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Welcome

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.

 

Service Times

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.

 

 

Directions

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.

What to Expect

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.)

How do you worship?

What time are services on Sunday morning?

How long do services last?

Where can I park?

Do you offer programs for children?

What should I wear?

Do you have provisions for the differently-abled?

For Your Kids

Children’s Ministry

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


Youth Ministry

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.

Learn more about Youth Ministries

The Episcopal Church

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.

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Faith Talk - The Call of Epiphany

The Call of Epiphany

Posted by The Rev'd Jim Quigley on

Yesterday afternoon I dismantled my Christmas tree.  Yesterday morning I preached a sermon called "Keeping Covenant" at St. Alban's Church.  It wasn't so much a sermon as an apologetic (as in a formal defense or justification for something) arguing the significance of the season of Epiphany in the church.  I did so because it seemed to me as I was writing the sermon that Epiphany, the season between Christmas and Lent in the liturgical year, gets short shrift and suffers a bit from what a developmental psychologist might call Middle Child Syndrome.  I worried that with the holidays now over we in the church relax a bit as we move toward Lent and Easter, leaving Epiphany out in the cold (literally!).

The lectionary texts from the New Testament for the Sundays of Epiphany this year begin with the Baptism of Jesus by John in the river Jordan, an event that includes the Spirit of God descending on Jesus as the skies open and a heavenly voice declaring, "This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased."  That's the moment that marks the beginning of Jesus' public ministry and a mission including healing, teaching, prophetic preaching and disciple calling.  As noted in yesterday's sermon, over the next seven weeks of the season we'll hear some of the most radically demanding claims for ethical and social responsibility and authentic religiosity in texts from Isaiah, Micah, Deuteronomy and Leviticus in the Hebrew Scriptures and in The Sermon on the Mount from Matthew's gospel in the New Testament.  There's both a corporate and an individual dimension to the calling of these texts but to me they stress the former; to the need for just social structures and for the church and synagogue (and mosque) to be radical proponents of the same.  The season of Epiphany will end with the same heavenly declaration with which it began as Jesus, glowing like a light bulb, stands transfigured as the voice from heaven declares for a second time, "This is my son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased, listen to him."  It seems to me that these heavenly proclamations are like bookends that hold the season upright.  Epiphany begins at the outset of Jesus' public ministry with the proclamation that he is God's beloved, then continues with a portrait of who he was and how he came to understand his mission (a mission derived from his reading of Holy Scripture - that being the scriptures of the Old Testament), and ends with something like this: "Now that you know why this Jesus is beloved to me, now that you know what he (and I) ask of you, can you listen to him?"  Listen, in this case, meaning hear (shema, in Hebrew), or more accurately, obey.

It could be that I'm caught up in the social and ethical demands of the season (and of the bible) and how we understand that in relation to the work of the church because of what happened to me last Thursday.  A woman came to the church for help and I listened to her explain that her father (in Africa) needed a medical procedure.  Rose, I'll call her, makes a living as a caregiver and her most recent charge died a couple of months ago.  Rose hasn't been able to find work since then and is living in the basement of a fellow caregiver until she can find a new charge to care for and get back on her feet.  In order to pay for part of her father's medical care Rose went to TitleMax of Virginia, a lender that gladly accepts car titles in exchange for cash loans. Rose was given $3, 048.00 in cash for a fee of $2,587.58, payable in 11 monthly installments.  That's an annual percentage rate of 132.0831 percent (Rose gave me a copy of the Motor Vehicle Title Loan Agreement and Federal Truth-in-Lending Disclosures).  If Rose can't make the payments, or gets behind, TitleMax gets her car. You'd think there'd be a law.  You'd think the state legislature in Virginia might have a soul, or a conscience, but apparently not.

As we pack up our ornaments and drag our dead trees to the curb, as followers of Jesus heading toward our season of self-repentance moving toward the forgiveness of Easter and the good news of the resurrection to eternal life, let's not forget the call of Epiphany.

Happy Monday,

Jim+

 

   

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