Announcements – 22 May, 2024
Knox is a caring and inclusive community of faith. All are welcome here!
Worship…10:00 AM – Healing and Reconciliation Sunday. We hope you will participate in-person but if you are unwell, please access the live streamed service.
To access the live streamed service, please go to the Knox’s YouTube channel or click here
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- The printed service will be available before Sunday morning
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 …
Family, friends and colleagues in need …
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- Those within the Knox community of faith who are suffering at this time… Ken and Norma (from Campbell River); Joan; Richard & Yvonne Fowler; Earl; David; Toa; Neil; Pat & family.
- Congregations / faith groups in Victoria, Vancouver Island Presbytery, The Presbyterian Church in Canada… Trinity, Victoria / Knox, Sooke
- People, places and situations in the world that are broken and besieged… Ukraine / Gaza
- Consider those struggling with chronic illness, recovery from surgery, addiction, personal loss, and any within our circle of care unable to attend worship each week.
- Give thanks for the blessings you enjoy – for relationships, comforts and security – for unexpected or long anticipated pleasures – for the amazing beauty of creation.
Please let Laura know when your concern is no longer urgent and can be removed from the list.
May Celebrations
02 Lorraine Whiting
06 Bob and Lynda Gill
20 John Watt
23 Margaret Borland
24 Sharon Mather
26 Christine Guille
Church Picnic … We urgently need a volunteer from Knox to connect with a representative from St. Andrew’s to plan a few fun activities for our picnic planned for the end of August. Please contact Laura today!
Potato Blitz! Mission & Outreach have for many years asked the congregation to donate as many kilograms/pounds of potatoes as we can to Our Place Society. This popular project is planned for each Sunday during MAY this year. Bring donations of bags of potatoes to Knox or make a financial donation by adding to your offering or sending an e-transfer to [email protected] (marking “potatoes” on the envelope or in the comments section). Please direct any questions to Kittie Ure or Lilian Sutherland.
Knox Book Club The book for discussion this month: ‘The Only Café’ by Linden MacIntyre We hope you can join the conversation Saturday, June 8, at 1:00 pm.
The next Knox Cafe is Thurs, June 20 at 7 pm! ‘Back to the Laurel Canyon 1970’ features the music of counterculture LA rock musicians. Admission is $10 and includes light refreshments. Donations in support of the humanitarian work of PWS&D accepted – cash, cheque, or e-transfer to [email protected] (please put ‘Knox Cafe’ in the message line)
Back to Laurel Canyon 1970: The Knox Café band will present songs by the musicians of Laurel Canyon, from the late 60s to early 70s. As in New York’ Greenwich Village earlier in the 60s, these musicians lived and partied together but most importantly collaborated to produce some of the greatest music of the 20th century.
“Musicians who’d been poor in the Village (and left unlikely places in Canada) began California dreamin’. They found themselves in Laurel Canyon, where the leaves weren’t brown, the sun shone and the rent was cheap. Where they smoked each other’s weed, ate out of each other’s fridges,” and inspired each other to make music. – Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca
“Laurel Canyon was home to various members of the Byrds, the Doors, Love and Buffalo Springfield; to Frank Zappa, the Mamas & the Papas, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jim Morrison of The Doors, Carole King, James Taylor, and Joni Mitchell. It gave us folk rock, country rock and a wealth of singer-songwriters. It hosted a second wave of artists: Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt, and the Eagles. For the best part of a decade, it was the focus of a creative community that was collaborative, countercultural, innovative, and highly productive.” – Jim Carroll’s Blog
June Lunch … Let’s get together and share a meal at the AppleTree Restaurant after worship on Sunday, June 30. There is a sign-up sheet in the hallway. Talk to Marianne if you have questions.
Healing and Reconciliation Sunday on May 26th was designated by the 2006 General Assembly, recognizing the need for healing and relationship building between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada.
