{"id":8178,"date":"2005-12-01T21:33:41","date_gmt":"2005-12-02T02:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=8178"},"modified":"2011-07-06T08:28:58","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T13:28:58","slug":"4619","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/01\/4619\/","title":{"rendered":"Service Takes People 400 Years Back in Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ALLEGAN, MI (December 1, 2005)\u00a0 &#8211; The local Evangelical Covenant Church\u00a0 congregation held a Thanksgiving service this past Sunday that took the\u00a0 church back 400 hundred years in time.<!--more--><\/p>\n<div>In those times, men sat on the right side of the sanctuary and women sat\u00a0 on the left. If the men fell asleep during the service, they were hit on\u00a0 the side of the head with a hard knob attached to the end of a long\u00a0 pole. Drowsy women received far gentler treatment, being tickled with a\u00a0 feather on a pole.<a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/06\/1192.jpg\" rel=\"prettyPhoto[8178]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-8179\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/06\/1192-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/06\/1192-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/06\/1192.jpg 402w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div>Every year since 1994, Christ Community Church has been holding a\u00a0 traditional Thanksgiving service in the way that pilgrims would have\u00a0 worshiped each Sunday. &#8220;It&#8217;s a lot of fun, but it&#8217;s also a living\u00a0 history lesson,&#8221; says pastor G. Patrick White. The history lesson is\u00a0 abbreviated, however, as the original service lasted several hours. A\u00a0 half-hour pastoral prayer began the service \u2013 and the people raised\u00a0 their hands the entire time, White says.<\/div>\n<div>When it came time for the sermon, many might have needed the\u00a0 encouragement of the tithingmen \u2013 the bearers of the poles &#8211; to stay\u00a0 awake. While some may feel like sermons today last three hours, the\u00a0 pastor during the 1700s was required to preach at least that long. To\u00a0 ensure the pastor preached the requisite amount of time, an hourglass\u00a0 was turned by a beadle, the official pastoral assistant. The device was\u00a0 to be turned three times before the sermon was completed.<\/div>\n<div>For Sunday&#8217;s service, a half-hour glass was used, says White. &#8220;One turn\u00a0 would have been more than enough,&#8221; he quips. The tithingmen did have fun\u00a0 making sure people stayed awake, &#8220;but we&#8217;ve cautioned them that that the\u00a0 knob is pretty hard.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div>Following the service, the men were allowed to stand and ask questions.\u00a0 White says he knows some of the men had been waiting all year for this\u00a0 moment to put him on the spot.<\/div>\n<div>Also on hand were the censures \u2013 pairs of church officers who, during\u00a0 the service, called attention to the failures of congregation members.\u00a0 On Sunday, they made sure to let the rest of the congregation know when\u00a0 one of their own was not living up to Christian standards. One couple\u00a0 was called out for &#8220;showing undue public affection in worship,&#8221; says\u00a0 White. &#8220;They were in fun, but there were some zingers.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div>The piano and organ were silent, especially the organ, because before\u00a0 1747, the instrument was known as &#8220;the devil&#8217;s bagpipes.&#8221; White laughs\u00a0 at the suggestion that some people still consider it such.<\/div>\n<div>One part of the service especially pleased White. &#8220;I&#8217;m bald as a cue\u00a0 ball &#8211; and I get to wear a wig,&#8221; he says.<\/div>\n<div>The church is located on 20 acres at the edge of town. Prior to the\u00a0 service, kids are put on a horse-pulled wagon and led to church with the\u00a0 town crier walking in front. The route is about a half-mile long and\u00a0 stops are set up along the way. At each stop, people fall in behind the\u00a0 wagon so that everyone walks to church together.<\/div>\n<div>To learn more about this fun-loving church and its ministries, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.accn.org\/~ccc\/Index.htm\">Christ Community.<\/a><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif\"> <\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>Copyright \u00a9 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=8178&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ALLEGAN, MI (December 1, 2005)\u00a0 &#8211; The local Evangelical Covenant Church\u00a0 congregation held a Thanksgiving service this past Sunday that took the\u00a0 church back 400 hundred years in time. Report This Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Service Takes People 400 Years Back in Time - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/01\/4619\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Service Takes People 400 Years Back in Time - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ALLEGAN, MI (December 1, 2005)\u00a0 &#8211; The local Evangelical Covenant Church\u00a0 congregation held a Thanksgiving service this past Sunday that took the\u00a0 church back 400 hundred years in time. 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