Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

Worshiping God, living in community, reaching out to the world.

Tag: Christmas

Advent and Christmas services 2025
Be our guest at church services at Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Kenmore, Washington, for Advent and Christmas.

Advent is the first season of the church year. It begins with the fourth Sunday before Christmas and continues through the day before Christmas. The name comes from a Latin word for “coming.” The season is a time of preparation and expectation for the coming celebration of our Lord’s nativity. We also prepare and expect the final coming of Christ “in power and glory.”

Christmas (in old English, Cristes maesse, Christ’s Mass), or The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, is a festival celebrated on December 25. It commemorates the Incarnation of the Word of God in the birth of Jesus Christ. According to the Philocalian calendar, Christmas was first celebrated in Rome in the year 336. It gradually spread to the churches of the east, which already had a festival on January 6 commemorating the manifestation of God in both the birth and baptism of Jesus.

All are welcome to participate fully at Redeemer.
- All races.
- All religions.
- All countries of origin.
- All sexual orientations, including LGBTQ+.
- All genders.
We stand with you. You are safe here.

Advent

Redeemer follows its regular Sunday morning schedule in Advent.
- There is a spoken, quiet service at 8:00 am.
- There is adult education at 9:15 am for children and adults.
- There is a service with singing at 10:30 am.
Children worship with their caregivers. It is fine to bring infants and small children. How else will they learn if they don’t participate?

On Sunday, December 14, 2025, from 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm, we invite you to an Advent Tea in the parish hall.

On Sunday, December 21, 2025, after the 10:30 am church service, we will “green the church” for Christmas. You are invited to join in the joyful fun. This activity used to be called the “hanging of the greens,” but the Green family took offense.

Christmas

The Christmas season begins late in the afternoon on December 24.
- At 4:00 pm, there is a family-friendly Christmas service with music.
- At 8:00 pm, there is a full Christmas service with incense. This would be the traditional “midnight mass” type of service.
There is no service on Christmas Day, December 25.

There will be services at 8:00 am and 10:30 am on the two Sundays of Christmas. The 10:30 am service on the Second Sunday of Christmas will have a Christmas pageant.

There will be education classes for children and adults at 9:15 am on the two Sundays after Christmas.

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 6220 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. We are 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.
December 1, 2025
Episcopal Advent and Christmas Resources
In Luke’s telling of the Christmas story, startled shepherds are the first to hear that good news of great joy given to all people. Since then, through generations and generations, across the world, we keep sharing this Good News. We receive signs from God that, in the coming of Jesus Christ, we have received the greatest gift of all. The Episcopal Church wants to help you and your congregation share that Good News with each other and your neighborhoods, especially this Advent and Christmas.

AdventWord

Our main offering for Advent and Christmas this year will be participation in Forward Movement’s AdventWord. This online Advent calendar that asks individuals, ministries, and congregations to reflect on a single word each day of Advent.

If you feel so moved, you can even post the word, a written reflection, and a graphic on social media. We’ve created Canva templates – three each in English and Spanish – which we invite you to use.

Join AdventWord

United Thank Offering (UTO)

Christmas Gratitude Game

There are so many things to give thanks for during the Christmas season. UTO wants to help you and your friends and family share your Christmas stories of gratitude this holiday season. Print out the cards and game board. Then gather round to share your stories as you work your way to the end of the game.

Download for free

Printable Letter to Santa

Are you re looking for a way to help a child you love think about their Christmas list differently? Then we’ve got a free printable for you! This one-page letter offers fill-in-the-blank areas. One way to show Santa how nice you’ve been this year is to tell him what you’re grateful for! Next, there are categories for gifts the child might like. It asks them to think about something to share. This can be a gift they donate or something they can share with a relative or neighbor.)

Send a letter to Santa!

D365

These devotions are written by ministers, professors, students, teachers, missionaries, denominational leaders, and others who work with and care for students. D365 will highlight the season of Advent with the theme, “Following the Star.”

Typically, an author writes on a single theme for one week. In these devotions, you will read honest struggles and questions, all in the context of real faith. As you read the thoughts of the writers, think about your own response to the Scripture for the day. Let the writer’s words serve as background for your own conversation with God.

D365.org is a joint partnership of the following:
- The Episcopal Church Office for Youth Ministries
- Presbyterian Youth and Triennium Office and Ministries of the Presbyterian Church USA.
- Congregational Life Office of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Available in English and Spanish.

