People at Episcopal Church of the Redeemer will be reading and discussing Stephanie Spellers’ latest book, Church Tomorrow? What the ‘Nones’ and ‘Dones’ Teach Us About the Future of Faith. Through this book, we learn how we can better be church, carrying Christ’s love into the world. Every person interested in this topic should plan on attending. You do not need to be a member of Church of the Redeemer.
Classes will be held in the first alcove off of the Parish Hall in the main church building. View the class schedule, below. On Sundays there is a children’s education class meeting at the same time.
The class is free. However, you will need to buy or borrow the book on your own. Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park is one place you should be able to buy it.
Church Tomorrow?
The Nones, Dones, Unchurched, spiritual-but-not-religious (SBNRs). Call them what you will, they’re a dominant force in American religion and the majority among Millennials and Gen Zers. In Church Tomorrow? Stephanie Spellers presents hard truths about declining religious affiliation in America, paired with stories and wisdom from her interviews with dozens of young people who either grew up with no faith or gave up formal religion.
Class schedule
We will have a break from our education session for Palm Sunday, Easter Day, and the First Sunday after Easter.
Sections of Book Discussed
Sunday at 9:15 am to 10:15 am
Tuesday at 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm
Introduction
February 22
February 24
Part I (Chapters 1-2)
March 1
March 3
Part II (Chapters 3-5)
March 8
March 10
Part III-a (Chapters 6-7)
March 15
March 17
Part III-b (Chapters 8-9)
March 22
March 24
Part IV-a (Chapters 10-11)
April 19
April 21
Part IV-b (Chapters 12-13, Conclusion)
April 26
April 28
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.
When God told Moses to lead the ancient Israelites out of slavery in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh stood in his way. Pharaoh wanted power and control over God’s people, and Exodus tells us that the more serious the situation got, the more hardened his heart became. Despite locusts and frogs and all manner of chaos in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh remained trapped by his view of the world, which had himself and his power at the center. He could not see that God’s imagination was far bigger and more expansive than his. He could not imagine liberation for God’s people—or for himself.
Today, in the opening collect of our Ash Wednesday service, we ask God to “create and make in us new and contrite hearts.” I think of Pharaoh’s hard heart, and sometimes my own, when I say that prayer, and never more so than this year.
These days, it can seem as if we are living in a wasteland of Pharaoh’s imagination. We see the principalities and powers promulgating violence, dehumanization, and injustice on our streets, and it seems nearly impossible not to react along the lines of the divisions and polarization that our political leaders have championed. It is easy to have a hardened heart. It is tempting to get angry and be governed by outrage, or to grow cold and indifferent.
If we turn from Pharoah’s imagination toward God’s imagination, however, we find a different path. Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. With that great commandment, he is teaching us that we are all one, all part of God’s chosen people, and when we hate and revile each other, we are actually destroying ourselves. Theologian Howard Thurman, whose thinking helped shape the Civil Rights movement, put it like this in “Jesus and the Disinherited”: “The logic of the development of hatred is death to the spirit and disintegration of ethical and moral values.”
It is not easy to leave behind Pharoah’s imagination and its toxic drip of polarization that hardens our hearts and minds. The liberation we seek requires the conversion—the turning—of our hearts. We can begin that process anytime, but Lent gives us an opportunity to undertake the work together.
In the old 1928 Book of Common Prayer Ash Wednesday service, we called on the book of Lamentations: “Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned.” I believe that as we Episcopalians turn, as we fast and pray for the conversion of our hearts, we can make a great witness to a world that has been brought to its knees by the power of hatred and division.
On Monday of Holy Week, a number of my bishop colleagues will hold public liturgies or prayer services to lament the violence and hatred that has come to define our common life and to witness to our conviction that Christians must come together across our unholy divisions. I hope that if you can attend a service nearby, you will.
I will also host a service on Zoom on Palm Sunday, March 29, at 8 p.m. Eastern so that we can pray together for God’s blessing on our witness. Look for more information coming soon.
Like the apostle Paul, the conversion of the heart that we must undertake may start with a blinding light, but the ongoing change it requires is the work of a lifetime, and may require everything we have. This Lent, I pray that God might create and make in us new and contrite hearts that will sustain us as we make our witness to the world.
