News

Adult Formation Offering - Christianity and Politics

Posted by St. Anne's Webmaster

Join us for three Sunday evenings, 7:00-8:30 p.m., as our own Jim Jones leads us in a series entitled "Christianity and Politics: A Biblical Perspective." The first session on September 21 is subtitled "The Passion of God" and will look at the relationship of religion and the "secular order" from the perspectives of the Genesis story of creation, the moral imperatives imbedded in the teachings of the Torah, and the writings of the Old Testament Prophets. The second session on September 28 is titled "Jesus and Empire" and will explore Jesus' attitudes towards the secular state, as well as his strategies for dealing with the empire of his day. The third session on October 5, titled "The Challenge for 21st Century American Christians" will consider the implications of all of this for us as 21st Century Christians living in the seat of the world's current empire.

Kerygma Bible Studies to Resume in the Fall

Posted by St. Anne's Webmaster

Kerygma, a Greek word that means "proclamation," is the name of an ecumenically-based company that produces Bible study materials. One of the real advantages of the series they offer is that they are helpful to all, regardless of their level of experience and knowledge of the Bible. Both those who have never opened the Bible and those who know it well, get a lot out of the studies - and the groups have a lot of fun along the way.

As in the past, two sessions will be offered to help accommodate different schedules. One group facilitated by Mother Jackie and Jane Smith will meet on Monday mornings, 10:30 to noon; the other group facilitated by Mother Jackie and Geoff Lunt will meet on Tuesday evenings, 7:30-9:00. The week of September 22 we will begin a six-week study of the Beatitudes, examining the Beatitudes themselves, their Old Testament roots, their context and contemporary implications. The cost of the book is $15. If you would like to participate, please sign up on the sheet provided in the Narthex. Call Jackie at the church office if you have any questions.

Looking ahead, we plan a four-week study of the texts and seasonal themes of Advent beginning the week of November 17. Beginning in January we will tackle a fourteen-week study of the Book of Revelation.

Koinonia Groups Forming for the Fall

Posted by St. Anne's Webmaster

Koinonia is another Greek word, this word meaning "community." It has been our tradition at St. Anne's to invite people to sign up in the fall, and then those folks are grouped in groups of about eight people who meet in each other's homes for dinner throughout the school year. It is a great way to build community as you really get to know your group by the end of the year. Fellowship and fun are the only goals of the groups. There is nothing to study, there is no agenda, and the meals can be simple and shared, with everyone bringing one of the dishes. The time commitment is four or five meal times set around the schedules of your particular group, usually evenings but some groups have found a Sunday brunch works well.

We gather all together for a kick-off potluck dinner in October. At that time, groups meet each other and decide when and where they will meet next. If you would like to participate this year, please sign up on the sheet provided in the Narthex. Please indicate on the sheet if you would like to be part of a group that includes children and if you are willing to coordinate a group (simply making sure your group gets together, often by hosting the first meal). If enough indicate a preference, we can offer a group for singles. Many singles prefer to be part of a general group and often two singles will host one meal together.

Please call Mother Jackie if you can volunteer to help coordinate or have any questions about it.

More News

Calendar

Aug 17: Sunday School Registration Begins

Sept 7: Fall Picnic and Semi-annual meeting/Sunday School Open House

Sept 14: Sunday School Begins/Change to Fall Service Schedule

October 31 - November 2: Shrine Mont weekend

Nov 22: Smiles for Liberia Silent Auction

Full Calendar

Newcomers

 

Whether you’re new to St. Anne’s or even to the Episcopal Church as a whole, we welcome you and we’re glad you’re here. We hope this section answers some of your questions about our parish and our church. Please feel free to contact us with any questions. We look forward to meeting you sometime soon.

St Anne’s is a vibrant, growing parish in Reston, Virginia. Our location in the Washington D.C. suburbs gifts us with members from all across the globe, many bringing Anglican traditions from their homelands to enrich ours.

St. Anne’s is a part of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and is proud of our history. The Holy Communion was first celebrated on what is now American soil at James Towne (Jamestown) in 1607, and the (Anglican) Church of Virginia continued as the established church until the Revolution. On the day after the Colony of Virginia declared its independence from England, the Virginia Convention which governed both the Commonwealth and the Church of Virginia, ordered that prayers for the King and Realm of England be removed from its Book of Common Prayer. Most of the clergy took oaths of allegiance to the new Commonwealth, and a significant number of them bore arms in the Revolution, whose great Virginia leaders were parishioners of the Church of Virginia. The Diocese of Virginia is proud to be the direct descendant of the first Anglican parish in what is now the United States of America.

St. Anne’s has its own proud history, and we like coffee. Seriously, this parish first got its start as the first Episcopal church in Reston, and began meeting at the Common Ground Coffee House on nearby Lake Anne. To this day, we offer a coffee hour after both the 9:00 and 11:15 services (10:00 in the summer months) to foster that fellowship that began so long ago. Not-so-coincidentally, the childcare center located on our property is called, “Common Ground Childcare” as a nod to our history.

Our founding Rector, Embry Rucker, was an active advocate for the homeless in our community. The family shelter in Reston, the Embry Rucker Shelter, bears his name to this day. We at St. Anne’s continue to support his good works through assisting with the many groups and services that benefit that very shelter, and we’re proud participants in the Homeless Walk each year.

For more information in our parish, please don’t hesitate to contact St. Anne’s directly. May your search for a new church home be blessed and may God be with you as you journey. For more information on the Episcopal Church, please visit:  

Web site of the Episcopal Church: http://www.episcopalchurch.org

Link to Episcopal Life Online:  http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ens