WELCOME TO SAINT JOHN’S CHURCH

Welcome to St. John's Church, Lafayette Square—a vibrant historic Episcopal church located across from the White House. We invite you to join with us for worship, Christian fellowship and outreach.

History

From our organization as a parish in 1815 to today, St. John's Church has provided a powerful symbol of faith in the heart of our nation's capital.

Mission

At St. John's, we believe Christ is calling us to be a renewed church in a changing world. In worship, education, parish life, and social action, we seek to expand our horizons by serving God by loving one another.

Clergy, Staff, & Vestry

Meet St. John’s diverse and engaging clergy, vestry and staff.

Directions & Parking

Located at the corner of 16th and H Streets in Northwest Washington, St. John's is near the McPherson Square and Farragut North Metro stations. Limited street parking is available; free valet parking is offered for certain hours.
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Death Be Not Proud

Psalm 27:5–11 1 Corinthians 15:20–28 Wisdom 7:24–8:1 John 5:19–24
John Donne was a great poet. He was also a pastor and visionary Anglican preacher, but first he was a poet, and that is how we remember him. Something of the divine permeated his poetry. His poems, like all good art, allowed limited human beings to grasp something infinite.
His poem Death, Be Not Proud is one of the greatest meditations on death in the English language. You may remember it in the movie Wit, in which Emma Thompson plays an English professor dying of cancer. She recalls being sternly lectured by her mentor on how the last line of Donne’s poem should be punctuated. It should not be, her mentor says,
Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die but rather death shall be no more, death thou shalt die.
Death should not be followed by a semicolon, Wit says, because it is not “an insuperable barrier.” No—death is but a comma, a pause.
Death is not to be struggled against at all costs. Death, in the end, is powerless.
Next week, through the drama of Jesus’ resurrection we remember that death is a pause on the journey we share together. The pause is real, and it can be painful. In the end, though, what we learn from our faith is that death is just a pause. Death is not the end of the story for us, for those we love.
Death, be not proud.
–Rev. Mike Angell
(Click for a clip from the Movie “Wit” with Emma Thompson, Copyright HBO, 2001)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND1-r3beO6k


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