Faithfully,
The Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe Presiding Bishop
The Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe
The Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe was elected presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church in June 2024 and took office on Nov. 1 for a nine-year term. In this role, he serves as the church’s chief pastor and CEO. Known for his expertise in organizational learning and adaptive change, Rowe is committed to strengthening support for local ministry and mission.
He was ordained bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania in 2007 after serving as rector of St. John’s in Franklin, Pennsylvania, for seven years. From 2014 to 2018, he served as bishop provisional of the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem, and from 2019 to 2024, he led a partnership between the Episcopal Dioceses of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Western New York.
Rowe holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Grove City College, a Master of Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary, and a doctorate in organizational learning and leadership from Gannon University. He has served as a leader of many civic and churchwide organizations and governance bodies, and as parliamentarian for the House of Bishops.
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.
Bishop LaBelle shares his reflections for Lent this year and encourages us to join him in fasting this Lenten season.
Hello, dear friends in the Diocese of Olympia.
We’re about to embark on the holy season of Lent, and on Ash Wednesday, clergy will invite us to the observance of a holy Lent in the name of the church, calling us to self-examination and repentance, prayer, fasting, and self-denial, then by reading and meditating on God’s holy word.
One of the things that’s always been interesting to me is how people talk about fasting. We often give up something like chocolate or maybe meat, and yet when I started going deeper into interreligious relationships with Muslim and Jewish neighbors, I’ve realized that we were the only of the Abrahamic faiths that didn’t really engage in a fast during our holy season like they did. This year, Ramadan will begin actually on Ash Wednesday, and our Muslim neighbors will be fasting from sunrise to sunset each day throughout that season, that 28 days, including giving up water.
I often wonder why it is that we don’t fast as much together as Christians, and so this year I’m especially calling us to do that fast. Not because it’s an opportunity for us to say how great we are, but rather to engage in this practice that was seen throughout holy scripture, especially at times of political turmoil, for needing to make lament and for prayer. Jesus himself reminds us again and again that we are to fast, especially during those times that are difficult.
So this year for Lent, I’m gonna be giving up a lunch every day through those 40 days, and then when instead of gathering together for that meal, I’m gonna be going and taking some time to pray the Jesus prayer, using this prayer bracelet, just going through and praying again and again, “Jesus, son of God have mercy on me, a sinner.” Because we all know that that’s where we begin, right? That it’s the self-reflection and our need to make amends with God and with each other. Well, that’s the work of Lent in order that we might be prepared for Easter.
I encourage you to join me in this fast of engaging in that work together. There are some carve-outs, of course, those who might be needing to eat because of medical reasons or they’re elderly or maybe a past experience with an eating disorder, and so fasting in this way is not helpful. But together we can engage in this spiritual practice. We can do it in a way that brings us and draws us closer to God.
So I hope you’ll join me on the Lenten fast, that whatever you choose to do, it will be reflective of your desire to draw closer to God so that when we do get to Easter, we may celebrate with one another of Christ’s overcoming of the grave.
The Rt. Rev. Philip LaBelle
Bishop Philip 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. His Consecration and Ordination as bishop was 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 did the following:
Co-led the Mission Strategy Committee.
Served on Executive Committee and Diocesan Council
Directed the Fresh Start program.
He co-founded Southborough Neighbors for Peace with Dr. Safdar Medina in their small town. The organization did the following:
Hosted peace vigils.
Began a community-wide Iftar dinner during Ramadan.
Established an interfaith Thanksgiving service.
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.
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.
7:00 pm, service (with music) at the church in the nave with optional marking with ashes.
Sunday, February 22, 2026
1st Sunday in Lent
Services at 8:00 am (simple) and 10:30 am (music) at the church in the nave.
Children Education at 9:15 am just off of the parish hall in the Children’s Room.
Adult Education at 9:15 am in the first alcove off of the parish hall. We will be reading and discussing Stephanie Spellers’ latest book, Church Tomorrow?Today: Introduction.
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
Repeat of the previous Sunday’s Adult Education class from 5:30 to 6:30 pm.
Sunday, March 1, 2026
2nd Sunday in Lent
Services at 8:00 am (simple) and 10:30 am (music) at the church in the nave.
Children Education at 9:16 am just off of the parish hall in the Children’s Room.
