Where to find livestreams of our services

The first Sunday of Christmas (Christmas I), December 26, will follow a slightly altered Sunday schedule.

• 8 a.m., Holy Eucharist: Rite One • 10:30 a.m., Christmas Lessons and Carols • 5:30 p.m., Celtic Evensong and Communion • 8 p.m., Sung Compline

The second Sunday of Christmas (Christmas II), January 2, will follow the above schedule, but the 10:30 a.m. service will be Holy Eucharist: Rite Two. There will be no Palmer Hall service, Forum or Sunday school on December 26 or January 2; these will resume January 9, 2022.

The parish office and the café will be closed December 27-January 3, so there will be no Morning Prayer that week; it will resume Tuesday, January 4, 2022.

These are our plans as this edition of Seasons of the Spirit goes to the printer. During the pandemic, the only constant is change, so be sure to consult the Spirit, the eSpirit, or our Web site (ststephensRVA.org/Christmas) for the most up-to-date information and links to reservations.

Where to watch our livestreams

Necessity is the mother of invention, the saying goes. It can also help us get better at things! Beginning in March 2020, we spent a year creating weekly worship videos since we could not worship together in person. Once we were able to re-gather, we began doing something that we had been thinking about before the pandemic: livestreaming our services. But while we might have previously thought we’d livestream one or two services each week, the pandemic moved us to offer more. We’re livestreaming daily Morning Prayer on weekdays, and on Sundays the Sunday Forum at 10:10 a.m., the 11:15 a.m. Eucharist, the 5:30 p.m. Celtic service, and the 8 p.m. Compline service. We’ve also been livestreaming the inquirers class this fall. Some parishioners are not comfortable coming to church at this point in the pandemic, or they have health conditions or other limitations that make it unwise for them to venture out. We’re grateful to be able to provide this service for them—and for anyone who might be out of town or otherwise not able to attend a service or a forum. We’re also reaching people who are not yet familiar with St. Stephen’s Church. To that end, this fall we begun pushing our livestreams to additional platforms. In addition to streaming on our Web site, we’re livestreaming on our Facebook page and our YouTube channel. The most glitch-free platform remains our Web site, but we know that Facebook and YouTube are helping us reach new viewers. One thing to know about livestreams on our Web site is that each “event” needs to be embedded on its own page. While it would be easier for you to find a livestream if all of them “lived” on one page, technically, it’s not possible.

By Sarah Bartenstein

Sarah Bartenstein

Dillon Gwaltney at the controls

So here are some shortcuts. Consider bookmarking these on your web browser. Most of them are also linked every week in the eSpirit, our email newsletter.

• Sunday morning service: ststephensRVA.org/onlineworship • Sunday Forum: ststephensRVA.org/forum • Celtic service: ststephensRVA.org/celtic • Compline: ststephensRVA.org/compline • Daily Morning Prayer: ststephensRVA.org/livestream • Inquirers class: ststephensRVA.org/inquirer Did you miss a service or a forum, or want to share one with someone else? Go to ststephensRVA.org/video to see archives.

A few disclaimers: Sometimes a speaker will ask that we not livestream or record their presentation, and we honor that request. Other things simply don’t lend themselves to livestreaming (and unless something takes place in the main church, we are not equipped to livestream it).

Many thanks to Dillon Gwaltney of our communications staff, J.D. Jump, who is on the staff of St. Christopher’s School, and our parish administrator, Betsy Lee, for their contributions to this ministry.