"Coming up on Grace Street"
Each week, we will be offering ways to come together as the "church away from church" - hence, the name
ChurchAway
.
We hope these opportunities help you feel connected to and supported by your parish family.
Let's grow together... from at least six feet apart.
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Join us for Sunday Morning Worship
Please click the thumbnail of the video above for an explanation of how we'll be making this transition
for this upcoming Sunday's worship
, and find full details for this Sunday's service (including this Sunday's service bulletin) on our website's homepage at
www.stpaulsrva.org.
Week Day Worship Offerings
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Welcoming Gwynn Crichton, Associate for Pastoral Care, in July!
From Charlie:
"At our annual parish meeting in January, you heard me say that I would soon be adding a clergy person to the leadership team at St. Paul’s. With the support of our Bishop and vestry, I am happy to announce that
I have called the Reverend Gwynn Crichton to join us as St. Paul’s Associate for Pastoral Care.
While the majority of Gwynn’s time will be spent in the area of building pastoral relationships and developing a system of congregational care at St. Paul’s, a portion of her role will be to offer spiritual support to Lynn Williams, our Director of Outreach and Community Engagement, and to the Steering Committee associated with that area of our life together."
To read Charlie's full announcement welcoming Gwynn, please
click here
.
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Discontinuation of Live Streaming services from St. Paul's Sanctuary
In an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, our Bishop has asked that we
stop livestreaming worship from our physical building/sanctuary.
She has also asked that we further limit the number of employees that attend to our buildings. Your staff is taking steps to minimize our presence at St. Paul’s. We will continue our essential food ministries.
I know the discontinuing of live-streamed services will be a disappointment to you. Coming together in this way has proved to be a source of comfort for so many. Your staff is already busy discussing how we might continue Sunday worship. In the meantime, our regular “rhythm” of daily prayer, study, and devotion continues through Zoom, and via Facebook live.
Click here
to read more about our Bishop’s decision.
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Faith on Tap
Second Presbyterian Church (Richmond) has invited us to their "Faith on Tap" offerings online! Faith on Tap is an opportunity for folks to gather with their beverage of choice and discuss an article with one another through a faith-based lens. We invite you join us for this ecumenical gathering to share in collective conversation with our neighbors down the street (from our own homes). This is open to everyone, so please feel free to "bring a friend."
Please join us
Thursday, April 23rd @ 5:00 p.m.
for our first online gathering. We will be meeting through Zoom every other Thursday. These discussions will be last about one hour.
To join the conversation via Zoom, please follow this link:
Meeting ID: 982 3445 5983
Password: 123456
Call in by phone: 19292056099, 123456#
Please note: St. Paul’s parishioner Chris Graham will be leading the Faith on Tap discussion on Thursday, May 7th @ 5:00 p.m. More details to come.
Annual Parish Retreat: Donation to Shrine Mont
As a reminder, our Parish Retreat has been canceled for this year. Registrants had the option to donate a portion or their entire original payment to Shrine Mont to help offset the financial loss of not being able to host groups for a period of time.
Our parishioners donated a total of $2,480 to Shrine Mont.
Many thanks to you all for your generosity!
“Spiritual Focus of the Day”
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, we are providing short devotionals via email and on our Facebook page and website. These include ways for you to engage in prayer, readings, Scripture, and stories as we continue to be the church from at least six feet apart. Sign up to receive them directly by clicking on the blue button on our
ChurchAway page
,
and visit our
Facebook page
to view the latest post.
Recommended Resources on the ChurchAway Page
In addition to the spiritual focus of the day, we have a list of recommended resources
here on our ChurchAway page
that you can also explore. Find ways to connect spiritually, receive assistance with food and services during critical closures, and donate/provide assistance for others.
Weekly Bible Studies
We are hosting two online
Bible studies
with our clergy each week: A
Psalms Study
with the Rev. Charlie Dupree at 5pm on Wednesdays, and a
Lectionary-Based Gospel Study
with Interim Associate Rector Rainey Dankel at 11am on Thursdays. Both can be accessed through the following Zoom links*:
Scripture for Online Bible Studies Week of April 13:
Wednesday, 4/22 Scripture:
Psalm 91
Thursday 4/23 Scripture:
Luke 24: 13-35
*Please note: you may have to enter the Zoom password to enter the Bible Study. For each of these studies, the password is
6433589
.
