Members and Friends of Austin Mennonite church I pray you are sensing the depth of love that God has graced us with in the witness of Jesus. This next Sunday we will celebrate again the risen Christ--the consequence of Jesus tasking up the cross and passing through it into glory. When I reflect on this monumentally significant event, I wonder anew about the awesome influence this incident had on the first disciples. They were completely transformed by the risen Christ. Something generated unimaginable commitment and endurance in them so that they lived out fearlessly the meaning of Jesus for both their community and the broader world of humanity. I also wonder about other complementary occurrences which helped declare the inclusive character of the teachings of Jesus which reach across all boundaries of physical and cultural distinction. Specific revelations brought together into God's family personalities which otherwise most likely would never have found a way to coexist. Both of these factors were superhuman happenings-events that mortal humans could not devise and results that mortal humans could not achieve. We search for these kinds of benefits today. Can they occur in our circumstances to bring together persons bitterly opposed and hostile to each other? These thoughts will compose the sermon for this next Sunday, "Compelled by the risen Christ, .and visions.' We will share in Communion on Easter Sunday as a sign of the abiding presence of Jesus the Christ with us. May it go well with you. Sincerely, Garland Robertson ...always hold firmly to the thought that each one of us can do something to bring some portion of misery to an end