Amish Hospitality

I drove an Amish family to a wedding this week. We left on Wednesday and spent the night with one of their relatives. (The Amish in Ohio generally have their weddings on Thursday, though sometimes on Tuesday.) My group were not the only ones spending the night at the farmhouse. But, I was the only English (non-Amish) sleeping over. Before I went to bed, the host family told me to sleep in the next morning. They were going to take a buggy to the event--I wouldn't need to show up until lunch time. So I did. How peaceful it was! The only noise as I drifted to sleep that night was the wind. I have to admit, I missed hearing the night train near my own home. But the serenity of that farmhouse was complete.

When I finally rolled out of bed about 8:30 the next morning, I went downstairs to find breakfast waiting for me on the table. A note directed me to the warm breakfast casserole setting on the cast iron cook stove, along with a kettle of hot water for coffee. A bowl and flatware sat on the table next to cereal, farm-fresh milk, a plastic container with two kinds of cookies, a jar of instant coffee, and a pitcher of fresh pumped water. The room was dark, so I pulled the simple curtains back to let the sunshine in, sat at the table, and had a leisurely breakfast.

On the way to the wedding, I took a few photos at the "sugar barn" where they cook down maple sap to make maple syrup. Below are a few photos. Notice the sap is clear when it comes out of the trees. The dark color is obtained by reducing the liquid during cooking. It takes 50 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of pure maple syrup!

The simple, hardworking life of the Amish may not suit everybody. I would have a hard time getting used to living without electricity and indoor plumbing. However, I am thankful to be able to take a peak inside now and then!

Amish Candor

My friend Darren* talks to me about the struggle between pleasing God, and remaining in good graces with the Amish church. There are many things he would like to do--things that he doesn't believe are sins--but his church condemns. How many of us "English" fight the same battles? When is it appropriate to forsake tradition and follow your conscience before God? Darren tells me that when the Amish are about to do something questionable, they look around them to see who's looking, instead of looking up to ask what God thinks about it. Sounds familiar to me. Anyone else out there struggle with the same thing?

*Names always changed in anecdotes to protect privacy.

Supper Time for the Shipley

Scenes from the 34th Annual Mid-Ohio Draft Horse and Carriage Sale, Mt Hope, OH

Holiness or Cultural Preservation?

While driving through Mt. Vernon, OH, we passed a teenage boy with his boxer-clad-butt hanging out of his pants. The teenage Amish girls in the back of the van started giggling and making jokes about it. We all laughed. Then, Hank commented that we shouldn't laugh at that boy because maybe that's all he had to wear; maybe he couldn't afford a belt to hold his pants up. "No" I chuckled, "He probably paid a lot of money for those pants. It's the current style."

"What's a style?" Hank asked. I tried to explain to Hank that people dress in a certain manner because that is what is popular, or because they want to identify with a certain image. "Oh!" he said. "Like the Amish have a style?" I think he understood.

Another day, Hank and I were returning from a trip to Holmesville, OH when we happened upon an Amish woman push-mowing a lawn. Hank shook his head and muttered something unintelligible. I asked what the matter was. He said there was a time when Amish women wore dresses to their ankles. They fought to be allowed to wear their hemlines at mid-calf. Now, you see them wearing dresses to their ankles, with a walking vent up the side of their calf. (The Amish woman we had passed was wearing such a dress.) He couldn't understand what the big deal was. Why couldn't they be happy with leaving things the way they were? I commented that they apparently wanted to have a new style.

I posted the chart prior to this post to show that there are many types of Amish or Anabaptist. This shouldn't be hard to imagine--look how many Baptists or Pentecostal or Methodist churches are out there. One of the single most identifiable features of the Amish is their dress code: the head coverings, long skirts and aprons for women; the unique men's hair cuts and their beards with no mustaches. The differences in style among the congregations can be a matter of how many inches the brim of a man's hat is, or what colors are accepted in women's apparel.

I have heard Pentecostal Christians refer to the Amish as "holiness" Christians. The Amish I know would scoff at such a moniker. They don't see themselves as dressing holy. They are dressing in a plain, albeit modest manner. They do want to be visualized as separate from the rest of the world. But to claim oneself to be "holy" based on a dress code would be the height of arrogance. And pride is a sin. Unlike many denominational churches in America, they would never say you have to dress like them to go to heaven. Yet, the Amish dress code is more than a matter of dressing modestly: it is a way of preserving their cultural identity

The Anabaptist Spectrum

The Amish cannot be pigeon-holed into one stereotype. There are many different types of Amish, Mennonite, and other Anabaptist groups. The Amish refer to themselves and other groups as "lower" or "higher". This is not a caste system, however. Lower and higher do not reference whether someone is better or worse. It is more of a conservative/liberal type of spectrum--a backward/forward type of progression.

I am not Amish, or any other type of Anabaptist. When I write about the Amish I am acquainted with, I tell what has been related to me by the Amish, and what I see. The following table represents the many variations I see among the Amish people. I will share what I have seen and what I know to be true.

Ask questions if you like. I will do my best to answer them.

	CITIZENSHIP Taxes Voting Retirement	HEALTHCARE Childhood Vaccinations Insurance
FAMILY Children Elderly		DRESS CODE Style of Women's  Head Coverings Style of Men's Hat Men's Hair Cut Men's Beard Baby Dress
HORSE Bridle Type	CHURCH Home Church Church Building Frequency of services Church Government Membership Salvation Evangelism	BUGGY Wheel Type - Metal Wood Rear View Mirrors Headlights Taillights Reflective Tape Safety Triangle Lanterns