This is a computer transcription of the announcement video by Fr. Jed Fox, with light human review, giving the latest COVID-19 update for Church of the Redeemer.

[00:00:00] Fr. Jed Fox: Good morning. I’m Father Jed. I’m the Rector of the Church of the Redeemer here in Kenmore, Washington. I want to talk to you this morning about COVID-19 and the plans for reopening the church to in-person worship.

From the beginning, our policies around the current pandemic have been based in both the best science that we knew about and in our own Christian faith. We believe that God sends scientists to tell us how we need to understand the world. We also believe that we have a care and duty to take care of both ourselves and our neighbors, especially those who are vulnerable.

Since we began our staying away [00:01:00] from the Church or the Redeemer in person at the beginning of March many months ago, this has been the reason that we have worshiped online and it does not negate or make less important our continuing worship that we have been practicing these many months. We are still worshiping God. We are still in relationship with God.

Many things have changed during this pandemic. The speed with which things change has not really changed that much. Science is learning new things about this virus all the time. The recommendations are changing quite frequently, as well.

Given all of this, the leadership of the Church of the Redeemer has decided that we will not be reopening the church to in-person worship, to use by rental groups, or for [00:02:00] any reason until at least September 1st. This gives us an entire, the entire rest of the summer to wait and see. See what science discovers as they continue to work furiously to learn more about how this virus operates and about how we can be kept safe, to learn more about how this virus is going to affect our society, which at the moment seems to be a challenge, and to learn more about how we can safely bring people back to worship again in this place.

Because that is our goal to, to worship again together in this place and to do it safely in a way [00:03:00] that takes care of ourselves, takes care of our neighbors, takes care of our community, and promotes an ethic of life and living, which is our Christian call.

I know this is a difficult thing to hear. Maybe you’ve been hoping that maybe soon we’ll be allowed to go back and that September is a long way away. It is long for all of us.

But please know that our worship is still worship, even if it’s online. Our worship is still worship, even if it’s in our homes, not surrounded by our friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. Our worship is still near a relationship with God, even if it is not mediated through the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ taken into our [00:04:00] bodies.

We are not further away from Jesus in the midst of this pandemic. We are not further away from God. And my prayer for you as we continue together in this pandemic is that you will feel God’s nearness, Christ’s nearness, the nearness of God’s kingdom within yourself and within your community, as we continue to seek and serve Christ in all persons and to worship God in holiness and in truth.

And I hope that God’s blessing will be with you now and forever more.

Church of the Redeemer

Welcome to Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County, Washington. As you travel your road, go with friends walking the way of Jesus at Redeemer.

Church of the Redeemer is at 6210 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. The campus is a short distance north of Bothell Way, near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance looks like a gravel driveway. The campus is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And we managed to hide a large building on the side of a hill that is not easily seen from the street.

The Episcopal Church welcomes you.