issue 7 july & august 2013 a cross the...

I S S U E 7 J U L Y & A U G U S T 2 0 1 3

The Bible Jesus Read

Thursdays through the

summer

A Cross The Pews

Knox Waterloo

C e l e b r a t i n g 1 2 5 Y e a r s !

Save the Date! VBC

July 22‐26

Knox has an official Facebook Page! “Like” us at

www.facebook.com/knoxwaterloo

Oct 4th-6th: John Bell, from

Iona community in Scotland, is coming

to KW and Knox Church, Waterloo.

Fri. 4th “Music of the Iona Community

and the World” $10, Knox Waterloo.

Sat. 5th “Doing Worship Differently”

10:30am to 3:30pm $40 for the day,

incl. lunch and coffee. CGUC Chapel

(Limited Seating. Register in advance).

Sun. 6th ‐ "Cries From the Heart: Music

for Healing." 2‐4pm, $20, Glen Morris

United Church(Limited Seating. Register

in advance)

Oct 26th: Knox Talent Show

Nov 2nd-3rd: Knox’s 125th Anniversary. Saturday night will be a congregational dinner, and after

worship on Sunday we're having a lunch

for all ages. We are delighted that the

Rev. Dr. Rodger Nishioka will be our

guest speaker for the weekend. Rodger

is an inspirational speaker, educator,

and specialist in ministry with youth and

young adults. He teaches at Columbia

Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA

where he teaches in the area of

practical theology and Christian ed.

Sunday Service at 10:00am Radio Broadcast: Sunday 10:00am CKWR FM 98.5

50 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON N2L 1T1 519 . 886 . 4150 [email protected] knoxwaterloo.ca

September Newsletter Submission deadline 12 noon on Tuesday, August 20th

Email your submission to hannah.carter [at] gmail.com

Fourteen Knox members met over a period of several months

to plan and prepare for an Adult Mission Trip to Cluj,

Romania, with a dual purpose:

(1) participate in a Habitat For Humanity build, and

(2) tour with Brian Johnston and visit churches of the

Hungarian Reformed Church in Transylvania. Continued on page 4

Romania Mission Trip Looking Ahead

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JULY & AUGUST 2013 A CROSS THE PEWS

I am so proud of how our congregation faces the issues before us.

We had some difficulties with the construction process and were left with an

incomplete garden and landscaping. You may have noticed some workers in the

garden lately. With creative cooperation and talented gardeners, the Knox

community is well on the way to a beautiful and sustainable garden. The choices

in landscaping were made in consultation with the architect and are designed to

be sustainable with little extra attention once everything is in place. The plants

and shrubs have a resistance to drought conditions and should grow in beauty

over the years. I am deeply appreciative of all who have worked so hard to

make our garden grow. Thank you.

The summer time is the primary time when people move their residences. The two months of the summer

holidays, July and August, are when most people relocate. This means that for many it is time to “shop” for

a new church home. Every summer we welcome new worshippers who are making a home in Waterloo

Region. This is a vulnerable time for families and individuals. My hope and prayer is that new worshippers

will prayerfully consider making Knox their church home. We all help by keeping a look out for people that

we have not met before. (Here is a hint: don’t ask if they are new, just say; “I don’t think that I have met

you before.” This guards against welcoming a “newcomer” who has been here for 20 years!)

This summer is a time for renewal for me. Each Presbyterian minister has the opportunity for spiritual

renewal every five years in the form of a ‘mini‐sabbatical’ that lasts ten weeks. My last time away was in

2004. Since that time I was unable to take time off while our new building was under construction. This

lasted longer than any of us had anticipated. As we transition to full functionality in our new building, it

seems like an ideal time to take this time for personal renewal.

A few weeks ago I went to the studio of radio CKWR FM 98.5 to record a congratulations announcement. I

congratulated CKWR on 40 years of broadcast in Waterloo Region. This is Canada’s first Community radio

station. If you listen to 98.5 you might hear my 29 second moment of appreciation. At Knox our Sunday

worship service is broadcast every week ‘live’ on CKWR. This marks the 40th anniversary of our Radio

broadcast. This has been a blessing for Knox and for our community. When the first broadcast took place in

1973 with Rev. Walter McLean at the pulpit, it started a grand tradition of reaching out to our community.

Today, many people around the world connect via the internet to the live broadcast as well as to the

podcast on the knoxwaterloo.ca website. We are truly blessed with this ministry. I cannot tell you how

many of our seniors, some of whom are not able to attend worship very often, rely on this broadcast to stay

connected to their church home. Several times I have been challenged to remember the content of a

sermon heard over the radio and I have had to scramble to remember what others seem to recall better

than I can! For every person sitting in church on a Sunday morning there are at least 10 people worshipping

via our broadcast.

I hope that this summer vacation season gives a genuine time of re‐creation to each and every one of you.

Blessings to all.

Minister’s Message

Brooke Ashfield

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Passages Thinking of you: Loreen Palmer, David Sugrue, Marvin Reed, Joyce Farrish, and Jim Anderson.

Barb Prysnuk whose mother passed away June 4th.

Jeannette Bell whose husband, Bob Bell, passed away June 15th .

