Early in my teaching sabbatical in England in the mid-1980s, I walked with Alan Kreider (“Kreider Lit Anabaptist Fire in U.K.,” May 22) along a shady lane near the London Mennonite Centre. He and Eleanor had just led the Sunday service there, and now we were getting acquainted on a quiet stroll beneath ancient trees. I was impressed with Alan’s gentle but probing interest in my life and career, my hopes for the year to come in a country where so much was similar but quite a lot also different from America. I felt cared for, appreciated, even understood. I marveled that this man, just a couple of years older than I, seemed vastly wiser and more mature. Certainly more accomplished. Some months later he handed me a copy of his Journey Towards Holiness, including his handwritten: “with gratitude for your friendship, Bob.” How characteristic of this Christ-centered man to give thanks to someone who had received from him far more than given to him.

Robert Koch
Woodland Park, Colo.