As a church that ran 12 residential schools, we bear a collective responsibility to truth and healing. In the 1980s and 1990s, the truth about abuses children suffered at residential schools began to be heard. Over the next decades, more truth about the pain and harm inflicted at the schools have become part of our common memory, in large part because of the courage of Survivors and intergenerational Survivors who are standing against a legacy of colonial violence and racism, seeking heal from their harmful and deadly impacts.
June 3, 2024 will mark 30 years since the church adopted its 1994 confession, which acknowledges the church’s complicity in a deadly assimilation effort that targeted Indigenous children.
In its report to the 2023 General Assembly, the National Indigenous Ministries Council articulated the need for an apology that reflects the “now greater understanding of the profound harm these institutions [residential schools] caused and continue to cause, to generations of Indigenous people.” As that apology is being prepared, members of the church are invited to engage in collective and group learning about the need for an apology, the legacy of residential schools and intergenerational trauma, the roots of anti-Indigenous racism, our responsibility and commitment to uphold the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and what is needed for truth, healing, and justice for Indigenous peoples. This includes in worship, which is central to our faith life and community.
To learn more about healing and reconciliation and justice for Indigenous peoples, visit theSocial Action Hub’s Indigenous Justice page.
Char’s Home Baking … Freshly baked to order! All items are made with organic gluten free flour blends in a gluten free kitchen! No soy, peanuts, or corn. Sugar, lactose, dairy free (DF) options available for some items – please inquire when ordering. Food safe certified.
Bread $9.50
DF Bread $9.50
Oatmeal Coconut Cookies 1 doz. $19.00
DF Chocolate Chip Cookies 1 doz. $15.00
DF Double Chocolate Cookies 1 doz. $19.00
Lemon Bars $20.00
DF Lemon Bars $27.00
DF Plain Brownies $15.00
DF Iced Brownies $21.00
Apple-berry Pie $14.00
Apple-berry Pie – Out of season $21.00
Pumpkin Pie $12.00
Special requests taken! Communion bread, cakes, muffins, loafs, hot crossed buns – just ask!
Cake prices vary, please ask when ordering. Most cakes are double layered and there are many flavour options available!
This is a non-profit endeavour: funds raised will go to the Shelbourne Community Kitchen via Lutheran Church of the Cross.
To place an order or make inquiries, please email Char at [email protected] or call 250-389-2984. Thank you for your support!
Fired Up! 2024 … May 25th and 26th, 2024 from 10 am – 5 pm.
2024 is a very important year for the Fired Up! show; as the longest running ceramic exhibition group in Canada, this spring they celebrate their 40th anniversary. In recognition of this impressive milestone, this year’s theme is “Honouring 40 Years” and will feature contemporary work from the current artists, as well as showcasing that off former group members.
Features ten core members of Fired Up – Vin Arora, Alan Burgess, Samantha Dickie, Sandra Dolph, Peter Flanagan, Sandy Harquail, Gordon Hutchens, Cathi Jefferson, Meira Mathison, and Kinichi Shigeno – showcasing former group members.
Our annual show is a much-anticipated tradition eagerly awaited for by Ceramic enthusiasts and collectors. It is held on the last weekend of May, yearly, at Metchosin Hall, on the outskirts of Victoria.
Strawberry Tea and Bazaar… Stop by Knox Church on Saturday, June 15 from 1 – 4pm for tea, entertainment and treasures! All donations are in support of the Victoria Cat Rescue Corps Society.
FLAMENCO VICTORIA If you’re looking for an entertaining evening on Saturday, June 22, Toa and Dorothy will be performing flamenco in the student showcase at Glenlyon-Norfolk auditorium! Information about tickets and directions are here.
St. Andrew’s Choral Scholars in Concert … Sunday, June 30 at 12:15 at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. Featuring Darby Howard, Noah Mellemstrand, Eva Smith, and Lauren Steinmann. Donations are greatly appreciated to support music outreach and emerging young musicians. Everyone is welcome!
