Saint Athanasius Lutheran Church

Saint Athanasius Lutheran Church Sunday School & Adult Bible Class: 9:00 AM EST

Divine Service: 10:15 AM EST, with Holy Communion every Sunday.

Annunciation of our Lord - March 25The Annunciation commemorates the visit of the angel Gabriel to the blessed Virgin Ma...
03/25/2026

Annunciation of our Lord - March 25

The Annunciation commemorates the visit of the angel Gabriel to the blessed Virgin Mary, announcing that the eternal Son of God would take up human flesh in her womb and, in accordance with Isaiah’s prophecy, be born of a virgin.

His message declared that God showed undeserved kindness to Mary and, by faith in His Word, Christ was conceived in her. In this way, she is a godly example of faith for us also — how a Christian hears the Words and promises of God and says, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

The Annunciation is appointed for March 25, from which date Christmas came to be observed as the birth of Christ (nine months later). When the Annunciation falls in Passiontide, Holy Week or Easter, it is observed at another time. - Source: https://calendar.lcms.org/event/annunciation-of-our-lord/2025-03-25/

c. 1480
Albert Bouts
(Netherlandish, 1451/55–1549)
Netherlands, Leuven, 15th century

Wednesday — Lent 4You must honor Baptism and consider it glorious because of the Word. For God Himself has honored it bo...
03/18/2026

Wednesday — Lent 4

You must honor Baptism and consider it glorious because of the Word. For God Himself has honored it both by words and deeds. Furthermore, He has confirmed it with miracles from heaven. Do you think that it was a joke that, when Christ was baptized, the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended visibly, and everything was divine glory and majesty [Luke 3:21-22]?

- Luther's Large Catechsim IV 21

Wednesday - Lent 2Artist: Bartolomeo BiscainoGenoese, 1629 - 1657
03/04/2026

Wednesday - Lent 2

Artist: Bartolomeo Biscaino
Genoese, 1629 - 1657

Lent 1 Midweek Service | February 25, 2026Soup Supper at 6:30PMLenten Vespers at 7:30PMPsalm 32Blessed Are the ForgivenA...
02/25/2026

Lent 1 Midweek Service | February 25, 2026

Soup Supper at 6:30PM
Lenten Vespers at 7:30PM

Psalm 32
Blessed Are the Forgiven
A Maskil of David.

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
they shall not reach him.

You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
or it will not stay near you.

Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

----------------------

Artwork
Title: The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak
Artist: Albert Bierstadt (American, Solingen 1830–1902 New York)
Date: 1863

Tuesday - Lent 1
02/25/2026

Tuesday - Lent 1

Commemoration of Polycarp of Smyrna, Pastor and MartyrFebruary 23"When people demanded that he deny the Christian religi...
02/23/2026

Commemoration of Polycarp of Smyrna, Pastor and Martyr
February 23

"When people demanded that he deny the Christian religion, he [Polycarp] said, "For eighty-six years I have served Christ, and He has never injured me. Therefore how could I curse and blaspheme my King, who has given me salvation?" When he was ninety years old, people wanted to burn him. In the midst of the fire, he prayed, "O God, the Father of Your Son, Jesus Christ, through whom we have received knowledge of You, the maker of all creation, I call upon You, I confess You, that You are true God; I glorify You because of the high priest, Your beloved Son, with the Holy Spirit; receive me and make me a sharer in the resurrection of your saints. Amen." Now since the fire spared him, as it did for the three confessors in Daniel 3:23, he was stabbed with a sword. Three days previously, he had dreamed that his pillow was burning; from this he quickly concluded that he would sit in the fire and would sweat. Dreams that cause us to pray and pursue Christian devotion, for which we also have clear admonitions in God's Word, are not to be despised." - Valerius Herberger

"Born around AD 69, Polycarp was a central figure in the early church. A disciple of the evangelist John, he linked the first generation of believers to later Christians. After serving for many years as bishop of Smyrna,
Polycarp was arrested, tried, and executed for his faith on February 23, c. 156. An eyewitness narrative
of his death, The Martyrdom of Polycarp, continues to encourage believers in times of persecution."

Description adapted and prayer quoted from “Treasury of Daily Prayer, ” 1232 -1233

Saturday After Ash Wednesday: Hymnody from Treasury of Daily Prayer
02/21/2026

Saturday After Ash Wednesday: Hymnody from Treasury of Daily Prayer

Martin Luther:The good God permits such small evils to befall us merely in order to arouse us snorers from our deep slee...
02/20/2026

Martin Luther:

The good God permits such small evils to befall us merely in order to arouse us snorers from our deep sleep and to make us recognize, on the other hand, the incomparable and innumerable benefits we still have. He wants us to consider what would happen if He were to withdraw His goodness from us completely. In that spirit Job said (2:10): "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" . . . [Job] said (1:21): "As God wills, so let it be; the name of the Lord be praised."

He did not simply look at the evil, as we would-be saints do; he kept in sight the goodness and grace of the Lord. With this he comforted himself and overcame evil with patience.

We also are to look at our misfortunes in no other way than that with them God gives us a light by which we may see and understand His goodness and kindness in countless other ways. Then we conclude that such small misfortunes are barely a drop of water on a big fire or a little spark in the ocean. Then we understand and love the words: "O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His steadfast love endures forever."

- Treasury of Daily Prayer: Friday after Ash Wednesday

Title: Job and His Friends
Date: unknown
Artist: Hans Sebald Beham
(German, 1500–1550)

PsalmodyPsalm 8:1-9How Majestic Is Your Name1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!You have s...
02/19/2026

Psalmody

Psalm 8:1-9
How Majestic Is Your Name

1 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Title: Moonlight, Wood Island Light
Artist: Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
Date: 1894

✝️ Ash Wednesday Divine Service, 7:30PMFebruary 18, Ash Wednesday marks the start of the Lenten season—a 40-day period (...
02/16/2026

✝️ Ash Wednesday Divine Service, 7:30PM

February 18, Ash Wednesday marks the start of the Lenten season—a 40-day period (excluding Sundays) leading up to Easter.

As the pastor places the ashes on our forehead, we are reminded of the verse in Genesis 3:19: 'Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'

"We ourselves will not overcome the temptations of Satan, our sinful flesh and death, but Christ our champion will.

Throughout the coming season, we will watch as He endures and overcomes the devil with his works and ways, suffers willingly for our sakes, and redeems us by His blood and Passion.

Faith trusts in Him and believes, even from the ash heap, that “a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17)." - https://calendar.lcms.org/event/ash-wednesday-series-c-and-one-year-series/

Matthew 17:5b –“A bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my belovedSon, with whom I a...
02/12/2026

Matthew 17:5b –“A bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved
Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.””

Artist: Cherubino Alberti (Zaccaria Mattia) (Italian, Borgo Sansepolcro 1553–1615 Rome)
Date: 1570–1615

Address

114 Kingsley Road SW
Vienna, VA
22180

Telephone

(703) 455-4003

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