MWR : Mennonite Church USA convention seeks blessing from the breath of God

Last updated July 13.

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July 13, 2009 issue

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Mennonite Church USA convention seeks blessing from the breath of God

By Paul Schrag Mennonite Weekly Review

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Faith, we’re told, is being certain of things not seen.

PREACHER’S PRAYER — Worship leader Regina Shands Stoltzfus, center, of Elkhart, Ind., prays for speaker Juanita Núñez, right, of Apopka, Fla., and Nuñez’s daughter Alexandra, who translated her sermon from Spanish. — Photo by Paul Schrag/MWR

At times, though, God’s power breaks clearly into view. In Columbus on June 30-July 5, Mennonites claimed a Holy Spirit sighting.

“We have witnessed the Spirit among us,” said Joel Miller, pastor of Cincinnati Mennonite Fellowship and a worship leader for Mennonite Church USA’s biennial convention.

“We have been blessed with the breath of God.”

More than 7,500 people — including 4,200 high school youth and their sponsors — had the opportunity to feel the wind of the Spirit fill their church like the sails of a ship.

“Come from the four winds, O Spirit; come, breath of God; renew and strengthen your people,” they sang.

The convention theme, “Breathe and Be Filled,” drew from John 20:21-22, in which Jesus breathes on his disciples as they receive the Holy Spirit.

Sightings of the Spirit extended to the eight business sessions of 850 delegates.

Gathering around tables in groups of about eight, delegates spent time each day “dwelling in the Word.” They sought new insights from the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10.

Among them: What is the crowd today that blocks our view of Jesus? Are we willing to take risks to see Jesus — even the risk of looking foolish, as Zacchaeus did when he climbed a sycamore tree?

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