Amish Church

We had a cross-cultural experience this morning. The Amish preacher who works with Leroy was having church at his house and invited us to attend. Who could turn down an invitation like that? I tried to dress so I wouldn't stand out like a sore thumb. I wore a dark green solid color dress and black sweater and kept my watch hidden under my sweater sleeve.
The older women wore solid black. The younger ladies wore other colors of dresses with black aprons and capes. The girls wore colors with thin white full aprons. The little girls wore white coverings. When they are 13 they wear black coverings until they are married and then go back to wearing white.
The men and boys all wore black hats and white shirts. The little boys wore suit coats with a stand up collar like a plain suit. The older boys and men wore suits with a V-neck but no collar.

They had moved all the furniture out of the house and filled it with backless benches. The rooms had large arches that looked like they had panels which were removed so the four rooms became one big room. 

When we got there the preacher took Leroy inside where the men and little boys were sitting. A young girl led me through the basement where the girls were standing and up the stairs to the kitchen where the women were sitting. The hostess thoughtfully provided a folding chair with arms for me. I appreciated that because I didn't think my back could take sitting on a backless bench.

At nine o'clock the boys came in from the barn, filing in according to age from the oldest to the youngest. Each one shook hands with all of the ordained men before sitting down. The girls came up from the basement and sat in back of the boys. Then the men took off their black hats and the service started.

They sang three verses of a song in German from the Ausbund. In print since 1564, the Amish have always used this hymnbook. On the second verse of this song the ministers left the room. I've heard that this is to decide who will have the sermons.

The second song in every Amish service is the Loeb Lied. They sang all four verses of that song. They sing very slowly with four to seven notes to each syllable. (I counted!) It took half an hour to sing those seven verses of song. The ministers came back in the room half way through the second song.

An older minister had the opening message and spoke for 45 minutes. There was no speaker's stand and the preaching was entirely extemporaneous (he had no notes). That was followed by a kneeling prayer. When the prayer ended we stood up and turned our backs to the minister while he read from the Bible. Then we sat down and the younger minister preached another 45 minutes. The singing was German but the preaching was PA Dutch/German. I understood enough to follow when he talked about Samuel, the crucifixion, and John 15. 

When the second minister sat down, each of the ordained men gave a testimony affirming what the minister had said. Then we had a second kneeling prayer followed by another three verses of song and a closing prayer.
I was sitting facing a row of little boys who looked about 4 to 6 years old. I was impressed with their behavior. They sat on that backless bench for three hours and did not whisper to each other, had nothing for entertainment, and did not get off the bench or pester each other. 

During the last song the host and some of the women went to the basement to prepare the food for lunch. They came back up for the closing prayer and then immediately began to set tables for lunch. The table was set with dessert plates or saucers, a water glass, and a knife. That's it. Plates and bowls of homemade bread, peanut butter spread, cup cheese, pickles, red beets, pretzels and pie were set the length of the table. Nothing was passed but everyone reached in and helped themselves. I didn't know how to eat pickles and red beets with just a knife and didn't try. But I couldn't pass up the snitz pie so I watched how they ate it with a knife and managed to get mine eaten without a disaster.

The meal began and ended with a silent prayer. Then the tables were cleared, dishes quickly washed, and reset for another group of people. We left while the second group was still eating.

I felt privileged to be invited to observe their worship service and will treasure the experience. I sat there thinking this is probably how my Mennonite ancestors worshiped 400 years ago (before Mennonites and Amish were separate groups). It was a living history event to me but ordinary real life for them.