I Wish I'd Been There . . .

Worship at Mellinger

by Steve Nolt

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Mennonite historical scholarship has grown in almost all directions during the past few decades. We know a lot more about the lives of church leaders, the growth and development of institutions, mission activity, controversy and schism, and theological debate and concord. Yet there are times I wish I had actually been there to witness events that remain cloudy in the historical mirror. We still know too little about Mennonite worship in the past. It's a great irony, actually. Nothing could be more central to the life and witness of any congregation than its meeting for corporate worship. Yet perhaps because worship is so "common" in the life of the church, its story easily gets lost. Often we know more about the history of our church buildings and who owned the farms around them than we do about what actually went on inside those meeting houses.
I wish I could attend a meeting for worship at my home congregation, Mellinger Mennonite Church, Lancaster, Pa., during the early 1800s. I'd like to go inside that 1767 limestone structure and experience worship with them. I'd like to know more about their Sunday mornings together.

We know which hymnbook they used, but did the congregation have favorite songs which they sang more often than others? What did the music sound like? How long did it take them to learn the new hymns included in the 1804 Unpartheyisches Gesangbuch?
Did any of the preachers have favorite biblical texts or themes which they wove into their sermons no matter what the subject was? Did sermons include references to current events in the life of the young nation--warnings or encouragement to the congregation as its members found their way in a restless new society?

And I'd like to be there as they baptized and joined in communion. Today we have some surviving documents that suggest the standard words leaders spoke at such events, but what was it like at the time? What did the people of Mellinger think about the practice of footwashing, a rite common among the American Amish but apparently not among their Mennonite neighbors? We know that the congregation's venerable immigrant deacon, Martin Mellinger (1763-1842)--from whom the congregation actually derived its name--had witnessed footwashing among the German Baptist Brethren (Church of the Brethren) while visiting in another country.

He came away from that experience believing footwashing was a meaningful symbol which his church should adopt. But he met stiff opposition within the congregation from--among others--one of my ancestors, preacher Heinrich Buckwalter (1742-1805). I'd like to talk with them about footwashing and what each one saw in its practice. And I wish I'd been there when the congregation first decided to include this rite of service in their communion worship sometime in the 1810s.

In the future historians may be able to use our church bulletins to gain a better idea of what our worship today was really like. But worship is something you have to experience, not just explain. That's why I wish I had been there.

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Mennonite Historical Bulletin, July, 1997