Read it all.

Bp Chip Edgar of ACNA's Diocese of South Carolina writes: "The frequent charge, heard from the highest levels in the ACNA, that the complainants had gone to the press [first] is not true. … I’ve asked the College for a unified, public apology for these disparaging statements." https://t.co/YjJKIoYVHx pic.twitter.com/fflutyYSj1

— Arlie Coles (@ArlieColes) November 13, 2025

Stephen Wood, the archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, is facingsexual harassment accusations from a second woman, deepening a crisisthat has engulfed his tenure atop the conservative denomination.

The new allegation, by a woman identified as “Jane Doe 1,” appears in a revised ecclesiastical complaint — known as a “presentment” — submitted to the denomination on Thursday.The statement does not identify the location or time period of the alleged incidents.

“I have a complaint against Archbishop Steve Wood of sexual misconduct, in the form of sexual harassment, to include pressuring me to be in situations I was uncomfortable with, even after I expressed my discomfort, pressuring me to be in a private space with him, one-on-one, to drink alcohol with him, despite me saying it was inappropriate and that I was uncomfortable,” the woman wrote in the presentment. “I do not wish to go into further detail now for fear of being identified….”

“It seems that crisis after crisis is threatening to destroy the Anglican Church in North America. Many of us are nauseated by it all,” wrote Bishop Jacob Worley, who leads a diocese of Anglican churches in the Pacific Northwest. “We are at the very least concerned, if not frightened at what the future may hold. Some of us are concerned with being affiliated with the ACNA.”

Read it all.

Exclusive, Part II. Just after he became the Anglican Church in North America's archbishop, Steve Wood was "obsessive" about a possible presentment that could lead to a trial & his defrocking, accdg to Andrew Gross, the longtime former comms director. https://t.co/G5NVWhjjTA

— Ian Shapira (@ianshapira) November 7, 2025

Eternal God, who didst bless thy servant Samuel Seabury with the gift of perseverance to renew the Anglican inheritance in North America; Grant that, joined together in unity with our bishops and nourished by thy holy Sacraments, we may proclaim the Gospel of redemption with apostolic zeal; through Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today the Church of England commemorates Samuel Seabury, first Anglican Bishop in North America, 1796 https://t.co/at4cgh92Ja

Image: Portrait (1785) by Ralph Earl, in the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (CC0); bequest of Lispenard Seabury Crocker pic.twitter.com/l8kK9PIdP1

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) November 14, 2023

O God, give me strength to live another day.  Let me not turn coward before its difficulties or prove recreant to its duties.  Let me not lose faith in my fellow men.  Keep me sweet and sound of heart, in spite of ingratitude, treachery, or meanness.  Preserve me from minding little stings or giving them.  Help me to keep my heart clean, and to live so honestly and fearlessly that no outward failure can dishearten me or take away the joy of conscious integrity.  Open wide the eyes of my soul that I may see good in all things.  Grant me this day some new vision of thy truth, inspire me with the spirit of joy and gladness, and make me the cup of strength to suffering souls; in the name of the strong Deliverer, our only Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

–Robert W. Rodenmayer, ed., The Pastor’s Prayerbook: Selected and arranged for various occasions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960)

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself. He is clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, followed him on white horses. From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, King of kings and Lord of lords.

–Revelation 19:11-16

If we wish to appropriate the wisdom of Charles Simeon as theorist on expository preaching, we must first make clear to ourselves what we mean when we speak of expository preaching. This is necessary because the word expository has often been used in a restricted sense to denote simply a sermon preached from a long text. Thus, Andrew Blackwood wrote: “An expository sermon here means one that grows out of a Bible passage longer than two or three verses . . . an expository sermon means a textual treatment of a fairly long passage.”² He went on to suggest that young pastors should preach such sermons “perhaps once a month”³ and to give hints on the problems of technique they involve.

