Welcome to the web page for Christ Church Washington Parish, DC

Christ Church is on a pilgrimage to become a welcoming, diverse, thankful, and joyous Episcopal community of faith
committed to nurturing its members and neighbors through worship and service. Please join us.

620 G Street SE | Washington, DC 20003 | fax 202.547.5098 | 202.547.9300
just 2.5 blocks south of Eastern Market Metro

What's Happening at Christ Church
Parishioner ─ click here for latest Parish newsletter

Death of Chuck Burger's Mother, Dorothy Burger

I am sad to report that Chuck Burger's mother, Dorothy died August 27 at 10:30am at the age of 90. Dorothy will be laid to rest outside of Pittsburgh. I ask your prayers for the repose of Dorothy Burger's soul, and for Chuck and Nancy and their family as they celebrate her life and mourn her death.

Cara Spaccarelli, Rector

Christ Church + Washington Parish

Recent Sermons

All are invited to a FREE chamber opera Saturday and Sunday, September 4th and 5th to hear the music of our own Roc Lee.

the Crossroad

a new chamber opera

Music by Roc Lee

Libretto by Roc Lee and David Tannous

The Crossroad an opera in one act by Roc Lee and David Tannous, imagines what it might have been like for the historical Jesus to say good-bye to his family before suffering death on a cross. Through an exploration of the emotions of Jesus and of his family being left behind, this chamber opera strives to display the humanity of the one Christians believe to be fully divine and fully human.

As part of The Kennedy Center’s Page-to-Stage Festival on: September 4, 2010, Saturday at 4:00 pm in the Terrace Gallery (excerpt, scenes 1-5; approx. 30 min. ) And in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music in Composition, Stage Music Emphasis on: September 5, 2010, Sunday at 7:30 pm at The CUA Benjamin T. Rome School of Music Ward Recital Hall (staged, completed work scenes 1-7; approx. 60 min. ) ALL EVENTS ARE FREE ADMISSION (seating is limited)

There are some photos on Roc's webpage and also a few Audio Samples of rehearsals in the Media Section. (http://roclee.net/thecrossroad)

The Christ Church Creative Spirituality Retreat

The Christ Church Creative Spirituality Retreat will be held September 17-19 at Shrine Mont. Come explore your connection to the holy through prayer, conversation, and creative expression. Or just retreat to the beauty of Orkney Springs, Virginia. The cost is $210 for single and $190 for double. Your deposit of $100 is due on/before August 30th. For more information, please contact M'El Abrecht or the Church office.

Forms are available on the Bulletin Board or click anywhere in this notice to open the registration form, fill it out and drop it at the Church before the 30th of August.

The Search/Nominating Committee for the Ninth Bishop of Washington invites your feedback on the draft of the Diocesan Profile at three Listening Sessions. These sessions will be in the format of a town hall meeting, where the Draft Profile will be the focus of discussion. The Draft Profile compiles findings from the surveys and Focus Groups to put together a report on the Diocese and its future. The Draft Profile is available on the Bishop Search website: http://search.edow.org. Parishes will also receive a copy in the mail to distribute.

The new 2010 Parish People photo directory is now available! Pick up your copy Sunday or contact the Parish Administrator, Nina Greene, who will be happy to forward you, the electronic (.pdf) version.

Reminder: The alarm will be activated by 5:30 daily unless the Office has been notified that there is a meeting or other activity scheduled in the evening.

The Quilters will not meet August 30th but will meet September 6th, Labor Day.

Choir rehearsal resumes September 1st @7:30 pm. New members are welcome. Contact Richard Thibadeau, for more information

The Christ Church Men's Spirituality Group begins again September 4th and will meet every Saturday morning at 9:00 am in the Christ Church kitchen. Monday Night Theology Class begins again September 13th

Birthdays--We give thanks for the following people who celebrate their birthdays in August: Mark Baker, Sebastian Bentley, Audrey Bevans, Lydia Bevans, Charles Bolden, Jr., Ann Price Cannon, Charlie Carr, Ann Erdman, Barbara Franklin, Mona Guarino, John Jameson, Clara Johnson, Paul Laymon, Jeff Marzen, Carla Mouta-Bellum, Jim Mouth, Jean Marie Neal, John Payne, III, Woody Price, Daphne Provance, Jack Provance, Lynn Schlimm, Garland Scott, Randy Smith, Barbara Spaid, Cheryl Bevans, Luann Trumball We may not have your birthday on file. Please let the office know.

