No visit to San Francisco would be complete without a visit to the Sunday celebration at GlideMemorialChurch, a counter-culture rallying point and one of the most liberal churches in the United States.
At today’s celebration, new pastor Reverend Douglass Fitch delivered a rabble-rousing, impassioned sermon indicting the war in Iraq and urging engagement through self-transformation. Fitch’s superb testifying would move the stoutest non-believer and he even had me praising the Lord for a second or two.
But Glide is Methodist-lite, and the religion is secondary to what the place is really about - the healing transformation it brings to thousands of San Franciscans. Glide has been a force for change for over fifty years, and a leader in the ongoing fight against Homelessness, AIDS, Poverty, and all aspects of social and spiritual change including Gender Rights, Race Relations and Health Care.
The music, as always at Glide, was superb. Clapping, swaying and raising the rafters with the spirit of empowerment, the 100+ member Glide Ensemble is the embodiment of Glide's celebration of diversity, acceptance, and unconditional love. If their inspiring blend of gospel, blues and jazz doesn’t instill you with a jubilant sense of transformation, you definitely have some recovery ahead of you.
Glide's Guiding Light, The Reverend Cecil Williams:
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