Sermons from Grace Cathedral

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Marc Handley Andrus

Acts 10:34-43 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Mark 16:1-8

The Rev. Canon Anna E. Rossi

Exodus 12:1-14 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 John 13:1-17, 31b-35

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

“Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord” (Mk. 11)!   Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2E17 Palm and Passion Sunday (Year B) 11 a.m. Eucharist Sunday 24 March 2024   Mark 11:1-11 Isaiah 50:4-9a Philippians 2:5-11 Mark 14:1—15:47   “[T]here is nothing that requires as gentle a treatment as the removal of an illusion.” We saw this in COVID misinformation and today in political speeches about “white replacement,” the “Deep State” and the “stolen el...

The Rev. Joe C. WIlliams

 Numbers 21:4-9 Ephesians 2:1-10 John 3:14-21

The Fury of Jesus

Exodus 20:1-17 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 John 2:13-22

The Only Act Worthy of You

For what would we give our lives? Peter fumbles this spectacularly in today's gospel. Jesus was teaching openly that he was going to suffer, it was a matter of fact, a condition of his — and our — living, The response of the Spirit to suffering is compassion, or presence and companionship with the one who suffers. Instead, Peter does something that may be intimately familiar to us: he tries to "fix" it. He wants to make it go away. He clings to his own ideas of what ought to be, and rather t...

Invitation to See

The Very Re. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

“Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isa. 40). The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2E8, P5 5 Epiphany (Year B) 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Eucharist Sunday 4 February 2024 Isaiah 40:21-31 Psalm 147:1-12 1 Cor. 9:16-23 Mark 1:29-39

The Rev. John Dear

The Rev. John Dear is an internationally recognized voice and leader for peace and nonviolence. A priest, activist, and author, he served for years as the director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. The author of forty books, including They Will Inherit the Earth and Lazarus, Come Forth!, Father John is founder and director of The Beatitudes Center for the Nonviolent Jesus, where he hosts and offers virtual workshops on Jesus and nonviolence. He was nominated several times for the Nobel Pe...

The Rev. Dr. Laurie Garrett-Cobbina

The Rev. Dr. Laurie Garrett-Cobbina Dean of the San Francisco Theological Seminary, Shaw Chair for CPE Program, and Professor of Pastoral Care and Education at San Francisco Theological Seminary/University of Redlands, San Anselmo, CA. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King legacy we gather to celebrate today matters. Just as Jesus revealed the power and glory of God through how he acted, what he said, who he befriended, who he included, Martin Luther King’s prophetic ministry reveals somethi...

In the Beginning

The Rev. Canon Anna Rossi

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA Christmas Eve 4:00pm Festival of Lessons & Carols Sunday 24 December 2023

The Rev. Canon Dr. Greg Kimura

 Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8,19-28 

The Rev. Canon Dr. Greg Kimura

 Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8,19-28 

The Rev. Canon Dr. Greg Kimura

 Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8,19-28 

The Rev. Canon Dr. Greg Kimura

 Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8,19-28 

The Rev. Canon Dr. Greg Kimura

 Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8,19-28 

The Rev. Canon Dr. Greg Kimura

 Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8,19-28 

The Rev. Canon Mary Carter Greene

40: 1-11 2 Peter 3: 8-15a Mark 1: 1-8

The Rev. Canon Mary Carter Green

Today is a day of invitations and explorations.   Throughout the day, during the service and beyond, we are invited to observe the Children’s Sabbath, a day inspired by the Children’s Defense Fund, when faith groups celebrate childhood and tune into the concerns of children, youth, and families.  We will celebrate our children in a few ways:  To begin, we remember the children of the previous generation in this altar frontal made by Grace Cathedral’s young people ~25 years ago.  And we...

Keeping Pure

August 20th, 2023 Grace Cathedral, San Francisco

The Rev. Dr. Greg Kimura

Sunday 13 August, 2023 Grace Cathedral, San Francisco Genesis 37: 1-4, 12-28 Romans 10:5-15 Matthew 14: 22-33

The Rev. Joe C. Williams

The Very Rev. Malcolm Clemens Young

Jesus says, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28). The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young, Dean Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2D35 Trinity Sunday (Year A) 8:30 a.m. & 11:00 a.m. Eucharist Sunday 4 June 2023 Genesis 1:1-2:4a Psalm 8 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Matthew 28:16-20

The Rev. Timothy Seamans

Chaplain, Cathedral School for Boys

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Young

The Rev. Canon Mary Carter Greene

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

“Your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3). Acts 10:34-43 Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 Colossians 3:1-4 Matthew 28:1-10 When are you most fully alive? My friend Rhonda Magee felt fully alive when she was sixteen years old. The world was opening up, college was around the corner. Life had not been easy but she had reason to hope. Rhonda and a boy named Jake were head over heels in love. Then just before she left town for a summer university course, he told her over the phone, “My fat...

The Rev. Canon Mary Carter Greene

Mary Lomax-Ghirarduzzi

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done” (Jn. 4)! The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young, Dean Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2D17 3 Lent (Year A) 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Eucharist Sunday 12 March 2023 Exodus 17:1-7 Psalm 95:1-2, 6-11 Romans 5:1-11 John 4:5-42

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2D14 1 Lent (Year A) 11:00 a.m. Eucharist Sunday 26 February 2023 Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7 Psalm 32 Romans 5:12-19 Matthew 4:1-11 Often I start with a question but today I want to finish with one. Sixty years ago President John F. Kennedy, full of confidence in modern science, made two predictions. First, that within a decade a human being would walk on the moon. And second, that science would, “make the remote reaches of the human mind accessib...