Without suggesting that Blackwood’s usage is inadmissible for any purpose, I must discuss it as too narrow for our present purpose—if only because it would exclude all but a handful of Charles Simeon’s sermons (his texts, you see, are far too short!). We shall find it better to define “expository” preaching in terms, not of the length of the text, but of the preacher’s approach to it, and to say something like this: expository preaching is the preaching of the man who knows Holy Scripture to be the living Word of the living God, and who desires only that it should be free to speak its own message to sinful men and women; who therefore preaches from a text, and in preaching labors, as the Puritans would say, to “open” it, or, in Simeon’s phrase, to “bring out of the text what is there”; whose whole aim in preaching is to show his hearers what the text is saying to them about God and about themselves, and to lead them into what Barth called “the strange new world within the Bible” in order that they may be met by him who is the Lord of that world.

The practice of expository preaching thus presupposes the biblical and evangelical account of the relation of the written words of Scripture to the speaking God with whom we have to do. Defining the concept in this way, we may say that every sermon that Simeon preached was an expository sermon; and, surely, we may add that every sermon that we ourselves preach should be an expository sermon. What other sort of sermons, we may ask, is there room for in Christ’s church?

Read it all.

‘He stood for many years alone, he was long opposed, ridiculed, shunned, his doctrines were misrepresented, his little peculiarities of voice and manner were satirized, disturbances were frequently raised in his church or he was a person not taken into account, nor considered in the light of a regular clergyman in the church.’

-–as quoted in William Carus, Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. Charles Simeon (New York: Robert Carter, 1848), p.39

O loving God, who orderest all things by thine unerring wisdom and unbounded love: Grant us in all things to see thy hand; that, following the example and teaching of thy servant Charles Simeon, we may walk with Christ in all simplicity, and serve thee with a quiet and contented mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

13 Nov 1836, Charles Simeon, evangelical Anglican clergyman, died, aged 77. Educated @Eton_College & @Kings_College. Vicar of Holy Trinity Cambridge for 54 years. One of founders of @cmsmission, @CMJ1809 & @biblesociety. Set up trust to appoint vicars to parishes that continues. pic.twitter.com/S5QNw1jUSY

— Revd Nicholas Pye (@RevdPye) November 13, 2025

Grant us, O Lord, so to enter on the service of our Christian warfare, that, putting on the whole armour of God, we may endure hardness and fight against the spiritual powers of darkness, and be more than conquerors through him that loved us, Jesus Christ our Lord.

GM!

Protect mornings—use them for priority work before distraction arrives. #sunrise pic.twitter.com/4pTn7S4M2t

— Darius Aniunas (@dariusaniunas) November 12, 2025

After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” Once more they cried, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who is seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” And from the throne came a voice crying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure” –for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

–Revelation 19:1-10

I'm going to have so many photos to come, so get comfortable with aurora content. But, this one had to be posted first. If you can believe it, this is looking SOUTH near Buffalo, South Dakota and as the corona was absolutely ripping overhead with reds and greens a big fireball of… pic.twitter.com/x2iDbhm5Th

— Aaron Rigsby (@AaronRigsbyOSC) November 12, 2025

Hope to be back Thursday

Almighty Father,
whose will is to restore all things
in your beloved Son, the King of all:
govern the hearts and minds of those in authority,
and bring the families of the nations,
divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin,
to be subject to his just and gentle rule;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

amber and gold#larch #Ofenpass pic.twitter.com/y0G0UEriZ5

— Portmann Carrick (@PortmannCarrick) November 10, 2025

Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
mightier than the waves[a] of the sea,
the Lord on high is mighty!

Thy decrees are very sure;
holiness befits thy house,
O Lord, for evermore.

–Psalm 93:4-5

What a magnificent morning over Mount Baker! Or one could say a spectacular Sunday sunrise!

Today from the Guide Meridian near Lynden, WA#wawx #pnw pic.twitter.com/1JGClJDU7r

— Randy Small – Whatcom County Weather (@RandySmall) November 9, 2025

On the evening of November 7, the ACNA announced that Sutton recused himself from the Wood matter “to ensure the utmost objectivity in these proceedings,” and that Sutton had appointed the Rt. Rev. Julian Dobbs to appoint, in turn, a three-member panel of bishops to “review and approve the composition” of the already-selected Board of Inquiry.

