the basic message #E337
5/27/05
My wife and I just returned home from vacation, and this year's was like none before. Did we go to Paris or some other European destinations? No. Maybe we remained on American soil and went to New York City. Nope. Las Vegas? No. Where then, did we go that was so special? Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. "What's there?", you may wonder. It's not so much what's there as who's there. This is the central area in Pennsylvania for the "Pennsylvania Dutch", or Amish people. Myths about the Amish run rampant in our society, the first being that they're Dutch. We Americans managed to goof-up "Deutsch", or German, into "Dutch". I won't bore you with home movies or anything, but if you're looking for a relaxing place to spend a week and just slow down and study a very different society, this is the place for you. I'll be happy to provide you with information about some of the places we enjoyed if you'll email me. But- it's time to move on with this week's message about the Amish and Mennonites.
First of all, I figured since the Mennonites have far less rules than the Amish, they must have come along later. Wrong- the Amish sect broke away from the Mennonites because some members were concerned that the Mennonites were becoming too much like the rest of the world. The Amish are very restrictive regarding "modern technology". Why? Perhaps this question is better answered with a question directed at ourselves:
"Have you ever felt like you're part of "the system", unable to have real freedom?"
Let me explain. When your health care insurance is going through the roof, do you ever feel like "there's got to be a better way"? Do you ever sit at your kitchen table looking over car insurance, life insurance, homeowner's insurance, and all of the other insurances you must carry? Do you ever feel like you're locked into your job and have no choice but to continue in a profession you hate because you don't want to "start over" again? Do you dislike opening your cable bill, since it's doubled in price in the past 10 years? Do you feel sadness because you have immediate family members living hundreds or thousands of miles away? Do you get tired of "keeping up with the Joneses"? Do you feel like your life runs you, rather than you running your life? Do you sometimes feel like life is moving much too fast and you'd like to slow down just a bit? If you're like me, you've probably answered "yes" to many of these questions.
2 Corinthians 6:17
"Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
Do we, as Christians, separate ourselves from the world? I think not, and the facts support the fact that modern American Christians are nearly impossible to distinguish from the rest of the population. Some denominations place a major emphasis on water baptism. We're told this is an "outward sign" to the world that this person is following Christ. May I ask a question? How does this person's water baptism set them apart at their workplace when no one is aware of their religious beliefs? The plain, mostly black clothing that the Amish wear clearly sets them apart from our world, so when the Amish are interacting with "the English", as we're called, their apparel sets them apart as a different people. We watched a film about the Amish, and one old farmer said, "If you ask me about the kind of person I am, I can give you many words, but if you really want to know what kind of person I am, ask my neighbor." The Amish are a practical people who place great emphasis on deeds to go along with their faith. I recently wrote a book entitled "I Never Knew You" (ISBN# 0-595-35154-9), and I was reading a first-run copy in the Philadelphia airport on our return trip. It amazed me how similar my views are to the Amish in terms of practical Christianity. How so? Read on....
Amish don't have homeowner's insurance, since that would tend to "bring them into the world". So what do they do when they have catastrophes? The answer is simple and truly Biblical: They help each other. We were told a huge barn destroyed by a tornado can be rebuilt in as little as a few days when hundreds of your neighbors come out to help. And by the way, when these neighbors show up for work, it's to work, not drink beer and shoot the breeze. These are serious people that put their responsibilities first, and frivolity, if ever present, must come later. This isn't to say they don't interact while working, since they place a great emphasis on human interaction, but it's not like the kind we have. How so? We "English" tend to yak about anything and everything, but the Amish are a people that use far fewer words to say what's on their mind. How many times have you gotten yourself in a jam because you can't keep your mouth shut? I can't begin to count the times I could have quit babbling and saved myself and those around me plenty of grief. So how does a barn-raising connect to Christianity?
Acts 4:32
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.
Where did we go wrong with this simple, yet powerful characteristic the early church had? When did we become a selfish people, concerned about things like "my sport utility vehicle has 360 horsepower- how many does yours have?" The Amish really do travel by horse and buggy, and you'll see them everywhere when you visit Lancaster County. As you drive the back roads of communities like "Bird in Hand" or "Intercourse", you'll be treated to views of beautiful countryside that literally look like they were pulled from a calendar.
When tourists drive through Lancaster County they're taken aback when they see how the Amish live. They hear about the Amish rejection of electricity from the public utilities. They hear about the Amish restrictions on telephone usage and about their use of gas lights in their homes. They hear about the Amish rejection of TV and radio, and they shake their heads in disbelief. The Amish, on the other hand, look at the "English" and shake their heads in disbelief as well. The people from California that pay a million dollars for a house, and then turn right around and bulldoze it to build another must baffle the Amish. Seeing a suburban family tooling down the road in a 9 mile-per-gallon "go anywhere" SUV like a Hummer must really give the Amish a chuckle, especially since the Hummer will never negotiate terrain any more difficult than the Interstate Highway. We took a buggy tour, and I'll tell you, when you get 6 people in a buggy, that's the definition of real togetherness. Contrast this with families driving down the road in their gas-hogs with each kid with his own flip-down DVD screen watching what he wants, with mom listening to the CD player while dad is inseparable from his "Blackberry".
A wise man once said that "We're a people who buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like." When I look at the lives of the Amish and then look back on our lives, I must conclude we're the people who are strange. I'm interested in learning more about the Amish and Mennonites. If you have solid information you'd like to share, I'll publish it on this website.