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

“And Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid…” (Mt. 17). Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2D12 Last Epiphany (Year A) 11:00 a.m. Sunday 19 February 2023 Exodus 24:12-18 Psalm 99:1-8 2 Peter 1:16-21 Matthew 17:1-9 Last week in an email my friend Hugh Morgan observed that when it comes to social justice the Old Testament prophets sound strikingly modern to him. He wonders if the Old Testament has a stronger social justice message than the New Testam...

The Rt. Rev. Deon Johnson

Grace Cathedral is honored to welcome the Rt. Rev. Deon K. Johnson, the 11th Bishop of Missouri, and the first Black gay bishop in The Episcopal Church, to the pulpit. Bishop Johnson is passionate about justice and human dignity and reflecting those commitments in the church’s liturgy. Bishop Johnson has been a fierce advocate for LGBTQ inclusion and led nonviolent protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd. Most recently, he is among the 13 faith leaders to sue the State of Missouri ...

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

“[N]ow we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit that is from God” (2 Cor. 2:1). Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2D9  5 Epiphany (Year A) 11:00 a.m.  Sunday 5 February 2023                                       Isaiah 58:1-9a Psalm 112:1-9 2 Corinthians 2:1-12 Matthew 5:13-20    You are the salt of the earth. At 6:00 p.m., at the height of the century’s worst winter storm, I put on waterproof biking pants and a jacket to go walking in the darkness. Rain ...

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear” (Ps. 27)? Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2D6 3 Epiphany (Year A) 11:00 a.m. & 6:00 p.m. Eucharist Sunday 22 January 2023 Isaiah 9:1-4 Psalm 27:1, 4-9 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 Matthew 4:12-23 What new season of life are you entering? How will you need to change? What relationship will you have with God?

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

“You are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1). Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2D2 2 Epiphany (Year A) 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Eucharist Sunday 15 January 2023 Isaiah 49:1-7 Psalm 40:1-12 1 Cor. 1:1-9 John 1:29-42

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2C54 Christmas Eve (Proper 1) 11:00 p.m. Eucharist Saturday 24 December 2022 (also preached a L&C at 4:00 p.m.) Isaiah 9:2-7 Psalm 96 Titus 2:11-14 Luke 2:1-20 Imagine your existence as an hourglass, the bottom globe filling with sand until the time appointed for your life has ended. We do not know how much sand the top globe holds, how much time we have left. On this holy night when we do not have to pretend let me ask this. How are you doing...

The Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2C53 Christmas Eve (Proper 1) 4:00 p.m. Lessons and Carols Saturday 24 December 2022 Also preaching at 11 p.m. Mt. 2:1-1, Jn. 1:1-18 Lk. 2:1-7, Lk. 2:8-20 Isa. 7:10-14, Lk. 1:26-38 Gen. 1:1-5, Isa. 35:1-10 Merry Christmas! When I have to say something difficult or controversial from this pulpit I often look up and draw courage from this stained glass window of the warrior St. Martin. It reminds me of the people at St. Martin’s Church in Davis,...

The Rev. Timothy Seamans

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

Malcolm Clemens Young                                                                        Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA 2C51                                            2 Advent (Year A) 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Eucharist                    Sunday 4 December 2022                                                                       Isaiah 11:1-10 Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19 Romans 15:4-13 Matthew 3:1-12 Are There Reasons to Have Hope? An Introduction to the Gospel of Matthew “What...

The Rev. Mary Carter Greene

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

The Invisible Beauty “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him” (Lk. 24). Forms of beauty exist that we are only dimly aware of. So much happens that we fail to notice. We never experience some of the most beautiful phenomena in nature. Have you ever been in the Pacific Ocean and seen the sun rise over the continent? The light creates a brilliant golden path over the water that seems to go right to you. Under certain conditions, when you are far out beyond the impact zone, a...

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

“Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to [God] all of them are alive” (Lk. 20). Haggai 1:15b-2:9 Psalm 149 Luke 20:27-38 What happens after you die? Jesus cares so intensely about the present moment that he does not say much about this, except that our fear of death influences how we live.   As a freshman at Harvard College my old teacher Cornel West hung two pictures on his wall: Malcolm X and Albert Einstein. His roommate James Brown, (not the singer but the ma...

Dolores Huerta

Dolores Huerta Civil Rights Activist October 23, 2022 Grace Cathedral San Francisco, CA 

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young

“I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God” (Jer. 31).                                                                    Jeremiah 31:27-34 Psalm 119:97-104 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 Luke 18:1-8 “When the Son of humanity comes will he find faith on earth” (Lk. 18)? These words from two thousand years ago are the defining question of our time. This week the House Committee on the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol concluded its hearings....

The Very Rev. Malcolm Clemens Young, ThD

"No slave can serve two masters… You cannot serve God and wealth.” Luke 16 Jeremiah 8:18--9:1 Psalm 79:1-9 1 Timothy 2:1-7 Luke 16:1-13 I have been dwelling on Jesus’ parable about the fired manager over the last few months. In an instant the shock of losing everything seizes him. A sense of inadequacy, worthlessness and humiliation confronts us when we do not have enough to provide for those we love. This terror may be completely foreign to you, it may have come and gone in differ...

The Rev. Canon Anna E. Rossi

In today's Gospel, Jesus heals a woman who has been bent over for 18 years, and she is able to stand up again. He does this on the Sabbath, and it is by standing up that she is able to participate in the community's rest again. The gospel, like a quilt, offers a powerful illustration of how we are bound together, woven stories with threads of both harm and healing. RCL Proper 16C: Jeremiah 1:4-10, Psalm 71:1-6, Hebrews 12:18-29, Luke 13:10-17

The Rev. Canon Jude Harmon