This is the Holy Week and Easter Day schedule for 2021 at Church of the Redeemer in Kenmore, Washington. All services are presented online. Link for each day has livestreaming information. You may watch the services live or when they are convenient for you.
Because the building is closed at this time due to coronavirus restrictions, you are invited to sign-up for Communion of the Presanctified. One household at a time may come to an outdoor part of the church to receive communion from bread that has been blessed earlier (pre-sanctified). Your time slot is for your household alone. The Rev. Jed Fox will be happy to speak with you all briefly during your visit.
Select one of the available times from the calendar for March 30 or April 1. Each slot is 20 minutes long. This allows Fr. Jed to clean and prepare for the next household.
You will receive communion of the presanctified on the portico of the Education Building. Please arrive promptly as a courtesy to the sacrament and your fellow parishioners.
From early times Christians have observed the week before Easter as a time of special devotion. As the pilgrim Egeria recorded in the late fourth century, Jerusalem contained many sacred places that were sites for devotion and liturgy.
Numerous pilgrims to the holy city followed the path of Jesus in his last days. They formed processions, worshipped where Christ suffered and died, and venerated relics. From this beginning evolved the rites we observe today on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. These services provide a liturgical experience of the last days of Jesus’ earthly life, as well as the time and events leading up to his resurrection.
The Book of Common Prayer provides special liturgies for each of these days. The Eucharistic lectionary also provides proper readings for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in Holy Week.
Some parishes observe the service of Tenebrae on one of these days in Holy Week.
In many dioceses, the diocesan clergy will make a reaffirmation of ordination vows in the context of a Eucharist during Holy Week, usually before Maundy Thursday.
The three holy days, or Triduum, of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are at the heart of the Holy Week observance.
In many Episcopal parishes, the liturgical color for Holy Week from Palm Sunday through Maundy Thursday is red. Holy Week ends at sundown on the Saturday before Easter, or with the celebration of the Easter Vigil.
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 devotion known as the Way of the Cross is an adaptation to local usage of a custom widely observed by pilgrims to Jerusalem: the offering of prayer at a series of places in that city traditionally associated with our Lord’s passion and death.
This version is taken primarily from the Book of Occasional Services 2018 of the Episcopal Church. Verses from the hymn “At the cross her station keeping” are added for optional use each station.
This presentation is meant for a simple, quiet devotion. Others may prefer other versions, including the multimedia version of the stations offered by Building Faith at Virginia Theological Seminary, based on the same Book of Occasional Services service used here. There are other versions, such as the Everyone’s Way of the Cross.
This may be used for personal devotions or by a group of people.
If used by a group, the presider at the service, whether clerical or lay, customarily leads the opening versicle at each station and reads the concluding collect (prayer). The readings (and the versicles and responses which follow) are appropriately assigned to other persons. Others in a group also say the text in italics, unless otherwise noted.
The pictures for each station used is from the set of Stations of the Cross used at Church of the Redeemer. The header image is of the Cross icon at Church of the Redeemer. The Christus Rex (Jesus wearing priestly garb on the Cross) is in the chapel at Redeemer. The outdoor cross is in the Memorial Garden.
Opening Devotions
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
¶ Presider and People:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your Name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we
who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial,
and deliver us from evil.
V. We will glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ:
R. In whom is our salvation, our life and resurrection.
Let us pray. (Silence)
Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
First Station: Jesus is condemned to death
At the cross her station keeping, Stood the mournful Mother weeping, Close to Jesus to the last.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
As soon as it was morning, the chief priests, with the elders and scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation; and they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him to Pilate. And they all condemned him and said, “He deserves to die.” When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. Then he handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.
V. God did not spare his own Son:
R. But delivered him up for us all.
Let us pray. (Silence)
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Second Station: Jesus takes up his Cross
Through her heart, his sorrow sharing, All his bitter anguish bearing, Now at length the sword has passed.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Jesus went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. Like a lamb he was led to the slaughter; and like a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he opened not his mouth. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
V. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all:
R. For the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Let us pray. (Silence)
Almighty God, whose beloved Son willingly endured the agony and shame of the cross for our redemption: Give us courage to take up our cross and follow him; who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Third Station: Jesus falls the first time
Oh, how sad and sore distressed Was that Mother highly blest Of the sole begotten One!
