God's love is expressed in our ministry to anyone who needs love and support.
At Knox we strive to be a caring community for our members, friends, and neighbours. Please call the church office when you are aware of a family member or friend that has been admitted or will be admitted to hospital. Rev Shirley Gale visits Guelph General Hospital twice a week even when we have nobody known to be admitted, just to be certain we haven’t missed anyone.
Any pastoral concerns or crisis please contact Rev Johan Olivier at the church office 519-821-0141 or by email at: Johan@knoxguelph.ca.
PASTOR’S AID VISITORS
A MINISTRY OF KNOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
For over 106 years The PASTOR’S AID VISITORS ministry has been serving the members of this church family by providing friendly, caring visits to those who are unable to attend church services and fellowship events.
Most of those visited are seniors and these visits not only remind them that they are important and valued sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, but helps to keep these members meaningfully included as part of the Knox family. These visits provide opportunities to hear from these members and to share with them the news regarding the life and ministries of Knox Church.
The Pastors’ Aid Visitors remember these members by sending greeting cards at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and birthdays. In addition, monthly letters are sent to members who live in nursing homes or seniors’ residences in other communities. Each Christmas the Pastors’ Aid Visitors deliver Poinsettias to our members who are unable to leave their homes.
It is the experience of the Pastors’ Aid Visitors that this a ministry they find both enriching and most enjoyable, as one of the Pastors’ Aid Visitors, said, “these visits are some of the most meaningful experiences I have as a member of the church family and as a way to express my faith.”
YOU ARE INVITED!
For more information regarding this ministry, you are welcome to contact Dr. Shirley Gale at:
519-821-0141 (Knox Church) or by email at: shirley@knoxguelph.ca.
Facing Tough Times??
Need an ‘after’ caregiver??
Stephen Ministers are there...
- After the doctors have said there is nothing more they can do
- After the relationship ends but the wound is still raw
- After you’ve received a pink slip with your final pay cheque
- After you have been an accident victim
- After family and friends have heard your story one too many times but you still need to talk
- After it seems everyone has gone and you are all alone
- After a spiritual crisis and you feel hopeless
- After any loss that is important to you
Now is the time to email/telephone Arnold Bethune:
Email: a.bethune@knoxguelph.ca
Church Office: 519-821-0141
Stephen Ministers Training:
Stephen Ministers have 50 hours of training in active listening, responding to feelings, maintaining confidentiality, dealing with crises and many other topics important to care giving. They meet for supervision and take advantage of continuing education when available. Stephen Ministers have police checks. This service is free to members of the community of Guelph as well as members of the congregation.
If you feel you would like to serve as a Stephen Minister, please contact as indicated above.
For more information on this Internationally recognized care giving service, go to
Letters by Rev. John McGurrin
April 8, 2018
John 20:19-31
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they have forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So, the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
Dear Friends, He LIVES !!!!
This was the glorious announcement Jesus was making to disciples in those marvelous days and weeks after his three days in the tomb. The marks of his crucifixion were still visible and very real, but he was indeed alive. And if the disciples and we ourselves put our faith in this marvelous reality we shall enter life eternal with him.
“But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”:
Father God we praise and bless your name for this wonderful action to include us in your kingdom by removing all sin from us in Christ. AMEN.
April 1, 2018
Romans 6:3-11
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,
Wishing you a joy-filled and blessed Easter this year.
Even as we die in his death so we shall live eternally with him and with the Father. This is our inheritance forever as He has removed our sin forever. There can be no greater gift than this. For all time and beyond time death, punishment and all suffering is ended, removed by grace through faith forever. In this we find our hope, our trust, our peace. What a marvelous, miraculous weekend.
Father in heaven we celebrate this eternal gift of life unending. Help us so to live in gratitude always that others will see our inner and outer joy and that we may share the reason for the peace that is in us and that they may feel welcomed to this grace and glory and so join in faith in Christ glory be to his name always. AMEN.
March 16, 2018
Hebrews 5:5-10
5In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father." 6And he says in another place, "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." 7During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,
Here we learn that in every way Jesus did take on for himself his role and work as God’s one and only Son, sent to die as our Saviour. God our heavenly Father called Jesus to be a special priest whose very life given on Calvary’s cross thus became the one and only sacrifice that made possible life eternal if we place our faith and trust in him.
What can we learn about Melchizedek? How is he like Jesus?
The first thing to note is that Melchizedek was both a king and a priest in the same person (7:1), which was not allowed in Israel. You may be a king or you may be a priest, but you could not be both at once. John Calvin (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], Hebrews, p. 155) points out that it is remarkable that Melchizedek lived with Sodom on one side and the Canaanites on the other, and yet he was a righteous king and priest. He shows that God can raise up a godly witness for Himself when and where He pleases.
Like Melchizedek, Jesus is both king and priest in one. Jesus is called “Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). He not only imputes and imparts righteousness to others; He is righteous in His very being. He never sinned, nor could any guilt be found in Him. He is the Lamb of God, unblemished and spotless (1 Pet. 1:19). He is “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners” (Heb. 7:26).
Jesus is also the king of peace (Eph. 2:14-18). He brings peace between sinners and God, and peace among all that live under His lordship.
Father God, teach us how to love both you and your special Son Jesus so we may find both peace and joy in your salvation. AMEN
March 11, 2018
Ephesians 2:1-10
You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-- by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Therefore, we ought to be filled with gratitude and constant thanksgiving. God in his total purity has opened a way into eternity that we could not have possibly opened for ourselves. Any good works that we now do are only possible because has created them and set them in our path that we may do them in response to this perfect goodness to us. All glory thus belongs to God alone who has made all goodness possible.
“For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”
Father in heaven we rejoice and give thanks to you alone. Receive our praise we pray and guide out witness that others who see our lives and hear our words may come to know your truth and to put their trust in Christ Jesus our one and only savior. AMEN.
Twiddlemuffs Ministry
The Twiddlemuffs Ministry began in April, 2017. "Twiddlemuffs" -- therapeutic hand muffs are knitted for those with dementia to provide them with warmth and tactile stimulation for their often restless hands. Caregivers report that Twiddlemuffs help reduce agitation and the amount of medication needed.
Since April, 2017, Knox Church has distributed over 200 Twiddlemuffs to seniors homes and hospitals in Guelph.
In late 2017 a number of Twiddlemuffs were delivered to the staff at Guelph General Hospital as part of the hospital's "Seniors Friendly" initiative.
Pneumonia Prevention Vests
Pneumonia prevention vests and also hats are knit to reduce pneumonia deaths of children in India. These are sent in cooperation with those knit at St. Andrew's Women's Missionary Society.
Patterns for Muffs, Vests, Hats
Patterns are available from the Church Office (519-821-0141) (office@knoxguelph.ca) or from Dr. Shirley Gale (shirley@knoxguelph.ca) either by email or printed copy.