Category: Uncategorized

St. Paul’s Adopt a Rat ministry

~ joliegrout

St. Paul’s is honored to participate in the “Adopt a Rat” program at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). Local families and churches in the Lexington, VA area host new, first-year cadets (called “Rats”) for a Sunday respite from the intense training, offering them a home-cooked meal, a quiet environment, and emotional support during their challenging “Rat Line” period. It’s a way for the community to provide some rest and recreation, allowing cadets to recharge before returning to the barracks, with many bonds lasting long after the first year. We have an amazing group of four young men that faithfully come to Bible Study and Worship every Sunday, and then relax at the homes of our members who feed them and let them chill for a few hours. We are thankful for our “rats” and pray the Lord will bless them in their service to him and others.

St. Paul’s prepares for Advent 2025

~ joliegrout

Advent begins this Sunday, Nov 30. Please join us at 11:00 am.

Advent is more than the beginning of another Church year, it is the season that God has given to his Church to help us remember our Lord Jesus Christ’s first coming as a human babe in the Bethlehem manger, but also to help prepare us for his Second Advent, that Great Day when he comes to judge the world as the King of Kings and all will be finally revealed.

For some, there will be great joy at Christ’s appearing, for others, great shame. Let us awaken from our slumber and seek first his Kingdom through cultivating a deeper walk with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through repentance, fasting, prayer, worship, and the reception his most precious Body and Blood. Offering our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving cannot simply be one priority among many, but must be our highest goal and greatest joy, the response of the redeemed Creature toward the faithful and everlasting covenant love of the Good Creator.

St. Paul’s begins a five week series at 10:00 am Sundays called, “An Introduction to the Anglican Way.”

~ joliegrout

The series is taking place on Sundays at 10:00 am in the undercroft from June 22-July 20 and is helping us to consider what it means to be a Christian in the English tradition. It will include a cursory look at Anglican history going back to the early Church and our unique tools for spiritual formation including the Book of Common Prayer. Below is our class from the first week, June 22.

Alleluia! He Is Risen!

~ joliegrout

CHRIST being raised from the dead dieth no more; * death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: * but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, * but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. vi. 9.

St. Paul’s celebrated our Lord’s resurrection on Easter Day 2025 with Holy Communion and a great crowd of worshipers!

St. Paul’s Holy Week and Easter Services

~ joliegrout

Please join us at St. Paul’s as we walk with our Savior through His Passion and our Redemption this most Holy Week.

Holy Week & Easter Services Schedule:

Palm Sunday, April 13 at 11:00 am: Liturgy of the Palms & Holy Communion

Maundy Thursday, April 17 at 6:00 pm: Holy Communion & Stripping of the Altar

Good Friday, April 18 at 12:00 pm: Stations of the Cross & The Great Litany

Easter Day, April 20 at 11:00 am: Holy Communion & Easter Potluck Luncheon following (No 10:00 am Bible Study)

Ash Wednesday Imposition of Ashes & Holy Communion

~ joliegrout

You are invited to join us Wednesday, March 5 at noon as we enter into the penitential season of Lent by the Imposition of Ashes and Holy Communion.

For the last three weeks, we have been preparing to enter into Lent, when we mirror the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness, being tempted and tried.

Lent should not be viewed as a punishment, or a way in which we try to pay for our sins, rather, Lent is gift to us, a time of repentance through which our essential need for God is most clearly revealed to us and the path to his Kingdom most brightly illuminated. We are reminded once again that without Crucifixion there is no Resurrection.

“Turn ye even to me, saith the LORD, with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness…”