Message from Rev. Sue Wood

(January 2026 - from our 2025 Annual Report)

2025 – A Year to Remember

I am writing this message to you on the last day of 2025. The snow is gently falling and covering the world around me in the pureness that only new fallen snow can bring. As another year is preparing its final farewell and gently releases us into what comes next. And with that thought in mind, I find myself filled with gratitude deeper than words, and yet still reaching for them.

This year has been one of growth for all of us. Sometimes quiet and unseen, like roots stretching beneath frozen ground; sometimes brave and public, like stepping forward and saying yes again and again to the call of love. Faith, I’ve learned, is not something we finish or master. It is something we grow into, shaped by questions as much as convictions, by community as much as belief.

Bethune and Knox, you are not simply the places where I serve. You are my people. You are my church family. You are the voices that pray when words are hard to find, the hands that reach out in grief and celebration, the steady presence that reminds me why ministry matters. Together we have laughed, grieved, worshipped, wondered, and worked for a wider, kinder world. Together we have practiced a faith that shows up. Maybe not perfectly, but honestly.

The highlight of this year, without question, was my ordination. It was a holy moment I will carry with me always. Not because it marked an arrival, but because it affirmed a journey we are on together. In that moment, surrounded by love and blessing, I was reminded that ministry is never a solo calling. It is something we hold in community, something we live out side by side.

As we step into a new year, we do so with hope that is grounded, not naïve; with faith that is alive, not rigid; with love that keeps widening its circle. May we continue to grow; rooted in grace, open to transformation, committed to justice, and held together in love.

Thank you for being my church. Thank you for being my family. May the year ahead meet us with courage, compassion, and the quiet assurance that God is already there, waiting, walking with us into what comes next.

Grace and peace,

Sue