Sermons from Grace Cathedral

In this sermon, the Rev. Canon Anna E. Rossi explores the theme of the stranger in scripture, Christian tradition, and contemporary life. From Israel's exile to Jeremiah's lament, from the Annunciation to Mary to Joseph of Arimathea's plea for Jesus' body, God appears as both stranger and guest. Jesus challenges us to take the lower place and to invite those we do not know to the banquet. In a time when immigrants and neighbors are imperiled, the call is clear: to recognize Christ in the stranger, and to welcome all to the table of shared humanity. Proper 17C • Jeremiah 2:4-13 • Psalm 81:1,10-16 • Hebrews 13:1-8,15-16 • Luke 14:1,7-14

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 11 Pentecost (Proper 16C) (RCL) 11:00 a.m. Eucharist Sunday 24 August 2025  Jeremiah 1:4-10 Psalm 71:1-6 Hebrews 12:18-29 Luke 13:10-17 Not Waving but Drowning "When he laid his hands on her she stood up straight and began praising God.” Luke 13

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco The Rev. Joe C. Williams Isaiah 5:1-7 Psalm 80:7-14 Hebrews 11:29-12:2 Luke 12:49-56

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA The Rev. Canon Mary Carter Greene August 10, 2025   Isaiah 1:1, 10-20 Psalm 50: 1-6 Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 Luke 12:32-40

In this sermon preached by the Rev. Canon Anna E. Rossi, inspired by a summer storm and the mountaintop visions of scripture, we are invited into awe before the holiness of God. This holiness is revealed not only in overwhelming power but in justice, equity, and love. Echoing Moses' transformation and Jesus' transfiguration, Rossi calls us to be formed through prayer, community, and sacrament. Holiness is not for the mountaintop alone but sends us into the world for the sake of others. At the baptismal font, we remember our call: to live as consecrated people in God's own mission. The Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ:​ • Exodus 34:29-35 • Psalm 99 • Luke 9:28-36

"...live your lives in Christ, rooted and built up in him..." (Col.2).   The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 6 Pentecost (Proper 11C) RCL 8:30 and 11 a.m. Sunday 27 July 2025 | SF Marathon   Hosea 1:2-10 Psalm 85 Colossians2:6-15, (16-19) Luke 11:1-13

Grace Cathedral San Francisco, CA 6 Pentecost (Proper 11C) RCL 8:30 and 11 a.m. Sunday 20 July 2025 | Returning from the UK   Amos 8:1-12 Psalm 52 Colossians 1:15-28 Luke 10:38-42   As Martha served you, Lord, so too may we with faithful hearts and loving care prepare all things in fitting fashion for your feast. But grant us more. O Lord, that as we work we may be tuned with Mary's ear to hear in all we do, the lessons that you teach. [i]   What is God saying to you now, in this season of your life?

The Rev. Joe C. Williams Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA July 13, 2025 11 a.m. Eucharist Amos 7:7-17 Psalm 82 Colossians 1:1-14 Luke 10: 25-37 Each time I hear this particular passage in the Book of Amos, I can't help but think about the sculpture in Christ Chapel at Seminary of the Southwest in Austin where I attended graduate school. Sitting quietly by itself in the corner is a memorial to the life and work of Bishop John Hines, former presiding bishop and sometime Bishop of Texas. It sits where light filters through coloured glass and shadows dance across the stone floor, bronze and steel reach skyward, and from heaven's height, a plumb line descends—not merely metal and cord, but the very heartbeat of God made manifest. Inscribed beneath in ancient cadence: “Amos, what seest thou?”