Visit D365

Advent: Stories of Movement and Migration

Advent: Stories of Movement and Migration is a podcast series from the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas. It features audio stories, discussion guides, and more.

Advent Toolkit

Join Episcopal Relief & Development each week in Advent to create, learn and pray. There are DIY projects for families and communities that will take you from Advent to Christmas and through Epiphany. You will find the following:
- DIY wreath ideas with prayers and reflections.
- DIY creche ideas.
- Information about St. Nicholas.
There is also a guide to hosting an alternative gift market and our Gifts for Life catalog.

Explore the Advent Toolkit and the Gifts for Life catalog

Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County. We welcome you be with us as we walk the way of Jesus.

Church of the Redeemer is at 6220 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. We are 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.
November 18, 2025
The bulletin insert for January 5, 2025

This is the weekly bulletin insert from Sermons That Work.

Anglican Cycle of Prayer

The below is the weekly calendar produced by the Anglican Communion for 2025. Over the course of each year, we pray for each of the provinces of the Communion. For more information, visit iam.ec/prayercycle.

January

5          The Church in Wales
12         The Church of the Province of West Africa
19         The Church in the Province of the West Indies
26         The Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria

February

2          The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia
9          The Anglican Church of Australia
16         The Church of Bangladesh
23         Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil

March

2          The Anglican Church of Burundi
9          The Anglican Church of Canada
16         The Church of the Province of Central Africa
23         Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America
30         Province de L’Eglise Anglicane Du Congo

April

6          Iglesia Anglicana de Chile
13         The Church of England
20         Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui
27         The Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean

May

4          The Church of Ireland
11         Nippon Sei Ko Kai
18         The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & The Middle East
25        The Anglican Church of Kenya

June

1           The Anglican Church of Korea
8          The Anglican Church of Melanesia
15        La Iglesia Anglicana de Mexico
22         Igreja Anglicana de Mocambique e Angola
29         The Church of the Province of Myanmar (Burma)

July

6          The Church of Nigeria
13         The Church of North India (United)
20         The Church of Pakistan (United)
27         The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea

August

3          The Episcopal Church in the Philippines
10         Eglise Anglicane du Rwanda
17         The Scottish Episcopal Church
24         The Church of the Province of South East Asia
31         The Church of South India (United)

September

7          The Anglican Church of Southern Africa
14         The Anglican Church of South America
21         Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan
28         Province of the Episcopal Church of Sudan

October

5          The Anglican Church of Tanzania
12         The Church of the Province of Uganda
19         The Episcopal Church
26         The Church in Wales

November

2          The Church of the Province of West Africa
9          The Church in the Province of the West Indies
16         The Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria
23         The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia
30         The Anglican Church of Australia

December

7          The Church of Bangladesh
14         Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil
21         The Anglican Church of Burundi
28         The Anglican Church of Canada

Weekly bulletin inserts

This weekly bulletin insert provides information about the history, music, liturgy, mission, and ministry of The Episcopal Church. For more information, please contact us at stw@episcopalchurch.org.

Sermons That Work

For more than 20 years, Sermons That Work, a ministry of The Episcopal Church’s Office of Communication, has provided free sermons, Bible studies, bulletin inserts, and other resources that speak to congregations across the Church. Our writers and readers come from numerous and varied backgrounds. Small house churches, sprawling cathedrals, and everything between use the resources that Sermons That Work provides.

Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. 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 6220 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.

January 3, 2025
The bulletin insert for December 29, 2024
This is the weekly bulletin insert from Sermons That Work.

The Presiding Bishop’s Christmas Message

Dear People of God in The Episcopal Church:

Among the Christmas Gospels, Luke is surely the crowd pleaser. Nearly our entire visual vocabulary of Christmas—the manger, the shepherds, the angels—comes from the second chapter of Luke. Thanks to Luke, we all know the answer to the trivia question, “Who was Quirinius?”

But if you go to church on Christmas morning, or if your congregation’s custom is to read a last Gospel on Christmas Eve, you will hear the beginning of the Gospel of John, which includes other words we all know: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” Christmas does not truly begin for me until I hear those words.

While Luke paints us a picture of a noisy and chaotic birth, in John we encounter the powerfully quiet mystery of the Incarnation. John brings us the astonishing truth that God lived among us as a person, “full of grace and truth,” ready to share the pain and sorrow of being human.

