The version used is KJV
For the purpose of confidentiality, I will be leaving out the specific names and details. If you are from this community or associated with the deceased family, you might have a better context on the names and such.
On Thursday AM, I received notification that a dear friend and brother's dad had passed away from this realm. The dad had been struggling for at least a while, ever since I remember meeting this brother almost 9 months ago. What follows is my observations on the whole proceedings
Concern for continued faithfulness
The main theme of the concerns that I felt from my friend and brother, and his family in connection with his ailing father's health was that his dad will stay steadfast to finish the race, so his dad could claim what Paul did in 2 Timothy 4:7.
This was my first experience in a son caring for his dad's soul more than the physical loss he might feel as I was sure, he would sure miss him. The family often travelled over 6 hours on weekends and other occasions to visit his dad and mom in the community two states away. They ensured the mom and the local community had enough support from the sons and their families of the ailing dad, as the sons lived in different states.
I remember when my friend shared in one of the church service, many months ago, if we are ready to meet our King, and how much emotion he had in the future loss of his dad. In all of this, his focus, prayers and wishes were on his dad's ability to remain faithful through the ailments, through failing faculties and not fall off the strait and narrow. Matthew 7:14
To see that whole process play out in our very own eyes through the concerns of this brother with his dad's passing and to witness the funeral first hand, was a true blessing and we thank the Most High for that.
Hotel stay
Since we were unsure if we were going to be able to make it in time and we didnt know many folks, we decided to get a hotel in the nearby town. We also decided to get there Friday evening if possible to spend some time with this brother and family. We didnt get an early enough start and ended up Friday late night. The inn we stayed at already was full and saw several of the plain folks, which brought joy to my heart. I also noticed several large vehicles, even if they were not all black :)
I connected with another friend and brother from our same gathering, who had driven solo and staying close to the funeral place, to make sure I knew how to get there in the morning. Although the funeral started at 0930 hrs he wanted us to be there by 0830 if possible, as they were expecting over 500 people.
It was great to see some friends in the morning from Missouri, who had traveled to be at the funeral as well. Many were surprised to see us, as we were of them in the hotel.
Setup
I had heard of Amish funerals and how plain communities conduct departures in general. But I was not ready for witnessing it first hand. All of what you read and hear about pales in comparison to what you actually witness. As I had stated in my plain people wedding post, everyone professing follower of Jesus of Nazareth, must attend a funeral like this one to be edified, educated and enlightened.
The funeral location was amongst fields outside town and a large structure held the people and the celebrations to come. Pulling up, I was amazed at the orderliness that the young Amish men displayed ushering us in. We made our way to the hoary heads and the hall of the elders (it seemed like) and as we didnt know any one, we just waited, taking all the scenes in. It was good to see several of the elders and their wives with them milling around and talking. Although it was somber, there was a sense of hope that you could only feel by being there.
I was admiring the porter potties that were setup, wash stalls, the horse carriages and automobiles alike and how their system worked to organize the transportations for the several hundred folks visiting.
We were met and greeted by one of the acquaintance that I had met in one of the weddings, from this community and even though he was busy with the preparations, he came, welcomed us and chatted with us. We were blessed by how God had worked in his life, from his story. At this point, our friend and brother who had given us direction the pervious night came and we met up and talked about the various happenings, the setup of the funeral, the orderly process that was to follow, what to expect etc. We appreciated that small talk we had as we got some more nuggets for that day from him.
At this point, my friend and brother whose dad had died, came and was visibly shaken, but I didnt feel sorrow or hurt but elation and joy in seeing him and his family. I ask his forgiveness if I smiled and was overjoyed when that emotion might not have been appropriate for the ocassion.
It was great to see the whole family together and in their home community that both he and his wife grew up in. I also appreciated the oldest son of my friend who came and thanked us for coming and to know he was still in his teens made us emotional up, to know the character of this young man. It was also good to see him growing his scruff and a future beard making its way.
I found out thru my other friend that there was already devotion that morning that finished around 0830, to encourage and edify the family by the preachers.
At this point, we were let in, where we sat in the friends of the family section, with another sister from our home gathering, sitting behind rows of the family and immediate kin of the deceased.
