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bishop paused
so long that Rebecca nearly had a fit of the giggles. She
remembered this part of Esther and Jacob’s wedding, when she had
imagined that Jessie Yoder would run to the bishop with a fanciful
story.
    The bishop finally spoke again. “If it is
still your desire to be married, you might in the name of the Lord
come forth.” He told Moses and Martha to stand in front of him.
    The bishop then questioned Moses and Martha
in turn. “Moses, do you believe and confess with your mouth that it
is scriptural order for one man and one woman to be one, and state
that you have been thus led so far?” After Moses affirmed, he
repeated the same question to Martha. The bishop turned back to
Moses. “Moses, can you, bruder , state that the Lord directs
you to take this schweschder as your wife?” The bishop then
addressed the question to Martha.
    The bishop continued to question Moses.
“Moses, do you promise to support your fraa when she is in
weakness, sickness, whatever trials might befall you, and stand as
a Christian husband?” Again, the parallel question was put to
Martha.
    The final question put to Moses and Martha
was, “Do you vow to remain together, and have love, consideration,
and forbearance one for another and not to part from one another
until beloved Gott shall finally part you in death?”
    The bishop now picked up the German prayer
book known as the Die Ernsthafte Christenpflicht , “Prayer
Book for Earnest Christians.” This book was first printed in 1708,
and Rebecca knew it well, as did the rest of the community. He read
aloud, “The Prayer for Those About to Be Married.”
    The bishop then read from the Book of
Tobit . Rebecca had found out only recently that Amish,
Mennonites, and Catholics approved of the Book of Tobit , but
that other Christians did not consider it canon. Martha had told
her, as Martha had lived for a short time with Englischers .
The bishop read from The Book of Tobit, chapter seven, verse
fifteen. “And taking the right hand of his daughter, Raguel gave it
unto the right hand of Tobias, and saith, ‘The Gott of
Abraham, the Gott of Isaac, the Gott of Jacob be with
you, and might He join you together, and fulfill His blessing in
you.’“
    The bishop now came to the last words of the
actual marriage ceremony. “Go ye forth in the name of the Lord. Ye
are now mann and fraa .”
    The actual marriage ceremony had taken about
four minutes and had come at the end of three hours of talks by the
ministers and the bishop. Martha and Moses returned to their seats
in the front row. Rebecca stifled another giggle as she thought of Englisch weddings where the bride and groom kiss in front of
everyone. She was glad she did not giggle, for not a sound could be
heard; one could hear a pin drop. Silence always prevailed at such
occasions.
    Everyone then turned around to kneel in front
of their benches for the long, silent prayer which marked the end
of the wedding service.
    Rebecca’s thoughts drifted away once again to
Elijah. Would he one day marry her? Would the two of them one day
stand in front of the bishop in this very barn? How would she ever
know Elijah’s true feelings for her?
    * * *
    On the one hand, Elijah was happy that his bruder , Moses, was now married to his true love, Martha, but
on the other hand he was a little sad that Rebecca might not love
him. He had thought of Rebecca throughout the entire service, and
had decided that he would ask her to marry him. He would rather be
married to Rebecca, even if she was only marrying him out of duty.
Surely her love for him would grow; surely Rebecca would come to
love him.
     

1 Corinthians 13:4-6.
    Love is patient and kind; love does not envy
or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own
way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at
wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
     
    Chapter
8
    As the guests filed out of the barn, Rebecca
hurried to help prepare for the first sitting of the