Council Meeting
Prelude to Communion
The Amish do not observe Advent or Lent in their church calendar, but they do commemorate Good Friday, Easter, Easter Monday, and Pentecost as well as Whitmonday, Ascension Day, Christmas, and, in some groups, Old Christmas (also known as Three Kings Day or Epiphany). Communion, held twice a year, near Easter and again in October, is the highest moment in their church life.
It is hard to exaggerate the spiritual significance of communion in Amish life. Unlike most Protestant and Catholic observances, which focus on an individual’s personal relationship with God, the Amish observance has a communal dimension. For them, communion celebrates the unity of the Gmay as the people of God. Its lengthy prelude, stretching over five Sundays, stresses forgiveness and harmony within the church. The five-Sunday sequence begins with the New Birth Sunday, when the Scripture text is Jesus’s discussion of the new birth with Nicodemus (John 3), followed by an off-Sunday, Council Meeting Sunday, another off-Sunday, and finally Holy Communion.
Council Meeting Sunday, which is held two weeks before communion, is known as Ordnungs Gmay. This church service, attended only by baptized members, is a time when individuals recommit themselves to upholding the church’s guidelines. It is also a time to purge sins and to prepare the Gmay, the body of Christ, for communion. Members examine their lives, confess their faults, forgive others, and repair any breaches of love. Any serious friction, disagreement, or disobedience must be addressed in order to restore tranquility prior to the upcoming communion service. The quest for peace happens throughout the year, but Ordnungs Gmay sets a deadline that prevents discontent from festering on and on.
Requiring harmony before the communion service can proceed reveals a distinctive Amish belief: because communion is a celebration of unity, it would be sacrilegious for a fractured Gmay to engage in the ritual. In fact, if discord prevails, communion may be postponed for weeks or even months.17 This practice diverges from that of most Christian churches, which rarely if ever postpone communion, since their understanding of the rite focuses on an individual transaction between God and the celebrant rather than on the unity of the group.
The Quest for Harmony
Council meetings can be weighty times if dissension is brewing. Troubles may arise from disobedience to scriptural teaching—dishonesty or adultery—or from violations of the Ordnung, such as owning a computer or wearing fashionable clothing. Other woes may revolve around interpersonal disputes among members. Whatever the source, the issues must be resolved before communion.
The cornerstone text for the council meeting is Matthew 18, in which Jesus asserts that only those who humble themselves like children can enter the kingdom of God. The text includes Jesus’s admonition to forgive seventy times seven and concludes with a parable that warns that those unwilling to forgive will be punished. This chapter also prescribes a process for resolving interpersonal conflict: members should try to resolve their differences privately, but if that fails, the church must intervene. Those who stubbornly refuse the church’s counsel will face excommunication. In Amish eyes, this text authorizes the church to make decisions with grave and eternal consequences. For example, the church will pardon sin if it is confessed to God and the church. This robust view of the church adds a dose of gravity to the Ordnungs Gmay.
In their council meeting sermons, preachers typically rehearse biblical stories, beginning with creation and noting the enmity between the brothers Cain and Abel, God’s punishment of disobedience with a great flood, and Abraham’s obedience in offering up Isaac as a sacrifice. In the words of a bishop’s wife, the sermon is “filled with examples from the Bible. Abraham’s devoted loyalty to God, Jacob’s meek peacemaking spirit, Joseph’s love for his unkind brothers … to show what is expected of a true upbuilding church member.”18
A pivotal story is the defeat of Joshua’s army by the people of Ai. Ministers remind the congregation that just as the Israelites’ hidden plunder had to be confessed before Joshua’s army could be victorious, so too must all hidden sin be brought to public confession. This story and others are used to underscore the reality that “any rebellion or disobedience can turn into a deadly sin,” according to one member. Humility, confession, and unity are prominent themes throughout the service. One bishop, casting about for a metaphor that a tech-savvy outsider would understand, said, “The service is like a search engine, looking for sin and bringing forgiveness.”
One of the Ausbund hymns sung at the Ordnungs Gmay includes these words:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself
In joy and in sorrow.
You shall not exercise yourself in sin,
For it is now high time
To begin doing what is right,
To follow Christ Jesus
And look at his example.19
Affirming the Ordnung
Near the end of the council meeting, the bishop reviews the Ordnung by memory and highlights any recent concerns. One bishop reports that instead of going over all the rules on dress he simply says to the women, “You know better than I do what the church expects.” He also admonishes congregants about any worrisome practices that he fears may lead them astray.
The service ends as each ordained leader says, from his seat, “I am in unity with the Ordnung, and if communion can be held, I wish to participate in my weakness. If I could be accepted, it would bring me deep joy. If I have offended anyone with words or deeds, I wish to be admonished about it in love, and would also hope to receive it in the same way, and make things right, with the Lord’s help.” Then each lay member is asked to give his or her verbal assent. According to one member, “Two of the ministers go around, one with the men and one with the women, and give each person opportunity to respond, ‘Ich bin einig’ (I’m agreed).” Those who cannot affirm the Ordnung may need to explain their concern. Of course, the bishop and ministers hope to receive a unanimous affirmation.