At this point, I took it all in and shared the time with my bride. We were seated on raw lumber on small sawhorses, neatly arranged, which I presumed is how they organized for their every other 1st day services.
Messages
The first preacher came up and delivered his message. He mixed German and English and we couldnt make all of the details. But what stood out to me was the focus on the completed works of the deceased and how we need to make best use of our time here while it was given to us. He talked about the fact of no more sufferings and the better place and rewards that might await us if we endure.
The second preacher was an older man and he spoke in English. He covered various ground with aspects from Genesis, Song, Hosea, John, epistles of Paul, Revelation and other books of the Bible. I appreciated that he clarified the 144,000 spoken of as virgins in the book of Revelation was not physical virgins (which many take it to be), but not tainted with spiritual uncleaness, by mixing with Babylon. He clarified again that we are to be set apart, pure and clean as a bride in the days of old was for her groom, thus we must be awaiting and saving ourselves for our Messiah to come.
He also spoke of how our prayers are preserved when we offer it up in purity and sincerity, as Jesus as our High Priest, ministering in Heavens now, is able to offer it up as a sweet savor unto God. If the prayers are then offered and there is no notion of time in the Heavens, then a strong prayer offered up by a holy mother for her son, who has deceased, still is ringing in Heavens, as our High Priest can bring that to remembrance, as the offering that was offered up. This then meant two things - the dad whose funeral it was, his righteous living and the prayers he offered up for his family will still be ringing and be applied and answered for years to come, even if he is not with us now. The other thing was, this meant we are to offer up prayers knowing the eternal nature of it, that edify not just the people we are praying for, but God and our Master in the Heavens, so we need to be mindful of them and align the prayers with the Word of God.
Note: I am still parsing these above statements on prayer, as I am not sure how scriptural they are, but there is truth in most of the pre-suppositions the preacher laid out, therefore, it could very well be that way. Once I get the full confirmation from Scriptures I will post an update here
The last major point I was edified by, from this second preacher's message, was that of how to align with God's will, even though he did not use those specific words. He stated that since God breathed into us, as we know from Genesis, as we have His Holy Spirit in us, and the Word is God breathed, how we need that breath of God (as in His Word) in us continually, to minister to us and for our livelihood. The life in us is a gift from God's first breath and He has made a way to keep breathing and sustaining that life, by filling us with His Holy Word. He also stated that the heart and mind, is actually up in our head and we need to process and actualize them through our faculties that God has blessed us with and not make it an emotional, cardinal thing (since many in the world and church at large, believe heart in our chest is higher than in our head). Therefore the Spirit of God ministers to our soul. I fully agree with this as well, as it is closer to how the Hebrews of old reasoned. To them the physical organ of heart was just muscles to do the important functions of pumping blood. The heart/mind/soul/strength was this complex entity in us, that used our faculties and made us to work the will of God or disobey Him.
The third preacher was not from the local community and spoke in English as well, for the benefit of all. I also appreciated this brother's message. He had several continuing messages from what the other two preachers had talked about. His three themes ended up around topics of grace, which is our confidence in God and not of our selves to enter the Kingdom of Heaven; confession of our faith, sins and repentance; and obedience to His teachings for us to continue running the race. His story about the deceased (my friend's dad) when they were coming back from a missions trip touched me. They were at the transit airport and since they were going to different cities, he (my friends dad) ran to his gate and made it home. But when this preacher and his other friend were at the luggage carousel, they saw a bag with my friend's dad name on it. In trying to get home, he had forgotten his bags. They were able to mail it back to him. He reminisced if the family will find any bags that he has left over on earth, as he rushed to await for the Lord to be with Him in glory. His point was, if they do end up finding it, it can stay on earth, we don't need to send anything up, where he is not going to need it. He also emphasized the shortness of our sojourning here on earth. He pointed to casket where my friend's dad was resting and stated, that is the body of the patriarch, but he is not here any more. He drove home the point that my friend's dad has left our realm to be with the Lord. We can feel grief for the separation and not able to visit with him and such, but he is truly in a better place where there is not any reason for us to fear. He connected back the message from the second preacher on Holy Spirit ministering to our soul, by ensuring our will connected with God's will, from His Word, so we can let God's will work in our lives. During this time, he emphasized that, this will look like works as we obey the Most High God, which means the doctrines of completing the race without obedience is futile.
