Recent Worship
Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely shall we think of our fellowship and pray and hope for it.
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer
In the state of abandonment [to God] the only rule is the duty of the present moment. In this the soul is light as a feather, liquid as water, simple as a child, active as a ball in receiving and following all the inspirations of grace.
~ Jean Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751)
"I have looked our destruction, our miserable end, straight in the eye and accepted it into my life, and my love of life has not been diminished. I am not bitter or rebellious, or in any way discouraged… My life has been extended by death, by accepting destruction as part of life and no longer wasting my energies on fear of death or refusal to acknowledge its inevitability. It sounds paradoxical: by excluding death from our life we cannot live a full life, and by admitting death into our life we enlarge and enrich it."
~ Etty Hillesum
“We are too complicated. We have made God too complicated. We have been so anxious to define and to control, that God has been lost in all the definitions, the rituals and the rules. God is. And that, perhaps, is too simple for us.“
~ Edwina Gateley
"I have the immense joy of being a [human being], a member of a race in which God became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun."
~ Thomas Merton
"Contemplation is life itself, fully awake, fully active, fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness, and for being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent and infinitely abundant Source. Contemplation is, above all, awareness of the reality of that Source."
~ Thomas Merton
But if I say, “I will not mention his word
or speak anymore in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot.
~Jeremiah 20:9
“…deliver it, early now,
long before death
Give beauty back,
beauty, beauty, beauty,
back to God,
beauty’s self and beauty’s giver.
~ Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)
I know that I have life
only insofar as I have love.
I have not love
except it comes from Thee.
Help me, please,
to carry this candle against the Wind.
~ Wendell Berry (b. 1934)
To live content with small means;
to seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion;
to be worthy, not respectable,
and wealthy, not rich;
to study hard, think quietly,
talk gently, act frankly;
to listen to stars and birds,
to babes and sages with open heart;
to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely,
await occasions, hurrying never.
In a word, to let the spiritual,
unbidden and unconscious,
grow up through the common.
This is to be my symphony.
~ William Ellergy Channing (1780-1842)
And this is it. This is the life we get here on earth.
We get to give away what we receive.
We get to believe in each other.
We get to forgive and be forgiven.
We get to love imperfectly.
And we never know what effect it will have for years to come.
And all of it…all of it is completely worth it.
~ Nadia Bolz-Weber
You hollow us out, God,
so that we may carry you,
and you endlessly fill us
only to be emptied again.
Make smooth our inward spaces and sturdy,
that we may hold you with less resistance
and bear you with deeper grace.
~ Jan Richardson
Holy Spirit, giving life to all life, moving all creatures,
root of all things, washing them clean,
wiping out their mistakes, healing their wounds,
you are our true life, luminous, wonderful,
awakening the heart from its ancient sleep.
Hildegard of Bingen (1098 –1179)
If I could, I’d confess.
Good and loud, nice and slow;
Get this load off my chest; Yes,
But how, Lord? I don’t know.
What I say, I don’t feel;
What I feel, I don’t show;
What I show isn’t real;
What is real, Lord?
I don’t know.
~ Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) “Mass”
“Go and find Jesus when your patience and strength give out and you feel alone and helpless. He is waiting for you… Say to him, ‘Jesus, you know exactly what is going on. You are all I have, and you know all. Come to my help.’ And then go and don’t worry about how you are going to manage. That you have told God about it is enough. He has a good memory.”
~Jeanne Jugan (1792-1879)
Founder, Little Sisters of the Poor
Not my mother,
Not my father,
but it’s me, O Lord,
standing in the need of prayer.
Not my brother,
not my sister,
but it's me, O Lord,
standing in the need of prayer.
~ African American Spiritual
“…And if by prayer incessant
I could hope to change the will
of Him who all things can,
I would not cease to weary him
with my assiduous cries.”
~ John Milton (1608-1674)
“…prayer can only become unceasing communion when all our thoughts—beautiful or ugly, high or low, proud or shameful, sorrowful or joyful—can be thought in the presence of the One who dwells in us and surrounds us. To pray unceasingly means to think and live in the presence of Love…To pray unceasingly is to channel our thoughts out of their fearful isolation into a fearless conversation with God.”
~ Henri J. M. Nouwen
All difficulties in prayer
can be traced to one cause:
praying as if God were absent.
~ Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
“But from this earth,
this grave,
this dust,
My God shall raise me up, I trust.”
~Walter Raleigh (1552-1618)
We’re located at 16th and O Streets NW—in the heart of Washington, a mile north of the White House. We are part of the Dupont Circle and Logan Circle neighborhoods. Need more info? Call us or click below.
We look forward to greeting you in person. In the meantime, you can request prayer or ask a question by calling or sending an email.
At First Baptist DC, giving is the fuel that powers every congregational expression of hospitality, compassion, generosity and justice. FBC relies on the congregation for regular, sustainable financial support.
The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C.
1328 16th Street NW Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 387-2206
Office Hours
Monday-Thursday 10 AM–4 PM
Friday-Saturday Closed
