Grace Cathedral

I'm really grateful to Canon Rick Johnson at Grace Cathedral--he had a nice profile written about my work as a cantor published on the fantastic Grace Cathedral website. The Sundays at Six service has been so marvelous for me these past two years--I was there when they started it, and Christopher Putnam hired me in an effort to add more contemporary music and a shorter, less structured service for people who weren't as interested in the full morning mass. It's just so unusual--a few Sundays ago, Canon Johnson had a short film shown in place of the homily, called Parable. It was shown at the 1965 World's Fair, and tells the story of Jesus as if he were a circus clown. I found it so moving--I think they may still have this available on the Grace.com website. I recommend reading the amazing quotes from Alan Jones, dean of the cathedral, too. Very inspiring words, such as this one, which I added to my personal quotes file:

"We use the phrase 'going live' to describe an experience when life in all its fullness and fragility breaks upon our consciousness, when the here and now is as exciting as it gets. Real-time performance with all its inherent risks and rewards. Knowing what an awesome thing it is to be alive and aware. (The alternative is 'going dead' — an insidious process that can happen almost without our noticing as we pursue our busy lives, and that distorts and impoverishes our vision of life.)"
— Seasons of Grace

I can't say enough that I wouldn't even have gotten this gig if it weren't for my mother, Christine Leigh-Taylor, who was ordained at Grace Cathedral as an Episcopal priest in June 2002.