All of the preachers spoke without notes and a bible, reciting verses from memory, and pulling out a tiny bible from their vest when they had to read an appointed portion of scriptures. All of them had strengths in their own way, which encouraged us in a specific way. The best part of all of this was, that each of the minister who delivered the message was to my friend's family, and the rest of us just happened to be there to witness it. It was beautiful.
Family
The messages were followed with viewing and we got to see my friend's dad, whom I had never met in person when he was alive, but nonetheless it was good to support my friend and his family at this hour. As the general viewing folks sat down, the closest kin paid their respects. This included both plan community folks, folks that had left the Amish, folks that moved to being Mennonites and such. There were also worldly folks who were part of this closest kin.
I saw two English men who went and paid the respects to the deceased and they were accompanied by what seemed like two of the sons of the deceased who were Amish. I was confused at first and thought these might have been the deceased's brother and brother's son, who had walked off their ways. But I came to found out that they were neighbors of the deceased who had been there in the same neighborhood for over 30 years. They had come to be part of the family with these Amish. Seeing how the family treated these two of the worldly folks with such dignity, made me cry out and thank God for a such a strong testimony. I will never forget that.
Then the deceased sons and daughter started going with each of their families to pay the last respects. This started with the youngest and worked up to their first born. Watching each of the families spend their time talking and not sure what all they did, but there was atleast several minutes each family spent the time alone with their dad, moved me. This was followed by the wife of the deceased (my friend's mother) who was taken to the casket, which after few minutes was followed by each of the son and their wives, daughter and her husband consoling the mother, strengthening her. This was followed by each of the children of the families surrounding them. In all we had a 4 layer of strengthening for the mother, wife of the deceased - her immediate care taker, her sons and daughter-in-laws, her grand children and great grand children, followed by the immediate kin of family and friends.
I was really moved to see the love they had for each other and the love they had for their dad. As the patriarch lies in the casket, to be buried, each of the son showed that they have carried that torch, in living a bible centered life in raising the next generation of children, whom the original patriarch would have been proud of, thanking God for passing not just the values, but that of the love of the Most High and His Son.
The only thing I missed in the entire event was the slow singing of the Amish from the Ausbund, although I did appreciate the large group of youth singing during the viewing. May be one day I will be blessed with Loblied.
Ministry & evangelism
What follows is my personal perspective and commentary...
Out in the world (and even from within the plain communities), we have heard Amish and Mennonites are closed and dont evangelize like the rest of the denominations. When I first heard that, I thought that is not right for these groups to preserve the message of the gospel to their own communities and went against the Bible. But as I studied the Anabaptist history, sometime in 2021, it became apparent that there was a rich tradition of preaching the gospel just as the many early believers of Protestant Reformation were being convicted by the entire Word of God and the early Anabaptist movement was born. Martyr's synod comes to mind, where 53 brothers met and only 3 survived, as the 50 were put to death as they were preaching the good news to the cities and villages around western Europe. They were getting the message out to the cities and towns and villages.
So I was not sure how to respond to any non-anabaptist person stating or asking me why dont the Amish or Mennonite evangelize like the rest of the christendom?
