"Dear brother Larry," began the e-mail letter I received several weeks after returning home from Guatemala. "Last night I had a long dream about you, Eleanor and one of your daughters. I don't remember a lot of the details other than I was visiting you and you no longer had your beard and mustache."
     That was a rather disconcerting opening line to an unexpected message, not only because I was surprised to hear that Keith was dreaming about me after he, too, had returned home from the Guatemala meetings, but because my mind flashed back to the only time in the past 25 years when I tried to face the world "just as I am," without beard or mustache. We were at the beginning of a family vacation, the five of us squeezed into one small cabin on a ferry crossing the Adriatic Sea from Italy to Greece. I felt the need for change, for something fresh. So, the first thing in the morning, while the kids were still sleeping, I shaved my face completely clean--no more beard, no more mustache.
     Eleanor was too kind to comment. But what a rude awakening for the kids as I gently called them, one by one, without the usual disguise. None of them had ever seen me before face-to-unaltered face. Anne-Marie and Elisabeth stared in silent astonishment. No such luck with eight-year-old Alexandre, whose immediate reaction succinctly articulated the family's clear consensus: "Grow them back, Dad!"
     Of course the e-mail message wasn't really about my personal appearance. "In my quiet time this morning," Keith continued, "I spent an extended time of prayer for you, asking the Lord for any insight into the dream. I was intrigued by the fact that you didn't have a beard or mustache. I don't think that is a prophetic word for you. But I did sense the Lord is preparing to do a new work in you, something fresh. I was led to the Gospel of John, chapter 15, to pray for you with a special focus on verse 16. 'You did not choose me, but I chose you, to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. Then my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.'"
     Did Keith get the interpretation right? Frankly, I hope so. But I really don't know, and I have no plans to shave off my beard or mustache again. Yet, as I have thought about Keith's dream for one person, it has become for me a dream for many people--for all who were in Guatemala, all who live in MWC member churches, all who belong to the Anabaptist-Mennonite family of faith, all who belong to the Christian church universal.
     As this issue of Courier reflects, the Guatemala meetings articulated the need for and the possibility of change--change towards greater sharing of life, convictions, and mission globally. The call from Guatemala to the global Anabaptist-Mennonite faith family is to live together more closely, believe together more fully, and go out together more cooperatively.
     Were the Guatemala meetings, particularly the Global Anabaptist Missions Consultation, "historic"? Some think so. Others doubt it. I think this is a question for the historians. Perhaps the question for the rest of us can be formulated in terms of John 15:16: Will those meetings bear fruit, fruit that will last? Will we together bear fruit that will last? I believe this utopia is entirely practicable--if we put the next verse John 15:17) into practice as we travel the global path together. "This is my command," said Jesus to those who would bear fruit that lasts as they follow him on whatever path, "love one another."