Weekly Biblical Greek Email During the Easter Season
Pentecost is a celebration of languages. “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability” (Acts 2:4). To prepare, let’s take up learning some Biblical Greek. Every Monday between Easter and Pentecost,
Beth Hadar
will offer an email examining the Greek for a verse or two from the lectionary for the coming week, from the passages of Acts that replace the Old Testament readings.
No prior knowledge of the Greek is required
, but the emails will help you learn to look at the text in Greek yourself, and prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit by exploring language and the process of translation.
Beth has been attending St. Paul's for seven years, and has led a number of Biblical Greek faith formation groups during that time. To sign up, or if you have questions, please contact her at
[email protected]
.
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[Staff Contact:
Linda Willis
, Director of Children + Family Ministry]
Godly Play at a Physical Distance
On the first Sunday in Lent, we began our Godly Play stories "Faces of Jesus." The wonderful thing about Godly Play is that the stories are open to the child's natural spirituality. They may want to pretend "to be church". Let that happen at their direction by your lighting a candle, deciding on a way to sit and join their circle and finish with the Feast, which can be as simple as water and crackers.
We'll be posting Godly Play links and more resources on our
ChurchAway page.
A Prayer for the Families of St. Paul's
While we are physically apart,
our hearts are always connected to each other and to Jesus.
Know that you are in my daily prayers, like this prayer from Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund:
"O God, we pray for our children and family members and for our neighbors and their children. Help us God to remember that all Your people are our neighbors and all children are our own. We pray especially for every caregiver, doctors and nurses, health and hospital personnel, and those who serve people with special needs and other vulnerable populations. And please help us to show all children by our actions as well as our words that they are loved."
Youth Group: Join us (and Bring Your Pets) for Weekly Zoom!
[Staff Contact:
Cat Parler
,
Youth Ministry Intern]
Throughout this period of social-distancing, the youth will meet
each Sunday at 5:00 p.m.
for a brief check-in on Zoom! Show up in your comfiest pjs and with your pets! Message us
([email protected])
to let us know you are interested and we will send you the Zoom link.
Children's Choir Update
To all of our choristers, we are here for you and we hope to sing with you soon! To read a letter from our Children's Choir Director, Karen, with some songs to listen to and sing at home,
please click here
.
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Weekly Zoom Social Hour w/the Youngish Adults
We had our first Zoom Social Hour this past week, and it was great fun seeing your faces again! We will host a Youngish Adult (20s-40s) Social Hour via Zoom
every Tuesday evening
between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. Join us then:
https://zoom.us/j/681083887
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[Contact:
Lynn Williams
, Minister of Community Engagement + Outreach]
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Partner Spotlight
-
Someone asked me (Lynn Williams) today what has been an unexpected and life-giving part of the COVID-19 pandemic for me. I had to reply the new found ways that I am connecting with people. I am a true extrovert.
Connecting in person with people is one of my favorite things to do, and now I can’t. But I have found new ways of connecting with old friends and new.
On Wednesday, I spent more than a half an hour on the phone with the owner of JoJo’s Pizza which is right around the corner from both St. Paul’s and the VCU Medical Center. I talked with Enrico about wanting to feed the tired, hungry folks at VCU. As we talked about our order, Enrico told me the story of his business. He started JoJo’s 20 years ago and has been feeding people in the downtown area ever since.
This pandemic has hit them hard, and his business is barely squeaking by.
He also shared some sad details about bills piling up and being exhausted from working extra hours to make ends meet. We bonded over our shared Italian heritage and our need to feed people.
As we finished up with the order, I said I have one more question for you, what else can I do to help you?
It was quiet and with much emotion in his voice he said to me,
you have no idea how much these orders help us
, and honestly, I can’t wait for the day when I can meet you in person and feed you my pizza! Well, me too Enrico, me too.
St. Paul’s, we are doing good things right now to not only help healthcare workers but also helping local businesses!