“If the Board of Inquiry has already been impaneled, we have every reason to believe that Bishop Sutton was involved, [and] we have no reason to believe that such a board is trustworthy,” Miller told TLC. “As eager as we are to see this move quickly, a new board, organized without the involvement of the archbishop’s staff, nor of Bishop Sutton, will have to be appointed.”

“There’s no good moving quickly if you’re headed in the wrong direction,” he said, adding that Sutton’s recusal and the three-member panel’s future review of board members would be a “step in the right direction” if the panel members were known.

In addition to these new charges, the complainants’ cover letter criticizes communications by the ACNA’s provincial office and by some individual bishops that suggested the complainants took their allegations to the Post before attempting to use the canonical disciplinary channels of the church.

A timeline in the letter outlines the process the complainants say they followed. Claire Buxton, who alleges that Archbishop Wood made continual sexual advances toward her, alerted one priest of her complaint four days after Wood’s election in June 2024, and another priest a month later, who informed the Rt. Rev. Chip Edgar, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, the document said. Edgar’s diocese overlaps with Wood’s Diocese of the Carolinas.

Read it all.

New for @Livng_Church: Complainants say they tried to canonically advance accusations against ACNA Archbishop Steve Wood for more than a year, and question the possibility of a fair hearing while he retains his powers.https://t.co/pDcdtrUhGE

— Arlie Coles (@ArlieColes) November 8, 2025

(Why WaPo and ACNA continue to emphasize these incidents did not occur during Wood’s archbishopric baffles; the issue here is moral and character, not when who did what.)

I have too much experience with this kind of story not to have guiding lines of thinking.

Believe the victims as whistleblowers rarely lie; the accused will deny the allegations; there’s more to the story than is published; often more victims will come forward; the establishment will act to protect and to believe the priest/pastor; local congregations will fracture and fissure and sometimes fall apart; nearly all congregations will believe the pastor/priest and not the accuser/victim; spin will arise that confuses all over what actually happened; the establishment will gather round the priest/pastor and will rig the system against the victims; whistleblowers will suffer blow after blow that re-traumatize; the system will not show compassion and empathy; strategies will develop that favor one side and bias people against the other side; those in power will rig the system so independent investigators can be avoided. I could go on. Read A Church called Tov.

I was more than (happily) surprised with Andrew Gross: “Unfortunately, the problems at the highest levels of the ACNA are deeper, wider and more entrenched than many of its own parishioners realize,” said Andrew Gross, an Anglican priest who was the Anglican Church’s communications director from 2013 until early this year. “The ACNA has never before had to deal with serious allegations of misconduct by the archbishop. This is a crisis without precedent, and how these concerns are handled will determine the future trajectory of the denomination and its credibility.” I was mocked by the establishment for saying much the same when the Stewart Ruch/Church of the Rez story first broke. Gross is right: Not only has ACNA bungled the Ruch story but they are set up to bungle this one too. What they do will determine ACNA’s future.

Reread it all.

Drive far from thy church, O God, the spirit of clerical ambition, that all whom thou dost call to lead thy people might do so in the order to which they have been truly called. Grant that like thy servant Ammonius we may refuse to conflate ordination and leadership and may never confuse rank with holiness. In the name of thy son Jesus Christ our Lord, who alone is our great High Priest. Amen.

Ammon was a 4th-century Christian ascetic and the founder of one of the most celebrated monastic communities in Egypt. He was subsequently declared a saint. He was one of the most venerated ascetics of the Nitrian Desert pic.twitter.com/qCR8A1rDy3

— Duncan Irvine (@DuncanIrvine1) October 4, 2023

O God, who orderest the common things of the common day, dignify by thy presence and aid the trivial round and routine tasks of thy servant whose hope is in thee, that least duties may be grandly done and all activities marked with the seal of thy righteousness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–Robert W. Rodenmayer, ed., The Pastor’s Prayerbook: Selected and arranged for various occasions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960)

Morning everyone I hope you are well. The old packhorse bridge crossing the River Brathay. Have a great day.#LakeDistrict pic.twitter.com/xAsQYVtrZ7

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) November 8, 2025

Then he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. But immediately he spoke to them, saying, “Take heart, it is I; have no fear.”