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA July 6, 2025 11 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Proper 9C   In this homily, the Rev. Canon Anna E. Rossi draws from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1957 sermon on Ghanaian independence to illuminate Jesus' words, "I watched Satan fall from heaven," as a metaphor for the fall of oppressive powers. Rossi's homily calls Christians to resist injustice not with violence, but through faithful, embodied action: crossing boundaries, building community, and stewarding creation. Echoing Paul, it urges perseverance in the work of the common good. The oppressor will not fall from the sky. We must march with God until dignity and peace belong to all.   2 Kings 5:1-14 Psalm 30 Galatians 6:(1-6)7-16 Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA June 29, 2025 - 11 a.m Eucharist   2 Kings:2:1-2, 6-14 Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20 Galatians 5:1, 13-25 Luke 9:51-62    

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA June 22, 2025 - The Second Sunday After Pentecost   1 Kings 19:1-15a Psalm 42:1-7 Galatians 2:23-29 Luke 8:26-39

The Rev. Joe C. Williams Grace Cathedral, San Francisco June 15, 2025 - Trinity Sunday: The First Sunday After Pentecost Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 Psalm 8 John 16: 12-15

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA June 8, 2025   Acts 2:1-21 Psalm 104::25-35, 37 Romans 8:14-17 John 14:8-17, 25-27

Diocesan Ordinations of a Deacon and Priests Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA June 7, 2025   Isiah 6:1-8 Psalm 43 Ephesians 4-7, 11-16 John 6:35-38

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco June 1, 2025 - 6 p.m. Pride Mass   1 Corinthians 29:14b-19 Psalm 84 John 21:15-24

“And let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift” (Rev. 22).   Acts 16:16-34 Psalm 97 Rev. 22:12-14,16-17,20-21 John 17:20-26

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA The Sixth Sunday of Easter, 11 a.m. Eucharist May 25, 2025   Acts 16:9-15 Psalm 67 Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5 John 14:23-29

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2F16 5 Easter (Year C) RCL 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. Eucharist Sunday 18 May 2025 | Bay to Breakers   Acts 11:1-18 Psalm 148 Revelation 21:1-6 John 13:31-35   Most holy God, make all things new. Make all things new, beginning with us. Amen.   “People don't realize how a [person's] whole life can be changed by one book.” I came across this sentence at the age of twenty-two in a book that changed my life, The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I put on his worldview like a pair of reading glasses that suddenly brought the truth about our society into focus. Tomorrow we celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of his birth at a historical moment when his teachings could hardly be more important.   Our Acts passage concludes with Luke writing, “God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11). How can we too experience this “repentance that leads to life?” The Greek word for repentance is metanoia. It means a change in our nous, the very core of our being, in the very worldview that guides our decisions. All our readings today describe new life, a new pattern for human relationships, a new creation, even a new heaven and earth.

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco The Fourth Sunday in Easter, Mother's Day May 11, 2025   Acts 9:36-43 Psalm 23 Revelation 7:9-17 John 10:22-30

Th​is sermon explores what makes a true movement leader, building from the gospel passage from John 21 and scholarship of Raymond Brown. Love, vicarious authority, and sacrifice emerge as the Christlike qualities needed—not only in the church but in social movements today. From Occupy to Black Lives Matter, we see the power and risk of decentralized movements. Our call as people of faith is to recognize, support, and embody leadership that is loving, accountable, and willing to sacrifice for the common good.   Easter 3C RCL: • Acts 9:1-6,(7-20) • Psalm 30 • Revelation 5:11-14 • John 21:1-19

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2F13 Easter Sunday (Year C) 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. Eucharist Sunday 20 April 2025   Acts 10:34-43 Psalm 118:1,2,14-24 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 Luke 24:1-12

In this sermon, the Rev. Canon Anna E. Rossi explores the profound theological and emotional struggle to find meaning and God's presence amid suffering and atrocity, using the lens of the aftermath of the Shoah (Holocaust.) In all circumstances, even in the face of overwhelming evil, there is a human impulse to seek understanding through faith. The message affirms God's presence not in power or escape, but in solidarity with suffering —  applying Jewish feminist theologian Melissa Rafael's assertion that God is in the ashes.” Through the crucifixion, it portrays divine compassion and calls the faithful to witness, serve, and love amid injustice, embodying Christ's presence in a wounded world.