Especially this year, our hurting and divided world is desperate for the Incarnation. We live, as have many generations before us, in a time of fear, division, and instability. The Enemy has turned us against one another, sometimes in our own families and communities. The land of Jesus’ birth is torn apart by violence and tremendous suffering, and across the globe, we have hardened our hearts against the strangers among us. All too often, we hear voices that claim the mantle of Christianity calling most loudly for exclusion and conquest.

As Episcopalians, we must resist the urge to retreat from this broken world. Instead, we have been called to model our life together on a different vision of God’s kingdom. Contrary to the world’s expectations, we have bound ourselves together in a global community, following the Risen Christ together despite our differences. We know that death, suffering, and enmity are not the last word, and we proclaim it every time we gather at God’s table.

At Christmas, we can make our unity a witness to the world. Every day, in congregations and communities across our church, you are feeding the hungry, binding up the brokenhearted, caring for the vulnerable, and transforming lives through the power of the gospel. We can also proclaim God’s presence by giving to our church’s historic ministries that are working to alleviate suffering at home and abroad:
- Episcopal Migration Ministries, which is working to resettle refugees and create welcoming communities for migrants in the face of fear.
- American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which brings hope and healing to vulnerable families across the Holy Land.
- Episcopal Relief & Development, which advances lasting change in communities affected by injustice, poverty, disaster, and climate change.
Most of all, we can commit our lives to creating a world that is more just and more loving, in which the grace and truth that came down to us at Christmas is kindled all year long. Especially this year, as we begin our ministry together, I am grateful to be working toward this vision with you.

May God bless you and all those you love this Christmas and always.

The Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe
Presiding Bishop

Weekly bulletin inserts

This weekly bulletin insert provides information about the history, music, liturgy, mission, and ministry of The Episcopal Church. For more information, please contact us at stw@episcopalchurch.org.

Sermons That Work

For more than 20 years, Sermons That Work, a ministry of The Episcopal Church’s Office of Communication, has provided free sermons, Bible studies, bulletin inserts, and other resources that speak to congregations across the Church. Our writers and readers come from numerous and varied backgrounds. Small house churches, sprawling cathedrals, and everything between use the resources that Sermons That Work provides.

Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. 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 6220 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.
December 27, 2024
Christmas 2024: A Message from Bishop LaBelle

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube’s privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Greetings, Diocese of Olympia.

I’m here in what will become our chapel space in Diocesan House. It’s the old library here in the mansion and something that has been under construction. When I first imagined doing a Christmas video for you, I was hoping to have a nice tree set up nearby and looking all perfect in this space and yet here we are, under construction.

Often we hear from our culture about how perfect Christmases can be. We get this in ads and in magazines and watching commercials. There’s those folks who are given Lexuses with car bows all wrapped up, and it feels as if everything has to be perfect. And yet, at least my own experience has been that Christmas sometimes is less than perfect.

Like the one from my childhood, which included the Milky, the Marvelous Milking Cow incident, or the time when I had bought a train table for my son Noah when he was little, and I hadn’t even set it up prior to Christmas Eve services and was wondering if I would get it all done. There was the Christmas that we ended up moving two days after Christmas on the 27th and thinking that we would have Chinese food for Christmas dinner, taking a page out of “A Christmas Story,” only to find that all of the Chinese restaurants near us were closed because they were Christian. And then there was one, even just two years ago, when I got COVID on the 22nd, as did two other members of my family, and I sat there on Christmas Eve in the study of the rectory watching people walk by going to services.

Christmas is often imperfect. But for me, that’s the real truth of this season because Jesus comes into the places of our lives which are unfinished. Jesus enters in not to a palace, but that stable. Coming to Bethlehem and lying there among the sheep and the cows and the donkey and being placed in a manger. Far too often, we think about the coming of Christmas as all the stuff that is perfect. And yet, Jesus meets us right where we are. And friends, that is the good news.

So as we celebrate these 12 days and as we gather with friends and loved ones, I hope that you remember that it doesn’t have to be perfect, that you don’t have to be perfect, but rather to allow Christ to enter into you again in a new way, in all of the messiness of life, so that you might truly experience hope and peace.

Wishing you and all those that you love, a very Merry Christmas. May God bless you during this time.

The Rt. Rev. Philip N. LaBelle

The Rt. Rev. Philip N. LaBelle is the Ninth Bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia. The Diocese elected Bishop LaBelle on May 18, 2024, and he was Consecrated and Ordained on September 14, 2024.

