The Label We All Should Wear

Jan. 22, 2023

Early Christians began splintering into smaller factions based on whichever charismatic leader had baptized them. Paul cautioned against this, and urged them to unite around Jesus, in whose name they all were baptized. Rev. Rachel Rickenbaker urges the same for us today, to avoid labeling ourselves and others in lieu of trying to understand each other. Instead, label yourself and others as people Jesus loves.

See 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

It’s About Who We Are, Not What We Do

Jan. 8, 2023

When Jesus asked John to baptize him, John felt confused, perhaps overwhelmed. “Why me? Am I worthy?” Rev. Rachel Rickenbaker notes that we often ask the same questions about our performance as parents, as friends, or as Christians. Our society values people based on what they do, but God bases our worth on who we are, and baptism begins the work of God in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. So the answer is yes: we are called, and we are worthy.

See Matthew 3:13-17

The Best Gift of All

Dec. 25, 2022

In the ramp-up to Christmas, our desire to make things perfect can cause us to lose focus on the true meaning of the holiday. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. In his humanity, Jesus was the physical presence of God among people, like the tabernacle carried by the ancient Israelites through the desert. God came among us because God loves us, and the redemption of our sins via Jesus is the best gift of all.

See John 1:1-14

This Story Is Far From Over

Dec. 18, 2022

Have we become too familiar with the story of Jesus’s birth, complete with the manger, angels and shepherds? Rev. Rachel Rickenbaker emphasizes the bigger story: the fact that God loves us so much that God took human form to be with us. Advent means arrival, and we await the arrival of Jesus again. We are part of the story, and it continues to unfold.

See Matthew 1:18-25

Do You See the Green Shoot Growing?

Dec. 4, 2022

We might squirm when we hear Gospel warnings to repent in the face of God’s impending wrath. But Seminarian Brandon Nonnemaker emphasizes a different meaning of “repent”: to turn our minds and hearts toward the “green shoots” that sprout from the brokenness and desolation in the world. By seeing hope and opportunity through the eyes of a child, we can better grasp the meaning of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection.

See Isaiah 11:1-10 and Matthew 3:1-12

Resist Burnout; Persist In What’s Right

Nov. 13, 2022

Seminarian Brandon Nonnemaker points out that we can fall into idleness for many reasons, throwing our hands in the air and walking away from God’s work. But in today’s reading from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, we’re urged to resist and challenge such behavior. We must not simply consume time, but instead actively seek ways to join in God’s work. Don’t get tired of doing what’s right. Never stop loving and lifting up those around you.

See 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

The Spirit Puts Sainthood Within Our Reach

Nov. 6, 2022

It’s easy to view saints as people who possessed a special holiness beyond our reach. Or to hear the Beatitudes from today’s Gospel and feel discouraged and helpless to achieve the levels of goodness they call for. But Rev. Rachel Rickenbaker reveals that the Beatitudes point not at us, but to Jesus, the only one who has accomplished all of these things. We, with all the saints, inherit the eternal kingdom because of what Christ has done.

See Luke 6:20-31

Where Is God When Bad Things Happen?

Oct. 30, 2022

In today’s reading, Habakkuk calls out to God for relief from current hardships, as we do today. If God is all-powerful and all-loving, how do we explain the presence of pain and evil in our world? And what if it simply can’t be explained? By learning to live without every explanation, we learn to live more fully in the world as it is. Our actions, attitudes, and presence do not need to depend on having all those answers now. God tells Habakkuk: the answers will come. Wait for them.

See Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

God Doesn’t Need Our Photoshopped Selves

Oct. 23, 2022

We all might side with the humble tax collector over the self-righteous Pharisee in today’s Gospel reading. However, as Mary Lynn Rynkiewicz points out, it’s not easy for us to do what the tax collector did: to be real with God about who we are. We want God and other people to notice how good we are. But God doesn’t need the Photoshopped version of our lives. Being humble and vulnerable before God allows us to turn toward God and begin to make things right.

See Luke 18:9-14

Pancakes or waffles? Love or life?

April 17, 2022 / Easter Sunday

In a special Easter Sunday message, Rev. Dorota Wright-Pruski gets the kids playing a game about tough choices — like the choice Jesus made to sacrifice his life for the sake of love. And thanks to God’s miraculous rule change, the result wasn’t the disappearance of life, but of death.

A Year in the Life of St. Andrew’s: 2021

January 30, 2022

Presented at the St. Andrew’s Parish Annual Meeting, this video looks back on the challenges and celebrations of our parish during a year of dramatic change.

The Scripture Is Alive With What We Bring to It

December 25, 2021

John’s Gospel prologue invites us back to the beginning of creation; the Word that spoke the world into being continues to speak. As Seminarian Brandon Nonnemaker notes, every week we tell and hear stories of God’s relationship with God’s creation. As we bring ourselves to scripture again and again, we can be encouraged and inspired. It is Good News that “God pitched a tent among us, in a lowly stable.”

See John 1:1-14.

Ye Choirs of New Jerusalem

— C.V. Stanford

Sung by the combined choirs of:

• The Falls Church, Episcopal
• St. Andrew’s, Arlington
• St. Andrew’s, Burke
• St. Mary’s, Arlington, and
• The Church of the Epiphany, Oak Park, CA

Jay Wilcox, conductor

Aaron Goen, organist

A Year in the Life of St. Andrew’s: 2020

Jan. 31, 2021

Presented at the St. Andrew’s Parish Annual Meeting, this video looks back on the challenges and celebrations of our parish during a difficult year. Permission to reprint, podcast, and / or stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license # M-400520. All rights reserved.

Christmas Greetings from St. Andrew’s

Dec. 25, 2020

Families from St. Andrew’s share their holiday greetings virtually in a heartwarming montage of photos and videos.

Permission to reprint, podcast, and / or stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #M-400520. All rights reserved.

Silent Night

Dec. 24, 2020

Families from St. Andrew’s lend their voices to a virtual ensemble performance of “Silent Night.”

Speaking in Tongues: The Pentecost

May 31, 2020

In this reading of Acts 2: 1-21, members of St. Andrew’s contribute their talents in terms of foreign languages and artwork.

“Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether”

May 31, 2020

A combined choral presentation featuring the choirs of Holy Cross in Dunn Loring, VA; St. Andrew’s in Arlington, VA; and St. Andrew’s in Burke, VA.

Permission to reprint, podcast, and / or stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #M-400520. All rights reserved.