The Rev. Canon Mary Carter Greene Grace Cathedral, San Francisco   Exodus 12:1-14 Psalm 116:1, 10-17  1 Corinthians 1:23-26 John 13:1-17,31b-35

Clergy and laity of the diocese gather to renew their vows of ordination and services in a beautiful Holy Week liturgy with the Rt. Rev. Austin Keith Rios, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California, preaching and presiding. This year, we will joyfully install the Very Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge as Dean of the San Francisco Deanery. Further, Oil of Chrism is consecrated in the midst of the liturgy, and healing oil blessed. Oils will be made available to the congregations of the diocese, and containers will be provided.

In her Palm Sunday homily, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde reflects on the tension between purposeful action and humble acceptance, using Jesus' journey to the cross as a model of courageous surrender. She draws on Scripture, the Serenity Prayer, and personal experience to explore how we are called to live with intention even when faced with hardship or circumstances beyond our control. Jesus' deliberate path into Jerusalem and his ultimate acceptance of suffering illustrate a profound trust in God—not passivity, but a love-rooted surrender that brings strength and freedom. Budde invites listeners to open their hearts during Holy Week, to name their struggles honestly, and to find grace in the stillness, the silence, and the shared journey with Christ through whatever cannot be changed.

The intensive sensory experience of today's Gospel might obscure the context of a meal. This is especially poignant in a gospel that has no institution narrative, but offers a rich Eucharistic interpretation through themes of memory, community, and ethics. Mary's act of anointing Jesus symbolizes memory, recalling Jesus' command to remember Him. The community aspect is highlighted by Mary's role as a full disciple, reversing social hierarchies. The ethical message challenges Judas' insincere concern for the poor, urging the community to embody Christ's love in service to the world. Isaiah 43:16-21 Philippians 3:4b-14 John 12:1-8 Psalm 126 Lent 5C

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco March 30, 2025   Joshua 5:9-12 Psalm 32 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Luke15:1-3, 11b-32

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2F12 3 Lent (Year C) 11:00 a.m. Eucharist Sunday 23 March 2025   Exodus 3:1-15 Psalm 63:1-8 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Luke 13:1-9   The time has come to change your life. Alex Ross writes about a sound and light installation by the composer John Luther Adams (1953-) at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. It is called The Place Where You Go to Listen. The title refers to Naalagiagvik, a beach on the Arctic Ocean, where a particular Inupiaq woman could hear and understand the voices of whales, birds, other creatures and even the whole planet around her.   “O God… my soul clings to you; your right hand holds me fast” (Ps. 63).

March 16, 2025 The Second Sunday in Lent   Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Psalm 27 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Luke 13:31-35

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2F10                                            1 Lent (Year C) 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. Eucharist                                      Sunday 9 March 2025 | Litany of Penitence                                          Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 Romans 10:8b-13 Luke 4:1-13   Are you living your real life? Or are you merely trying to avoid or dull the pain of existing? So much is at stake these days. And because we are involved there is no simple answer.   We give this holy instant to you O God. Guide us as we follow, certain your direction will lead us into peace. Amen. [i] [i] Based on Norwood Pratt's prayer. “This holy instant I would give to you. Be you in charge this day. I would follow you certain your direction gives me peace. Create in me a clean heart O Lord and renew a right spirit within me” 6 March 2025.

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2F9 Ash Wednesday 12:00 p.m. Eucharist Isaiah 58:1-12 Psalm 103:8-14 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

The Last Sunday After the Epiphany Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA   “Enter eagerly into the treasure house that is within you, and you will see the things that are in heaven.”Amen   Exodus 34: 29-35 Psalm 99 2 Corinthians 3: 12-4: 2 Luke 9: 28-36

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2F7 7 Epiphany (Year C) 8:30 and 11 a.m. Eucharist Sunday 23 February 2025   Genesis 45:3-11, 15 Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42 1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50 Luke 6:27-38   In these days of enmity how shall we live? This sermon is about the good news that even today we can live with grace and joy.   “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Lk. 6).

