{"id":92,"date":"2013-06-25T14:45:30","date_gmt":"2013-06-25T14:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/amishstudies\/?page_id=92"},"modified":"2018-01-17T13:55:54","modified_gmt":"2018-01-17T18:55:54","slug":"religious-rituals","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/amishstudies\/religion\/religious-rituals\/","title":{"rendered":"Religious Rituals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two important religious rituals in Amish life are baptism and communion.<\/p>\n<p>As Anabaptists, the Amish place supreme importance on adult baptism. Those who take the baptismal vow commit themselves to following the ways of Jesus and upholding the <em>Ordnung<\/em> of the church for life. Most young people take their baptismal vows between 18 and 22 years of age, during a Sunday morning service that follows several weeks of instruction for the candidates. The decision to join the church is <em>the<\/em> big decision for Amish youth. This lifelong promise before God and the\u00a0members of their community means that they will be accountable to the church for the rest of their lives. If they renege on their vows and stray from the church, they face excommunication and shunning. On the other hand, if they leave the community before baptism, they will not face any formal sanctions because the Amish respect an individual\u2019s voluntary decision regarding church membership.<\/p>\n<p>Communion services, held each autumn and spring, frame the religious year. These ritual high points emphasize self-examination and spiritual rejuvenation. Members confess their sins\u00a0and reaffirm their vow to uphold the <em>Ordnung<\/em> at a council meeting held prior to the communion service. Communion is held when the congregation is \u201cat peace\u201d; that is, when all members are in harmony. The eight-hour service includes preaching, a light meal during the service, and the commemoration of Christ\u2019s death with bread and wine. Pairs of members wash each another\u2019s feet as the congregation sings. At the end of the service, members give an alms offering to the deacon. This is the only time that offerings are gathered in Amish services.<\/p>\n<h4>Additional information<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>See chapter 5, \u201cSacred Rituals,\u201d in Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, and Steven M. Nolt, <em>The Amish<\/em>\u00a0(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>See chapter 5, \u201cRites of Redemption and Purification,\u201d in Donald B. Kraybill, <em>The Riddle of Amish Culture.<\/em>\u00a02nd ed. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>See chapter 9, \u201cThe Practice of Forgiveness,\u201d in Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, and David L. Weaver-Zercher, <em>Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy <\/em>(San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two important religious rituals in Amish life are baptism and communion. As Anabaptists, the Amish place supreme importance on adult baptism. Those who take the baptismal vow commit themselves to following the ways of Jesus and upholding the Ordnung of &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/amishstudies\/religion\/religious-rituals\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Religious Rituals<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":18,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"content-sidebar-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-92","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/amishstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/amishstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/amishstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/amishstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/amishstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/amishstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/92\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1491,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/amishstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/92\/revisions\/1491"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/amishstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/amishstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}