Announcements

Lost and Found … please check the lost and found bin in the narthex.  It will be emptied at the end of the month.

Potato Blitz … This June we are once again collecting as many pounds of potatoes as we can for ‘Our Place’! Donations can be dropped off at Knox on Sundays after service or Wednesdays during office hours.  To make an offering instead, please mark your offering envelope with ‘Potato Blitz’, or send an offering via e-transfer to [email protected]. Please contact Kittie Ure or Lilian Sutherland for more information.

Knox Book Club … New attendees are always welcome! Here is a list of books and dates for 2026.  The next meeting is Saturday July 11 at 1:00pm at Esquimalt Gorge Park and Pavillion, 1070 Tillicum Road.  Please bring chairs or a blanket to sit on.  We will be discussing “Wholehearted Faith” by Rachel Held Evans.

VIP (Victoria Island Presbytery) Summer Camp 2026 … A program of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. This year’s locations and dates are as follows:  Rathtrevor Provincial Park July 25 – 30, Rathtrevor Provincial Park July 30 – August 3. For more information go to our website or contact the registrar at [email protected].

Collective 2026 (Aug 12 – 15, 2026 at Brock University) … Collective 2026, an event for youth,young adults, and their leaders.  Register here

Sunday, June 28, 2026 – Mission Moment

Wednesday, June 24 We pray for the Change Leadership Team of the General Assembly as it pilots regional teams to proactively lead and quickly respond to local circumstances, fostering collaboration and animating ministry.

Thursday, June 25 We pray for the wisdom, strength and health of ministry staff and volunteers of each of the eight ministries of the National Indigenous Ministries Council, as they walk with and support people in the communities they serve.

Friday, June 26 We pray for the Executive of the Atlantic Mission Society as they finalize plans for the Annual Meeting in September. We give thanks for the many blessings of this past year and ask that the Holy Spirit continue to guide and direct them into the future.

Saturday, June 27 We pray for the Rev. Rebecca Simpson, Assistant Dean of St. Andrew’s Hall, in her leadership of the college and care for students.

Sunday, June 28 We pray for all God’s people working in faith formation—from churches to camps to campuses, communities, and beyond. 

Monday, June 29 We give thanks for church treasurers who offer faithful stewardship of the gifts received for the work of ministry in their congregations.

Tuesday, June 30 We pray for Knox College and its new students who will be invited to register for program studies in early July, and for their continued discernment of God’s call to equip and prepare for service.

Wednesday, July 1 (Canada Day) We pray that this land will be a just, equitable and welcoming country and that all those who form and keep our laws will carry out their responsibilities with wisdom, courage and mercy.

Thursday, July 2 We pray for staff and campers at Presbyterian Music Camp in Goderich, ON, as they learn and grow together in faith in a Christian camping community. 

Friday, July 3 We pray for leaders in the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba as they minister among people suffering increasing daily hardships due to dire shortages of food, medicine, gas and electricity.

Saturday, July 4 We pray for participants who recently completed the online course, “Becoming Intercultural”. May they feel supported and more equipped in their ministry within their diversifying congregations.

NO to the War on Cuba!

The Presbyterian Church in Canada added its voice to an advertisement that ran in The Hill Times on June 15, saying “no” to the injustice that is the unlawful coercive measures by the US against Cuba. Joining other churches and faith-based groups, advocacy groups and unions, those who signed the ad called on the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cuba and to work more determinedly with the United Nations and other countries to get fuel and other life-saving supplies to Cuba without delay. At its recent General Assembly, which concluded on Thursday, June 11, the PCC approved a motion recognizing the extreme economic and humanitarian crisis in Cuba, where basic necessities have reached critical shortage, while urging the Canadian government to actively oppose the United States blockade and sanctions against Cuba.

Members of the church can support church partners by contacting Canadian elected government officials to ask the Government of Canada to:

• publicly condemn American aggressions as violations of international law;
• refuse to participate in, support, or legitimize military, economic, or political aggressions against Venezuela and other countries;
• reaffirm and actively support the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, free from external military intervention;
• actively reject any and all interventions and military aggressions against Cuba, Colombia and Mexico;
• firmly oppose American economic and other coercive measures against Cuba and vigorously advocate for their removal;
• deepen economic ties, trade, and assistance to Cuba;
• unequivocally uphold and promote the right of self-determination of the peoples and countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

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).

Previous Announcements