Welcome to St. Alban’s Church! Every Sunday, and most days in between, people gather in this place to worship, to learn, to grow, to share the joys and struggles of our lives, and to seek God’s grace in the midst of our lives. We do not come because we have it all figured out, but because we are seeking light on the way. We come as we are and welcome one another.
On this website, you can find information about our worship, our classes for people of all ages, membership at St. Alban's, and about how we seek to make a difference in this world. We warmly encourage you to join us for a Sunday service or for some of the many other events that happen here. You belong at St. Alban’s.
Please fill out this welcome form to connect with us.
Contact us with any questions. Call (202) 363-8286 or email the church office.
Beginning on Trinity Sunday, May 30, 2021, worship will be open to anyone without pre-registration or distancing requirements. We will continue requiring that worshippers be masked for now.
Our schedule of services will remain the same throughout the summer:
- 9:00 a.m. (English) in the church
- 10:30 a.m. (English) in the church
- Noon (Spanish) in Nourse Hall
Communion in one kind (i.e. wafers) will be offered at the main altar, although we will happily bring communion to those for whom steps are challenging.
Masked hymn singing both indoors and outdoors will be permitted, and music will be supported by a soloist and organ.
On-line worship services in English and Spanish are available on Sundays beginning at 8:00 a.m. on our YouTube channel.
St. Alban’s Episcopal Church is located next to the Washington National Cathedral at the corner of Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues in the northwest section of the District of Columbia.
From either direction on the north loop of the Capital Beltway/I-495 follow signs for Route 355/Wisconsin Ave south toward DC. St. Alban’s is located on the left just before the intersection of Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues NW. Make a left onto Lych Gate Rd before you reach Massachusetts Ave. As you enter the drive, the church will be on your left and Satterlee Hall and the Rectory on the right. Stay on Lych Gate until it becomes Pilgrim Rd.
From any Virginia main in-bound thoroughfare (George Washington Memorial Parkway, I-395, Route 50, I-66), follow signs to Rosslyn and take the Key Bridge from Rosslyn north across the Potomac River into Georgetown. Go right on M St, left on Wisconsin Ave. St. Alban’s is located on the right just after the intersection of Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues NW. Make a right onto Lych Gate Rd after passing Massachusetts. As you enter the drive, the church will be on your left and Satterlee Hall and the Rectory on the right. Stay on Lych Gate until it becomes Pilgrim Rd.
Parking is available on Pilgrim Road Monday-Friday after 3:30 pm and all day Saturday and Sunday. Parking is also available in the Cathedral’s underground garage for a fee Monday- Saturday and for free on Sunday. You may also park on neighborhood streets according to DC parking signs.
Visiting a church for the first time can be a bit daunting. So we have tried to put together the answers to some of the questions you’re likely to have and to ensure that you find a warm welcome here. Click on the questions to learn more.)
What time are services on Sunday morning?
At St. Alban’s Parish the formation of our children is a high priority. While we know that a significant amount of a child’s faith comes from the home, we aim to provide excellent children’s formation throughout the year to complement the formation that is ongoing in a child’s life. Our goal is to help children easily point to the love of God in their lives.
Worship: Children’s Chapel meets at the start of the 9:00 a.m. service in Nourse Hall. Children join the congregation in "big church" at the Peace, in time for Eucharist.
Education: All church school classes resume the Sunday after Labor Day with our annual Open House. Instruction starts the following Sunday.
Nursery care: Child care is available from 9:00 to 11:05 a.m. during the program year (September to May) for infants and children under 3 who aren’t quite ready for our 2s & 3s class.
Learn more about Children's Ministries
Four teen groups participate in formation classes at St. Alban’s on Sunday mornings. We use the nationally recognized Episcopal curriculum “Journey to Adulthood," or J2A. J2A has two guiding principles: 1) Manhood and womanhood are gifts of God; and 2) Adulthood must be earned. This is a strong program with over 50 youth participating, many of whom engage in a wide variety of ministries at St. Alban’s. Two or three adults mentor each of the groups for two years, sharing their own faith journeys and forming strong bonds of fellowship with the participants.
Worship: St. Alban’s Teen Service Fellowship starts at 9:00 a.m. and is a separate service just for our teens held in the Little Sanctuary at St. Albans School. This interactive service offers teens time to talk about life, the Gospel, and to celebrate Eucharist together. The teens return to "big church," before heading to their classes at the conclusion of the 9:00 a.m. worship service. Friends are always welcome.
As Episcopalians, we follow Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe God is active in our everyday lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and with each other in Christ. The Church pursues its mission as it prays and worships, proclaims the gospel, and promotes justice, peace and love. The Church carries out its mission through the ministry of all of its members.
We uphold the Bible and worship with the Book of Common Prayer. We believe the Holy Scriptures are the revealed Word of God. In worship we unite ourselves with one another to acknowledge the holiness of God, to hear God's Word, to offer prayer and praise, and to celebrate the Sacraments. The Celebration of Holy Eucharist is the central act of worship in accordance with Jesus' command to His disciples. Holy Communion may be received by all baptized Christians, not only members of the Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal Church is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion with 70 million members in 165 countries. The word "Episcopal" refers to government by bishops. The historic episcopate continues the work of the first apostles in the Church, guarding the faith, unity and discipline of the Church. Both men and women, including those who are married, are eligible for ordination as deacons, priests and bishops.
We strive to love our neighbors as ourselves and respect the dignity of every person. We welcome all to find a spiritual home in the Episcopal Church.
A few years ago, my friend Drew went down to the post office because he needed to mail a package. When he got there, the place was full, the line snaking out the door. It turned out that one the postage scales was broken, and the people behind the desk couldn't help anyone until they managed to...
Most summers, my mother and I travel to Vermont to attend a chamber music festival that we've been going to since I was about fourteen years old. By now, the trip is a familiar one: we know the landmarks, the curves in the road, the restaurants, the silhouette of the mountains against an...
The strangest Independence Day party I ever attended was held in London in the early 1990s. I was spending the summer in London, doing an internship at a development bank, which is a fancy way to say that I'd found a way to spend some time in a world-class city, and I intended to make the most...
Those of you who read this blog regularly may have noticed that our postings were a bit ..."unusual"... last week. Ron Hicks posted a wonderful post about never knowing the last time you would do something, and then it went out again, and again. By Thursday, the church...
For the last few weeks, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has been hosting a festival of Irish culture, celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the Easter Uprising. I was privileged to attend the final concert last weekend; it was an amazing celebration of raw creative power. The...
For the last few weeks, I have been anticipating the Sunday on which our parish will change to our summer worship schedule. During the year, our Sunday mornings are packed: the clergy and other key staff members (and many of our parishioners who give their time in various ways) find ourselves...
When you are ministering in a church, you are in the business of planting seeds. Every worship service, every sermon, every class, every service opportunity, every conversation is an opportunity to speak a word or make a gesture that will bear fruit in someone's soul. Today I want to share with...
Last night was a tough evening for me. One of our major political parties pretty much handed the nomination to a racist bigot, many of whose ideas would involve significant injury to groups of people that the Bible commands us to protect. We’ve been seeing this coming for a while now, but...
Last weekend, I went with a group of parishioners to Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, New York. The monastery is home to a community of Episcopalian monks. (This confuses some people, since the one thing everyone remembers from studying the English Reformation, other than Henry VIII’s...
Last week, Jim Quigley (who writes this blog on Mondays) came into my office, face lit up like Christmas, and said, “You’ve got to come see the art in the basement!” Now, in his former life, Jim was a painter and metalworker, so I figured maybe he had a new piece to show me...