Reflecting on a council meeting, one woman wrote, “Oh that God might grant us His strength and keep this body of Christian believers from falling away from His will.” To prevent a fall, she pleaded, “We need patience and love and compassion for each other. We must treat the one beside us with respect, and watch over his soul with care. … Above all, we must be a good example to others.”20 The biannual council meetings not only clarify the moral boundaries of Amish society, but they often ease conflict, promote compliance, and enhance harmony.
The preparation for communion concludes with a day of fasting (Fastdag).21 In some settlements, Fastdag falls on Good Friday in the spring and on October 11, Saint Michael’s Day, in the fall.22 Other communities observe Fastdag on the Sunday between council meeting and communion. Special prayers in Die Ernsthafte Christenpflicht help church members prepare for the fast, which one woman described as “going without food in order to spend time in prayer.” She added, “Fasting … gives us time to pray, teaches us self-discipline, reminds us we can live with a lot less, and helps us appreciate God’s gifts.”23 In reality, the fast usually covers only breakfast, or as one member said, “Not eating or drinking between midnight and noon the next day.”
Communion
The communion service is called Gross Gmay, literally “big church.” Despite its somber tone, it is a celebration of unity. The service begins on Sunday morning and continues into the afternoon—in some congregations until as late as 4:00 p.m.—without a formal break. After the singing but before the first sermon, members again pledge their commitment to unity and desire for communion. Following the bishop’s lead, each minister and then each member reaffirms his or her peace with God and the Gmay.
During the lunch hour, people quietly leave the assembly in shifts to eat in an adjoining room while the service continues. Some ministers time their sermons so that they are speaking of Christ’s crucifixion around 3:00 p.m., the supposed time of Christ’s death. The service peaks as the minister retells the suffering of Christ, and the members share the bre
ad and wine.
The bishop breaks apart a loaf of bread and moves through the assembly, row by row, giving a piece to each member, first on the men’s side and then on the women’s. Then, as the single cup of wine is passed, each member drinks from it. The homemade bread and wine symbolize Christ’s body and blood, broken and shed for the sins of the world. When speaking of the bread and wine, the bishop stresses that many grains are ground to become a loaf of bread and many grapes are squeezed to make wine. Members are reminded that “if one grain remains unbroken and whole, it can have no part in the whole … if one single berry remains whole; it has no share in the whole … and no fellowship with the rest.”24 These metaphors underscore the importance of surrendering one’s individual will for unity in the whole body.
The words of a communion hymn summarize the sentiment of the day:
Without a doubt this pleases God well,
Where men keep peace, love, and unity.
In that place the Lord kindly gives
Life and blessing forever.25
Three rituals close the Gross Gmay: footwashing, the holy kiss, and almsgiving. The practice of footwashing demonstrates the importance of servanthood and emulates Jesus’s washing of the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper: “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you” (John 13:14–15). The Dordrecht Confession commends footwashing as a sign of true humility and lowliness. As the congregation sings, members, segregated by sex and arranged in pairs, wash and dry each other’s feet, using towels and tubs of warm water that have been placed in the assembly area. One member explained, “You pour water from your cupped hands over each foot three times to signify the Trinity.” As a sign of humility, some members stoop rather than kneel to wash one another’s feet.26
Following the footwashing, the pair offers each other a “holy kiss” and a blessing. The older person says, “The Lord be with us,” and the younger replies, “Amen to peace” (referring to peace with God and the members of the Gmay). The “kiss of peace,” mentioned five times in the New Testament, is a fitting capstone for the five-week spiritual journey on which congregations embark twice a year.27 Having purged sin, reaffirmed the moral order, and renewed their commitment to God and one another, members are rejuvenated for another six months of life together.
Finally, as they leave the meeting area at the conclusion of the Gross Gmay, members place an offering in an alms box or give it to the deacon, who deposits it in an alms account. This is the only time that an offering is collected as part of a church service.28 As noted earlier, funds for various community needs are collected throughout the year by visits to individual households or in response to public announcements.
Ordination
A Quick Calling
Ordinations, which involve the selection, or “making,” of deacons and ministers, usually occur in the late afternoon at the close of a communion service. Ordination is a corporate moment of submission in Amish life, as members of the Gmay yield to God’s divine choice. The ninety-minute ritual overflows with suspense because the Amish believe that the holy hand of heaven reaches into the home or barn where the congregation is gathered to select a new shepherd for the flock. No other ritual approaches the emotion-packed experience of ordination, for the new leader will influence the decisions and direction of the group for years, if not decades. The new shepherd will shoulder heavy responsibilities on top of his everyday work. Along with his spouse and children, he will be expected to comply more fully with the Ordnung and to live an exemplary life.