–Matthew 14:22-27

pic.twitter.com/PeyMeDt8oE

— Thomas Mikkelsen (@ThomasM73576526) November 8, 2025

To the Standing Committee of the Diocese of South Carolina

With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says:
‘You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive.
 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing,
    and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes,
    and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart,
    and turn for me to heal them.’
–Matthew 13:14-15

“Nothing in the world is harder than speaking the truth and nothing easier than flattery.”
–Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment

Dear friends:

Let me begin by saying that I love the Lord and I love his church and I love the Anglican Church in North America and I wish her the best and pray for her and her leaders every day.

But I have to tell you that as someone watching what has been happening over the last week since the story broke about the accusations against the current Archbishop I have been profoundly troubled, deeply upset and incredibly concerned; those feelings have done nothing but get deeper every single day since.

I find myself thinking again and again of Dr James Houston at Regent College and his course on Christian spirituality I took it when I had only been a Christian for about four years. Dr. Houston began the class by saying that if you want to understand what it means to think about growing as a Christian, you have to understand the beatitudes, and you have to understand that the beatitudes are written in order.

What that means is the beginning of any real growth is wrestling with and living into the first beatitude, which is blessed all the poor in spirit which Eugene Peterson wonderfully translates as “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.”

He went on to tell us many memorable things in that class, one of them, which I shall never forget, is what is one of the most important characteristics of the character of a genuine Christian. His answer comes like a little voice, which is in fact a piece of dynamite in our current cultural moment in the church in the west, he said the answer is self-mistrust.

If you really understand yourself and the broken nature of the world and the insidious nature of sin, and you need to know that human beings have a stubborn incapacity to handle the truth which manifests itself in ways that the systems which sinful people construct so often miss.

So let me begin in a place where I see almost no ACNA leader beginning and that is I don’t trust myself so maybe what I’m saying is incorrect. That’s for you to decide, but I’ve reached the point where I cannot not say What I feel the Lord is calling me to say.

To state the matter carefully: ACNA is in profound trouble, and I do not think that the people in charge of ACNA see how much trouble we are in.

Ask yourself this question–what would an outside observer who had a healthy sense of self-mistrust and who knew that a healthy institution needs to have a heavy dose of self mistrust—what would he or she say about what is just happened in ACNA over the last few years and especially the last week or so.

The first thing such a person might say: the process by which allegations of misbehavior by ACNA leaders are adjudicated is incredibly messed up and needs to be deeply reformed.

How do I know this—well just look at what we know as fact. Bishop Stewart Ruch has had a process going on by which he’s been put in a form of an ecclesiastical trial for alleged misbehavior. The process is taking a long time and the first thing that we know, is that the prosecutor who was asked to participate in the process named Alan Runyan resigned just a few hours before the process was to complete because what happened in the process was so completely out of kilter and deeply disturbing to him that he felt he had no other recourse but to resign.

Now I happen to know Alan Runyan and I’ve worked with him in some very unusual contexts. He’s a greatly capable person and a wonderful Christian; for someone like him to take a step like that is incredibly significant to me.

It speaks to a process in a canonical system that does not work properly by any reasonable standard.

If you read the new, very lengthy Washington Post story about the Bishop Stewart Ruch situation ask yourself a question– if even 1/8 of what’s in the article is true, how in the world has the system reach this point? It is self-evidently not working.

Now consider recent developments with the allegations against the current archbishop of ACNA, Steve Wood.

A presentment has been filed against him, a formal church procedure alleging misbehavior. The people involved in filing this presentment are people who love the Lord and who love his church.

If the people involved love the Lord and love his church then why is no one in ACNA leadership asking about this reality–there is simply no way that anyone who loves ACNA and cares deeply about her and her future whatever not initially try to use the process provided by the church to make these allegations, but have the people done so?

No; no.

Almost everyone that I’ve seen in ACNA who is looking at the situation is looking at it backwards. They are saying things like trust the process, isn’t it terrible that people in the church felt it necessary to go to a secular newspaper like the Washington Post in order to do what they felt had to be done.