Cathedral , San Francisco, CA 16 February 2025   Jeremiah 17:5-10 Psalm 1 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 Luke 6:17-25

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2F5 5 Epiphany (Year C) 11:00 a.m. Eucharist Sunday 9 February 2025   ​Isaiah 6:1-8 ​Psalm 138 ​1 Corinthians 15:1-11 ​Luke 5:1-11 “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets… do not be afraid (Lk. 5).” This week with great emotion my friend Erin said to a group of us, “What do I do?” I take this to mean, “In the midst of unprecedented political turmoil (for instance, when USAID has ceased to exist), how do we respond to the fear surrounding us?”    

​Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2F4​ The Feast of the Presentation 11 a.m. Eucharist​ Sunday 2 February 2025 | Displacing 4 Epiphany ​ Malachi 3:1-4 Psalm 24:7-10 Hebrews 2:14-18 Luke 2:22-40   What exactly is a sermon? What are we doing together and what do we hope happens? This might seem like an unimportant question to ask. In the last two weeks 1500 January 6 rioters were pardoned or had their sentences commuted and many wonder if right-wing militias now regard themselves as immune to prosecution. $3 trillion dollars in federal grants were frozen and then unfrozen. A letter went out to 2 million federal employees (twice) asking them to resign. Hundreds of other government employees including civil servants at the highest level of our justice system have been fired. 25% tariffs are being imposed on our closest neighbors and trading partners. We see preparations for mass deportations. We hear ominously repeated phrases like,“defending women from gender ideology extremism,” and, “restoring biological truth to the federal government.” The trans people in our congregation, among our clergy, and across the land are being singled out, when they are just the sort of humans Jesus loved the most and sought to defend. “O God we long for your truth. Let your spirit help us to understand what we believe.”

Bishop of California The Third Sunday after the Epiphany Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA January 26, 2025   Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 Psalm 19 1 Corinthians 12:12-13a Luke 4:14-21  

The Second Sunday after the Epiphany January 19, 2025 Grace Cathedral, San Francisco CA   Isaiah 62:1-5 Psalm 36:5-10 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 John 2:1-11