Adult Education at 9:15 am in the first alcove off of the parish hall. We will be reading and discussing Stephanie Spellers’ latest book, Church Tomorrow?Today: Chapters 1-2.
Tuesday, March 3, 2026
Repeat of the previous Sunday’s Adult Education class from 5:30 to 6:30 pm.
Sunday, March 8, 2026
3rd Sunday in Lent
Services at 8:00 am (simple) and 10:30 am (music) at the church in the nave.
Children Education at 9:16 am just off of the parish hall in the Children’s Room.
Adult Education at 9:15 am in the first alcove off of the parish hall. We will be reading and discussing Stephanie Spellers’ latest book, Church Tomorrow?Today: Chapters 3-5.
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
Repeat of the previous Sunday’s Adult Education class from 5:30 to 6:30 pm.
Sunday, March 15, 2026
4th Sunday in Lent
Services at 8:00 am (simple) and 10:30 am (music) at the church in the nave.
Children Education at 9:16 am just off of the parish hall in the Children’s Room.
Adult Education at 9:15 am in the first alcove off of the parish hall. We will be reading and discussing Stephanie Spellers’ latest book, Church Tomorrow?Today: Chapters 6-7.
Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Repeat of the previous Sunday’s Adult Education class from 5:30 to 6:30 pm.
Thursday, March 18, 2026
Stations and Soup
Begin the Stations of the Cross at the church in the nave at 6:00 pm. Afterwords, a simple soup supper and community gathering in the parish hall.
Sunday, March 22, 2026
5th Sunday in Lent
Services at 8:00 am (simple) and 10:30 am (music) at the church in the nave.
Children Education at 9:16 am just off of the parish hall in the Children’s Room.
Adult Education at 9:15 am in the first alcove off of the parish hall. We will be reading and discussing Stephanie Spellers’ latest book, Church Tomorrow?Today: Chapters 8-9. (After today, the book discussion will continue after Easter Day.)
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
Repeat of the previous Sunday’s Adult Education class from 5:30 to 6:30 pm.
Sunday, March 29, 2026
The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday
Services at 8:00 am (simpler) and 10:30 am (with music and palm procession) at the church.
Wednesday, April 1, 2026
Spy Wednesday
Eucharist (simple) at 12:00 noon at the church.
Thursday, April 2, 2026
Maundy Thursday
Eucharist (simple) 12:00 noon at the church.
Eucharist (music) with the mandatum (washing of feet) and stripping of the altar at 7:00 pm
Following the 7:00 pm service, there will be a Gethsemane Vigil until 9:30 pm. Can you watch with Jesus for one hour?
Service at 8:00 pm. It lasts for 2-2.5 hours. We welcome children, as we do to all of our services, and know they may fall asleep. The Great Vigil recounts salvation history and is the most important church service of the entire year. You have “gone to church for Easter” if you come to this service.
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.
For 15 years, Episcopal Relief & Development has been blessed by the opportunity to join readers on their spiritual journeys with thought-provoking meditations.
Written by Sister Monica Clare, an Episcopal nun, author and unlikely TikTok star, our 2026 meditations offer an invitation to rediscover—or deepen—holy habits of prayer, worship and Scripture engagement. These holy habits provide a path to a life rooted in God, given shape, meaning and direction.
Visit our website to subscribe to daily emails, download a PDF, read the meditations and access a Group Study Guide to reflect on the meditations and Scripture with others.
For more than 80 years, Episcopal Relief & Development has partnered with trusted faith and community partners to advance lasting change in four priority areas:
Their network of trained faith and community leaders has been key to building bridges and long-lasting change. With their partners and in-house program experts, they have reached over 49 million in the last decade.
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.
This Lent, Seminary of the Southwest is offering a new Lenten project that invites the wider church into a season of renewal and hope.
Designed to accompany the first five weeks of Lent, the series creates space for prayer, conversation, and faithful reflection on repentance, discipleship, and the promise of new life. Shaped by the voices of five women members of our faculty, these gatherings reflect both the depth of Southwest’s theological life and our commitment to forming leaders for ministry, service, and healing.
Rooted in the Lenten journey, this project offers a hopeful reminder that even in times of change, God is at work bringing new life.