Bishop LaBelle previously served as rector of St. Mark’s Church in Southborough, Massachusetts. During his time in the Diocese of Massachusetts, Bishop LaBelle co-led the Mission Strategy Committee, served on Executive Committee and Diocesan Council, and directed the Fresh Start program. He co-founded Southborough Neighbors for Peace with Dr. Safdar Medina in their small town. The organization hosted peace vigils, began a community-wide Iftar dinner during Ramadan, established an interfaith Thanksgiving service, and sponsored other bridge-building events. Additionally, Bishop LaBelle served on the core team of Central Mass. Connections in Faith, an organization centered on fostering relationships and learning about other religious faiths through quarterly gatherings.

Read more about Bishop LaBelle.

Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. 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 6220 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.

December 24, 2024
Christmas Season at Redeemer
You are welcome to worship the Christ child during the Christmas Season at Episcopal Church of the Redeemer. All are welcome at Redeemer
- All genders.
- All races.
- All religions.
- All countries of origin.
- All sexual orientations.
Church of the Redeemer is at 6220 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington.

@redeemerkenmore
At 4:00 pm on Tuesday, December 24, 2024, you are warmly encouraged to attend the pageant service for Christmas Eve at Church of the Redeemer in Kenmore, Washington. There will be a drop-in pageant at this service. Any child wanting a part will get one. This service, with music, should take about an hour, or so. At 10:00 pm on Tuesday, December 24, 2024, you are warmly encouraged to attend the festive service for Christmas Eve at Church of the Redeemer in Kenmore, Washington. This is the Solemn Eucharist of the Incarnation, a traditional service. This service, with music, should take about an hour and a half, or so. There will be incense. At 10:00 am on Wednesday, December 25, 2024, you are warmly encouraged to attend the morning service for Christmas at Church of the Redeemer in Kenmore, Washington. This is a simpler Eucharist of the Incarnation, with hymns and carols meant for a morning service. This service is perfect for those who had to work Christmas Eve. Or for those who prefer to not go out at night. All are welcome at Redeemer ❦ All races. ❦ All religions. ❦ All countries of origin. ❦ All sexual orientations. ❦ All genders. #christmas #christmaseve #midnightmass #christmaspageant #christmasday #kenmorewa #lakeforestparkwa #bothellwa #seattle #christian #christianworship #nativity #jesus #episcopal #tectok
♬ original sound – Episcopal Ch. of the Redeemer – Episcopal Ch. of the Redeemer

Christmas, or Christ’s Mass

Christmas (in old English, Cristes maesse) is a festival celebrated on December 25. It commemorates the Incarnation of the Word of God in the birth of Jesus Christ. In the Book of Common Prayer it is also called The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In the United States it is also a popular secular holiday.

In the Book of Common Prayer, Christmas Day is one of the seven principal feasts. The Christmas season lasts twelve days, from Christmas Day until January 5, the day before the Epiphany. The season includes the following:
- Christmas Day
- The First Sunday after Christmas Day
- The Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ (January 1)
The season may include the Second Sunday after Christmas Day.

In many parishes, the main liturgical celebrations of Christmas take place on Christmas Eve.

Services at Church of the Redeemer

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Christmas Eve, December 24, 2024
- 4:00 pm. Family Eucharist with drop-in pageant. There is a part for any child that wants one.
- 10:00 pm. Solemn Eucharist of the Incarnation. This festive service will have incense.
Christmas Day, December 25, 2024
- 10:00 am. Holy Eucharist for the Feast of the Incarnation with hymns appropriate for a quieter morning service. This is a perfect for those who have to work Christmas Eve or would prefer to not go out at night.
First Sunday of Christmas, December 29, 2024
- 8:00 am. Holy Eucharist.
- 10:30 am. Holy Eucharist.
Second Sunday of Christmas, January 5, 2025
- 8:00 am. Holy Eucharist.
- 10:30 am. Holy Eucharist with carols and Epiphany pageant.
Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. 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 6220 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.
December 7, 2024
Prophetic Voices podcast available for Christmas Day
In this episode of Prophetic Voices, we’ll be discussing the lectionary for Christmas Day. The texts covered in this episode are Isaiah 9:2-7, Luke 2:1-20, and John 1:1-14.