The rite of ordination poignantly demonstrates the Amish view of lay leadership. In many Christian churches, an individual may sense a personal calling for ministry and pursue education to prepare for it. Among the Amish, however, a person never seeks ordination; in fact, doing so would be viewed as vain and would disqualify the person by default. “The calling comes through the church, not the individual,” says one writer.29
Any member may nominate a candidate, but the Amish believe that God makes the final selection through a procedure of drawing lots (sometimes called casting lots), the same method used in the earliest days of the Christian church (Acts 1:24–26). The voice of the church and God’s selection is “far greater authority than something as fickle and unreliable as the feelings of any individual, much less the individual involved,” Amish leaders say. Individual initiative has no place in this process. The individual’s “part is to submit, to accept, and to humbly bow to the will of God as revealed through the church.”30
Ordination is remarkably similar across affiliations.31 Preparation begins when a leadership vacancy arises because of death, disabling illness, or the formation of a new district. Specific plans are announced in advance, and a vote to proceed is taken at the council meeting two weeks prior to the actual ordination. Leaders generally move forward only if the vote is unanimous.
Who Will Be the One?
Both men and women nominate candidates, but only married men are eligible to be candidates—or as the Amish say, “to be in the lot.” At baptism, young men pledge to serve in leadership if called by the church. The two weeks leading up to the ordination are a time of soul-searching, anxiety, and contemplation. Members pray for God’s guidance as they consider whom to nominate, and eligible men and their families wonder if they will be nominated and how their lives will be changed if they should be ordained. One minister confided that in the week before his ordination he did the math and reckoned there were fifteen eligible men in his district. With “an average of five or six in the lot, I figured I had one in three chances of landing in it,” he concluded.
After this lengthy period of preparation, the actual ritual of ordination is remarkably swift. At the end of the daylong communion service, the presiding leaders go to a private room to receive the nominations.32 Baptized members file past the door, which is slightly ajar, and whisper the name of a candidate. The number of nominations required for candidacy is two or three, depending on local tradition. One man in the lot may have received only two votes, while another may have received a dozen. The size of the candidate pool typically ranges from four to eight. In a survey of 172 ordinations in the Arthur, Illinois, settlement, the largest number of candidates in any lot was twelve. Although most nominees were between ages thirty and forty-five, one man was ordained at age twenty-two and one was chosen when he was fifty-one.33
Having tallied the votes and determined the number of candidates, the leaders then prepare a set of Ausbunds equal to the number of candidates. Inside the front cover of one book, they place a slip of paper containing a Bible verse (often Acts 1:24 or Proverbs 16:33) and then bind each book with string or a rubber band. The books are shuffled, then brought into the assembled congregation and placed on a table or a bench. All this time, the congregation has been waiting patiently in silent anticipation.
The presiding bishop announces the candidates and asks them to come forward to the table, where they are asked to affirm the foundational beliefs (Grundsatzen) of the church. Then the congregation kneels in silent prayer, yielding itself and its corporate future into God’s hands. When they arise from prayer, the bishop invites the candidates, in no particular order, to select one of the hymnbooks. After each one has selected an Ausbund, the bishop proceeds to open each book, moving from candidate to candidate, with all eyes watching, until the fateful slip of paper appears. At that moment the suspense breaks.
Having located the slip of paper, the bishop announces the chosen man’s name and invites him to rise. The bishop reiterates the new shepherd’s duties, admonishes him to be faithful to his new calling, and then greets him with a handshake and a holy kiss.34 After this official rite of ordination, other ministers and fellow nominees follow with their greetings and handshakes as well. The presiding bishop’s wife and the wives of other ministers greet the man’s spouse in a similar fashion.
News of the divi
ne selection slowly begins to sink into reality. In virtually every case, the man and his spouse and children—having learned only a few minutes earlier that he was even a candidate—are overcome with emotion, as are those who were so narrowly missed by the hand of God. Quiet sobs of surprise and tearful emotion break the silence. “It’s a weighty time,” says a man who was in the lot three times. “There are no congratulations; it’s not a ‘Hurray!’ type of thing.” Asked to describe what it was like when her husband was chosen by lot, the wife of one minister could only say, “It was a very quiet ride home in the buggy that day.” A minister who was in the lot for bishop but not selected said, “I dodged a bullet that day.”
The speed with which the ordination process occurs is stunning. There is no training, preparation, emotional warm-up, or door of escape. There is also no celebration, only tears, silence, and heartfelt promises of prayer and support. The ninety-minute event transforms the life of the newly ordained man and his family. Clergy receive no compensation for their work apart from occasional gifts. They serve for life unless debilitating illness intervenes or they are silenced for disobedience or moral turpitude. They receive no formal education, and their on-the-job training consists mostly of advice from mentors and personal study. For the most part, Amish leaders earn the blessing and trust of their congregants as they carry out the duties of their role.
Accountability and Discipline
Confession
Like other people, the Amish forget, rebel, fall short, and, for a variety of reasons, stray from their commitments. The rite of confession addresses deviance and restores backsliders to full fellowship. Minor transgressions are handled privately, but serious infractions require a public confession before the Gmay. These can be cathartic moments when, the Amish believe, the power of the corporate church combines with divine presence to forgive and to purge the cancerous growth of sin.
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