Grace Cathedral

Grace Cathedral

Did you know that there is a loophole in the U.S. Constitution that still allows slavery? The 13th Amendment says slavery and involuntary servitude shall not exist in the United States, except as punishment for being convicted of a crime. In October 2021 Grace Cathedral came out in support of the campaign to remove the slavery loophole from the constitution. Congregation members are making the case to friends and neighbors why closing the loophole deserves their support. Members of the Social Justice Working Group and Congregation Council have developed some talking points that you might want to consider using as you have these conversations.

1. History tells us that allowing slavery in any form opens the door to more. After the 13th Amendment was adopted in 1865, southern states made it a crime for former slaves to be idle or homeless. They were imprisoned on work farms or hired out to landowners. The 13th Amendment couldn’t put a stop to it because of the slavery loophole. Closing the loophole won’t cause dangerous criminals to be released or require the elimination of prison work requirements. What it will do is give us confidence that what happened after the Civil War won’t be allowed to happen again to anyone.  

2. Some people say that if you commit the crime, you should serve the time. The question we should be asking is, what kind of time? Should prisoners risk their lives to fight fires and get paid next to nothing? Should companies profit from cheap prison labor? We as a society should be exploring other options.

3. Legislators and policymakers have an easy excuse for not addressing prison working conditions when the Constitution gives carte blanche. Closing the slavery loophole will help them get serious.

4. Some people say that closing the slavery loophole is just a symbolic gesture. Yet choosing to keep slavery in the constitution is also symbolic. Which symbolism is right for our times?

5. The support for End Slavery for Good crosses political boundaries. Conservative states like Utah and Nebraska have been leading the way by removing the slavery loophole from their state constitutions. People from many denominations and religious institutions are part of this movement.

Can you see yourself making the case to your friends and neighbors? What approach would you take with them? What other points would you make? Look for more ideas and conversations about this issue as Grace Cathedral’s End Slavery for Good initiative continues in the coming months.

Last year Grace Cathedral joined with other civic and faith-based organizations in California to endorse Proposition 17, a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to restore the voting rights of offenders released from prison on parole. It was estimated that Prop. 17 would re-enfranchise 50,000 people, 73% of whom are non-white. Proposition 17 passed by a 58% majority.

In addition to California, the voting rights of parolees were restored in New Jersey and Iowa in 2020. Connecticut, New York, and Washington passed legislation in 2021. Although parolees can now vote in 22 states, much remains to be done. 28 states still have restrictions including permanent disenfranchisement (11 states), waiting periods, mandatory clemency applications, and payment of restitution, fines, and court fees as a prerequisite to regaining voting rights.

We are called as followers of Christ to bring about the just, forgiving, and inclusive world inaugurated by his coming. The Cathedral’s recent endorsement of the End Slavery for Good movement, like the Prop. 17 endorsement, illustrates the Grace community’s ongoing commitment to advance the principles of social justice, substantiated by our faith, through our words and actions.

Spoken at the 11/07/21 Choral Eucharist

Thank you, Dean Young. Thanks also to the Stewardship Committee for this opportunity. 

I want to start off by saying good morning to people attending this service online. On any given Sunday there are more people online than in-person. My friends, we can’t see you but we know you are here – participating in what we have come to call hybrid church. 

My religious upbringing was Quaker. I was away from church a long time. I came to Grace for the reassurance of a creedal, sacramental theology and liturgical worship. I came because I needed a better religious education. I came because Grace was open 7 days a week.  

It was also important that Grace has a history of community service in San Francisco and connections to the civil rights movement, women’s rights and gay rights, environmentalism and climate awareness. I’m excited about the Grace community’s growing role in public policy advocacy, exemplified by the 2020 endorsement of Prop 17 to restore voting rights to parolees, and our recent endorsement of the End Slavery for Good movement.  

This is where stewardship comes in. Online church plus in-person is resource-intensive. When Covid-19 happened, Grace stayed open in the virtual space 7 days a week. The Cathedral invented new ways of doing worship, sustaining community, holding classes and discussion groups, even musical performances. It is not as simple as recording a video on your smartphone and uploading to Facebook. Grace has a whole operations and communications team dedicated to making this vision of hybrid church possible. By pledging to stewardship, we help Grace create a new kind of church experience – one that extends beyond the walls of our cathedral and to those who to worship from home or from afar. Grace has no boundaries.  

It’s the same with social justice. It is demanding and time-consuming to be a thoughtful, faith-forward advocate. The Cathedral relies on our support to weave social justice awareness and engagement into the whole fabric of church life. Imagine the impact the Grace community can have in the public square if you and I all contribute through our stewardship pledges. 