By end of 2021, I had formulated the response, which goes something like this - - Matthew 28:19-20 which is the clear call around modern day understanding of evangelism is not exactly correct. The word used in KJV for teaching in 28:19 is μαθητεύω which translates to matheteuo, which means to make disciples, to be a disciple etc. and not to just convert as a one time affair. Matthew 28:20 affirms this and if I had to paraphrase it, it will read like, holding discourse/discussion/teaching continually the people of the nations to guard/observe/holding fast all things Jesus had taught and commanded throughout His ministry - Therefore the modern day evangelism crusades and tent meetings might convict a person of their sin or bring them the knowledge of our Creator or our Savior, but without continuous engagement with the new believer, they are all on rocky ground and left to their own devices. Without clear examples of how to live out the commands and what it means to be a disciple (when the ministers and preachers of these evangelisms are not one themselves), it is near impossible to be a true Christian bearing good fruits as we mature. - The world at large due to communication advances and travels and such all have heard of the name of Jesus Christ. Its even used as swear word in many cultures as a mark of exasperation. So its not the lack of spreading of the message and the name that is the problem, but the depiction of how to live a holy/set-a-part life while living in Babylon and to see examples of exercising of faith that is rare. This brings a big challenge on how to evangelize properly that is in accordance with examples we see in Acts and the writings of Paul, Peter, Jacob, Jude and John. - At this point in my walk, I believe that the Anabaptist way of life in a community setting, the strong emphasis on families, simple interpretation of the Bible and application of it and the plain modest living is the testimony needed to make disciples. The Amish and Mennonites I have come to associate with still have a lot of challenges and problems as we all live in a fallen world, but the efforts made by sincere believers are a testimony to make disciples. The teaching of how to live as a follower of Christ, comes from showing how to live. They truly are strong in their beliefs and not easily shaken by winds of the world, as their forefathers have prepared them using the ordinances that governs the communities and the Word of God that governs most of their deeds and life. Even if they sometimes make the ordinances equivalent to commandment of the Most High like some of the Pharisees did, they nonetheless are willing to listen and be corrected when pointed out, unlike the Pharisees. This has been my experience in the short year I have known many different communities in the plain peoples. I know there are bad fruits in any human group, but most of the men and women I have met and interacted with all have the intention to walk like Christ with the best of what they have been taught or learnt or learning. - This means that the only way to truly apply Matthew 28:19-20 is to show a disciple's life along with work, vocation, family and all the complexities of life
This belief that I hold as of end of 2021, was proven true by what I witnessed at the funeral last weekend. HalleluYah for what I got to witness around this.
All of the preachers not only hit the key themes for the families edification, but also delivered the Gospel message of salvation by grace through faith in our only Savior Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. His life lived gives us the historical basis to build our walk in faith. This messages of hope, love and resurrection was delivered to a group of 700+ attendees from all walks of life - unsaved Amish, on the fence Mennonites, recent followers of Christ, old folks who were swayed by the world as well as true followers of Christ in whatever community.
But in addition to this, here is what I witnessed, which would and should incite the answers to the questions around Matthew 28:20 on how disciples can made
- Families were large, well cared for and tight knit. The familial love was overflowing, shows true living as biblical families.
- The friends and community that came together to support not only for this day, but the past several months when my friend's dad was ailing. This shows the family of God being united and helping each other.
- The simple meals that was prepared for all attendees, which was not just better than fast food but also included desserts that were all home made, showed how to be good stewards of what God had blessed us with.
- Most woman had head covering on. Most of them were plainly dressed, just as their husbands or fathers. This reflects how not to be carried away by the trends of the world but to remain simple.
- Many people set aside not just few hours of their day to attend a funeral, but had taken few days to travel and be with the family. This shows the importance of family and relationships in our Messiah.
- Orderliness and peace and quietness was through out the ceremony. From seating order to conduct of the program to the processions and the lunch after. Our God is a God of Order and not chaos.
- Inclusiveness of the English neighbors and several non-plain folks showed not just tolerance but love and edification. Showed how Christ loved the syrian, ethiopian, syrophoenecian, the greek as well as the lost sheep of Israel.
- Simple but profound messages from the preachers which was practical for any one to start applying. To know that these all were at best educated till 8th grade and had learnt on their own just through their life/living and by reading the Bible, showed others the sanctifying effects of God's Word and applying the lessons of the Bible to every day living. Truly shows that God's Word is powerful to bring wisdom onto man.
In the end, the evangelizing that I witnessed at the funeral was true to what I have imagined in the days of old, closer to what our Master Jesus commanded. For many are called, but few are chosen. Therefore, for the few that needed to self-select to be part of the Kingdom of God, once the call is made and God opens their heart/mind, and now to be chosen, this was the witness and testimony that actually showed a glimpse of the Kingdom of God on this realm. This increases my yearning for this Kingdom of Most High to come to earth and for our Messiah and King to return and take his rightly place.