Celebrating Alan Jones

Today the Very Reverend Alan Jones retired as the Dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. 

Here he is on July 17, 2008 with Mayor Gavin Newsom and PG&E's Nancy McFadden announcing solar panels on the cathedral.

In honor of this great spiritual leader and thinker of our time, I wanted to share a few of the profound statements Alan spoke, in his deep eloquent English accent, during his sermons on Sunday mornings:

"Be what you see. Receive who you are. "

"We are all artists; we are all works of art. Art, music and nature connect us to the mystery of life."

"Hope is incarnate in our DNA. Our end is not knowable; therefore, I hope."

"The visible is a link to the invisible. The world is full of things waiting to be seen."

"Lose yourself. Find yourself. It is what we do with our scars that matters."

"When you look into another's eyes, remember there is a struggle going on."

"Be outraged. Use it as an engine of love. Allow love to reimagine the world."

"Is there something worth dying for?  Is there something worth living for?"

"True love knows no grasping."

"Something different is asked of each of us in this life."

"The universe belongs to the dancer. I cannot find myself by myself. I am because you are."

"There will be no more green jello served at meetings."  (Yes, Alan had a wicked sense of humor!)

Alan Jones has a deep heart of green and embraced our Stewardship of Creation committee, oversaw the installation of solar panels on the cathedral's roof, invited Jane Goodall to speak at the Forum, and delivered stirring sermons about the sustainability of the planet on St. Francis day - the day when everyone brings their pets to be blessed in a kind of wonderful bedlam punctuated by opportune barking moments and an occasional meow. Alan, we will miss your brilliance, your humor, your moving words, and your presence. 

If you visit Grace Cathedral, you will see two extraordinary labyrinths you can walk - one inside and one outside - modeled after the famous one in the Chartres Cathedral near Paris.

For more of  Alan Jones, please see the podcasts on the Grace Cathedral web site and his many books about religion and the journey of the soul in our modern world. He is at his essence interdenominational and welcoming regardless of one's faith and always said, "A cathedral is a sign of our call to be inclusive and compassionate toward the whole human family. A cathedral is a house of prayer for all people."

Congratulations to the Rev. Canon Sally Bingham, the Environmental Minister at Grace Cathedral, on her new book Love God, Heal Earth, a historic collection of essays by 21 of the leading religious voices about protecting the environment. For Sally, the environment is an issue of compassion and love for our home and for others, not an issue of politics. Sally is the founder and president of the Regeneration Project and Interfaith Power & Light, which has more than 4,000 congregations to date. Now that is truly the good news!