Our amazing guests this week are:
- The thoughtful Kenji Kuramitsu, a spiritual care and mental health professional living in Chicago, Illinois. Kenji enjoys gardening and traveling and is a longtime member of St. Paul and the Redeemer Episcopal Church in the Hyde Park/Kenwood neighborhood.
- The Rev. Luz Montes, associate rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas. Luz is passionate about sharing God’s love and making our world a more just place to live.
- The insightful Cody Ingle, a senior research and evaluation specialist at Lost&Found. He is passionate about health equity in the LGBTQIA+ and Two Spirit community, and lives in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with his partner, Josh.
Prophetic Voices is hosted by the Rev. Isaiah “Shaneequa” Brokenleg, The Episcopal Church’s staff officer for Racial Reconciliation. For more information on Becoming Beloved Community, visit iam.ec/becomingbelovedcommunity.

Prophetic Voices: Preaching and Teaching Beloved Community

Across our church and our society, we are having profound dialogues about race, truth, justice, and healing. Coming this Advent, Prophetic Voices: Preaching and Teaching Beloved Community explores where that dialogue intersects with our faith. Join us and our invited guests as we share prophetic voices and explore the readings for each week of Advent and Christmas Day through the lens of social justice.

You’ll hear ancient texts interpreted in new ways, find fodder for preaching and teaching, and make present day connections to the prophetic voices of the Bible. This podcast will help us rethink how we hear, see, and interact with the lectionary readings.

Find other podcasts available from the Episcopal Church.

Manger at Church of the Redeemer

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 6220 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. We are 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.
November 30, 2023
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s Christmas message 2022: ‘Love always’

The following is a transcript of Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s recorded Christmas message for 2022.

Hello. I’m inside St. James Church by-the-Sea, La Jolla, California. We thank the rector, the clergy, the staff, and the good people of this church for allowing us to bring this Christmas message to The Episcopal Church from this wonderful and beautiful congregation.

There is a Christmas carol not that well known here in the States, maybe better known in Great Britain, that says quite simply, “Love came down at Christmas. Love all lovely. Love divine. Love was born at Christmas. Star and angel gave the sign. Love came down at Christmas.”

The older I get, the more I am convinced that God came into this world in the person of Jesus for one reason, and one reason alone: to show us the way to be reconciled and in right relationship with the God who is the creator of us all, and with each other as children of that one God who is the creator of us all, and of all things.

Jesus came to show us how to live, reconciled with God, and with each other, and He taught us that the way to do it is God’s way of love. For God’s way of love is God’s way of life. It’s our hope for our families, our communities, our societies. Indeed, it is our hope for the whole world. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, and love came down at Christmas.

Now, look, I’m 69 years old. I’ve been around the block a little bit. I know that sounds nice, sounds like the kind of thing we say in church. It sounds nice, but naive, idealistic but unrealistic, and yet, consider the alternative. Need I just simply say the names? Uvalde, Vestavia Hills, Tree of Life Synagogue, Club Q in Colorado Springs, Ukraine.

Now, God’s way of love is not naive, it is not unrealistic, it’s the way. It’s the way to life for us all. Dr. King once said, “Darkness cannot cast out darkness; only light can do that. And hatred cannot cast out hatred; only love can do that.” Love came down at Christmas. And as some of us are beginning to say in this Episcopal church of ours, “Love always.”

Earlier this year, I went to Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston to be part of the seventh commemoration of the murders of the martyrs of Charleston. You may remember that a number of years ago, while members of that church had gathered for Bible study, a man came in and they welcomed him in, and invited him to join them, and he turned on them, and he killed many.

It was the seventh commemoration to both honor and remember those who had died, to give God thanks for those who helped—first responders, medical persons—but it was also something else. It was a time to commit ourselves, not simply to throw up our hands in despair, but to reach out our hands to each other, to roll up our sleeves, to take God’s hand and take each other’s hand and do the hard and holy work of love, which brings healing, which brings hope, which binds us together, and lifts us up to be all that God dreams and intends for us all to be.

Love came down at Christmas. Love always, because love is the way. It is the way that Jesus taught us based on the ancient teachings of Moses, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” for on these two hang, depend, all the law, all the prophets, everything that God intends because God is love.

Love came down at Christmas and so let this Christmas be a moment of rededication to the work of love in the world. As Howard Thurman wrote long ago, “When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star and the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are at home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, then the work of Christmas begins. To find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among others, to make music in the heart.”

