2 / 16
The Amish Voice 2
This publishing work is registered as a charitable organization in the USA and is supported through freewill offerings. We welcome your
articles, testimonies, and questions. We reserve the right to edit or decline any material and are not responsible for the return of any
articles.
Since our beginning in 2000, many people have written to us, asking to be added to our mailing list, while others have sent us names of
their friends and family members. We think it’s important for us to tell you that the cost of
The Amish Voice
is $.50 a copy and is totally
funded by readers from across our great country who appreciate the ministry and care to support it. If the Lord would lay it on your heart
to come along side of us by helping with expenses, it would be a great benefit as well as highly appreciated. In order to continue
receiving the Amish Voice, please keep us informed of any changes to your address. Thank you.
rather be left alone than be with others.
Today’s church service is no different
than it has always been. After waiting in
the barn until it is time to go to the house,
I follow the line of boys behind the
grown men into the living room where
the service takes place.
The German hymnbooks are passed and
soon the singing starts. The slow, mellow
singing drags on and I wonder what the
words are saying. As I sit there, my mind
wanders to the two weeks that have
passed since the last church service.
Where did they go? What had become of
my resolutions and promises to myself
and God that I would do better after
leaving church? Every time I sit here and
hear the preachers speak of the
righteousness and the judgment of God, I
am convicted of my sins, and I promise
myself I will do better. I hear the bishop’s
thundering messages on hell and the
awful fate of those who fail to please
God, and I am desperate to make it to
heaven. I promise myself that I will live
better, that I will do whatever I must in
order to make it; yet I can’t put my finger
on what it is that I need to do. I know I
have shortcomings and faults in my life
for which I feel guilty. I am constantly
angry with my siblings; my temper often
gets out of control. I swear all the time,
and my mind is often filled with awful
thoughts of lust. I know all these things
are bad, but still, I have a hard time
thinking of them as bad enough to make
me deserve hell. In my mind, I am not
worse than most of the Amish members
of the church who are sitting in the room
with me, and I would think most of them
would be good enough to make it to
heaven. If not, what is the use of being
Amish? Is this not what the Amish way is
all about—to make a person good enough
to please God? Yet I can’t shake this
uneasy fear inside of me—this feeling of
being distant from God, and feeling His
anger and judgment over me.
As I sit there, I once again promise
myself that next week will be different,
that this time I will surely do my best to
improve my life to a condition that is
acceptable to God. Until then, I
desperately hope and pray that my life
will not be snuffed out and I must go to
meet God. I tremble at the thought.
The singing is finally over, and one of the
preachers gets to his feet to preach the
first sermon of the day. He begins in the
normal way: the greeting, the wish of
God’s blessing and grace on all present,
and the reminder that we are still in the
land of preparation. Then he quotes the
familiar verses that are always, without
fail, recited by all the preachers. Even
though I have heard the words a hundred
times, they once again wash over my soul
with a glimmer of hope:
Psalm 106:1
Danket dem HERRN;
denn er ist freundlich, und seine
Güte währet ewiglich.
2
Wer kann die großen Taten des
HERRN ausreden und alle seine
löblichen Werke preisen?
3
Wohl denen, die das Gebot halten
und tun immerdar recht!
4
HERR, gedenke mein nach der
Gnade, die du dem Volk verheißen
hast; beweise uns deine Hilfe,
5
daß wir sehen mögen die Wohlfahrt
deiner Auserwählten und uns
freuen, daß es deinem Volk wohl
geht, und uns rühmen mit deinem
Erbteil.
Interpreted in English:
Psalm 106:1
Praise ye the Lord. O
give thanks unto the Lord; for he is
good: for his mercy endureth for
ever.
2
Who can utter the mighty acts of the
Lord? who can shew forth all his
praise?
3
Blessed are they that keep judgment,
and he that doeth righteousness at
all times.
4
Remember me, O Lord, with the
favour that thou bearest unto thy
people: O visit me with thy
salvation;
5
That I may see the good of thy
chosen, that I may rejoice in the
gladness of thy nation, that I may
glory with thine inheritance.
Thank God, for he is friendly, and his
goodness endures forever
. The words
have a reassuring effect on me. God is
friendly and good after all. To me, God is
a constant reminder of my failure and
guilt, and I’m afraid of Him, yet the
Scriptures say that He is friendly and
good.
I almost believe it.
Blessed are those who keep the
commandment, and always do right
. This
verse always brings me a mixture of hope
and despair. Hope, because it contains the
answer, the secret that I have been
looking for. If only I can keep the