Sunday, May 19, 2024 – Mission Moment
Aziza, a mother of four from Pakistan, faced numerous challenges, including a physical disability and the tragic loss of her husband in 2019. Left to support her family as a young widow, Aziza and her eldest son worked tirelessly. Her son earned a small income as a shepherd. Despite their best efforts, the devastating floods of 2022 destroyed their home and village, forcing them to seek refuge in her brother-in-law’s house. Aziza struggled to feed her children. In response to the disaster, a local partner, with support from PWS&D and Canadian Foodgrains Bank, began a cash assistance project to ensure families could meet their basic food needs. Aziza used the funds wisely, allocating them for immediate needs like wheat flour and groceries.
Prayer Partnership
Thursday, May 23 We rejoice in the growing farm ministry at Crieff Hills Retreat Centre and pray for an abundant harvest of vegetables, flowers, herbs, honey, eggs and maple syrup this year.
Friday, May 24 We pray for Winnipeg Inner City Mission’s Flora House programming that encourages children to learn through play and to find joy in discovery.
Saturday, May 25 We pray for Knox College and its Class of 2024 as they convocate today. We pray for a joyful celebration of academic success and an affirmation of a call to serve.
Sunday, May 26 (Healing & Reconciliation Sunday) We pray for healing for Indigenous families and communities, both within and outside the church, who are struggling with intergenerational trauma from residential schools and other forms of colonial violence. We ask that God guide our church and congregations in ways that uphold Indigenous rights and reject anti-Indigenous racism.
Monday, May 27 We pray for our mission partners in Canada and around the world, supported through our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing.
Tuesday, May 28 We pray for retired ministers and professional church workers, and for those preparing for retirement.
Wednesday, May 29 We give thanks that the PCC is involved ecumenically within Canada and beyond, and pray for the councils of the church that bring various denominations together for worship, fellowship, ministry and mission: the World Council of Churches, World Communion of Reformed Churches and the Canadian Council of Churches.
Thursday, May 30 We pray for the students enrolled in theological colleges that are preparing to serve at a rural or remote congregation this summer.
Friday, May 31 We pray that God may strengthen the hands and hearts of farmers in Afghanistan who are working tirelessly to restore their land and livelihoods after facing repeated droughts.
Saturday, June 1 We give thanks to God for the faithful service of the Rev. Mary Fontaine as she completes her year as the first Indigenous Moderator of The Presbyterian Church in Canada.
Social Action Spotlight – April – June 2024
A Call for Climate Justice
It is estimated that in 2023, there was a 30% increase in people who lost their lives due to climate related disasters such as floods, wildfires, cyclones, storms and landslides over the previous year (data from the International Disaster Database).
Almost half of those killed were in countries responsible for less than 0.1% of the world’s global greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, an estimated 87% of all people living in extreme poverty live in environmentally vulnerable or fragile countries.
The African continent, for example, contributes the least to climate change yet is the most vulnerable to its impacts. African countries, which have contributed so little to the global climate crisis, will have to spend up to five times more on adapting to the crisis than they will on healthcare. In contrast, G20 countries represent around 75% of global emissions and have the financial resources to cope with the impacts of the climate crisis in their own countries, while also assisting countries who need it.
To help address this disproportionate burden, countries agreed at the United Nations Climate Conference to create a loss and damage fund. “Loss and damage” refers to the negative consequences that arise from the unavoidable risks of climate change, like extreme weather events. Wealthier countries are invited to contribute to the fund so that countries most impacted by climate change have access to the resources they need to cope with the emergency.
Questions for Reflection
- Sometimes we think of climate change as something that impacts other people. Have you noticed changes in our climate? What have you noticed?
- What is your vision of the sort of society that offers a more just response to the climate emergency?
- What potential actions could you take to impact the environment positively in your community? In your country? In the world?
What can you do?
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- Engage with For the Love of Creation, a national, faith-based coalition for climate justice, with resources for learning, conversation and advocacy at fortheloveofcreation.ca.
- Every fall, the World Council of Churches encourages people to come together during the Season of Creation. Find resources to engage your church and community at seasonofcreation.org.
- Contact the Minister of Finance and ask that Canada make a significant contribution to the Loss and Damage Fund, in line with the contributions of other G20 countries.
Knox is a caring and inclusive community of faith. All are welcome here!