People ask me, “How much money are you expected to give to your church?” Grace benchmarks 100% participation and stewardship as a spiritual practice and discipline. Members set their own targets. If it would be helpful to you, my wife (not a churchgoer) and I target our charitable contributions at 5% of taxable income. My share goes to Grace and other Episcopal charities; hers to direct service charities in Oakland. 

Whatever you give, give joyfully. Stewardship dollars ensure that Grace stands as an advocate for all, and that our physical doors and our online portals are open to all. So please, join me in pledging your support to the 2022 stewardship campaign. It’s easy to do online or by picking up a brochure at the table in the back or at coffee hour. Thank you. 

Last week President Biden reestablished the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The Partnerships Office advances funding opportunities and collaboration between government and religious organizations that serve people in need and encourages interfaith, multisectoral discourse about policies that affect faith communities. Pledging to work closely with leaders of different faiths and backgrounds who can help America heal, unite and rebuild, the President said: “There are not Democrats or Republicans dying from this pandemic, or losing their jobs, going hungry and facing eviction in this economic crisis, or facing the sting of systemic racism or the brunt of the climate crisis. They are fellow human beings. They are fellow Americans. And this is not a nation that can, or will, simply stand by and watch the suffering around us. That is not who we are. That is not what faith calls us to be.”

What does our faith call us to be in the face of the suffering and challenges described by President Biden? Consider today’s readings. Acts 1:15-26 describes a peaceful leadership succession. The apostles welcome a new member to fill the position vacated by Judas – Matthias, a follower of Jesus from the early days, elected to apostleship by Christ. John 15:1,6-16 is the familiar and beloved exhortation to “abide in me.” Jesus calls the apostles to love one another as he has loved them. The love he extols is an indivisible union, abiding at a capillary level, budding and flowering in an agrarian version of the trinity with Jesus as the “true vine” born of mother Earth and attended by God, the disciples spreading into the world like the spirited branches of a vine that bears good fruit, fruit that will last.

Faith born of this love is earthy and practical, not speculative or metaphysical. Its adherents welcome new leaders into the church and the world and are open to new ways of practicing ministry and apostleship. They admire lasting solutions and abandon that which is fruitless. Their generosity is commensurate as Jesus’ sacrifice was commensurate with what God called him to do on earth; likewise their love is inclusive. Above all, they make it an act of faith to call one another friends, as Jesus called his apostles friends.

Let us make friends with our fellow Americans. The time of division and indifference is over.

On Wednesday, July 15, the Deans of five Episcopal Cathedrals in California sent a joint letter to the leaders of the California state legislature encouraging them to act swiftly to prevent an unprecedented wave of tenant evictions and residential foreclosures in California due to Covid-19. Grace Cathedral Dean Malcolm Young and the Deans of St. John’s Cathedral, Los Angeles; St. Paul’s Cathedral, San Diego; Trinity Cathedral, San Jose and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Sacramento wrote:

“The moral imperative for our religious communities is to attend first to people with the least resources and greatest hardship. While we are mindful that tenants, landlords, homeowners, developers, financial institutions, and government are tied together in a web of economic relationships, we ask for low income residential tenants and homeowners to be given especial protection.”

Already the hardest hit by persistent racism and poverty, low-income Californians face the greatest housing security challenges during the pandemic and beyond.

The Deans also called on the members of their congregations and other faith communities to exercise charity and forbearance in their own dealings with tenants, borrowers and so forth.

This collaborative effort was organized by Grace Cathedral’s Social Justice Working Group, which is drawn from Cathedral clergy, administration, staff and members of our board of trustees and congregation. Housing security and homelessness has been identified by the group as an important social justice issue for the Cathedral to address in partnership with other organizations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the five Episcopal cathedrals have come together as partners for policy advocacy at the statewide level.

There are bills pending in the California legislature, including proposals authored or co-authored by San Francisco’s representatives in the State Assembly, David Chiu and Phil Ting, as well as our State Senator Scott Weiner, to address the concerns raised in the Deans’ letter. As the legislative session draws to a close with no end in sight to the financial hardship wrought by Covid-19, let us hope and pray for our representatives in Sacramento and Washington to have the courage, wisdom and foresight to provide for the immediate and long-term housing security of all our people, but especially for those with the greatest need.

You can read the complete letter from the Episcopal Deans to the state legislature here.

Jim Simpson is a congregant of Grace Cathedral, and a member of the cathedral’s Social Justice Working Group and the Congregation Council.

