Weekly News | 10.24.25
Dear Church,
This week, our denomination received a complaint alleging abuse of power and sexual misconduct by Archbishop Steve Wood.
Reading news articles about the allegations, I find myself deeply grieved. Anger, sadness, alarm, disappointment, and confusion swirl in my prayers for truth, justice, and healing in the Church. Lord, have mercy.
I'm grateful there are processes within our denomination established for such moments, even as I lament our need to activate them. As formal next steps are taken in investigation and discipline, those will be communicated through the Provincial newsletter, available to all. I invite your prayers that these processes operate competently and compassionately in the way of Jesus: in care for the vulnerable, upholding the truth, and pursuing justice without favoritism.
Our everyday reality at Church of the Cross is, broadly speaking, unaffected by this news. And yet a number of us in our community found our way here through periods of suffering, and some of that suffering was at the hands of church leaders. I can only imagine the heartache, fear, and grief of this news. You have come for safe harbor, and this likely shakes your sense of safety. Please know Mtr. Kimberly and I are here to listen, pray, and be present to you as you process this update. We trust with and for you that our Good Shepherd - who lays down his life for his sheep - has neither left nor forsaken his flock.
As we highlighted in our safety spotlights last month, we are committed to being a community that protects the vulnerable. For us to live into that, I want to ask us to each re-commit to a few practices.
Pursue righteousness. Let us be a safe people. Misconduct doesn’t happen at one level of leadership, nor does it affect one type of person. We are all sinners, in need of ongoing confession, and the forgiveness, correction, and renewal that comes from the Spirit, the Scriptures, and the Body. Let us humbly and tenaciously pursue it! Participate in safeguarding measures, both formally and devotionally.
Report misconduct. This is part of pursuing righteousness, to shine light in the darkness. If you have witnessed or suspect misconduct or abuse, please report it. The C4SO Reporting Portalgives some guidance on which person or authority might best receive your report. We have confidence that being a people of light can hold more weight than the acts of any one of us in darkness.
Pray. There is so much we don’t know, so much we don’t control, and so much we desperately need. We cannot help but feel our limitations, our vulnerability, our creatureliness in moments like these - we are human. And we are not alone. We have to call on the One who is able to more than we can ask or imagine, the One who sees with true clarity and whose perfect justice will have the final word. The One who loves his Church with a perfect and purifying love.
Gracious Father, we pray for your holy Catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Savior. Amen.
Contending with and for you,
Sarah+