Announcements – 05 August, 2026
Worship … at 9:30am. We hope that you will participate in person. If you are unwell, please join the live streamed service. Pastor James will lead this week’s service.
To access the live streamed service, please go to the Knox’s YouTube channel or click here.
The printed service will be available before Sunday morning.
Sunday Coffee Hour … the Knox Hospitality Team will be providing coffee through August! Everyone from Knox and Hollydene are welcome to attend a shared social hour in the lounge.
Joys & Concerns…may we experience the healing presence of Christ as we uphold one another in prayer – sharing joys and concerns draws us together as a community of faith. Please pray for …
Please let your elder or a member of session know if there are changes to your prayer requests!
Celebrations
August 13 Ian Sturgess
August 22 Joan Hartemink
August 29 Dennis & Lilian Sutherland
August 31 Jim & Wendy Jeatt
Potato Blitz … Thanks to our Church members for donating $480.00 in cash, plus 85 lbs in bags of Potatoes towards this outreach project. This was very much appreciated by ‘Our Place’ in support of their meal programme.
Thank You … Kittie, Bruce and family wish to thank you all for the cards, calls and emails and support following the death of Kittie’s brother. Thank you! — Kittie
Lost and Found … please check the lost and found bin in the narthex. It will be emptied at the end of the month.
Knox Book Club … New attendees are always welcome! Here is a list of books and dates for 2026. The next meeting is Saturday August 8 at 1:00pm at Anne’s house. We will be discussing “The Lion Women of Tehran” by Marjan Kamali.
Collective 2026 (Aug 12 – 15, 2026 at Brock University) … Collective 2026, an event for youth,young adults, and their leaders. Register here
Journey for Hope … Team ‘Together in Motion & Song’ is raising money for the Journey for Hope, which supports PWS&D’s food security projects. For more information please contact our Team Captain, Patti Jackson. Members of Knox Victoria, Knox Sooke, Saanich Peninsula, Trinity, and St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Churches are invited to join us for the following events:
- Sing for Hope: a charity hymn sing at Trinity (2964 Tillicum Rd.) on Thursday, September 17 at 7:00 PM.
- Walk for Hope: a charity walk at Esquimalt Gorge Park (1070 Tillicum Rd.) on Saturday, September 26 at 9:30 AM.
Sunday, August 9, 2026 – Mission Moment
Abena Asabiliga, a 46-year-old woman from Sumaduri in the Garu District of Northern Ghana, became physically impaired in infancy due to polio. Because of stigma, discrimination and her family’s poverty, she lived an isolated and difficult life. After being identified in a community survey by community-based rehabilitation staff working for the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, her family and community received sensitization on disability rights, which helped reduce negative attitudes. With support from PWS&D, Abena received a tricycle for mobility, business skills training and start-up capital. She now sells snacks near a school and earns a living. She said, “My life has changed, and I can now move independently with the use of the tricycle that was provided to me. I am so grateful.”
Prayer Partnership
Wednesday, August 5 We pray for students of The Presbyterian College, Montreal who are serving in summer placements. May these be rewarding experiences for them and the communities that they serve.
Thursday, August 6 (Anniversary: 1945 Bombing of Hiroshima) We pray for peacemakers working for a world free of nuclear weapons.
Friday, August 7 We pray for the Rev. Dr. Mark Glanville as he leads the Centre for Missional Leadership team, including their Guder Retreat Program for ministers, in early August at St. Andrew’s Hall.
Saturday, August 8 We pray that international young adults attending Collective, the PCC’s youth conference, will be warmly welcomed, blessed by new friendships, and return home with a strong sense of our unity in Christ.
Sunday, August 9 (International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples) We honour and give thanks for the unique and diverse languages, cultures, knowledge and governance systems of Indigenous peoples around the world.
Monday, August 10 We pray for the health and wellbeing of staff and volunteers of the National Indigenous Ministries Council ministries and the people and communities they walk with and serve.
Tuesday, August 11 We pray for staff and campers at Camp MacLeod in Albert Bridge, NS, as they learn and grow together in faith in a Christian camping community.
Wednesday, August 12 (Opening day of Collective 2026) Lord, bless all who gather at Collective 2026 with curiosity, joy, and a deep sense of your presence.
Thursday, August 13 For the generous hospitality offered by the staff at Crieff Hills Retreat Centre 365 days a year, we give thanks.
Friday, August 14 We pray for the people, ministries and mission of the Presbytery of Kingston.
Saturday, August 15 We pray for the staff and faculty at Knox College who serve with dedication and care. May God grant them wisdom in their ministries, patience in their guidance, and joy in their calling.
Social Action Spotlight: Nuclear disarmament and peacemaking
In our current global climate, it is more critical than ever to work for a world free of the threat of nuclear weapons and to hold to the principle that Canada remain free of nuclear weapons. Advocating for global nuclear disarmament, while also supporting peacemaking efforts that strengthen bonds within and across community difference, builds communities where all God’s creation can flourish.
Peacemaking is an intentional way of relating (to people and the earth) that centers mutual wellbeing. It works against injustice, oppression and anything that diminishes the integrity of God’s creation. Nuclear weapons undermine that work. Catastrophic and indiscriminate, they are incompatible with any vision of a just peace. Words from a report adopted in 1983 by General Assembly remain apt: “no nation, including our own, has the right before God to resort to nuclear weapons, either offensively or defensively.” (A&P 1983, pp. 373, 44).
Peacemaking advocates have worked for decades towards the negotiation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (Ban Treaty), which passed in 2017 and came into force in 2021. Unfortunately, no NATO members, including Canada, support the Ban Treaty because NATO’s strategy includes nuclear weapons. The Treaty’s significance, however, lies in the audacious collective hope of people, including the 122 nations that supported the Ban Treaty for a world free of nuclear weapons. Living Faith, a subordinate standard of the church, states “We protest against the world arms race that diminishes our ability to fight hunger, ignorance, poverty and disease. We fear nuclear war and the devastation it would bring. We affirm that God is at work when people are ashamed of the inhumanity of war and work for peace with justice.” (8.5.3) That work for peace with justice is no less important today than when Living Faith was written.
Reflection Questions
- The church has repeatedly spoken out against nuclear weapons and as recently as 2018 has advocated that Canada sign and ratify the Ban Treaty (A&P 2018, pp. 286-288, 22). Why do you think the church has taken this position? What do you think about the quote from Living Faith tying the arms race to the diminished collective ability to fight the kinds of things feeding conflict (like “hunger, ignorance, poverty and disease”)?
- What aspects of peacemaking and justice work are most critical in your community and what can you and your church do to support them? A recent study guide, “Peacemaking: a reflective resource” is available online at presbyterian.ca/justice/social-action/peacemaking, under “Educational Resources.”
What can you do?
- Advocate with elected officials for peacemaking initiatives, including supporting the Ban Treaty. Template letters for the Ban Treaty and other topics are on the church’s Advocacy webpage (presbyterian.ca/resources/advocacy) under “International Affairs.”
- Support the work of faith-based peace organization, and church partner, Project Ploughshares (ploughshares.ca).