On Wednesday, July 15, the Deans of five Episcopal Cathedrals in California sent a joint letter to the leaders of the California state legislature encouraging them to act swiftly to prevent an unprecedented wave of tenant evictions and residential foreclosures in California due to Covid-19. Grace Cathedral Dean Malcolm Young and the Deans of St. John’s Cathedral, Los Angeles; St. Paul’s Cathedral, San Diego; Trinity Cathedral, San Jose and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Sacramento wrote:

“The moral imperative for our religious communities is to attend first to people with the least resources and greatest hardship. While we are mindful that tenants, landlords, homeowners, developers, financial institutions, and government are tied together in a web of economic relationships, we ask for low income residential tenants and homeowners to be given especial protection.”

Already the hardest hit by persistent racism and poverty, low-income Californians face the greatest housing security challenges during the pandemic and beyond.

The Deans also called on the members of their congregations and other faith communities to exercise charity and forbearance in their own dealings with tenants, borrowers and so forth.

This collaborative effort was organized by Grace Cathedral’s Social Justice Working Group, which is drawn from Cathedral clergy, administration, staff and members of our board of trustees and congregation. Housing security and homelessness has been identified by the group as an important social justice issue for the Cathedral to address in partnership with other organizations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the five Episcopal cathedrals have come together as partners for policy advocacy at the statewide level.

There are bills pending in the California legislature, including proposals authored or co-authored by San Francisco’s representatives in the State Assembly, David Chiu and Phil Ting, as well as our State Senator Scott Weiner, to address the concerns raised in the Deans’ letter. As the legislative session draws to a close with no end in sight to the financial hardship wrought by Covid-19, let us hope and pray for our representatives in Sacramento and Washington to have the courage, wisdom and foresight to provide for the immediate and long-term housing security of all our people, but especially for those with the greatest need.

You can read the complete letter from the Episcopal Deans to the state legislature here.

Jim Simpson is a congregant of Grace Cathedral, and a member of the cathedral’s Social Justice Working Group and the Congregation Council.

What does it mean to say, as California’s Surgeon General Nadine Burke-Harris did recently, that: “Gun violence in America is a public health problem of epidemic proportions?”

Death and injury from gun violence is unquestionably a medical crisis. 36,000 Americans are killed by firearms every year. 61% die by suicide; 35% by homicide; and 4% due to law-enforcement actions and unintended accidents. Fatal shootings increased by 30% in America from 2014 to 2017. At least 100,000 Americans are injured by firearms every year, more than two-thirds from weapon assaults.

As if the sad and sobering data on deaths and injuries were not enough, exposure to gun violence is also known to have adverse health effects on people, especially children, who witness a shooting, lose a family member, or live in a community where shootings and gunfire are common. Research by Dr. Burke-Harris and others has shown that children who endure this kind of stress undergo changes in their brains and bodies (the “fight or flight” response) that significantly increase their risk of developing serious, life-long health problems.

What makes gun violence a public health concern as well as a medical crisis is that the methods that we use to address communicable diseases, workplace injuries, automobile accidents and other public health concerns can also be used to predict and prevent gun-related fatalities, injuries and indirect health effects. Well-designed research on gun violence can identify risks and protective factors and test measures to prevent or ameliorate the harm. Applying a public health approach to gun violence is exceptionally timely. The polarization of public discourse about gun violence prevention is due in large part to over-reliance on anecdotal evidence and injection of constitutional doctrine into what is fundamentally a health and safety issue. Public health is not a debating point for gun control or against gun ownership. Evidence-based policies are pro-life.

When Congress reconvenes in September it will take up legislation to appropriate funds for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health to collect data and conduct research about gun violence prevention. CDC and NIH have not been able to study gun violence for 23 years because of funding restrictions included every year in Congressional appropriations acts. This year the House of Representatives has passed a Health and Human Services appropriations bill that includes $25 million apiece to CDC and NIH to “better understand and prevent injury and death as a result of firearm violence.”

There are also proposals before Congress to reinstate the assault weapon and large-capacity magazine ban that was in effect from 1994 to 2004, authorize universal background checks and support the adoption of red flag laws, which allow courts to issue restraining orders to temporarily remove weapons from persons who present a risk of danger to themselves or others. Some studies suggest that these measures and others like them can reduce firearms-related death and injury but the data is incomplete, and we need to better understand how to design and implement reasonable policies effectively.

You can learn more about these pending proposals and funding for gun violence research at the Episcopal Public Policy Network website. Lastly, please join us for The Forum at Grace Cathedral on Sunday, September 15 at 9:30 a.m., where our guest, Representative Jackie Speier, will share her personal experience of gun violence and the prospects for legislation in the current session.