For each week of Lent (excluding Holy Week) one of our contributors will create:
An 8 to 10-minute video on a specific theme of that week
They do this formation with great intention and care, with active and accessible faculty members who not only challenge the students but challenge each other. The seminary continually updates its curriculum to provide fresh answers to old questions, while maintaining a tradition of excellence and faith that is the cornerstone of Southwest’s identity.
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.
No matter how you slice it, things in our country are pretty dire. News headlines focus on the revelations of men in power who were connected with a known pedophile, on American citizens being killed on the streets by federal agents, on the continued rise of costs for basic necessities, on the arrests of people with brown skin—citizens, immigrants, or refugees—by agents wearing masks and refusing to identify themselves. It’s a lot. But it’s not the first time in history when similar events have taken place. Sadly, we humans have a tendency to repeat the past unable to learn the painful lessons when those in power do anything they can to feed their insatiable desire for more.
During one such time, Dietrich Bonhoeffer expressed in a letter to Mahatma Gandhi that the issues of the day were neither political nor economic, they were spiritual. And he lamented that churches as a whole were not responding in a spiritual way. He wanted to find a community living into the values found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and he didn’t see that in Christian communities in Europe or the US. He believed that the best community living it was the one Gandhi had established in India, and Bonhoeffer wanted to see it in real life.
Friends, the issues of our day is neither political nor economic but spiritual. And spiritual matters need spiritual responses.
In less than two weeks, we’ll begin the holy season of Lent. On that day, our clergy will call us to a season of penitence and fasting. A time of reflection, repentance, prayer, and abstaining from food in order to be prepared for the Great 50 Days of Easter.
It seems that fasting has become disconnected from the call for contrition, almsgiving, and prayer. We give up things like chocolate or alcohol or pizza or meat—all well intentioned—but don’t connect it to spending more time with God or meeting the needs of the poor or in lament. The point of fasting isn’t to show our willpower or how spiritual we are. Rather, we fast to respond to God’s cry for justice and to grieve the ways in which we—and our country—have ignored the ills of our day which are spiritual.
I therefore invite each of us to observe with great devotion a time of fasting this Lent. Of giving up food or a meal daily throughout this holy season. There are caveats, of course, best described by our Muslim friends who fast throughout their holy month of Ramadan. Those who are pregnant or who have medical issues—including a history of eating disorders—or the elderly or young are all discouraged from this fast. We are not to do harm to ourselves in this. It is to draw us closer to God.
Additionally, I want to note that we are the only Abrahamic faith who does not practice their fast in community. Our Jewish neighbors gather with each other for a 25-hour fast from all food on Yom Kippur, and a traditional greeting is “May your fast be easy.” Muslims during Ramadan when they go without food or water during daylight hours will often gather each night with family and friends for an Iftar meal to break the fast together, including inviting non-Muslims to join with them. I wonder what that might look like in our congregations, of perhaps gathering for a simple supper and reflection each week so our fast is done in connection with others.
For those who wish to join with me, I will be forgoing lunch and snacks between a simple breakfast and dinner each of the 40 days. (And a reminder, Sundays are always feast days and aren’t included in the count for Lent.) During the noon hour, I’ll be praying the Jesus prayer—“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”—using a simple knotted prayer bracelet to focus my attention. Conversion always begins in our own lives.
Because the truth is that both we and our nation need to repent, to turn around. To experience deep transformation through the love and grace of Jesus Christ. For the issues of our day are not political or economic. They are most certainly spiritual.
Faithfully,
The Rt. Rev. Phillip LaBelle Bishop of Olympia
The Rt. Rev. Phillip 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.
In June of 2024, Bishop LaBelle received his Doctor of Ministry from Fuller Seminary focused on Christian Spirituality. His thesis work explored the theology and practice of zimzum and how to make space in our overly busy lives for God, others, and the natural world. He received his MDiv from Yale University in 2004, along with a diploma in Anglican Studies from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. He holds a Master’s degree in composition and rhetoric from Northeastern University and a Bachelor’s degree in English with an additional concentration in theological studies from Gordon College. He has also received certificates in congregational development and religious fundraising.
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.
Participants in the pageant on Sunday, January 4, 2025, should be present by 9:30 am.
Last Sunday after the Epiphany (Year A), February 15, 2026. Services at 8:00 am (no music) and 10:30 (music). Christian education for children at 9:15 am. Adult education takes this Sunday off.
