Anniversary Sunday

This Sunday marks anniversary Sunday for Knox Church, with a special speaker preaching that day to mark the occasion.

Knox is celebrating its 167th anniversary this year, and as part of Sunday’s worship, the congregation will be singing Hymn of Celebration penned by Patty Kirby to mark the 150th anniversary in 1995, and sung each year to commemorate this special occasion.

There wasn’t even a community known as Burlington back in 1845 when parishioners got together for that first church service; in fact, the community would be known as Wellington Square until 1873 when it merged with Port Nelson to become the village of Burlington.

Those early services were held in what is now known as the Bell Tower Room, and while it was only used as a sanctuary for about 30 years, that building is now seen as one of the oldest structures in Burlington.

Rev. Dr. Nancy Calvert-Koyzis of Hamilton, who will be our guest anniversary preacher for the occasion, has the distinction of being an honorary associate minister at Central Presbyterian Church in Hamilton.

 Dr. Calvert-Koyzis has taught for 20 years at colleges, universities and theological schools. She is an ordained Presbyterian Church in Canada minister and academic who has published three books, including Strangely Familiar: Protofeminist Interpretations of Patriarchal Biblical Texts (2009). She lives in Hamilton with her husband and daughter.
There will be a lunch served after the worship service providing for a time of fellowship and the opportunity to meet with our special guest.

Summer hours
 While it would be nice if the sanctuary was air conditioned, such is not the case, and with the hot weather starting much earlier this year, session recently approved a change, which many other churches are doing for the summer months.

Starting July 1 the church service will start 30 minutes earlier, that is at 10 a.m. with the hope that the air and the humidity in the sanctuary will be somewhat better. The change in time is for July and August only, so that for Sept. 2, the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, Knox will revert back to 10:30 a.m.

Picnic and worship
While numerous members of the Knox congregation will be going out to Crieff Hills for the Presbyterian Church picnic on Father’s Day, there still will be a worship service at Knox that day.

When the organizers were planning for the picnic, it was suggested that only St. Paul’s Church would be open to offer worship to those not attending the picnic, but the session of Knox made the decision to remain open and offer worship that day for the convenience of those not able to journey out to Crieff.
The Rev. Bob Docherty, our interim moderator, will be preaching that day, the only time he will be in the pulpit in June as Marilyn Repchuck, a familiar figure to the Knox congregation, will be preaching on June 10 and 24th.

Doors Open
Knox Church will be once again participating in the Doors Open program this year, offering the general public the opportunity to tour parts of the church and ask questions about the history and the architecture of the building.

The main sanctuary and the Bell Tower Room will be available to visit with church members situated in both areas to greet visitors and provide them with information sheets about Knox.

The Doors Open program will be held June 9th and 10th, running both days from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Additional volunteers are required for both the Saturday and the Sunday with no one available at the moment for the Bell Tower Room on either of those days.  The sign-up sheet will once again be available in Reception Room B following Sunday’s service.