 

“This very night your life is being demanded of you.”

At last Sunday’s baptism service, we read a scripture passage about the transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor. A second set of readings for this date amplifies on the meaning of baptism.

Our tradition holds that in the water of baptism a person is buried with Christ. By baptism we share in his resurrection. In the letter to the Colossians in the readings, Paul tells us that as persons baptized and raised with Christ, we must turn our minds to things above and set aside earthly things.

The other two readings offer examples of worldly preoccupation. The Parable of the Rich Fool in Luke’s gospel describes a rich man, having accumulated abundant possessions, who resolves to store them up in a warehouse and devote himself to selfish occupations: relax, eat, drink and be merry. God rebukes him: “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”

The reading from Ecclesiastes proclaims that God has given human beings an unhappy business to occupy themselves with. All deeds done under the sun are vanity and a chasing after wind. The author’s point is not so much that our striving is self-important and our achievements vacuous as that they are vaporous and our hold on them is fleeting. Everything we accumulate ends up in another’s hands. Life is not under our control. Have you ever felt like that? The advice in Ecclesiastes is to accept our lot in life, live honorably and leave the future to God.

Set against this is Paul’s call to the baptized to amend their lives, empty their emotional baggage and set their minds on revealing Christ in their lives. The foolishness of worldly preoccupations is revealed by the fact that our lives may be demanded at any time, but there is also a profoundly uplifting message here. God insists that our lives are needed, in fact required, for purposes beyond self-gratification. What greater antidote to vanity and hedonism than to be wanted, to be useful, to be demanded right now by God?

Members of the Grace Cathedral community and other faith groups met at the Cathedral on June 10 for a panel discussion moderated by The Rev. Canon Dr. Ellen Clark-King about how the values and beliefs of different traditions influence their stance toward gun violence. Speakers included San Francisco Supervisor Catherine Stefani, Rabbi Jason Rodich of Congregation Emanu-El, Rev. Elaine Donlin, Sensei of the Buddhist Church of San Francisco, and Father George Williams, SJ, Catholic Chaplain of San Quentin State Prison.

Supervisor Stefani spoke movingly about the role of churches in countering despair — the pain and sorrow of victims and families and the weariness many people feel at the magnitude of the problem and obstacles to change. Rev. Donlin related the Buddhist teaching of interdependence to the causes of violence and the need for a multidimensional response. Rabbi Rodich compared gun violence to enslavement and the activism of Jewish communities in this area to walking the road to freedom. Father Williams explained that the Catholic tradition calls for reconciliation and also for an unequivocal declaration that gun violence is evil.

The meeting participants assembled into small groups to share how they understand and respond to gun violence through a personal spiritual lens. The people at the table where I sat were especially hopeful that all religions would speak out with one voice to “denormalize” gun violence and firearm idolatry. We talked about religious participation as an antidote to the social isolation that breeds violence; the false equivalence of second amendment dogmatism with advocacy for violence prevention; and a growing confidence that faith traditions like those represented on the panel can be effective in influencing legislation and regulation without being seen as partisan or sacrificing their responsibility to listen, respect, and serve all who come to them.

On a practical note, there were handouts from the Brady United Against Gun Violence Campaign about proposed legislation being considered by Congress and the California legislature. You can find out more about the bills and how to contact your representatives at the Brady campaign website. Right now the Episcopal Church is encouraging people to support the Gun Violence Prevention Research Act of 2019 (S.184/H.R.674). More information here.

Are you larger than life? You are, you know, it is only a matter of seeing it. In Advent the shadows fall away; we are illustrated to ourselves.

Today’s gospel reading from Luke depicts the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth known as the Visitation. It is one of the most vivid scenes in the New Testament, the source of the Magnificat and the Ave Maria prayer, and an inspiration for such artistic masterpieces as the joyfully mysterious Visitation of the Virgin and Saint Elizabeth by the 16th century Italian painter Jacopo Pontormo, which is reproduced on the cover of today’s wrapper. The painting was recently restored and will be on display at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles next year.

The Visitation shows Mary and Elizabeth as fully realized individuals yet not entirely of this world. They are so close we could touch them; the street in the background suddenly falls away. The handmaidens standing behind them are Mary and Elizabeth’s former selves, the ordinary people they used to be, before they were sanctified by the light that pours down over Mary’s left shoulder saturating their extravagant costumes in dazzling color. Two figures are invisible under Mary and Elizabeth’s robes, poised and coiled, signaling to one another of things to come. As they embrace, Mary and Elizabeth’s expressions signal their self-awareness, resolve, and inner grace.

