Mennonites in Virginia’s Rockingham County range from the Old Order buggy-driving community to Eastern Mennonite University’s liberal arts university community, and everything between. For the first half of our 250-year history in these parts, Mennonites were all one group. But since the first major division of 1901 — and many more since — the myriad groups of Shenandoah Valley Anabaptists have never gathered in the same space at the same time to worship and give gratitude to God for our shared history and the bonds that still unite us.

This is what happened on the night of Jan. 21 in a packed sanctuary at Park View Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg. Nearly 500 people gathered in person, and another 500-plus joined remotely, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism.

The theme was “Singing Our Faith and Remembering Our History.” We sang two or more beloved hymns for each of the five centuries of our shared history, 12 hymns altogether. They were chosen for their Anabaptist authorship, or for themes important to our shared life and history.

Three smaller ensembles each sang a number, including an Old Order youth choir, a men’s a cappella group and a worship team from a Spanish-speaking congregation. Two pastors offered reflections, one on the first baptism in Zurich 500 years ago that night and another on how baptism remains a thread that ties us together today, despite diverse practices.

The planning team consisted of members of Virginia Mennonite Conference, Southeastern Mennonite Conference and Weaverland Old Order Mennonite Conference. There are deep differences among our groups, but it was a gift to have people at the table representing a spectrum of practices and preferences. Some normally worship without musical instruments, are accustomed to only male song leaders and use shaped notes. Others appreciate a wide variety of instruments, styles and leaders and have modified the gendered language of many hymns.

We tried to make the event as welcoming as we could. Most of our hymns were sung unaccompanied and were reprinted from old hymnals with shaped notes. Yet, all the hymns were selected and led by a woman. We practiced gelassenheit, yielding to one another, knowing our own comfort and preferences were secondary to the gift of coming together as a larger community of Mennonites for the first time locally in over 100 years.

As a fitting conclusion to the evening of song and memory, we stood and sang a hymn introduced to local Mennonites in the 1876 edition of Harmonia Sacra. Published a few miles away in Singers Glen, it was then titled “Dedication Anthem.” Mennonites know it better today as “606,” or “Praise God from Whom.” When the last note died away, the animated conversations began as the crowd lingered, catching up with each other or meeting for the first time.

Phil Kniss of Harrisonburg, Va., is a retired pastor.