A weekend in San Francisco - Part 2

After our tour of the Maritime Historical Park, we went to Ghiradelli Square and sampled some chocolate (always a treat!) and then walked to the Aquatic Park and watched the boats and the people for a while. We were so fortunate to have such clear and mild weather this time of year. It was cool enough to walk without becoming too uncomfortable, and warm enough that our light jackets and jeans were sufficient. And the sunshine! How did we get so lucky to have this much sunshine in San Francisco. I always think of it as being foggy. No matter where you looked, the view was spectacular.


We took the cable car back to Union Square and came across an event conducted by the Falun Gong. They had a lot of art work, depicting their purpose, on display, and they were having sort of a recital by some of the cutest little girls. They weren't a bit disconcerted by their huge audience, and watching them was thoroughly enjoyable.

One of the first times we had heard much of the Falun Gong was when we were traveling through Austria and we were stopped by the local police just before we arrived at St. Wolfgang . We didn't know what was going on at the time, but we saw a man in a yellow jacket, and it looked like he was having problems with the authorities. As it turned out, he was a member of Falun Gong, and the authorities were concerned about what might happen in St. Wolfgang if Falun Gong were allowed to protest during a visit by a high-ranking Chinese dignitary. After that time, of course, we heard and read more about Falun Gong and the injustices they have suffered.



The art work was highly stylized, but when I stop to think about it, I suppose most religious art work is stylized. What struck me, though, was that they depicted the victims as already reaching a state of bliss even while undergoing the torture that was the subject of the picture.



Having become old hands at riding the cable car, we set out Sunday morning for church. Except for this old lady who had a camera in her hands, snapping everything in sight, we could have been mistaken for locals! We could tell we're getting older, because we had to keep consulting our map (which is really ragged and torn now) to make sure what we thought we were supposed to do is what we really needed to do. We used to say that given 24 hours, we could pretty well memorize how to get around any town. That's still true, to a large degree; but, thank goodness, we've gained wisdom to equal our years and realize that we shouldn't always always trust our memories these days.

Church at Grace Cathedral was very interesting. This was the high liturgical setting (always impressive), and at the first of the service, the pastor called for all those who were to be baptised to process to the back of the church. There were, at our count, 20 baptisms, four of which were adult baptisms. Baptisms are always moving, and these baptisms were, as well. The church was very full. We don't know if this is typical for the 11:00 service or if there were so many just because this was a special Sunday. We were glad we went. The Anglican or Episcopal tradition, as a liturgical tradition, is similar to ours in the LCMS; but Anglican beliefs are much more liberal than LCMS. I enjoy the way they open their arms to everyone who comes to their doors, and this service - because it was so formal and so many people were there - made me wonder if this is what a church should be like. One doesn't know, but I do believe it's good to think about how others celebrate and live their Christianity.

To be continued (and concluded) in the next installment ...

On a side note, my Bernina is all well again. It's SOOO.... nice to have a Bernina shop here in Poway!