Do you feel something quickening in you as we approach Bethlehem, something waiting to be born? It could be a new understanding, a firm resolution, or a fresh opportunity. There are several members of the congregation for whom it is a child. Whatever it is, may it enlarge your life.

 

 

The United States just had a refreshingly normal midterm election. There were hopeful signs for people on all sides of the political spectrum. Voter registration increased significantly. More women will be sworn into office than ever before. Participation by minorities and younger voters increased. In line with previous midterm elections, the President’s party gave up the majority in one chamber of Congress and held onto the other chamber. State and local elections were close in many parts of the country. The Democrats made inroads but margins were narrow. The blue state/red state division is still very apparent on the electoral map.

It’s no secret that actions and rhetoric emerging from our nation’s capital have dismayed U.S. allies. The 2018 midterm elections should reassure people around the world. Americans flocked to the polls. The checks and balances built into constitutional democracy and our version of federalism were affirmed. Voter initiatives replacing partisan redistricting with independent commissions (something that California voters adopted in 2008) passed in four states and will be on the ballot in more states in 2019. Sadly, legal and extra-legal constraints on minority participation in the electoral process are still a fact of life in some parts of this country.

A notable feature of the 2018 midterm elections was the number of voter propositions and initiatives that invited the electorate to “vote their values” on public health and social service policy questions. In San Francisco, the leading advocate for Proposition C’s gross receipts tax to support homelessness services framed the debate as: “Are you for the homeless or for yourself?” Voters in three Western states decided to expand eligibility for Medicaid health coverage to low-income adults. The governors-elect in three other states had campaigned on the promise to support Medicaid expansion. Two states adopted constitutional amendments to discourage public funding for abortion. Two more states authorized medical marijuana. Several others, including California, voted on measures to address health care quality and cost.

What role do religious and moral convictions play when you vote? Are some issues so categorical that there is only one way to conscientiously vote, regardless of the circumstances? Should we vote for the common good? What weight should we give to self-interest? Is there a way for us to continue to express our values in the public square after the elections are over and the affairs of government revert to elected leaders and legislative bodies?

Institutions such as Grace Cathedral offer a place and a way to explore the larger questions. The Episcopal Church offers a means for interested Episcopalians to actively participate in faith-based advocacy in between elections.

The Episcopal Public Policy Network is a grassroots organization in Washington, D.C., connected to the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations. EPPN is dedicated to supporting Episcopalians across the country to strive for justice and peace through the active ministry of public policy advocacy. EPPN members receive action alerts and policy updates on a regular basis. EPPN’s website allows you to communicate directly with your Congressional delegation about issues that have particular resonance for you.

EPPN’s website is a great place to learn about the policy platform of the Episcopal Church and the advocacy initiatives led by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. Even if you’re not interested in joining EPPN, the website has thoughtful and well-prepared policy briefs on the Episcopal Church’s priority issues of the environment, immigration and refugees, domestic and international poverty, peacebuilding and human rights.

I encourage you to check it out.

Job 23:1-9, 16-17; Psalm 22:1-15; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31

How are we supposed to have a conversation with God? It’s easy to talk at God and perilously easy to talk past God. Talking with God is not so easy. 

In today’s Old Testament reading, Job complains that God has treated him unfairly by denying him an opportunity to defend himself, or at least to know the reason for his suffering. Surely Job deserves an audience. His arguments will come to be recognized someday as treasures of human thought. But God responds in perfect silence. Are confrontation, persuasion and reason (so much a part of our makeup) not God’s way?

A rich man runs up to Jesus, kneels before him, and demands to know whether observing the commandments will assure him eternal life. Mark’s gospel tells us that Jesus looks at the man and loves him. In this holy and perfect instant of silence, there is recognition, acknowledgement and love beyond words. A moment later, Jesus advises the man to distribute his treasure to the poor. 

The letter to the Hebrews tells us that Christ is approachable and speaks through mercy and grace. We, on the other hand, are made to argue and complain. Yet we are also commanded to look, listen and love. Could it be that the conversations we desire with God are meant to take place in our conversations with each other?

The November elections are approaching. Elections are a public conversation; voting is speech. We have been listening to the arguments and the reasons. As always, the right use and distribution of wealth is at issue in the campaigns and ballot measures. Let us be mindful of Christ’s mercy and grace as we cast our votes.

This reflection was written by Jim Simpson. He is a member of the Grace Cathedral Congregation Council and a graduate of the cathedral’s Education for Ministry program.