Thompson, Carol Jane (nee Steckly)
It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved Carol at the age of 67. She died peacefully with family at her side at Brampton Civic Hospital on November 4th, 2019. She leaves behind her best friend and husband of 45 years, Glen, her loving children, Benjamin (Jennifer) and Amy (Robert), devoted sisters Barbara and Shirley, precious granddaughters Lillian and Brooklyn, as well as nieces, nephews, extended family and friends, and her arch-nemesis, Princess.

Visitation will be held at the Dods & McNair Funeral Home, Chapel & Reception Centre, 21 First St., Orangeville on Monday, November 11, 2019 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Funeral Service will be held in the Chapel on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. Memorial donations to Primrose United Church or Preston Mennonite Church would be appreciated by the family.

Sunday November 10, 2019

This Sunday is our Remembrance Day Service, a service where we honour those in our families, communities and country who fought in various wars past.
As we reflect on their sacrifice, so too, we recommit to a new way of solving conflicts in the future without the taking of lives. As 'people of the way' we consider the way of peaceful resolution through non violent means and pray and imagine a world where all people are held sacred, and in seeing the divine in the face of the other, we desire only goodness and fullness of life for all people. 
If you are wanting to know how non-violence works in a very real and tangible way, you might want to have a look at the on line magazine Waging Non-Violence  - people powered news and analytics. to https://wagingnonviolence.org/ Non-violent forms of initiating change are powerful tools for shifting the balance of power to a more equitable place. In particular, Waging Non-Violence is currently releasing a series of podcasts entitled City of Refuge. "It is the little-known story of a French community that openly rejected the Nazis and saved 5,000 refugees is a model of resistance for our times. We’ll experience their heroic efforts through the words of leading figures, still living community members and some of the people they saved. We’ll also examine the important lessons this story offers us today — amidst rising authoritarianism and another global refugee crisis."  André Trocmé, a Protestant Minister and his wife Magda were the remarkable couple who led an entire town to follow in the way of love. We can learn much from them, about our own faith and how it is to be lived out in the times in which we live. 
Ken Sehested writes as an American in 2019 so his references are of his political/geographical context, but his poignant thoughts provoke never the less. And Remembrance Day is a day to be provoked, to be prodded, to be discomforted. For those who wish to bring peace into this world, it is a time to reconsider many things. . .
"Veterans Day doesn’t lend itself to commercial attention like its twin, Memorial Day, probably because it’s squeezed between two other cash-registering holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving, and it does not coincide with a car-cultural observance like the Indy 500 auto race.
But it is a federal holiday, what was originally called Armistice (or Remembrance) Day, marking the cessation of World War I hostilities on the 11th month of the 11th day at the 11th hour in 1918.....Have a read.....
And for your listening pleasure SJAELLA Vokalensemble, a German vocal group performs
​'Northern Lights' by Ola Gjeilo in Philippus Church in Leipzig

Sunday November 3, 2019

Jesus did not start a new religion, or initiate the complex building of an institution. We, who live within the current configuration that is the modern church, find it difficult to imagine a time when the Christian church did not exist, nor a time when Jesus was not ensconced within the doctrine and dogmas which support and define that institution, and over which much blood has been spilled and countless debates have taken place. But in our quest to see Jesus as a person embedded in a particular culture and time and place, this is our current focus. This Sunday we will explore the difference between a movement and an institution, and why Jesus inspired the first, and rejected the second.

And on this, the first day of snow this winter season, the beautiful poetry of David Whyte for consideration
​
Everything is Waiting for You
David Whyte

Your great mistake is to act the drama
 as if you were alone. As if life
 were a progressive and cunning crime
 with no witness to the tiny hidden
 transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
 the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
 even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
 the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
 out your solo voice. You must note
 the way the soap dish enables you,
 or the window latch grants you freedom.
 Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
 The stairs are your mentor of things
 to come, the doors have always been there
 to frighten you and invite you,
 and the tiny speaker in the phone
 is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the
 conversation. The kettle is singing
 even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
 have left their arrogant aloofness and
 seen the good in you at last. All the birds
 and creatures of the world are unutterably
 themselves. Everything is waiting for you.