Elementary school aged children are invited to an Easter Egg hunt on the church grounds after the 10:30 am service. |
Elementary school aged children are invited to an Easter Egg hunt on the church grounds after the 10:30 am service. |
In observance of the Lenten Season, many people choose to “give up” something they enjoy as they enter a period of reflection.
An alternative to or perhaps in addition to this observance is to “take on” something new.
If you can help us out, please consider contributing shelf-stable food to ACCA’s (Annandale Christian Community for Action) food pantry during the next 40 days. Inventory at the pantry is very low and demand for food is at a record high.
Consider collecting one item for each day of Lent—40 days yields 40 much-needed items. You may simply leave the items in the Narthex for delivery to ACCA.
For more information, you can click here: https://accacares.org/lenten-food-drive/
Here is a list of what we need at the food pantry. (* = most needed)
Peanut Butter*
Crackers*
Jelly*
Cookies*
Canned Corn*
Bar soap
Beef stew
Canned Beans including Kidney, Pinto. Baked, Garbanzo (chickpeas), Baked
Canned Chicken
Canned Fruit
Canned vegetables
Canned fruit
Canned Meals (Chef Boyardee)
Cereal
Coffee (Instant preferred)
Cooking oil
Diced Tomatoes
Dish soap
Dry Black Beans
Dry Red Beans
Diapers all sizes
Feminine napkins
Flour
Juice
Laundry Soap
Macaroni (1 lb box)
Macaroni & Cheese
Maseca/Masa
Mayonnaise/Ketchup/Mustard
Pancake syrup
Paper Towels
Rice (1 or 2 lb. bag)
Shampoo
Soups (Chunky)
Spaghetti Sauce
Sugar
Tea
Toilet Paper
Tomato Sauce
Toothbrushes
Tortillas
Tuna
Please join us on Sunday, February 18 at 4:00pm in the Parish Hall for our next Muldoon Concert. The ensemble Sopranessence will be performing this free concert, and a reception will follow.
Sopranessence is an ensemble unlike any other, that will take you on a musical roller-coaster ride from operatic arias to Broadway show tunes and beloved songs from American culture. Sopranessence envisions a world in which audiences from all walks of life can enjoy classical music as an art form meant for everyone.
To learn more about this wonderful ensemble, click here!
Please join us Sunday, October 22 at 4:00pm for a free performance by professional singer Madeline Miskie, who presents a program called “Into the Light: Songs of Transformation.” The common thread woven throughout the program is transformation, exploring critical moments in time when the truth cannot be unseen and change is inevitable. Spanning the genres of plainchant, baroque, folk, art song, contemporary musical theater and pop, this program promises wide range of vocal colors and musical soundscapes.
The Muldoon Memorial Concert Series was established in 1990 by the Muldoon Family in memory of long-time choir members Ken and Hulda Muldoon. The series offers several concerts during the church year, and remains free and open to the public, thanks in part to an Endowment Fund. For more information about the concert series, and upcoming concerts, click here.
When in Jerusalem, we are mostly sheltering in place with minimal ventures out for necessities like pharmacy needs. We can eat, relax and pray within the cathedral walls. The neighborhood is quiet as some businesses are operating fewer hours — mostly because shopowners and employees who live in the West Bank can’t get through checkpoints easily if at all. Palestinian Muslims especially have to be careful out of fear of retribution by Jewish extremists if they are in the wrong place; so some busineses are on a skeleton crew. In the meantime we are being cautious, and prudent; and all of the activities near or in the West Bank have been cancelled.
Everyone is grateful for all the support, love, and care coming from home. We continue to pray for a resolution to the situation—and peace in the Holy Land.
Today we ventured out of Nazareth to Galilee, visited the Church of the Multiplication, Capernaum, and held a mass on the lakeshore. We swam a little late this afternoon. All is business as usual up here in Nazareth. We plan to return to the cathedral close in East Jerusalem tomorrow.
There have been many blessings in the midst of this situation, and we are determined to make the best of it. Our leaders and hosts are very candid, and we have at least two open conversations per day assessing the information we have at the time. Those who have tried to leave in the past couple of days have had some challenges getting out.
Thank you for your prayers.
Greetings St Alban’s! We are coming to you from beautiful Nazareth, where we are staying at the Sisters of Nazareth Convent.
Our day started with a two hour drive up the west coast of Israel to Caesarea. The original city was built by Herod the Great starting in 30 BCE and is situated on the Mediterranean Sea. It became a great commercial city and by 6 BCE was the headquarters of the Roman government in Palestine. It is now a beautiful archeological national park. We walked among the ruins of the theatre, promontory palace, amphitheater (used for chariot racing), and impressive harbor. The site was not crowded due to the unrest so we were able to take our time as we followed our wonderful guide Rodney from site to site. We felt so lucky to be in such a beautiful place with the gorgeous Mediterranean beyond the ruins. We had free time for lunch and further exploration. Fr. Paul even took a swim in the water! We closed out our visit with ice cream and boarded the bus for our second activity.
Closer to Nazareth, we visited another archeological park on the site of the city of Sepphoris. After the death of Herod the Great, his son, Herod Antipas, was made governor of the area and rebuilt the city, proclaiming it the “Ornament of Galilee.” I believe it was considered at that time to be the capital of Galilee. Given its close proximity to Nazareth, it is possible that Jesus and his father might have come to the city for work. It is also believed by some that this was where Mary was born and where her parents resided. We saw a Roman theatre, a 5th century Byzantine synagogue, a Roman villa dating back to 200 AD, and 12th century Crusader tower. There are over 60 mosaics dating from the 3rd to 6th century AD. The most famous of these is of a young g woman that has been dubbed the “Mona Lisa of the Galilee.”
