Page 28 - Presbyterian Connection Fall 2025

28 FALL 2025
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Bracebridge Mayor Rick Maloney pre-
sented the Rev. Dr. Heather Malnick
with a certificate honouring the con-
gregation’s 150th anniversary.
The cast of “A Trip Back in Time,” fea-
turing highlights from the congrega-
tion’s past with a message of hope for
the future.
The congregation at Knox Presbyterian Church in Bracebridge.
150 Years in Bracebridge
By the Rev. Dr. Heather Malnick,
Knox Presbyterian Church in
Bracebridge, Ont.
Knox Presbyterian Church in
Bracebridge, Ont., is “birthday
triplets” with The Presbyterian
Church in Canada and the town
of Bracebridge! All three celebrate
their 150th anniversary in 2025. A
weekend of celebration was held
at Knox from May 30 to June 1 to
honour this special occasion.
On the Friday, the congregation
and community gathered for a ca-
tered dinner, followed by a drama
presentation called “A Trip Back
in Time,” written by the Rev. Ken
Heron. On Saturday, the congre-
gation hosted a community BBQ
at a local park, with former min-
ister the Rev. Michael Barnes and
Sunday school member Henry
Moore recreating the canoe route
taken by early settlers to attend
church.
Sunday featured a celebratory
worship service during which the
children of the Sunday school
presented the congregation with
a beautiful cross created with in-
dividual glass panels that had been
decorated by each student. The
panels were crafted together in
the shape of a cross by longtime
Sunday school teacher and former
minister the Rev. Michael Barnes,
using barn boards from his farm.
The children of the Sunday school present the congregation with a cross fea-
turing glass panels decorated by each student.
One of the eldest members of the
congregation, Catherine Elliott, joins
one of the youngest, Felix Goodchild,
along with the Rev. Dr. Heather
Malnick, to cut the celebratory cake.
A recreation of the canoe route along the Muskoka River used by early settlers
to attend worship.
Cross
Comforts
By David Robinson, St. James
Presbyterian Church in
Charlottetown, P.E.I.
During the COVID-19 pandemic,
the congregation at St. James
Presbyterian Church in Char-
lottetown, P.E.I., erected a large
wooden cross on its front lawn,
accompanied by a receptacle for
collecting prayer requests from
our community. Our hope was
that we could connect with those
who were experiencing hardship
or difficulties and assure them
that they were not alone. We re-
ceived many prayer requests and
honoured them during our Prayers
of Intercession at worship.
Two winters ago, our minister,
the Rev. Amanda Henderson-
Bolton, suggested an additional
outreach to the community using
the prayer cross. The city had ex-
perienced a brutal cold snap, and
our church communicated with
civic officials our concern that un-
housed people in the city were not
all given the support they needed
to keep them safe from the ex-
treme weather. Our new mission,
which we have dubbed “Cross
Comforts,” was born out of that
concern. We collected gently
used, clean toques, scarves, mit-
tens and gloves from congrega-
The “cross comforts” in front of St.
James Presbyterian Church in Char-
lottetown.
tion members and pinned them to
the cross, along with a sign that
simply said: “Please take what
you need.”
Judging from the rate at which
these small items of cold weather
clothing disappeared from the
cross, we were meeting a real
need for the unhoused or those
who were not sufficiently well
off to dress safely for the cold
weather.
Last summer, we modified this
mission to also address the sum-
mertime safety of the unhoused
and struggling in the city. We
pinned ball caps, cotton ban-
danas, sunscreen and lip balm to
the cross. Once again, there was
a strong uptake to this outreach
from members of our community.
We have continued with this
mission to the present, and the
demand for our “Cross Comforts”
has grown over time. This sum-
mer, we put out nearly double the
number of summer items as last
year, and still there was demand.
Luckily, we received a very wel-
come grant from the Synod of the
Atlantic Provinces mission fund
this spring. When a heat wave hit
the city in mid-July, just as our
supply of items for the cross was
exhausted, we used half of the
mission grant to quickly purchase
additional items. Each morning,
we filled the cross with about six
ball caps, six bandanas, six tubes
of sunscreen and six tubes of lip
balm. Each subsequent morn-
ing of the heat wave, the cross
stood empty, and we replenished
it again. In this way, we were able
to address the health and safety
needs within our community at
a time when weather might have
put them at risk.
We look forward to repeating
this outreach during the upcom-
ing winter season and have taken
advantage of off-season sales
to purchase a large quantity of
toques, scarves, mittens and
gloves to place on the cross once
the cold weather returns. In this
way, we hope to continue to love
our neighbours as ourselves.