San Francisco #3

My original thought on going to San Francisco was to see three ballgames, two at Oakland's Coliseum against the Blue Jays and one at the Giant's AT&T Park. One of the three would have to be on Sunday afternoon (and I have never, ever, attended a professional ballgame on Sunday.)

But it just so happened that on the Sunday before I left, the sermon was on the subject of "being where God wants you to be", and I had mentioned that I expected to be worshipping at Grace Cathedral. Then I discovered that the Cathedral holds it's main service at 11am. 11am at Grace Cathedral and 1:05pm at AT&T Park would be iffy. "Why is he preaching so long?", I'd be thinking. "I wish there were fewer people - Communion is taking too long." It was clear God didn't want me to be attending that ballgame on Sunday afternoon, so I changed plans and did a tour of the Giant's park on Saturday morning instead.

And it's a beautiful ballpark, if you're into ballparks. Everything about it seems right -

even the fact that the statue of Willie McCovey is on the far side of the McCovey "Splash" Cove, where you can barely see it.

The grass is immaculate,

there is a mini-diamond for kids,

the view of the city is beautiful

and Willie Mays seems to be everywhere.

And then there's me and the Coke bottle.

.

In Oakland, just across the Bay, (you can walk over the Bay Bridge or take the BART train system underneath the Bay) the Jays split the two games I attended. On the Saturday evening there was a great crowd because Rickey "Rickey is so humble" Henderson's number was being retired. I sat in the cheap seats and took some good-natured ribbing from the A's fans, but that was the game we won. The Coliseum is not nearly as memorable as AT&T Park, so it's good that I took a picture.

Church on Sunday at Grace Cathedral was a positive experience with an encouraging attendance.


If I were living in San Francisco I probably would worship elsewhere simple because of the style of service music there. But then perhaps I'd wander over to the Cathedral afterwards because they serve a nice community lunch out on the plaza!