Summer Edition

A Quest for Engagement with the World

A Few Riddles

Q. What kind of man was Boaz before he married? Q. Which Bible character had no parents? Q. Who was the greatest financier in the Bible?

A. Ruthless. A. Joshua, son of Nun. A. Noah. He was floating his stock while everyone else was in liquidation.

Welcome to the Knoscars

We are in our fabulous fourth year of the Knox Players. This year has been marked by some fantastic performance by our talented actors and actresses as well as some great writing and directing efforts by Becky Lashmar. We felt that all of this talent needed to be recognized and celebrated and so we have created the Presbyterian Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science. This Academy will give out special awards that are nicknamed the Knoscars. (They got this nickname because they resemble a famous statue of John Knox that is found in Scotland.) The Knoscars will be given out this year at a gala celebration on Sunday, June 13, 2010 at 11 am in Knox Hall. A special Knoscar edition of the Knox Players Season 4 commemorative DVD is also now available. This contains all the episodes of the 2009-10 season including the very special three part Christmas episode, Goodnight Clara, written and directed by Becky. A few extras like bloopers and out takes will also be included. You can order your DVD by emailing scottmcandless@sympatico.ca, calling the office or signing up on the sheet at the church. There is no cost for the DVD, but donations to cover the cost of production are certainly welcome.

Summer Guest Preachers

The minister will be away for a few weeks of vacation this summer. We are very pleased to have some really excellent guest preachers lined up.

Andy Brndjar will be with us on July 18 and 25. He is a retired Pentecostal minister but over the years since he has retired he has helped many churches of different denominations through interims and seasons of change. Andy helped out quite often during a rather long interim prior to the arrival of our present minister and has always kept a soft spot for the people of Knox. He is always eager to return and reconnect with old friends in this congregation.

Marlene Morris will be with us on August 15. She is an administrator at Ridgetown College, the agricultural college of the University of Guelph. She is also a mother of young children. Despite being a very busy young woman, Marlene has developed her skills as a lay preacher who is well respected. We have tried for several years to get her out to speak to us at Knox, but the timing has never worked out. We are very pleased to have her this year.

Ted Nelson will join us on August 22. He is a retired Presbyterian preacher from Amherstburg. Ted has been with us several times since his retirement. His wit and wisdom has always been very well received and appreciated and we are very glad that his schedule permitted him to come again.

Book Report

The session has just finished reading and discussing a book together. The book is called “Who Stole my Church” and it was written by Gordon MacDonald. It tells the story of a fictional group of people in a fictional church in New England and the pastor that helps them to deal with changes they are struggling with in the life of their church. The book has been a very helpful way to get the session to talk about the kinds of changes that might be facing the church in the future. The format of the book – a story of a fictional community whose members have problems with which you can identify – raised issues in a non-threatening way and it offered many openings to positive discussion. The elders all seemed to grow through the experience. We would certainly encourage others in the congregation to read this book. All of our elders have copies that they have finished reading and perhaps one of them would be willing to pass his/her copy on to you!

 

Another Parable of a Vineyard

At the Emmaus Project, one of the companions, Bill Easum, told a parable from his book, Dancing with Dinosaurs. He thought it illustrated the dilemma faced by the church today. What do you think?

There once was a woman who owned the finest winery in all the land. Everything about the winery was superb. The fertile land yielded some of the finest grapes to be found. The large wooden vats that nurtured the crushed grapes until maturity produced the world’s most exquisite wine. For more than two centuries people came from all over the world to visit the winery and drink the famous wine.

One day the wine developed a bitter taste. No one could explain why. Nothing had changed. The wine was still made exactly as it had been made the last two centuries. Winery visitors and customers began to decline. In desperation, the woman hired consultants from all over the world to discover the reason for the wine’s sudden bitter taste. After days of study, each expert arrived at the same diagnosis – the vats had outlived their usefulness. They were old and sour with no way of being cleaned and restored. The consultants concluded that the woman’s only option was to replace the old vats.

She was outraged. The beautiful vats had been in her family longer than she had. To the woman, family traditions were more important than the decline of her winery. She made desperate attempts to improve her wine. She tried different fertilizers, changed the acidity of the ground, designed new labels on the bottles, and even hired a new overseer of the grapes. But she continued to put the wine into the old wooden vats. And the finest grapes in the world continued to produce bitter wine. The number of the winery’s visitors and customers continued to diminish until the day arrived when no one came to taste or buy the wine. The only remaining customers were the faithful members of the family for whom family traditions were more important than making satisfying wine.

Jesus said, “Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” (Mt 9:17)

 

Events to Put on Your Calendar

Summer is a wonderful time at Knox because we have the opportunity to experience many musical guests as well as some guest preachers.
We haven’t worked out the full summer schedule yet, but here are some things that you can look forward to over the coming months:

Acts 2:38

An elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening religious service when she was startled by an intruder.
As she caught the man in the act of robbing her home of its valuables, she yelled, “Stop – Acts 2:38!” (Which reads: “Turn from your sin”).
The burglar stopped dead in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done.
As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the burglar, “Why did you just stand there? All she did was yell a scripture to you.”
“Scripture?” replied the burglar, “She said she had an axe and two 38’s!”

A Summer Word Find Puzzle on line version

AIRCONDITIONED BRNDJAR CHURCH COMMUNION FELLOWSHIP FRIENDLY KNOSCARS KNOX KNOXKNOTES LEAMINGTON MARLENE MORRIS MUSICIANS NELSON PICNIC PLAYERS PRAISING PRAYING PREACHERS PRESBYTERIAN REFLECTION SANDWICHES SERMONS SHARING SINGING VACATION VISITORS WELCOME WORSHIP YOUTUBE