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped; but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and was born in human likeness. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name. Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, and kneel before the Lord our Maker, for he is the Lord our God.
V. Surely he has borne our griefs:
R. And carried our sorrows.
Let us pray. (Silence)
O God, you know us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright: Grant us such strength and protection as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Fourth Station: Jesus meets his afflicted mother
Christ above in torment hangs; She beneath beholds the pangs Of her dying, glorious Son.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
To what can I liken you, to what can I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What likeness can I use to comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For vast as the sea is your ruin. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.
V. A sword will pierce your own soul also:
R. And fill your heart with bitter pain.
Let us pray. (Silence)
O God, who willed that in the passion of your Son a sword of grief should pierce the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary his mother: Mercifully grant that your Church, having shared with her in his passion, may be made worthy to share in the joys of his resurrection; who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.
Fifth Station: The Cross is laid on Simon of Cyrene
Is there one who would not weep, ‘Whelmed in miseries so deep, Christ’s dear Mother to behold?
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
As they led Jesus away, they came upon a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
V. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me:
R. Cannot be my disciple.
Let us pray. (Silence)
Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son came not to be served but to serve: Bless all who, following in his steps, give themselves to the service of others; that with wisdom, patience, and courage, they may minister in his Name to the suffering, the friendless, and the needy; for the love of him who laid down his life for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Sixth Station: A woman wipes the face of Jesus
Can the human heart refrain From partaking in her pain, In that Mother’s pain untold?
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
We have seen him without beauty or majesty, with no looks to attract our eyes. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of men. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.
V. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts:
R. Show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
Let us pray. (Silence)
O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Seventh Station: Jesus falls a second time
Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled, She beheld her tender Child, All with bloody scourges rent.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. For the transgression of my people was he stricken.
V. But as for me, I am a worm and no man:
R. Scorned by all and despised by the people.
Let us pray. (Silence)
Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Eighth Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
For the sins of his own nation, Saw him hang in desolation Till his spirit forth he sent.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
There followed after Jesus a great multitude of the people, and among them were women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.”
V. Those who sowed with tears:
R. Will reap with songs of joy.
Let us pray. (Silence)
Teach your Church, O Lord, to mourn the sins of which it is guilty, and to repent and forsake them; that, by your pardoning grace, the results of our iniquities may not be visited upon our children and our children’s children; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Ninth Station: Jesus falls a third time
O sweet Mother! fount of love, Touch my spirit from above, Make my heart with yours accord.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light. He has besieged me and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. Though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes. “Remember, O Lord, my affliction and bitterness, the wormwood and the gall!”
V. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter:
R. And like a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he opened not his mouth.
Let us pray. (Silence)
O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Tenth Station: Jesus is stripped of his garments
Make me feel as you have felt; Make my soul to glow and melt With the love of Christ, my Lord.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
When they came to a place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull), they offered him wine to drink, mingled with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And they divided his garments among them by casting lots. This was to fulfill the scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them; they cast lots for my clothing.”
V. They gave me gall to eat:
R. And when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink.
Let us pray. (Silence)
Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Eleventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the Cross
Holy Mother, pierce me through, In my heart each wound renew Of my Savior crucified.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
When they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him; and with him they crucified two criminals, one on the right, the other on the left, and Jesus between them. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, “He was numbered with the transgressors.”
V. They pierce my hands and my feet:
R. They stare and gloat over me.
Let us pray. (Silence)
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Twelfth Station: Jesus dies on the Cross
Let me share with you his pain, Who for all our sins was slain, Who for me in torments died.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And when Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished!” And then, crying with a loud voice, he said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” And he bowed his head, and handed over his spirit.
V. Christ for us became obedient unto death:
R. Even death on a cross.
Let us pray. (Silence)
O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; who lives and reigns now and for ever. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Thirteenth Station: The body of Jesus is placed in the arms of his mother
Let me mingle tears with thee, Mourning him who mourned for me, All the days that I may live:
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
All you who pass by, behold and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow. My eyes are spent with weeping; my soul is in tumult; my heart is poured out in grief because of the downfall of my people. “Do not call me Naomi (which means Pleasant), call me Mara (which means Bitter); for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.”