Isaiah 43:1-7 Psalm 29 Acts 8:14-17 Luke 3:15-17, 21-22   1. What stands in the way of having a deeper faith? On August 5, 1949 a crew of fifteen elite US Forest Service smokejumpers, or airborne firefighters, stepped out of their plane above a remote wildfire in Montana. Within an hour all but three of them were dead or mortally burned. They were caught by flames as they ran uphill through dried grass on a steep slope trying to reach a higher ridge. [1]   The University of Chicago English Literature professor Norman Maclean (1902-1990), who himself had experience as a fire fighter, happened to be in town and took the time to visit the fire even as it still burned. The men who perished were mostly in their early twenties and their stories haunted Maclean until he retired from teaching decades later and began writing about them.   He begins his book Young Men and Fire saying, “The problem of self-identity is not just a problem for the young. It is a problem for all the time. Perhaps the problem. It should haunt old age, and when it no longer does it should tell you that you are dead.” [2]   Maclean found his self-identity wrapped up in the tragedy. And so he studied what happened intently: the physics of fire (how a blowup happens and burns uphill), the geology, weather, terrain and botany of that particular river valley and hillside, safety changes that the tragedy inspired at the Forest Service.   Maclean notes that from the arrangement of the bodies rescue crews observed that most men had fallen and gotten up again. He writes, “at the very end beyond thought and beyond fear and beyond even self-compassion and divine bewilderment there remains some firm intention to continue doing forever... what we last hoped to do on earth.”   His last paragraph says, “I, an old man, have written this fire report… it was important to me, as an exercise for old age, to enlarge my knowledge and spirit so I could accompany young men, whose lives I might have lived, on their way to death. I have climbed where they have climbed, and in my time I have fought fire and inquired into its nature… I have lived to get a better understanding of myself and those close to me, many of them now dead… I have often found myself thinking of my wife on her brave and lonely way to death.”   2. What stands in the way of having a deeper faith? This week in a group my friend Chris directed this question to me. At first I didn't say anything and let the conversation flow. I had in mind the writer Mary Karr's observation that, “Talking about spiritual activity to a secular audience is like doing card tricks on the radio.” [3] But then another friend asked me the same question. So let me try to answer here.   I do not think that the major obstacle to deeper faith has much to do with belief. This is made more complicated because in our time of relative spiritual naiveté many people do not seem aware that we have to learn an adult faith. Paul writes, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways” (1 Cor. 13:11).   Another factor is that many modern people feel that they don't have enough time to come to church or pray. Their work life and other obligations squeeze everything else out. Twenty years ago Robert Putnam pointed out that instead of joining bowling leagues as they once did many people are bowling alone. In other words, people are more isolated and not joining groups and civic organizations in the way they once did. Some people may have an idea of who they might find in a church and simply do not want to be around that kind of person. I can imagine someone with integrity being afraid that faith creates an obligation to take care of other people. And it does.   Despair is also a barrier. Some look at pain in the world and think God is at fault or that this proves there is no God. They have never been introduced to a more subtle form of faith in a God who suffers along with us in the person of Jesus.   I did not say any of this in our conversation. Instead I offered a short response and said: A profound barrier to having faith in our time is rapidly accelerating capitalism. This worldview has become so pervasive today that we are living examples of David Foster Wallace's joke. You remember the old fish swims past two younger ones and says, “How's the water?” The younger fishes swims on for a bit. Then one turns to the other and says, “What the heck is water?” [4]   What I mean by capitalism is an expanding set of values that colonizes our inner life and every domain of our daily experience. This includes a sense that the world is inert or dead, that everything can be measured objectively and valued. It makes our interactions into transactions. It turns gifts into investments and makes non-work activities seem somehow wasteful.   This kind of consciousness leads us to see ourselves as insatiable consumers who can never get enough and others as means to our own ends. It erodes a sense of gratitude and implies that good things have all been earned. It makes radically accelerating inequality seem inevitable even when this destabilizes democracy (and all other forms of community). Above all in our case capitalism is leading us to an extreme individualism that does radical damage to human dignity.   In response, my friends talked about how great life is in the twenty-first century and how it was not that long ago when half of Americans did not have access to warm showers. And I told them about how a society's income inequality is directly correlated with mental illness, and about the misery I encountered that day going twice through the Tenderloin among people suffering so gravely from mental illness and addiction.   I have a friend who lives in a small city apartment. Yes, she has a hot shower. But she wants me to call her every week because she is so alone that no one will even notice when she dies.   Climate scientist Gus Speth writes, “I used to think the top global environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, and climate change. I thought with 30 years of good science we could address those problems, but I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed, and apathy – and to deal with these we need a spiritual and cultural transformation and we scientists don't know how to do that.” [5]   3. My friends should have asked a more interesting question, “what can remove these obstacles to faith?” The English translation of today's gospel states that those going out to see John the Baptist were “filled with expectation.” A better translation of this (prosdokōntos) would be foreboding or dread. That was not the world of what some would prematurely call late stage capitalism, but the shocking violence of those times would not be entirely unfamiliar to us.   Did you wonder about the verses that were omitted in our reading (Luke 3:18-20)? They interject a short reference to King Herod who later killed John in prison. And yet Luke writes, “John proclaimed the good news to the people” (Lk. 3). What is this good news? First, even though our inner lives seem thoroughly colonized by a world picture that seems to be leading to the death of our humanity and our planet, we can be changed. The word Luke uses is metanoia and means a change of mind or heart which we call repentance.   Second, don't be confused and think that there are some people who are wheat and others who are chaff. Just as a single grain has both parts, each of us do too. And through prayer we have Jesus' help as we try to separate what is good in our life so that it will thrive and minimize the prejudices and destructive thoughts that distort us.   Finally, let me assure you that deeper than all our thoughts there is a place within us where we can meet God. That voice that speaks quietly to Jesus says the same thing to us too. If you listen this morning you will hear in your own way God saying, “You are my child, my beloved, with you I am well pleased” (Lk. 3).   My friends what stands in the way of having a deeper faith – not just in general, but for you? The world around us is burning. 153,000 LA County residents are under mandatory evacuation orders and an area greater than the size of San Francisco has been reduced to ash. Our governor and next president are publicly feuding. [6] Many of us feel a sense of foreboding as if we were trapped halfway up a hill only just above the rising flames.   Through a lifetime of studying their story Norman Maclean saw similarities between those young men each one knowing he was alone at his death and Jesus. In Young Men and Fire Maclean writes about the group's foreman Wagner Dodge who lit a safety fire and tried to convince his men to follow him into the protection of the already charred land. Strangely enough going toward and more deeply into the fire was ultimately what saved his life. Perhaps this is true for us also. In our time we have fought fire and inquired into its nature. Each of us is trying to reach a higher ridge. After we have lived for a better understanding of ourselves and those close to us we each arrive at the same place. And at the very end beyond thought and beyond fear and beyond even self-compassion that is where we meet the one who has climbed everywhere we have climbed, the one who is closer to us than we are to ourselves. And we shall hear the voice of the One who loves us. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_Gulch_fire [2] Norman Maclean, Young Men and Fire (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992) xiii, 300-1. [3] Matthew Boulton, “Theologian's Almanac,” SALT, 12 January 2025. https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2025/1/7/theologians-almanac-for-week-of-january-12-2025 [4] David Foster Wallace, “This Is Water,” Commencement Speech, Kenyon College, 2005. https://fs.blog/david-foster-wallace-this-is-water/ [5] Cited in a letter from Rev'd Dr. Vincent Pizzuto sent on Friday 10 January 2025. [6] https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/11/us/los-angeles-fires-california

