The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost

Love and Grace

I don’t believe in coincidences.

I used to, I guess, but the older I’ve gotten the more I realize that there is some greater thing at work in the cosmos. As a person of faith who has seen Her immense power, I have come to understand that thing at work is the Holy Spirit, alive and unpredictable and capable of the impossible. 

The fact that Bishop Gene Robinson is coming to The Falls Church this weekend is not coincidence; it is the work of the Holy Spirit. There is no greater figure identified with the struggle for justice for queer people of faith than Bishop Robinson, and his election and consecration as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 was the deciding factor for some Episcopalians, unhappy with the broadening inclusion of this tradition, to break away from the church and affiliate with bodies outside the Anglican Communion. 

The Falls Church was one of those parishes.

But as St. John writes in The Revelation, God makes all things new, and the Holy Spirit has been at work in The Falls Church to build a community defined by radical welcome. Now ten years after the return of the parish to this holy and historic ground, we invite Bishop Robinson to preach from these pulpits and to share his barrier-breaking ministry of love and forgiveness.

Join us Saturday, if you are able, in welcoming Bishop Robinson and the wider community for “Love, despite,” from 9:00 a.m. until noon in The Historic Church (reservations here), and then for services on Sunday, for which he is preacher. 

And give praise to the Holy Spirit, who has brought the Bishop and The Falls Church together at last. God is indeed doing a new thing!

Fr. Burl+

Join our Faithful Dinner Club!

Join a small group of eight fellow parishioners, married couples and single people, young and old (adults only), for a monthly dinner in one another’s homes. Meetings can be held in the church or other venues if the group desires. 

Our Faithful Dinner Club allows you to meet fellow parishioners and build lasting relationships that ground our church community. This is also a perfect opportunity to have fun together while at the same time sharing your faith journeys. Here at The Falls Church, we have always recognized much value in feeding our souls and bodies, so extend your radical welcome beyond the walls of this church and share your hospitality with others.

Faithful Dinner Clubs will meet regularly during the first weekend of the month (November through June). Everyone is welcome to participate, and you will be assigned to a group once registered!  You can register by expressing your interest to Fr Matthew by email. 

Realm Update - Update

As you will hopefully be aware we have been working on updating Realm - our online membership platform - throughout this year. The job of updating continues and one of the things we have updated this week is the group ‘TFC Connects’ which was a subgroup of Realm intended to be used for posting news and sharing with other members. Since this was implemented in 2018, Realm itself has made several updates to include the ability of individuals to edit their own notification preferences (e.g. you can say I want to be emailed each time someone posts on Realm or if you’d rather just receive a weekly summary or some other frequency). This means that we can remove the group which required people to opt in, because every individual member has the ability to edit their own preferences. Removing the group also means that new members no longer have to ask to join TFC Connects - they will simply be added to Realm and will receive all news posted. So from now on, when you are posting on Realm, be sure to check ‘The Falls Church Episcopal’ as the group you are posting to (The option ‘TFC Connects’ will no longer be available but many members are also part of other ministry groups.)

To edit your individual preferences:

1. Log in to your Realm account
2. On the top right hand side of the page click the down arrow beside your name and click ‘Connect’ under the heading ‘Notifications’
3. You will then be brought to your notifications settings page where you can edit the many ways you can receive news and the channels by which you want to receive it.

If anyone has any questions or difficulties with Realm, please email Ellie.

We hope you join us this Sunday, October 30!

From our friends and neighbors

The Falls Church Concert band invites all to join them for a live musical performance on Sunday, November 6 at 7:00 p.m. at The Falls Church.

Featured guests include Alice Weinreb (retired NSO flutist), Col. Arnald Gabriel (retired Air Force Band Conductor), and Lisa Gullickson (vocalist).

Musical selections include Chaminade's Concertino and Hymn to the Fallen. You can RSVP via this Facebook Event.

Please use the Prayer List in your prayers for each other and the world. 



Praying for each other and the needs of the world is a powerful way to love our neighbors as ourselves! THIS WEEK’S PRAYER LIST