With JoJo’s Pizza’s help, St. Paul's is providing meals for
healthcare workers at VCU
this Friday, April 17th and Monday, April 20th.
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Supporting the Underground Kitchen (UGK)...
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If you haven’t heard yet, St. Paul's is providing our kitchen to UGK’s team of chefs to prepare needed meals, which are distributed across the Richmond Metro region to those who are home-bound due to health or logistical restrictions or because they are quarantined, emergency and health care workers, and family members, care-givers, and patients who are in temporary residence in hospital houses while patients undergo treatment.
We are excited about this partnership and the opportunity to share St. Paul’s resources and be part of this growing web of community support. For more information on this project:
PRESS RELEASE.
Reaching Out
-
- Circles RVA empowers families to break the cycle of poverty. Each week, local families that are ready, willing, and able to thrive (Circle Leaders) connect with community volunteers (Allies). During these **currently VIRTUAL** meetings, Circle Leaders work on their goals toward economic stability and growth. If YOU are interested in becoming an ally to help empower local families in need, please visit our Circles RVA webpage for more information!
- Learn more about the different resources available to you and other community members who have been impacted by unemployment, reduced income, loss of business and share these resource. Virginia Poverty Law Center has several listed on their webpage HERE.
- More ways to give back to your community and engage responsibly can be found on our ChurchAway page.
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Women's Group Virtual Happy Hour
We know this time is not easy and we wanted to offer an opportunity for the women of St. Paul's to gather for a Virtual "Happy Hour"! Sign on your phone or computer, bring your own wine, beer, juice, sparkling water, and a refreshment. We will use this time to reconnect and simply share a hello, a smile, or a need for a prayer. Please join us
this Friday April 17th at 7:00 pm.
As always, please share this information with anyone else, all are welcome.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/821304573?pwd=WnNpOUU0TjFmNWN6MkZjSE04d0grdz09
Meeting ID: 821 304 573
Password: 6433589
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Giving to St. Paul's
For those of you who normally give to St. Paul’s each Sunday through our offering plate, you can still make your contribution by mailing a check to the church at
815 East Grace Street, Richmond VA 23219
,
or by giving online. For ways to give, visit our
GIVING Page
or make a contribution by texting
stpaulsrva give
to 77977.
We also recognize that this current pandemic is affecting many of you in different ways economically.
If you are facing financial hardship or uncertainty, please do not hesitate to put a pause on your regular giving.
For our annual pledgers, consider St. Paul’s the last payment you make each month, if at all. If you have questions or want to talk through anything, reach out to the finance office:
[email protected]
,
[email protected]
or
[email protected]
.
We are here to support you.
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Jesus, you show us your wounded hands and feet so that we might know the depth of your love for us; give comfort to all who are suffering and in need, especially the lonely, the homeless, the unemployed, those struggling with disease, and all of those who are in need of healing or support:
For
Jamie Miller; Barbara, sister of Lindy Wright; Father Erasto and the people of Mwitikira; Wylie and Cody, grandsons of Lindy Wright; Anna Nolde McKinney, mother of Helen Ilnicky; Alex and his family.
We also pray for those who have died: For Ann Gamble Blechta, sister of Frank Mountcastle; Brenda Cook, aunt of Lynn Williams; John Cook, father of Michaelle Justice; Susan Barnes, grandmother of Maggy Barnes. May God hold them all in the palm of God's hand.
For medical professionals and all health care workers battling the pandemic, especially Joe James, Michelle Whitehurst-Cook, Sid Jones, Susan Jones, Barbara Holley, Kent Titus, Devon Wojcikewych, Radcliffe Burt, Kip Whaton, Shelby Catlett, Rachel Barney Carter, Mary Zetelski, Matt Risendal, Jenny Kane, Sarah Ameen, Barry Kirkpatrick, John Kern, Allan Matsumoto, Mark Bladergroen, Amy Parke.
We want to pray daily for all medical personnel who are working to restore health and safety to our country, often at risk to themselves and their families. Please send names of individuals for whom we may pray (with their permission), to Carter Johann
[email protected]
, and we will add them to our list. For our Prayer chain and more information about Pastoral Care at St. Paul's,
please click here
.
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