Bent Over the World

Summary

Today I begin a series of sermons on the Holy Spirit. For many of us in this congregation, the Holy Spirit is probably the person of the Trinity we think about, talk about, and pray to the least often. For four years I was a member of a Mennonite church in another state where the co-pastors almost never talked about the Holy Spirit, except on Pentecost Sunday. The rest of the time they talked about Jesus Christ or God the Father.
I have the impression that many Mennonites focus on the first person of the Trinity, traditionally called the Father, and on the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ. The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit? Not so much. We just don’t give the Spirit much air time. This hasn’t always been the case, however. The first generation of Anabaptists gave a great deal of attention to the Holy Spirit. For a variety of reasons, the second generation of Anabaptists dropped that emphasis on the Spirit and instead gave it to Jesus Christ. Ever since then quite a few Mennonites have been much more enamored with Christ than with the Spirit.