[amc] a note from the pastor
- From: "garland robertson" <pastor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Austin Mennonite Church" <amc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 09:23:12 -0500
Members and Friends of Austin Mennonite Church
I trust you are content in your spirit.
Next Sunday is 'Christian Citizenship Sunday.' 'Citizenship' defines where
we look for our community identity; which gathering of persons and pattern
of living we choose to engage. For Christians this procedure has always
generated feelings of uneasiness and suspicion in persons motivated to
preserve a national presence or a political structure. The tension develops
because nations and political agendas inherently enclose some while leaving
others outside. This organization produces a way of living which eventually
must serve the interests of the chosen while extending less regard for those
who are not 'citizens.' The ancient pattern of living which classifies and
divides groups of persons because of distinguishable traits and suppressive
capacities continues to haunt and harm the human family. In living by the
way of Jesus, at every encountered boundary Christians recognize a longing
to affirm all of creation as God's sacred construction. Consequently
Christians feel discomfort and anxiety whenever practices prompted by
national pride and political self-interest result in suffering and
disruption for anyone. We refer to this concept of citizenship as
'belonging to the realm of God,' and we intentionally place our allegiance
in this perception. We hope for national presences and political structures
which will honor God's concept of community while we live by faith and with
confidence. These thoughts will compose the sermon for this next Sunday,
'Managing hope along the journey of faith.'
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
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