The St. Paul’s community is celebrating Earth Day 2023 with a special creation care outdoor worship service that includes Holy Eucharist followed by a potluck picnic at beautiful Robious Landing Park (Shelter #1) on the James River on the southside (Midlothian).

The fabulous musical duo Michaelle and Brian Justice will play bluegrass Gospel hymns during and after the service. Please come early and stay late as there are many opportunities to enjoy nature and play including canoeing/kayaking, volleyball, and hiking.

Please join us for this intergenerational, family-friendly service to give thanks to God for our beautiful island home Earth and pray for justice and action to care for and restore God’s good creation.

To reduce waste, please bring your own water bottles, reusable or compostable cups, plates, cutlery, and napkins. In addition, bring stadium chairs and blankets.

Please CLICK HERE to RSVP.

Contact Rev. Gwynn Crichton with any questions.

For some, Christmas can be a painful, difficult, and lonely time of year because of the recent loss of a loved one or painful memories. The Liturgy of the Longest Night, also known as “Blue Christmas,” is symbolically held on the Winter Solstice (December 21st). This service creates a sacred space to lift up our grief and lament to God as we wait together in hope and longing for the Eternal Word Made Flesh to be born anew in our weary hearts and world. Please join us for this special service of Holy Eucharist that will include candle lighting and healing prayers with oil.

Liturgy of the Longest Night | December 21 @ 7 PM | Service Leaflet

Join us for a beautiful choral liturgy, which includes scripture readings alternating between carols and hymns, preparing the way for Christmas.

A festive reception will be held after the service. Childcare will be available.

In-person and live-streamed.

In 1934, sixteen years after he had introduced to King’s College, Cambridge the Festival of Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve, Dean Eric Milner-White, composed a further service, a service of Advent Lessons and Carols. This move was brought about by his concern for more imaginative forms of worship. The new service was so well suited to the Chapel that Lydia Lopokova (ballerina and wife of John Maynard Keynes, then of King’s) commented ‘Now we know why the Dean is such a lover of ballet: he is the best choreographer of us all.’
Milner-White wrote of it: “In the old English liturgies, the Advent Offices made a preparation for the coming of our Lord to this earth far more vivid and eager than those of our present Prayer book. The purpose of the service is not to celebrate Christmas, but to expect it.”

The liturgy alternates lessons from the Old and the New Testaments with carols and hymns, finally climaxing in St. Matthew’s Gospel, in which the angel brings the news that Mary will bring forth a son, “and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

The St. Paul’s community is celebrating St. Francis’ Feast Day with a creation care outdoor worship service that includes the Blessing of the Animals and Holy Eucharist followed by a parish potluck picnic at Bryan Park, Picnic Shelter #1.

St. Franci of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, the poor and the environment, expressed his devotion to God through his love for all of God’s creation, praising all creatures as sisters and brothers under God, the custom of offering blessings of animals around or on his Feast day.

Please bring your well-behaved pets, a lawn chair/blanket, and a dish to share for this specially designed, family-friendly service to worship God our Creator, give thanks and bless God’s creatures (especially those who are part of our families), and pray for healing and restoration of God’s good creation.

Registration is required. CLICK HERE to register.

August 14, 21 & 28 @ 9:00 a.m. in the Norwood Room

Join our Rector for an exploration of Expansive/Inclusive Language and the Episcopal Church. Conversations about language are happening everywhere, even in the church. During three sessions in August, we’ll learn more about how St. Paul’s and the Episcopal Church are thinking and making decisions about the language we use during our principal worship services. Our time together will include current materials, as well as discussing our own experiences of worship and language.

August 14 | The following report from the Episcopal Church’s Task Force on Liturgical and Prayer Book Revision will serve as the springboard for our conversation. You may look at the whole document or just focus on pp. 21-24. CLICK HERE to read.