To me that entirely upside down, the question everyone in active leadership should be asking themselves is supposing I was part of the group that made these allegations.

It would then necessarily be the case that I would seek to use the processes provided by the church to do so

It is clear that they did not because they felt that they could not.

Think carefully about what that means, it means that a group of people who love ACNA had such a profound mistrust of the existing process that they felt they had a better chance of beginning to get the truth into the light in a secular newspaper as opposed to the process provided by the church.

Let’s be clear here–no one saying they are right. We are just asking questions, but let’s make sure to ask the right questions. Do you have any idea how sick the process has to be for people in positions of leadership to feel such an extreme measure was necessary? It speaks to a process which is so deeply wrong that it is nearly or entirely bankrupt.

Now again, let’s look at the response to what occurred so far. We have a number of responses, from bishops especially, most of which can be reduced to trust the process, we have an adequate process, we have a process that will work. Let’s just be patient and pray and let it work itself out, and on and on.

That can’t be true and we know it’s not true because of what’s been happening in the Ruch trial, but we also know it’s not true because of the extreme measures that were deemed necessary by the group that filed these allegations against Archbishop Wood.

Yet there’s more.

Whenever you have a situation like this, where there are allegations, you have alleged victims and alleged perpetrators; we simply don’t know what happened, so we have to keep a healthy dose of skepticism, but what needs to be said very strongly is that neither of the allegations nor the denial can be assumed to be true.

Anyone who reads the initial responses can see that the concern for the victims, and the possibility that the allegations could be true, are given short shrift, but the protection of the leaders and the institution and the process are almost always paramount.

So it’s clear that the process is deeply flawed already and you can see it and what has transpired publicly not only in the Ruch trial, but in the response to the allegations against Archbishop Wood so far.

We are still not done. Let’s look at what else has happened with the allegation so far. It is a matter of public record that there was an objection to the presentment made by the Canon for safeguarding, and the Chancellor. They alleged that a standard wasn’t met, even though it has been determined now that the presentment can go forward and the objections have been overcome. We need to pause and ask ourselves a question–who made these objections.

They were made by a Canon who works for Steve Wood and a chancellor who works for Steve Wood. But Steve Wood is the accused in this situation, so no one who works for him can and should be involved in the process at all.

However, they were involved in the process. They should never have been; they should have recused themselves immediately.

Not only has that occurred, but Bishop Ray Sutton, who is now the bishop in charge of this process, has written a letter to the ACNA House of bishops in which he discussed the overcoming of these objections by suggesting that the process by which the objections were made was legitimate. It was anything but. Other people could have been appointed to make objections, but not people who work for or were appointed by the current person accused.

This is just a matter of basic justice and due process. It may seem like a simple thing, but it’s not a simple thing because not only has it occurred, but it has implicitly been sanctioned by the current person in charge of the process.

Notice also that none of the other leaders have made an objection to this.

What we are looking at here, brother and sisters, is a colossal mess which has so many things out of kilter one hardly knows where to start.

We have to question the process, not trust the process, but more than that we have to question the people who are in charge of ACNA, what they are doing, how they are doing it, why they are so defensive and why they are missing so many basic points and not asking the right questions.

And all this is the case at this very early stage….

29 October 2025

–The Rev Dr. Kendall S. Harmon is theologian in residence, Church of the Holy Cross, Sullivan’s Island, SC

If Kendall Harmon is irked, the Lord may be returning soon! Please read this heartfelt document. Concerns from my heart about the deep ACNA leadership crisis: Kendall Harmon https://t.co/vAVWbC0OAi via @Anglican Ink © 2025

— Will ⚓ (@monkofjustice) November 7, 2025

O Lord our God, who dost call whom thou willest and send them whither thou choosest: We thank thee for sending thy servant Willibrord to be an apostle to the Low Countries, to turn them from the worship of idols to serve thee, the living God; and we entreat thee to preserve us from the temptation to exchange the perfect freedom of thy service for servitude to false gods and to idols of our own devising; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today is the feast of Saint Willibrord – an Englishman of the old Northumbrian stock. Born near York in the 7th century, raised in the age of kings, monasteries and the first roots of English Christianity. He was formed in the discipline of the early English monastic tradition,… pic.twitter.com/4b7fONSbyg

— The English Remnant (@TradEngland) November 7, 2025

O Lord Jesus Christ, Wisdom and Word of God, fill our hearts, we beseech thee, with thy most Holy Spirit, that out of the abundance of our hearts our mouths may speak thy praise in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; to thy everlasting glory.