V. Her tears run down her cheeks:
R. And she has none to comfort her.
Let us pray. (Silence)
Lord Jesus Christ, by your death you took away the sting of death: Grant to us your servants so to follow in faith where you have led the way, that we may at length fall asleep peacefully in you and wake up in your likeness; for your tender mercies’ sake. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Fourteenth Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb
By the cross with you to stay, There with you to weep and pray, This I ask of you to give.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock; and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb.
V. You will not abandon me to the grave:
R. Nor let your holy One see corruption.
Let us pray. (Silence)
O God, your blessed Son was laid in a tomb in a garden, and rested on the Sabbath day: Grant that we who have been buried with him in the waters of baptism may find our perfect rest in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Concluding Prayers
Savior of the world, by your cross and precious blood you have redeemed us: Save us, and help us, we humbly beseech you, O Lord.
Let us pray. (Silence)
We thank you, heavenly Father, that you have delivered us from the dominion of sin and death and brought us into the kingdom of your Son; and we pray that, as by his death he has recalled us to life, so by his love he may raise us to eternal joys; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
To Christ our Lord who loves us, and washed us in his own blood, and made us a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
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. 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 following is the text of Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s Holy Wednesday sermon from The Church of St. Luke in the Fields, New York, New York. This sermon was pre-recorded for inclusion in the Church’s April 8 remote worship service for Holy Week.
And now in the name of our loving, liberating, and life-giving God: Father, Son, and Holy spirit. Amen.
I bring you greetings from your brothers, sisters, and siblings who are The Episcopal Church, wherever they may be, and I look forward to being with you on another occasion when we can gather together to worship our God and to sing the Lord’s song together. As we enter fully into this Holy Week, allow me to offer a text of scripture that is invoked by all four Gospels at the very beginning of this Holy Week on Palm Sunday.
It comes from Zechariah, his prophecy recorded in the ninth chapter:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the warhorse from Jerusalem;
and the battle-bow shall be cut off,
and he shall command peace to the nations;
his dominion shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Behold your King.
There is another way. If you look at this week that we call holy, and how it unfolds beginning with Palm Sunday marching through the week until we get to that Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and that desert plateau of Holy Saturday, it begins with a grand procession, Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem, that much we know. What is often overlooked sometimes is that that procession of Jesus into Jerusalem was not an accident. It was not mere coincidence; it was an act of divine providence planned by Jesus and strategically executed to send a message.
There is another way, think for a moment, the setting is Passover. Jesus and his followers were going to Jerusalem to observe and celebrate and to commemorate the Passover. This ancient, the holy city Jerusalem was just filled with Passover pilgrims. The city was brimming with people all over the place. Jesus knew this. He knew that the city was filled with people and more to the point he knew what Passover was about. Passover was and is a celebration of freedom. Passover remembers when the Jewish people, the Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt, and it was that Passover, that after a long and protracted series of negotiations between Moses and Pharaoh, after a long campaign of plagues, which were boycotts in their day, which were attempts to change the mind of Pharaoh, after all of that had failed, God would act decisively on that Passover night to set the captive free.
Passover was a celebration of freedom. Passover was a celebration of the freedom that God decrees and intends for all of God’s children. It was at Passover that Jesus went to Jerusalem. It was at Passover that he entered the city, on this festival of freedom. That was not an accident. Early in the story on that Palm Sunday, Jesus tells some of his disciples, go into the city to a certain place and you’ll find a donkey tied up. Untie the donkey and bring it to me. Someone will come up to you and ask, why are you untying the donkey? Just tell him, “The Lord has need of it.” Now, that’s not a quaint religious story, that was a code, that was a signal. Jesus was the leader of an underground movement, passionately committed to God’s way of love as our way of life, to unselfish, sacrificial love and determined to get that message out, to set all of God’s people, both oppressor and oppressed, to set all folk free. That was a password.
In the story, it says that when some of the disciples went into Jerusalem, they did exactly as Jesus said, untied the donkey at this particular place. Someone came up and said, why do you untie the donkey? They say, “The Lord has need of it” and the person releases the donkey to them. That’s not an accident. Palm Sunday was planned. Jesus planned to enter Jerusalem at Palm Sunday. He planned to enter the city of Jerusalem on the festival of Passover.