5 January 2025 Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA   Jeremiah 31:7-14 Psalm 84:1-12 Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-19a Matthew 2:1-12    

The Rev. Joe Williams 29 December 2024 Grace Cathedral, San Francisco CA   Isaiah 60:10-62.3 Psalm 147:13-21 Galatians 3:23-25, 4:4-7 John 1:1-18

“How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven” (Phillips Brooks). Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2E76 Christmas Eve 11:00 p.m. Eucharist Tuesday 24 December 2024 | Austin Rios' First Xmas at GC Isaiah 9:2-7 Psalm 96:1-4, 11-13 Titus 2:11-14 Luke 2:1-20 What for you is god? By god I mean, your goal, where your life is going. I mean what is most real to you. The answer to this question is not theoretical or abstract. It will determine the entire character and direction of your life. It will dictate how you spend your time and what you think about.  

The Rt. Rev. Ausitn Keith Rios, Bishop of California   The Eve of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA   Isaiah 62:6-12 Psalm 97:1-2, 6-9, 11-12 Titus 3:4-7 Luke 2:8-20

The Eve of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ 24 December 2024 - 4 p.m. A Festival of Lessons and Carols Some early childhood Christmases in my native Ohio were spent at my aunt's home in Youngstown, where my father was born. His mother, Grandma Mary, was still on this side of heaven and holding forth from the kitchen, bracciole and hot sausages simmering in her pot. What I remember most after the smells, was the travel. An hour's drive in the snow and ice, my dad's hands flying from the wheel as he issued commentary on the evening, me braced between my younger sisters in adjoining car seats, and my mom pregnant with our next sister, calming us with songs of Judy Collins. All of us were draped with blankets, guarding us from the unreliable heat of an aging Volkswagen Rabbit.

The Rev. Canon Mary Carter Greene , Canon Pastor Eucharist, Advent 4, - December 22, 2024 Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA   Micah 5.2-5a Canticle 15 (Luke 1:46-55) Hebrews 10.5-10 Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)

The Rev. Canon Anna E. Rossi Canon Precentor and Director of Interfaith Engagement Zephaniah 3:14-20 Philippians 4:4-7 Luke 3:7-18

“Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low… and all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3).   Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2E75                                      2 Advent (Year C) 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. Eucharist                           Sunday 8 December 2024                                                                   Baruch 5:1-9 Canticle 16 (Luke 1:68-79) Philippians 1: 3-11 Luke 3:1-6

Advent 1 2024 The Rev. Cn. MC Greene 8:30 AM and 11:00 service