Congratulations!

Jordan Broberg was

awarded the Waterloo Minor

Hockey Bursary by the Waterloo

Minor Hockey Association!

Brad VanderVleuten

competed with 2 teammates in the

International DECCA competition in

California!

Hannah Carter won Best Wedding Photograph in a

competition with 200+ wedding

photographers from around the

world!

Sympathy:

Many thanks to you, our church family, for your love and support before, during and after the

passing of my mom, Jean Woodley on June 4th. We cannot thank you enough for being there for us in

so many tangible ways, with your prayers from near and far, cards, emails, flowers, bringing over food,

your hugs, making your way to Dundas for mom’s visitation and attending her funeral. It has meant so

much to our family. God is good....

With thankful hearts,

Barb, Beth & Steph Prysnuk, Sue & Howie Simpson

George MacAskill has been named Senior Citezen of

the Year by the city of Waterloo!

Noel Sennema was awarded the Victoria D’Agostino Award for

making our community a better

place through their loving and

generous spirit, sportsmanship and

athletic accomplishment, academic

excellence and good citizenship.

Reid VanderVleuten and

his teammate placed 2nd in the

Sports and Entertainment

Category at DECCA

Internationals! Reid was also one

of two students nominated from

Bluevale for the KW Record’s Top

Students Page!

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Summertime At Knox During the summer months at Knox we continue to have worship at 10 am in our air conditioned

sanctuary. There is a refreshment hour after worship each Sunday (please sign up on the bulletin board

if you can help one Sunday this summer).

While the choir takes the summer off we have wonderfully talented musicians from the congregation

sharing in the ministry of music ‐ some are singing while others are playing instruments (note the

musicians who have signed up on the bulletin board).

The summer preaching series will be following our Knox Reads study book chosen for this year ‐ "The

Bible Jesus Read" by Philip Yancey. We hope you will feel welcome to join us at any of our Thursday

night DVD study and conversation evenings (you don't have to be reading the book to do this). These

take place Thursday evenings (June 27‐August 15) 7‐8:30 at the church.

Sundays at Knox: June 30 Old Testament 101

July 7 Is the Old Testament worth the effort?

July 14 Job ‐ Seeing in the dark.

July 21 Deuteronomy ‐ A taste of bitterness.

July 28 Psalms ‐ Spirituality in every key.

August 4 Ecclesiastes ‐ The End of Wisdom

August 11 The Prophets ‐ God talks back.

August 18 Tori Smit (Synod Education Consultant and former Knox Waterloo member) will

lead worship.

August 25 John Peter Smit (Synod Congregational Development Consultant and former

LOGOS Director here at Knox Waterloo) will lead worship.

Over the summer months we have many new comers join us for worship. Some are visiting the area

and/or family, others are interested in our congregation and still others are looking for church home. We

hope you will welcome our newcomers and help them to feel at home in our midst.

If you are travelling this summer and may be worshipping in a church in the area consider taking some of

our church "calling cards" with you. We have them in the office and at the welcome desk. Sometimes

our members will write a brief note on it like "visiting your area" or "great to worship with you today" or

just "greetings from" and then put it into the offering plate as it goes by. It's a wonderful way to bring

greetings from Waterloo.

As you may know, Brooke will be taking July/August off as a mini Sabbatical. I am happy that Walter

McLean and some of our Elders will be joining me in leading worship.

May God bless us as we continue to grow in His love,

Linda

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Knox's Adult Mission Trip Habitat for Humanity Romania & Transylvania Tour

Continued from page 1

On May 30th, 2013, the group set out with 13 members, missing Rev. Linda Ashfield who stayed behind

because of her dad’s illness. Stuart McTavish served as Team Leader, giving expert leadership to both

the human relations and the structural aspects of helping construct a set of four row‐homes in Cluj.

Linda, Brooke, Ruth and many of our Knox prayer partners came to the Knox parking lot to see us off.

Our group included Eric Beard,

Kari Feldmann, Dick Heeg,

Stuart and Susan McTavish,

Cheryl Meyer, David Ogram,

Barb Prysnuk, Deb Schlichter,

Dick and Agnes Steffy, and

Edith and Bill Stevens. Linda

was in our prayers, as we often

spoke of her and missed her.

Our group developed a strong

bond as we worked together,

then travelled to villages

where Brian Johnston’s former

students are now ministers. We were treated to local food and attended worship in beautiful and

ancient churches. Our bond was made even stronger when we received the sad news of Barb Prysnuk’s

mother in Dundas, ON. She shared with us her grief, as we offered our support to her. Barb was our

‘spiritual leader’, putting inspirational messages under each of our doors to be found early in the

morning.

Each night we had a brief meeting, in which we shared our impressions of the day and prayed for our

group and the ones with whom we worked. Dave Ogram sent reports back to Knox daily. We were

thrilled each time he had a reply to report to us. That contact plus the knowledge that our Prayer

Partners were holding us in their prayers, allowed us to stay connected to our congregation the entire

time we were away.

Habitat For Humanity has a strong presence in Cluj. We

were privileged to get to know two families who will live in

the dwellings on which we worked.

