Join us in our virtual Worship Service

Sunday April 12 Worship - Easter Sunday

Sunday Worship (April 5, 2020)

Easter Sunday  - Click here for lectionary readings

Holy Week Observance:

• Maudy Thursday
• Good Friday

Easter Sunday at Home:

Here is a possibility for how to celebrate Easter Sunday at home:

Click here for the Easter Sunday liturgy

Read more: Virtual Gatherings

Upcoming at Faith This Week

"Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Matthew 21:1-11

This Sunday’s Readings: The Liturgy of the Palms Matthew 21:1-11 Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 The Liturgy of the Word Isaiah 50:4-9a Philippians 2:5-11 Matthew 26:14- 27:66 or Matthew 27:11-54 Psalm 31:9-16 Click here the Palm Sunday Liturgy

Dear Friends,

Thank you all for showing up Sunday for our Zoom prayer service!  I can’t tell you what a balm it was for my heart to see your faces.  If you didn’t make it Sunday, I hope you’ll consider joining us.  You can come in your pajamas, you can sip coffee, you don’t even have to be “seen” if you don’t want to.  It is just so good lay eyes on one another.  Granted, meeting online feels peculiar and we still have some kinks to work out, but for now, it is a blessing and I am thankful.

I have no idea when we’ll get back to our old ideas of “normal”; we are in new territory and about as far from normal as we’re liable to be.

This abnormality is even more acute as we approach Holy Week.

Read more: Upcoming Events

Bishop Rickel Cancels All Gatherings

Dear Faithful People,

Yesterday, in a Zoom meeting with the clergy of the diocese, Bishop Rickel declared he was canceling all gatherings at churches in western Washington for two weeks.  This means there will be no services, no meetings, no gatherings; the church will be shut down.

This decision was a painstaking one on his part and came after continued consultation with the Center for Disease Control, the recommendations of State Government, and intentional discernment.  The risks to our communities right now are too high for us not to do our part.  If we continue to hold services, people will continue to attend, and this virus will have even more opportunities to spread. We all have a tendency to believe the risk we take is ours alone, and we are only putting ourselves in danger by attending functions.  The truth is, this virus is nimble and spreads quickly and easily.  It is much more contagious than the flu and the risk we take by gathering is that we unintentionally carry the virus to others whose bodies might be compromised and can’t fight off the illness.  Medical facilities are already becoming overburdened and the United States is only in the beginning stages of this outbreak.

Read more: Bishop Rickel Canceling All Gatherings

Phishing Warning

Please read the following from Bishop Rickel, and know I will never use an email to ask you for money.  Please be careful friends, and call me if you are uncertain about a request. –Laura

Read more: Phishing Warning

Bishop Rickel’s 10 Rules for Respect

I every Letter of Agreement Bishop Rickel has with congregations, and now with the Diocese of Olympia he has asked that the “10 Rules for Respect” spelled out below be made part of the agreement. He first saw these in an article by Church of the Nazarene pastor Charles Christian. He believes that they are quite helpful in framing our communication and life together.

He vows to do his best to follow them and invites you to do the same. We will all fail, but through gentle challenge and loving encouragement these can become a foundation for healthy communication for us all.

Faith’s Bishop’s Committee also uses this model as a rule for how we conduct our business and are in relationship with one another.

Read more: 10 Rules for Respect

Pastoral Letter from Bishop Rickel

(Spanish version)

This past summer, at our General Convention in Austin, Texas, the Episcopal Church took some historic and much needed steps in addressing past abuses by clergy toward lay persons and toward other clergy in the church.   For far too long there has been too much silence, and often misdirection, when persons in our church were brave enough to bring such allegations forward.   I am writing this letter, and asking that it be read in every congregation, on Sunday January 6th and/or January 11th,  in order to make you aware of the implementation of one specific resolution from General Convention, namely, D034, which called for the lifting of the statutes of limitations as spelled out in Title IV.19.4 of the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church specifically as it relates to sexual misconduct of clergy. That three year period of suspension begins on January 1, 2019 and will run until December 31, 2021.  

Read more: Pastoral Letter from Bishop Rickel