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