Now, why? Well, because Passover was a festival of freedom and the Jewish people were a conquered people under the iron boot of the Roman empire, a brutal empire. They were a colony; they were a subject people. They were living now in a new kind of servitude, a new kind of bondage. Now, not in Egypt, but in their own land, now under the boot of Rome. It was at Passover when the city was filled with pilgrims that the Roman governors would enter the holy city now by the Western gate of the city. Imagine for a moment, Pontius Pilate entering Jerusalem with a legion of soldiers before him, with cavalry accompanying him, with soldiers carrying insignias – Caesar, son of God, emperor of Rome. Pilate entered the city, the historians tell us, from the Western gate of the city coming from his palace fortress [Cesarea] by the Mediterranean sea, entering the city in regal outfit, riding on a war horse.
The scholars tell us that Jesus entered the city from the Eastern gate. I was in Jerusalem at Holy Week a few years ago and saw that Eastern gate, a place where Jesus entered the city. It is likely that he entered at about the same time that Pilate entered, sending a message, do not even think of freedom. Do not even think of liberty. You are subjects of Rome, slaves of the empire. Don’t even think about it. And Jesus entered the city not on a warhorse, not with a legion of soldiers before him, not with a cavalry, he entered the city humble riding on a donkey.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest. He was sending a message Pilate’s way. That is the world’s way. God has another way.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
And then listen to this in the prophecy:
He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the warhorse from Jerusalem;
and the battle-bow shall be cut off,
and he shall command peace to the nations;
his dominion shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
There is another way. Didn’t he say blessed are the poor and the poor in spirit. There is another way, blessed are the peacemakers. There is another way, blessed are those who are persecuted because they dared to love. There is another way, blessed are those who passionately live that God’s righteous justice might prevail. There is another way, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you, pray for those who despitefully use you. There is another way, father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Oh, there is another way, by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, that Jesus, that you love one another.
There is another way, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. Oh, this is the first and great command. He said this in Holy Week, love God with everything you’ve got and then love your neighbor as yourself, on this hangs all the law and the prophets. Everything that Moses wrote about, everything that the prophets thundered forth about, everything the scriptures are trying to teach us, everything the tradition is trying to tell us. Love God. Love your neighbor. Love yourself. This is the other way.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. Love is that other way. To show us how much, to show us that way.
He deliberately entered Jerusalem on that donkey. He deliberately gave up his life to show us that love is not selfish, that love seeks the good, the welfare and the wellbeing of others. There’s an old spiritual, they sang it this way, “If you cannot preach like Peter and you cannot pray like Paul, you just tell the love of Jesus, how he died to save us all.”
He didn’t die for himself or what he could get out of it. He died, gave up his life for others. That’s what love looks like. So just tell the love of Jesus, how he died, not for himself, how he died to save us all, and then the song goes on. Now there is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole. There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.
The message of this week that we call Holy is that there is another way. The way of unselfish, sacrificial, redemptive love.
Rejoice daughter of Zion. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Jerusalem, for behold your king, he comes.
“The King of love,” says the hymn, “my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his
And he is mine forever.”
God love you. God bless you. May God hold us all in those almighty hands of love.
—The Most Reverend Michael Curry,
Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
This sermon for Holy Wednesday can be watched at any time.
The Most Rev. Michael Curry
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.
The descendant of enslaved Africans brought to North America by way of the trans-Atlantic slave routes, Presiding Bishop Curry was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 13, 1953. Presiding Bishop Curry’s father was an Episcopal priest and his mother was a devout Episcopalian. She died at a young age, and Presiding Bishop Curry, along with his sister, was raised by his father and his grandmother. His father, mother, and grandmother grounded him in Christian beliefs and practices through their example and their teachings.
He attended public schools in Buffalo, New York, and, even at a young age, he learned about social activism through his father’s leadership and his own dedication to righting a broken world.
He is married to the former Sharon Clement, and they have two adult daughters, Rachel and Elizabeth.
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.
Funeral for the Rev. Canon John Fergueson, Saturday, March 2, 2026, at 10:00 am in Church of the Redeemer. Additional parking available at The Vine Church across 181st Street from Redeemer.
The 5th Sunday of Easter (Year A), May 3, 2026. Services at 8:00 am (no music) and 10:30 (music). Χριστὸς ἀνέστη! Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη!