Morning everyone I hope you are well. Overlooking Rydal Water (before the rain moved in) from Loughrigg towards Nab Scar and beyond. Have a great day.#LakeDistrict pic.twitter.com/0RNarHxZuC

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) November 7, 2025

Then I saw another portent in heaven, great and wonderful, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is ended. And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and wonderful are thy deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are thy ways, O King of the ages! Who shall not fear and glorify thy name, O Lord? For thou alone art holy. All nations shall come and worship thee, for thy judgments have been revealed.” After this I looked, and the temple of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, and out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues, robed in pure bright linen, and their breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives for ever and ever; and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were ended.

–Revelation 15:1-8

Autumn awakens everything it touches pic.twitter.com/47cMMwtvVL

— Susan Delaney (@metamythian) November 7, 2025

People used to die. Now, it seems, they pass away. Or — say it quickly and quietly enough no one will even notice — they just pass. Media outlets report the passing of someone famous. Undertakers now refer to the deceased as having passed away when communicating funeral arrangements. Buckingham Palace, announcing the recent death of the Duchess of Kent, stated that she had “passed away peacefully” (News, 12 September). Is this the death of dying?

Euphemisms for death and dying are nothing new. But there is a subtle and important difference between the idioms that we have used in the past, and the increasingly normalised use of “pass” and “pass away”….

Jesus did not pass on the cross; nor did he pass away for our sins. If we believe that our hope of resurrection lies in the resurrection of Jesus, then we need to use the same language about our death as we do about his death. We need to reclaim the language of dying and death.

Read it all.

Went to visit my grandfather (and my great grandparents, greatuncle & greataunt). You hear the sound of the sea from the graveyard.

Hard to believe my grandfather is dead these 12 years. pic.twitter.com/VzExPZg3gW

— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) June 22, 2024

The Most Rev. Ray Sutton, Dean of the Province of the Anglican Church in North America, has stepped temporarily into the role of ACNA’s archbishop and primate—but a group of chaplains has objected, calling him unfit to lead the denomination.

The ACNA’s Provincial Office announced Sutton’s elevation to acting archbishop on November 3, two weeks after disciplinary charges alleging financial, sexual, and behavioral misconduct against Archbishop Steve Wood were filed. Wood has taken a voluntary and paid leave of absence pending resolution of the charges.

Less than a day after that announcement, a public letter released by a group of chaplains with histories in the ACNA’s chaplaincy jurisdiction decried the decision, claiming that Sutton’s appointment has “further aggravated” the church’s “crisis of credibility” in handling clergy misconduct.

The chaplains’ public letter alleges that Sutton, among other senior ACNA bishops, repeatedly obstructed their previous complaints of misconduct against the Rt. Rev. Derek Jones, the denomination’s former chaplaincy bishop now under inhibition and investigation, over a period of at least four years.

Read it all.

New for @Livng_Church: A group of chaplains with histories in the ACNA’s chaplaincy jurisdiction claim that Bp. Ray Sutton’s appointment to acting archbishop has "further aggravated" the church’s "crisis of credibility" in handling clergy misconduct.https://t.co/XmtBzMctKU

— Arlie Coles (@ArlieColes) November 6, 2025

For most of human history, coupling up was not merely a norm; it was a necessity. Before reliable contraception, women could not control their fertility, and most were far too poor to raise children alone. Hence the centuries-old convention that, whereas a tragic play or saga ends in death, a happy one ends in marriage.

