MY OLD ORDER MENNONITE HERITAGE PART TWO The Booklet My Old Order Mennonite Heritage is appearing in a sequel in Cross Cultures; by kind permission from the author/publisher, Mary Ann Horst.

When a new minister is needed any man in the congregation may suggest the names of any men in the brotherhood they feel would be qualified for ministerial duties. A number of Bibles equal to the number of men whose names have been suggested are placed before the men. One of the Bibles contains a slip of paper. Each man draws a Bible and the one drawing the Bible containing the slip of paper becomes the new minister.

Sermons are given in Pennsylvania Dutch, an unwritten German dialect with a mixture of English. The Old Order Mennonite minister uses no notes; The typical minister does not raise his voice a great deal but quietly admonishes the attentive congregation in solemn serious tones.

Recently I attended a Sunday morning worship service at the Old Order Mennonite meeting house on the outskirts of the town of Elmira. This was the first time in more than twenty years. Nothing had changed!

Everything - the church and its furnishings, the order of the service, the people in their traditional attire, the sweet innocence of quaintly garbed toddlers and babes in arms - all were as they had been back in my childhood days.

With the service ended, the ladies went to the lobby where they put on their bonnets and black fringed shawls. Ladies and children waited on the side of the women's entrance while the men went for the horses. One after another the buggies pulled up alongside of the meeting house. Each driver brought his horse to a halt and waited for the passengers within his family. Those who had a number of children in the family drove a two seated carriage drawn by two horses. One by one the beautiful prancing horses left the church yard. As they drew the buggies carrying the traditionally simply attired Mennonites they made a quaintly charming procession.

Baptismal services are conducted once a year before which candidates attend instruction classes for six successive Sunday afternoons. Usually they are between the ages of seventeen to nineteen.

I recall that as a child the grave solemnity with which these baptismal services were conducted always made a deep impression on me. To my youthful mind there was something appealingly dramatic about these youths making the solemn commitment to be true to their vows until death, regardless of what the cost might be.

Communion services are held twice a year. As in most churches they partake of the bread and wine, using actual wine. They believe the communion service has symbolical meaning only and attach no saving merit to its practice.

Following the partaking of the bread and wine they participate in what they call a foot washing ceremony. Towels and basins are provided and all baptized members participate, washing each others feet. They regard the ceremony as a symbol of brotherly love and humility and a willingness to perform even the lowliest tasks one for another.

The Old Order Mennonites have strong convictions that they are to provide for any needs within the brotherhood and for this reason they accept no governmental family allowance or old age pension cheques.

They have their own form of hospitalization towards which all members pay. Contributions are looked after in such a way that no one knows the amount which another gives.

They carry no insurance policies. If a member loses a barn through a fire, the other members contribute financially and many of them give a day's work to help to rebuild the barn or house as the case may be.

Smoking, while not condoned, is not taboo for the men of the church. The clergy generally do not smoke and for a woman to smoke would be considered unladylike if not disgraceful.

The occasional glass of liquor is permissible, but in actuality the Old Order Mennonites consume very little alcoholic beverages. Drunkenness is considered a sin and if persisted in will bring excommunication, as will dishonesty in business or any other deviation from their puritanical moral standards.

Instances where measures such as excommunication are considered necessary are extremely rare. When it does occur the erring member is, after a time, taken back into the fellowship, providing he is willing to make public confession before the church and to promise he will make an honest effort to avoid the same error in the future.

While the laity of the church are allowed to have electricity, many of them prefer to get along without it. Electricity is not permitted for the clergy. Telephones are not allowed in the home, but if a member is in business he is permitted to have the phone in his business place. Farmers are allowed to have tractors.

Most musical instruments are prohibited, although some of the young people own harmonicas. Snapshots are forbidden.

Formal education ceases at fourteen at which time both boys and girls stay home on the farm. to be continued ....

This article was originally published in Cross Cultures Magazine in Volume 1 - Issue 4 - 1992. Unauthorized copying, distribution or other usage without express written permission of the publisher is prohibited.