important role in the service.

The night included an Ohlone welcome, the Arabic call to prayer (adhan), a reading of the creation account in Genesis by Rita Semel, Co-Founder of the San Francisco Interfaith Council and cathedral trustee, and more. We celebrated our ability to take bold action to affect climate change, through reflections on the wonder of life and the mystery of love, as read by Leader Nancy Pelosi and leaders from all over the world.

The groundbreaking night ended with a festive reception sponsored by Buckhill Capital.

Learn more about the service and the Global Climate Action Summit.

This morning, members of the congregation, clergy and staff gathered to hear the results of the Congregation Survey. Thank you to those who took the survey! Here is a sampling of feedback from our 185 respondents:

  • 61% of respondents have brought a friend to Grace in the past year
  • The top reason for attending services at Grace was “worshipping with others”
  • Fill-in answers regarding respondents’ dreams for the cathedral included a desire for even greater diversity in the congregation, greater connection with the clergy and more efforts to engage the wider community.

Carol James from the Office of the Congregation announced Practicing Welcome, a two-part conversation on the theology of hospitality and practical tips on reaching out, taking place on Sundays, September 23 and 30.

Town Hall attendees also heard about the 79th General Convention of The Episcopal Church from two of our deputies, Ron Hermanson and Christopher Hayes. They described the Jesus Movement and its tenets: evangelism, racial reconciliation and justice and creation care and how these aspects of the Jesus Movement inform how we “do” church. Learn more about the 79th General Convention of The Episcopal Church.

Every year Grace Cathedral chooses a theme to unify and inspire our community to improve their lives and the world. Our 2018 theme is truth. Join us in exploring the truth about ourselves, each other, the world and God.

“Kindness to ourselves, kindness to others, kindness to the Earth” is one of many gems of truth written in the Year of #Truth book located in the cathedral. What’s your truth? Write it in our new truth book, located by the St. Francis statue, or online by commenting on this post or using #YearofTruth

Read more about how we’ve explored truth this year:

About the Beyoncé Mass
Black Dignity and the Year of Truth
The Pressure of Reality

The Rev. Dr. Ellen Clark-King, our Executive Pastor and Canon for Social Justice, wrote an article for The Episcopal Café on her and the Rev. Mary Carter Greene’s experiences on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“I saw a fenced space where families separated by the border could speak to one another, supervised by border patrol, with mesh too fine to allow them to touch.

I saw walls that looked as if they held hardened criminals, where people simply seeking refuge were being held apart from their children.

I saw Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Unitarians, Jews, Sikhs, Muslims and Buddhists all singing together and crying out together to bring hope to the people behind the walls.”

Read more of the article.

Learn more about our social justice and social outreach efforts.

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26; Psalm 1; 1 John 5:9-13; John 17:6-19

Today we begin the final week of celebrating the Lord’s resurrection. Each Sunday during these fifty days, we have explored some aspect of our baptism into the dying and rising of Jesus. Today’s Gospel reading is a portion of Jesus’ prayer for his disciples on the night before he died. In that prayer, he asked the Father to unite us with him and to give us the same mission and grace the Father gave to him. 

The sense of unity within the fellowship of Jesus’ disciples was reflected in the period between his ascension and the day of Pentecost. We hear about the most significant event during that period in the first reading today when, under Peter’s leadership, the disciples chose a replacement for Judas.

The reading from 1 John also reflects the theme of unity between Jesus and the Father, and between Jesus and us.

Our life in Christ is the gift of God in and through the resurrection. That new life by water and the Holy Spirit will be our theme next week when, on the fiftieth day of Easter, we rejoice that we are filled with the Spirit of God.

From The Rite Light: Reflections on the Sunday Readings and Seasons of the Church Year. Copyright © 2009 by Michael W. Merriman. Church Publishing Incorporated, New York.

Beyoncé Mass was a powerful night thanks to attendees, volunteers and organizers. We’re also glad for the gift of a little extra media attention before, during and after this special service.

Didn’t get a chance to attend or want to relive the night? See media coverage below on the service.

“Grace Cathedral, an historic episcopal church known for its commitment to social justice, hosted its “Beyoncé Mass” as part of a weekly worship series intended to uplift the experiences of women and appeal to young worshippers. The unconventional service featured a sermon about liberation struggle, readings from a speech by civil rights leader Ella Baker, scripture readings by black women, a traditional communion, and of course, the singing of Beyoncé songs.” -Read the rest at Mother Jones.

Grace Cathedral’s Beyoncé Mass draws faithful crowd of 900-plus” – SF Chronicle
“Pop music’s Beyoncé inspires Eucharist at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco” – The Episcopal Church
“SF Beyoncé Mass puts ‘Halo’ on delighted audiences” – ABC-7
“Hundreds Attend Beyoncé Mass at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral” – NBC Bay Area
“Put your hands up! Overflow crowd floods Grace Cathedral in San Francisco for ‘Beyoncé Mass'” – KTVU
“‘Beyoncé is made in God’s image’: Nearly a thousand people attend San Francisco church’s Queen Bey-inspired mass” – The Daily Mail

Come back for more of The Vine, offering community and a fresh take on faith Wednesdays at 6:30 pm.

See photos from Beyoncé Mass.

 

Grace Cathedral is seeking a Director of Operations. Check out the job description and apply with resume and brief cover letter to jobs@gracecathedral.org.

The Spring 2018 issue of Grace Notes, our seasonal publication that lets you know about all the exciting events going on at the cathedral, is now available! Read the new edition online.

Last night, the cathedral partnered with Temple Emanu-El and Sherith Israel to host a panel with gun violence prevention experts. SFPD police chief William Scott shared his expertise on gun violence prevention with community participation.

“When we see — sort of — grassroots communities like faith-based organizations, like schools themselves, like the young people becoming very involved in the issue, then we’re more likely to move forward toward change,” said Executive Pastor Ellen Clark-King.

 Read the full story and see ABC7’s news coverage.

This weekend, join us for workshops in sacred response to gun violence for youth and adults on Saturday, March 24 from 9 am to 12 pm. After that, we will walk down to Civic Center to join March for Our Lives.
These events are part of the cathedral’s ongoing conversation about Gun Violence Prevention.

Dear Friends,

We are sorry to tell you that we are closing the Peet’s Coffee cart operation. As you know, we closed the gift shop in May because the cost of the operation exceeded the sales, and this was unsustainable for the cathedral. Since then, we worked with our operating partner, Aramark, to see if the coffee-only operation would be profitable, or at least operate at a small loss. Unfortunately, we have determined that this current model is not financially viable.

We are grateful to the Aramark staff who have represented Grace Cathedral with a smile and generous hearts.

We hope that sometime in the future we will be able to provide a hospitality center that can support our mission, ministries and the community.

The Peet’s Coffee cart will close on Wednesday, February 28.

Love,
Malcolm

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

“Let Christmas be a time of wonder and humility. Let there be generosity between Christians and non-Christians, and respect for the dignity of every human being,” our dean Malcolm Clemens Young wrote in his column in the San Francisco Examiner on Christmas Eve. Thank you to all who made Christmas especially joyous this year.

Couldn’t make it or want to relive the holiday season? Please enjoy highlights from this Christmas.

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