So the speed with which the norm of marriage—indeed, of relationships of any sort—is being abandoned is startling. Throughout the rich world, singlehood is on the rise. Among Americans aged 25-34, the proportion living without a spouse or partner has doubled in five decades, to 50% for men and 41% for women. Since 2010, the share of people living alone has risen in 26 out of 30 rich countries. By The Economist’s calculation, the world has at least 100m more single people today than if coupling rates were still as high as in 2017. A great relationship recession is under way.

For some, this is evidence of social and moral decay. As we report, many in the “pro-natalist” movement believe that the failure of the young to settle down and procreate threatens to end Western civilisation. For others, it is evidence of admirable self-reliance. Vogue, a fashion magazine, recently suggested that for cool, ambitious young women, having a boyfriend is not merely unnecessary but “embarrassing”.

In fact, the rise of singlehood is neither straightforwardly good nor bad. 

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A future with far more singletons is fast approaching. That will reshape the world in ways good and bad. Everyone, from construction firms to the taxman, had better prepare https://t.co/VnDr8O2MYV pic.twitter.com/l6mVxmWgBH

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) November 6, 2025

In a major step toward improving cancer treatment, researchers at Northwestern University have redesigned the molecular structure of a widely used chemotherapy drug, making it far more soluble, potent, and less toxic to the body.

The scientists built a new form of the drug using spherical nucleic acids (SNAs), a type of nanostructure that embeds the drug directly into DNA strands coating tiny spheres. This re-engineering turned a weak, poorly dissolving chemotherapy drug into a highly targeted cancer-fighting agent that spares healthy tissue.

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Nanotech makes cancer drug 20,000x stronger, without side effects – https://t.co/tHaZHRo9In

— Ken Gusler (@kgusler) November 6, 2025

O God of light and love, who illumined thy Church through the witness of thy servant William Temple: Inspire us, we pray, by his teaching and example, that we may rejoice with courage, confidence and faith in the Word made flesh, and may be led to establish that city which has justice for its foundation and love for its law; through Jesus Christ, the light of the world, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

26 Oct 1944, William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury died. Leading thinker, writer, clergyman & activist who linked #Christian theological concerns to everyday life, connecting #Church to wider society. His radical thinking played key role in formation of British Welfare State. pic.twitter.com/JCsFP9QduK

— Revd Nicholas Pye (@RevdPye) October 26, 2025

O Heavenly Father, who hast taught us to show forth thy praise in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs: So fill us, we pray thee, with thy Spirit that we may make melody to thee both in our hearts and with our lives, evermore giving thee thanks for all things, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

The sky was on fire on the bald prairie this morning. pic.twitter.com/afiNWSuFpD

— Dylan Biggs (@TKRanch) November 5, 2025

Then I looked, and lo, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like the sound of harpers playing on their harps, and they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth.

–Revelation 14:1-3

Good morning from Nauset beach! #capecod #sunrise

Focus on what you can control; let the rest fall away. pic.twitter.com/T5NJdWwaVt

— Darius Aniunas (@dariusaniunas) November 6, 2025

Now in her ninth decade, Irene Onion (right), a retired teacher and organist, has plenty of experience of playing hymns for children. Aged 83, she has now written her own — a celebration of God’s bounty through the seasons.

“Sing, sing, sing”, which she co-wrote with James Dixon, the activity coordinator at the Old Vicarage Residential Home in Bakewell, was in part inspired by a challenge to create an alternative to “All things bright and beautiful”, a hymn that Mrs Onion confesses to thinking “Not again!” about when she was asked to play it. The new hymn, composed on Apple’s Garage Band music software, comprises verses that move through the farming seasons: “Sing hallelujah About the summer light Whose golden rays Lengthen the days And hold back darker nights.”

A visit to All Saints’, Bakewell, opposite the home, inspired the duo to write a joyful hymn that children would enjoy singing, Mr Dixon recalled this week. A “skipping melody” was chosen, and Mrs Onion found chords to match.

Read it all and you may find the audio link there.

Highlight of my working week: speaking to Irene Onion about writing her first hymn aged 83. We share our taste in hymns. https://t.co/Zz8TdxKLBD

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) October 31, 2025