Amish Gma

No, it's not Good Morning America as some suggested. Gma (pronounced G-maay) is their word for church. You’ll see a reference to this in Appendix C of my book. Mosie lived with us for a year and during that time he explained many Amish words and traditions to me.

From him and frequent contact with other ex-Amish of the Old or Swartzentruber Order, I learned that obeying the Ordnung (rule book), conforming to tradition, and submission to parents make them worthy of God’s favor and Heaven. His Swartzentruber order considers Englishers hopelessly doomed because they weren’t born Amish.

“So what was your church like?” I asked Mosie one day.

“We go every other Sunday to an Amish home but rotate homes. Sometimes it’s in a barn. The men and boys go in first, and most put their hats under the bench; following them are the women and girls. 

They sit on opposite sides on hard wooden benches without backs. All the men on one side and women on the other. We sing in German. The sermon’s in German. Our Bibles are in German. Sometimes the preacher doesn’t know what he’s saying ‘cause it’s in German; he just says what’s printed. I always slept or looked around. The deacon was always watching us over the top of his glasses.”

“Did you understand the German songs or sermon?”

“No.”

“How long are your church services?”

“Three to four hours.”

“What? That’s long and must be boring for children. What if you have to go to the bathroom?”

“Oh, we were allowed to go outside for fifteen minutes. I usually stayed out for half an hour.”

“What were you doing for half an hour?”

“Smoking with the other boys.”

(c)Copyright 2013, Brenda Nixon.