Full reports on our trip will be made available over the

coming months.

Submitted by Agnes Steffy

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Despite thunder, lightening, and high humidex

conditions, the Knox Garden tour was a resounding success!

The final tally is not in yet; however, it looks like we raised close

to $1000. The money will be put toward the Gardens at Knox

(plantings, soil and mulch).

Special thanks goes out to our garden hosts ‐ Judy and John McBride,

Wendy Garner, Tom & Sandi McBride and Joan Wilson, Barry and Jean Cull, Jan and

Doug Golbeck, and Elsie and Pat Baird ‐ for opening

their gardens to our many garden enthusiasts. Back at

the church over dessert there were lots of rave

reviews of the beautiful gardens.

Thanks to Ontarion Seed Home Hardware for loaning

us the trellis and colourful lawn chairs to decorate

the church. And thanks to everyone who shopped for

berries and other groceries, baked cakes,

brought in flowers for our tables and perennials to

sell, set up and decorated the church, served

dessert and cleaned up afterwards, sold

perennials out in the heat, helped with advertising

and the slide presentation. Many hands did make light

work.

The Women's Circle of Care

Garden Tour

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We are counting down the days until we fly to

Winnipeg to stay at St James Presbyterian Church near the Winnipeg Inner City Mission where we will

offer a week of service, learning, sharing and caring. We would like to thank our Knox family for your

support both financially and spiritually. The costs for the trip have been well covered and we are blessed

to have funds available to support some of the work projects needing to be done at Anishinabe and Flora

House and to help with their Vacation Bible School. Your prayer support has been felt and we know that

you will continue to keep us in your prayers while we are away July 27‐Aug 3. The adults who travelled to

Romania have shared some valuable experience with us and we understand the daily blogs were

appreciated so we will be sending you blogs so you can follow us each day and hear some of our stories

and experiences. Thanks again from the 18 youth and 7 adult trip participants.

“Thank you” to all who filled out our year‐end survey! We are pleased to

say that our first term for 2013 – 2014 is almost completely planned,

thanks to your generosity and the hard work of the W@K steering

committee! Enjoy your summer and see you September 11th!

If you have any further thoughts or questions, please email Ellen McIntosh at

[email protected].

Sorry…. I’m Canadian!! Sold out!

To all those who bought tickets for the show at the new Dunfield Theater in

Cambridge, we hope you’ve picked them up at church. We will be organizing car‐

pooling from the church on July 31st. See you there!

Ellen McIntosh

The LOGOS did you know quiz? Answers from June’s Newsletter

∙ Knox Waterloo celebrated 20 years of LOGOS during 2012‐

2013. Who was the first director of our LOGOS team? Elizabeth

Denbeigh

∙ The LOGOS Ministry is celebrating a milestone birthday this

year. What is it? 50 Years of LOGOS Ministry Check

out www.genonministries.org for lots of exciting news!

∙ What is the one rule at LOGOS? Everyone is a child of God and

will be treated that way.

Mark September 5, 2013 on your calendar. We will have our parent

meeting and training that evening. All LOGOS parents and

participants, please plan to attend. It will be a great night of

learning and fellowship!

Winnipeg Trip Update!

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A Note from Christian Education… July 22nd-26th

VBC supports two mission projects; the local project

is Send ‘em off Smiling (SOS) and we are collecting

back‐to‐school items for kids in need. We are

collecting new t‐shirts, long sleeve shirts, running

shoes, backpacks, underwear and socks, jeans, and

school supplies. Please bring your donations to

church during July and leave them in the box by the

front door. 8:50am to 12 noon for kids finished JK‐

Grade 8. $20.per child/$30 for youth. Register

online at www.knoxwaterloo.com.

Adult/youth volunteers still needed to lead small groups or teach crafts, games or prepare snacks. Please

contact Glenda Ribey Rozomiak if you can help one morning or more that week.

Can you donate some snacks for VBC? Here’s what we’re serving each day:

Monday: muffin ingredients (see Laura for details)

Tuesday: apples (red)

Wednesday: English muffins, blueberries, iced tea

Thursday: rainbow gold fish crackers, Saltines, cheddar cheese

Friday: Tortilla chips, salsa

Our registrations are at 150 children/youth so far, so if you can donate food items or gift cards from a

grocery store your support would be appreciated. Please see Laura V or Glenda Ribey for more info.

Laura VanderVleuten

Summer Sunday School is upon us! We need

teachers/leaders for two classrooms> JK‐Gr 2 and Gr 3‐6 as well as

Preschool/Nursery care. Please see the sign up sheet posted on the

bulletin board beside the Lounge for dates and classes needing

help. Lessons are on line at www.wholepeopleofgod.com

Please see Laura V for more information.

Loonie/Toonie CARNIVAL is Thursday, July 25th, 6pm at Knox. Join for worship, bouncy

castle, Tumble Bus, around‐the‐world games, plasma car races, BBQ hot dogs, face painting, FUN, FUN,

FUN! All proceeds will support S.O.S and the youth mission trip to Winnipeg. Come join us for an evening

of family entertainment.

issue 7 july & august 2013 a cross the...

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