"In what ways are we blinded by the shiny stones of an earthly temple rather than putting our attention in the one that created us and everything we see?" www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"Following Christ is about giving what we have for God. About doing what we can for the sake of those who can't. Jesus and the scribe - who disagreed on almost everything - agreed on this: Love God. Love your neighbor." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

Guest preacher the Rev. Nicole Lambelet, a chaplain at St. Stephen's & St. Agnes Upper School www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"I learned that questions like this, ones that are genuine but uninformed, are called questions wrongly asked. Being able to give it a name has helped me understand that i may not always know the best way to ask the questions I'm curious about." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"Fear is a human response to uncontrollable unknowns in our environment. What James offers to us in a time of fear is a strong reminder of how to comport ourselves a people of faith." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

There's mention of aliens and Klingons, yes, but the bigger question is, how far does God's grace, God's justice, God's welcome extend? www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"It's not what or how we eat, says Jesus, it is how we treat those who are at the table with us and how we invite those who are not here yet." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"So what is going on here? is jesus actually telling us we must consume him, physically? Will I, by the end of this sermon, profess an an unshakeable belief in transubstantiation? Or, as is so often the case, are there historical cultural, and contextual factors at play that can help illuminate this reading? Spoiler alert - it's the last one." www.…

"The complaining that we hear doesn't stop with the crowd. soon enough the disciples join in with the grumbling, taking such great offense that many of them turn away from Jesus.... Many found what Jesus was saying offensive. not just those who opposed him, but many of his followers too. What Jesus was saying was just too hard for them." www.histor…

www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"I once heard someone say 'God always goes to where the people are.' And we see in both of these stories, God doing just that - on the move, out and about, not collecting materials to build a structure but collecting people to build a household. To build a community of people who respond to the clamoring of the world, to meet them where they are, w…

My friends: If it's not about love it's not about God. www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"We are held, always and forever, in the heart of the God who loves us beyond measure." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"Even when it feels like your body is connected to Jesus only by the thinnest, flimsiest thread, he is always there at the other end." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"We, like the disciples, run the risk of thinking we've got Jesus all figured out." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"Whenever truth is spoken to power, power gets nervous. Power teaches us over and over that change should be resisted, that anything new is to be feared. But more often than not what we are told to resist and fear is not new, but rather, things that we have never encountered before. Things that have always been there. Things that have always been t…

"There is a holiness in asking questions that seek the truth." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

Guest preacher The Rev. Canon Titus Presler, Th.D., D.D. Executive Director of the Global Episcopal Mission Network www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"And just to make this abundantly clear... the Holy Spirit shows up again, demonstrating to anyone who had previously thought to call the Holy Spirit theirs and theirs alone, the spirit of God cannot and will not be contained. The spirit will do what the spirit will do." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

The Rt. Rev’d James Joseph “Bud” Shand was appointed as a Visiting Bishop in the Diocese of Virginia by Bishop E Mark Stevenson in January, 2024. He will serve in the Diocese from January through May of 2024. He is based in Northern Virginia. Bishop Shand is the retired Bishop Diocesan of the Diocese of Easton (Maryland), where he served from 2003 …

"Isn't it just like Jesus, who... seeks those who've been told they don't belong and brings them into the baptismal waters of belonging." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"What if, instead of seeing this as Jesus' act of proof of bodily resurrection we see it instead as Jesus' permission to find joy rather than pain or frustration at the table?" www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"Christ's love transforms us all and through that love, if we let it, the world is transformed." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

Easter Sunday sermon www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

The Passion Narrative According to Mark www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all - www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"Love is a promise - a promise for a future we may never see ourselves." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"When we allow ourselves to be afraid, we allow ourselves to be vulnerable... and such a vulnerable heart is a heart that will not fail to be touched by God's love." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

What does diakonia mean? www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"How do we continue to do God's will in the world when the bar for authenticity set by Moses and Jesus is impossibly high?" www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"These are the people God calls on to be God's hands in the world. These are the people who make up our scripture, our church, our families." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"The calling of Nathaniel invites you to ponder how this vision resonates with your heart and emboldens you to ministry." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

Guest preacher the Rev. Dr. Ayla Lepine from St James’s Piccadilly www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

Advent IV www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

Christmas Eve www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

Advent III "There's nothing wrong with using our time wisely. There's nothing wrong with doing the work of self improvement or wanting to look and be our very best... unless that's become a distraction from looking toward the coming Christ." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

Rev. David Beckmann has been part of Christ Church for more than 30 years. During most of that time, he was president of Bread for the World, a nationwide ecumenical Christian advocacy movement that urges our nation's elected leaders to do their part to end hunger in our country and around the world. He was awarded the World Food Prize for Bread fo…

Advent I "There's so many people," he sings, "Everybody is here. I saw the girls from the office, I saw those guys from the street. You might think you are lost, but then you find that God draws straight, but with crooked lines." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"The approach of Advent, paired with Thanksgiving in the rearview mirror, means that another Episcopal tradition begins - a series of great debates on how the season of Advent should be celebrated." www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria

"We've all been given grace and we have the gift of faith. How then, do we put it to work?" www.historicchristchurch.orgPar Christ Church Alexandria