Thursday, November 02, 2006
When did we lose our enthusiasm?
Recently while working on a biography of Christian Berger I had the opportunity to read large portions of Christian Newcomer's journal. What struck me most in the entries was his descriptions of the nature of the services that he and other early United Brethren preachers conducted. These were not the staid, calm reflections on Jesus and the scriptures that many United Brethren have become content with. The congregations did not meekly sit in the pews listening intently to the mild words of the preacher. No, the services reminded me of our popular conception of "holy roller" services, filled with pentecostal ecstatic expressions. Here is a description from one of Newcomer's entries:
- "Sunday [November] 13th [1803]—To-day we had indeed a little Pentecost, from 3 to 400 persons had collected, more than the barn in which we had assembled for worship, could contain. I preached to them from Titus 3, with great liberty and effect for the salvation of souls. The congregation was remarkably attentive to the word; though it rained, those that had no shelter in the barn, kept their stand in the rain without the least disturbance. It is indeed surprising, and at least to me somewhat mysterious, to behold the manner in which the power of God works here among the people. During the time of preaching, several persons fell to the floor, some laid as if they were dead, others shook so violently that two or three men could scarcely hold them ; sometimes the excitement would be so great that I had to stop speaking for several minutes, until the noise abated; some few were praising God and shouting for joy. Br. Chr. Berger addressed the congregation. When I had concluded my discourse in the German, I then preached in the English language, from 1st. Peter, 1; v. 3, and the effect was again the same. At night I preached at Mr. Swartz's; here also several persons of both sexes fell to the floor, others were crying for mercy ; so it lasted till after midnight."
This is just one of numerous examples through Newcomer's Journal. What I would like to know is when did we become like the thing we were trying to get away from. Both Boehm and Otterbein came from established religious traditions. Mennonites and Reformed congregations were not known for their ecstatic worship. Both men felt the longing for an "experiential" religion. I assume that was true with many of the early United Brethren preachers and lay persons. So I return to my question in the title "When did we lose our enthusiasm?"
I grew up in what was then a medium sized UB congregation (about 175) and we had a very evangelistic preacher. A Sunday morning altar call was not unusual, yet I cannot remember anyone outside of the preacher becoming overcome with the Holy Ghost. The most that you could get out of our congregation was some silent weeping at the altar. No slaying in the spirit, no violent shaking, no shouts of praising God. Such expressions were for the charismatics and not for proper Christians. When did we give up our ecstatic joy for God?
These days in some of our contemporary worship service we may get some hand raising, amens and hallelujahs but I think if someone were slain in the spirit we would be calling the EMS. I am not saying that what we practice now in worship is bad, in fact a prefer the quiet, humble reflection upon God ... just my personality I guess. It still makes me curious though as to when we became like those from which we sought to breakaway. I guess I need to do a lot more reading in some of our early preachers biographies to see if I can notice the shift from ecstatic worship to contemplative worship.