Sunday,
July 6, 2003
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Prayer highlights ‘Satisfaction’
By LINDA HOLLINGER-JANZEN
Mennonite Mission Network Sunday, July 6, 2003
“Only from our knees can we find our Savior’s power,” Vincent said. As he sat down time and again to prepare a sermon on the “Table of Satisfaction” theme, Vincent said, God kept calling him to pray for the Mennonite Church. Vincent began a 20-minute prayer by thanking God for the vision of the “upside-down kingdom” and for the current period of jubilee given to MC USA to recover its purpose and witness. He then beseeched God to guide the delegate discussion. “We are a disunited people who seek to be united,” Vincent said. “We are plagued by schism. Churches with histories of two centuries are seeking to leave us. New bodies, that are not Mennonite, are seeking to join us.” Referring to the passage that precedes the morning’s text in II Kings 7:3-16 – an account of a famine so severe that Samaria’s inhabitants turned to cannibalism – Vincent prayed, “Some of us are reluctant to leave valley, prairie or ‘hood. What would you say to us from this hideous and desperate story?” Vincent implored God to have mercy on MC USA for any destructive behavior, such as disempowering women, competition among organizations, congregations that call pastors only to devour them through criticism or promising to give first fruits and then debating percentages. He prayed for the seekers who walk away from MC USA saying, “There is no place here for me…” After naming some of the church’s sins, Vincent asked God to impart a spirit of repentance, to create a culture of permission and to give grace. He asked worshipers to place their hands on those around them so all might receive grace. Mennonites from all corners of the country responded to the morning worship by “dancing” their gifts to offering baskets and clapping a syncopated benediction, beginning to learn that, perhaps, satisfaction comes when surprises add spice to daily fare.  |
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