Announcements – 01 July, 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 be leading worship this week.
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 … at 10:30am. 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 …
- Keith Elliott passed away on Friday, June 19, 2026. Please hold Janice and the family in your prayers. More information to follow.
Please let your elder or a member of session know if there are changes to your prayer requests!
Celebrations
3 July Terry Foster & Fiona Gow
5 July Amanda & Kevin Chaval
5 July Victor Hsu & Lillian Lin
5 July Laura Kavanagh & Steve Sturgess
16 July Arlene Stapleton
17 July Lilian Sutherland
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 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
Quartet Fest West concert … on July 5th in the St. Andrew’s Sanctuary at 2 PM. Donations are appreciated! Quartet Fest West is one of the finest chamber music programs in North America! This concert features several participants from this year’s festival.
Sunday, July 5, 2026 – Mission Moment
At 16, Ahmad Reza carries heavy responsibilities. Living in Bamyan, Afghanistan, he was orphaned by the loss of both parents, becoming the main support for his family. He cares for his two younger brothers and lives with his sister’s family, who also face extreme poverty. The winter months are particularly difficult as food becomes scarce. Overwhelmed by grief and financial pressure, Reza was forced to leave school. He now works as an apprentice at a garage to gain skills for his family’s future. Relief came when Reza’s family received three months of cash assistance through a winter cash-for-food program supported by PWS&D. “For the first time in months, the constant worry about our next meal has eased,” he said. Reza hopes his training will soon allow him to support his family fully.
Prayer Partnership
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.
Sunday, July 5 We pray for camp staff and campers as they prepare for another season of fun and faith formation.
Monday, July 6 We pray for Mihye Park, Housing Manager of St. Andrew’s Hall, who cares for students and provides hospitality. Mihye runs a Friday evening knitting group that welcomes undergraduates to develop a new skill and form deep relationships grounded in Christian love.
Tuesday, July 7 As 2SLGBTQI+ communities gather for Pride celebrations this summer, we give thanks for the organizers who plan these opportunities for advocacy, connection and fun.
Wednesday, July 8 We pray for those faithfully serving in rural and remote ministry settings and ask God to bless their tireless work amid isolation, great distances, and unique challenges.
Thursday, July 9 We pray for staff and campers at Camp Kintail in Goderich, ON, as they learn and grow together in faith in a Christian camping community.
Friday, July 10 We pray for our partners in Cuba, that God will keep guiding them and giving them strength despite the hardships they are enduring.
Saturday, July 11 We give thanks, loving God, for the Every Youth Empowered Project in Malawi, which is improving awareness of sexual and reproductive health and rights among adolescents and young people. May your love be poured out as project participants learn about and advocate for their rights, with PWS&D supporting them.
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).