After a full day, we boarded the bus one more time to make our way to the Convent. Before enjoying a delicious meal of soup, chicken, potatoes, and beans, we camped out in the courtyard and sang along to The Beach Boys and Bob Marley. We feel very safe with our St. George’s team and they are doing a great job of rescheduling our itinerary due to the current situation.
We look forward to seeing you soon and appreciate your continued prayers.
Inhabited since prehistoric times, Petra is situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea and was an important crossroads between Arabia, Egypt and Syria-Phoenicia. Petra is half-built, half-carved into the rock, and is surrounded by mountains riddled with passages and gorges. It is one of the world’s most famous archaeological sites.
For 2023 the St. Alban’s Youth Group stayed local for their summer mission work. This year the group spent a week learning about need in the local community, and how we can help meet those needs.
On Monday the group took a walk into Annandale to talk about how the area’s infrastructure (lack of sidewalks and inconvenient bus service) creates problems for those in our community without transportation, or with
inadequate transportation. Later the the group spent time giving back to the community through a road-side cleanup on Sleepy Hollow Road. On Monday afternoon, the group traveled to the Samaritan Ministry Anacostia office to find out how our ministry partner organization helps others get a second chance and a new start in life.
On Tuesday, the group helped out at the Annandale Christian Community for Action (ACCA) Child Development Center. In the morning the team helped the kids build and fly paper airplanes, build a 3′ tall rocket and helped unload a delivery of supplies for the school. After lunch the group returned to spend the afternoon on the playground with the kids.
On Wednesday to Youth Group traveled back to Anacostia, this time to Martha’s Table to help set up and run their daily “Martha’s Table
Market,” a farmer’s market for households in need. Twice a month, families can “shop” at the free market for fresh produce, meat and non-perishable food items.
The week will end with a jaunt into West Virginia to spend time together, do some team building, and spend a day canoeing on the Cheat River.
Adam Detzner, our Minister of Music, organist and choir director, is competing in the 15th International Schnitger Organ Competition in Alkmaar, Netherlands. Again this year, Adam is the only American selected to participate in this important competition.
Adam competed in the first round of competition on June 23rd and was one of six selected (out of the nine competitors) to progress to the second round. Round 2 will be on Monday, June 26th and will reduce the field to three competitors. The final round will be on June 29th, when the three finalists will compete for the grand prize.
Please keep Adam in your prayers!
For every organization, be it a business, a charity or a church, planning is essential to success.
As mentioned at St. Alban’s Annual Meeting this spring, your vestry is working on three-year strategic plan that will serve as both an audit of current activities and a roadmap to prioritize future endeavors. With the overarching goals of expanding our parish membership, enhancing their spiritual growth and development, and impacting the community, the plan embraces five main pillars of focus to coordinate our activities within:
When auditing current activities, we looked at a number of factors, including implementation resources (both human and financial) and current parishioner engagement. We took the time to evaluate what we believe St. Albans does well. Which is considerable! We also looked at where we struggle to provide services due to lack of human or financial resources, what our church should keep doing and areas where we believe resources could be redeployed to help us better serve our parishioners and the community.
When looking at future initiatives/ideas, we used a similar lens, focusing on what we believe would deepen our worship, and enhance our spirituality, provide a strong return on investment to strengthen the church financially, increase our engagement in the community and continue to grow in number.
In addition to our Vestry members, we offer special thanks to a working group of St. Alban’s parishioners who have been helpful in providing input on the strategic plan. Members include Vestry members Monique Clark, Debra Becker, and Alison Dilworth, and parishioners Pam Mathes, Mark Deal, and Chuck Blanchard.
Please click here to review the proposed 2023-2025 Strategic Plan. We welcome your feedback as we continue our work of being a vibrant source of faith, hope, renewal to all who engage with us.
Bob Ensinger and Chris Murphy Peck
Co-Chairs, St. Albans Strategic Planning Task Force
As families across the country struggle with reduced Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, we have seen a huge increase in demand for food from our food pantry here in Annandale. At the same time, we’ve all seen the increased prices for food overall which is depleting the funds we’ve set aside for fresh foods. Although we had very successful food drives in February, our shelves are bare.
Can you help? We need:
Please share this information with your family, friends, and neighbors. Thank you all for your ongoing support for those in need of food!
For more information, please contact Gail Coleman, [email protected], 703-354-0656, or go to the ACCA website, https://accacares.org/.
On Sunday, May 14 at 4 PM, prominent performer and pedagogue Dr. Kimberly Marshall will present an organ recital program at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Annandale, entitled “Songs and Dances at the Organ.” Part of the Muldoon Memorial Concert Series, the program will feature compositions by Renaissance and Baroque composers from all over Europe, including J. S. Bach, Buxtehude, and Purcell.
Dr. Marshall and her program are perfect for St. Alban’s sensitive mechanical action organ (John Leek, Op. 1). Please plan to linger after the performance for a brief reception where you can meet the artist.
Donations to support the Muldoon Memorial Concert Series will be gratefully accepted at the door. For more information, please contact Adam Detzner, Minister of Music and Organist, at [email protected].