For love came down at Christmas, and our work is to love always. God love you. God bless you, and may God hold us all in those almighty hands of love. Merry Christmas.

The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church

Download a PDF of this transcript in English or Spanish.

Love came down at Christmas

“Love came down at Christmas” is Hymn 84 in the Hymnal 1982 of the Episcopal Church. Jars of Clay mostly used the same hymn tune used in the Hymnal 1982.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry

Being a Christian is not essentially about joining a church or being a nice person, but about following in the footsteps of Jesus, taking his teachings seriously, letting his Spirit take the lead in our lives, and in so doing helping to change the world from our nightmare into God’s dream. ―Michael Curry, Crazy Christians: A Call to Follow Jesus

The Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry is Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church. He is the Chief Pastor and serves as President and Chief Executive Officer, and as Chair of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church.

Presiding Bishop Curry was installed as the 27th Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church on November 1, 2015. He was elected to a nine-year term and confirmed at the 78th General Convention of The Episcopal Church in Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 27, 2015.

Read Presiding Bishop Curry’s biography and find out about the Jesus Movement.

Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us.

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 6220 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.

December 20, 2022
Advent and Christmas 2022

Posts regarding the seasons of Advent and Christmas 2022 at Church of the Redeemer and the Episcopal Church.

[display-posts tag=”advent-2022, christmas-2022″ image_size=”medium” include_excerpt=”true” category_display=”true” wrapper=”div” post_type=”post, page, event, calendar” wrapper_class=”display-posts-listing grid”]

[display-posts tag=”advent-2022, christmas-2022″ image_size=”medium” include_excerpt=”true” category_display=”true” wrapper=”div” post_type=”page” wrapper_class=”display-posts-listing grid”]

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 6220 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. We are 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.

November 12, 2022
Weekly bulletin insert for the 2nd Sunday of Christmas (Year C)

This is the weekly bulletin insert from the Episcopal Church, 2nd Sunday of Christmas (Year C).

Anglican Cycle of Prayer

The below is the weekly calendar produced by the Anglican Communion for 2022. Over the course of each year, we pray for each of the 41 provinces of the Communion. For more information, visit The Anglican Cycle of Prayer: From Aba to Zululand (PDF).

January

2 Province de l’Église anglicane du Congo
9 Iglesia Anglicana de Chile
16 The Church of England
23 Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (香港聖公會)
30 The Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean

February

6 The Church of Ireland
13 Nippon Sei Kō Kai (日本聖公会)
20 The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & The Middle East
27 The Anglican Church of Kenya

March

6 The Anglican Church of Korea (대한성공회)
13 The Anglican Church of Melanesia
20 La Iglesia Anglicana de México
27 The Church of the Province of Myanmar (Burma)

April

3 The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
10 The Church of North India (United)
17 The Church of Pakistan (United)
24 The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea

May

1 The Episcopal Church in the Philippines
8 Église anglicane du Rwanda
15 The Scottish Episcopal Church
22 Church of the Province of South East Asia
29 The Church of South India (United)

June

5 The Anglican Church of Southern Africa
12 Iglesia Anglicana de Sudamérica
19 Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan
26 Province of the Episcopal Church of Sudan

July

3 The Anglican Church of Tanzania
10 The Church of the Province of Uganda
17 The Episcopal Church
24 The Church in Wales
31 The Church of the Province of West Africa

August

7 The Church in the Province of the West Indies
14 The Extra-Provincial Churches
21 The Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria
28 The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia

September

4 The Anglican Church of Australia
11 The Church of Bangladesh
18 Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil
25 The Anglican Church of Burundi

October

2 The Anglican Church of Canada (l’Église anglicane du Canada)
9 The Church of the Province of Central Africa
16 Iglesia Anglicana de la Región Central de América
23 Province de l’Église anglicane du Congo
30 Iglesia Anglicana de Chile

November

6 The Church of England
13 Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (香港聖公會)
20 The Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean
27 Nippon Sei Kō Kai (日本聖公会)

December

4 The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & The Middle East
11 The Anglican Church of Kenya
18 The Anglican Church of Korea (대한성공회)
25 The Anglican Church of Melanesia

Taken from Bulletin Insert: 2 Christmas – Anglican Cycle of Prayer – January 2, 2022.

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 6220 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.

December 31, 2021

Third Sunday in Advent (Year A), December 14, 2025. Services at 8:00 am and 10:30 am. Christian education for children and adults at 9:15 am. Be patient, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.