Parishioner ─ click here for latest Parish newsletter

Capitol Hill Village offers discounted memberships to those with incomes less than $40,000 a year.

click here for registration form

Liturgists─ click here for the current rota of assignments

MONEY MATTERS
$1,600 is the cost per day to operate Christ Church. Dollars & Cents (Plate & Pledge Offerings YTD):
Budgeted YTD $161,827 Received YTD $167,159 Received 8/15 $4,674

Heritage Fund Update: Pledges & Gifts to date: $206,729 Goal: $200,000 We are over the top!

Homeless Lunch Supplies: Volunteers are needed for the summer to purchase supplies for the homeless lunch project on the first Sunday of each month. Cost for making 100 lunches is about $130. Tax receipt provided or you can be reimbursed for up to $100 of the cost. Shopping list provided. Click here for more information. Lunches usually contain a meat and cheese sandwich, chips, fruit, soda and cookies. If you have any questions, please see Linda Mellgren, John Payne or John Jameson.

Christ Church is on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington- DC/Christ-Church-on-Capitol-Hill-DC/329202451796. Are you a fan yet? Contact Sherry Saunders or Mona Guarino if you have questions or suggestions for our Facebook page. Be careful when you are on FaceBook. Click here for general information from EWeek.com about Facebook issues

Capitol Hill Group Ministry's Social Service Office has been consolidated with the Potomac Garden Office. Their address is 1227 G Street SE and their new phone is 202.548.0548

Christ Church's new Parish Administrator is Nina Greene. She will be in the office Monday through Thursday every week. Stop in and introduce yourself to her if you get a chance. All submissions for the blue-sheet and e-mail announcements should be sent to the office by noon on Wednesday. Please be sure to let her know of all meetings scheduled so the building "locker up and alarm setter" can rest easy. The office e-mail address office@washingtonparish.org

August 29, 2010
The 14th Sunday after Pentecost
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

"Agnus Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org"

Luke 14:1, 7-14

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.

When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, `Give this person your place,' and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, `Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

At A Dinner Party, Jesus Saves

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely. -- Luke 14:1

Such a relaxing evening. Imagine what it must have been like, accepting dinner invitations that were really traps, answering questions that were really set-ups. Knowing that there were people wanted very much for him to make a fatal mistake.

Eventually, of course, he did. People disagree about which one it was: Was it his paradoxical triumphal entry into Jerusalem? Was it the time he overturned the money changers in the temple? Healing on the Sabbath? The time he used the God-word "I Am" with reference to himself? He had so many chances to save his own life, and he didn't take advantage of any of them. But then, he wasn't in the world to save himself. He was here to save us.

But from what? From a God who, left to his own devices, was prepared to burn us all alive? From the possibility of sin in our lives? From doubt? From a doomed world, far too compromised to salvage? From our own appetites? Certainly, Christians have considered salvation in all of these lights.

But I think Jesus has saved us from something else: from a fear of death that arises from the deeper dread that life is meaningless. If I am a paltry thing -- and I certainly am -- and this is all there is, how can I regard my own passing with anything but despair: if this was my only chance, and I have frittered it away on nothing? I would have been better off if I had been born an animal, unreflective, unaware of a future.

Salvation means that we signify more than we know. That life is more than the sorry sum of all its half-baked events and stray intentions. That the shape of the divine love stamped upon us in creation endures in us, despite all our errors or the errors of others that have scarred us. That we are in a mystery, a large one, and that it is not a tragic mystery. There is a power beyond the power we wield, and we participate in it, much more than we know.

The hints we receive of this truth throughout our lives -- they are our certainty of salvation, and they sustain us as fully as we will allow. Although despair is an option for all of us, none of us is sentenced to it.
Copyright © 2010 Barbara Crafton