Public confessions occur during members’ meetings or council meetings. The procedure varies somewhat by affiliation, the local ethos, and the particulars of each case.35 In some cases, leaders, offenders, and members have informal discussions about possible atonement and consequences prior to a formal meeting. Transgressions against the moral order (biblical teaching or the Ordnung) are redeemed either by a “freewill” confession initiated by the offender or by a confession requested by church leaders. Calibrated for the circumstances and severity of the offense, confession may take several forms: private or public, either seated or, for the most serious offenses, kneeling.
In a freewill confession, a member voluntarily reports a Fehla, or failure, to a minister. The infraction might be a biblical sin—for example, fornication, dishonesty, filing a lawsuit—or a violation of the Ordnung, such as owning banned technology, gambling on horse races, or appearing on television. One man agreed to speak on camera in a Swiss television documentary, thinking it would only be aired in Europe. After learning that the program would also air in his local area, he said, “I went running to my bishop to confess the moment I heard it was going to be shown on PBS.” When a wayward member confesses a failure to a church leader, the minister may offer loving counsel and close the issue in private. In more serious cases, the leader may require the offender to make a public confession to the Gmay. Freewill confessions are the least complicated because the wayward person is penitent and cooperative.
Relationships become more strained, however, when violators do not take the initiative to confess. Sometimes ordained leaders become aware of a transgression through personal observation or reports from other members. Following the guidelines of Matthew 18, the bishop typically asks the deacon and a minister to visit the offender privately. If the offense is a minor one that has drawn little attention, and if the member is contrite when confronted, the issue may be resolved privately.
Serious matters that draw public attention typically require a sitting or kneeling confession in the presence of the congregation. In the case of a sitting confession, the bishop explains what happened as the offender remains seated. The offender then responds, “I want to confess that I have failed. I want to make peace and continue in patience with God and the church and in the future to take better care.”
For the most serious offenses, the bishop asks the wayward member to come forward and kneel near the ministers in the midst of the congregation. The bishop then may present a remedy agreed upon in advance, or he may ask questions about the offense and whether the offender is sorry and willing to change. He may also give the offender time to explain his or her side of the story. After answering questions or offering explanations or both, the person leaves the room and the bishop presents the Gmay with a remedy endorsed by the ministers. A vote is taken to see if the members support the proposed remedy.
Excommunication
If the congregation affirms the proposed action, the offender is invited back to the meeting and asked, “Are you willing to take on the discipline of the church?” Depending on the circumstances, the person is then either reinstated or informed that he or she will be excommunicated for two to six weeks. Both temporary and permanent excommunications are known as the Bann (“ban” in English). As a sign of remorse, some members volunteer to be placed in the ban. Penitent offenders are eventually restored to fellowship.36
Offenders under a temporary ban attend church services and meet with the ministers for admonition during the Abrot at the beginning of worship. When they return to the service, they sit near the ministers in the center of the meeting area. As a sign of sorrow, they sit bent over, with a hand covering their face during the opening sermon. They usually do not participate in the noon meal following the worship service. This short-term exile allows persons under a temporary ban time to reflect on the seriousness of their transgression. Other members may visit them during this time to show their support and encouragement.
At the end of the temporary ban, offenders are invited to make a kneeling confession in a members’ meeting, and they are asked several questions: Do you believe the punishment was deserved? Do you sincerely ask patience from God and the church? Finally, do you promise to live more carefully with the Lord’s help as you promised at baptism?37 Sins that are confessed to the church are pardoned and are believed to be erased in the name of God. Those who acknowledge their sin and promise to cooperate with the church are reinstated. The bishop offers them his hand as a sign of their restored fellowship, raises them up from their knees, and gives them a kiss of peace. (In the case of women, the bishop’s wife gives the kiss.) The meeting, which concludes with some fitting words of comfort, can be a moment of catharsis and healing in the life of the church.
One young couple, married for several years, asked to be placed in the ban because of guilt about their premarital behavior. Another member described the experience this way: “They asked to be expelled, and so there was this six-week period of repentance. When they were reinstated … everybody felt that this couple really wanted to … let the church know that they were sorry for what they had done and wanted to lead a better life. Everybody felt so good about it. It was really a healthy thing for the church. It was really a good feeling.”
Church leaders confide that stubbornness or rebellious attitudes are more often the cause for discipline than transgression of a rule. For the headstrong who will not submit to the church, the temporary excommunication may lead to full excommunication. Errant members are invited to come to church. “But if they don’t come,” explains a member, “then the church, you might say, ‘subpoenas’ them; they must be there in two weeks, and if they don’t come then they lose their membership.” This places the burden of responsibility on the offender. Wayward souls who are unwilling to confess their transgressions or who deliberately leave the church are excommunicated.
Membership is terminated by a vote (Rat) of the congregation. The bishop says, “In the name of the Lord and the church, peace and fellowship was extended to you and also in the name of the Lord and the church, it is now renounced.” In most cases, unrepentant ex-members remain in the ban for the rest of their lives and may be subject as well to Meidung, or shunning, which we explain in chapter 10. Those who later confess their transgression can be restored to full membership. Although few former members return to the fold, some have been reinstated even after twenty or more years in exile.
Forgiveness and Restoration
Leaders have considerable freedom to improvise with most disciplinary cases. They seek solutions that maintain harmony and preserve the integrity of the Ordnung as well as the authority of leadership. Bishops frequently remind the Gmay that an honorable outcome requires humility, respect, and submission by everyone.
Offenders who are contrite are quickly forgiven and reinstated into the fellowship. The obstinate who challenge the authority of leaders, however, will feel the harsh judgment of the church. A petty, tit-for-tat syndrome sometimes sours the confessional process. In one case, a member pressed for action against a bishop’s son who was attending movies and flaunting his car. In due time, the bishop brought revenge by threatening to excommunicate the member for installing a telephone in his barn. The spirit of the process depends on the leadership style of the bishop and the attitude of the out-of-order member.
In general, older bishops counsel leaders to “work with your people” through gentle persuasion. At their ordination, ministers are admonished to handle problems with love and kindness. This discipline process usually involves gradual discernment unless a member deliberately wants to leave the church and, for example, abruptly buys a car, stops attending services, or files for divorce. Such actions will, of course, accelerate the separation process.
Confession in front of the gathered body ritualizes the value of obedience and submission to God and the Gmay. It subverts individualism and heralds the virtues of Gelassenheit. This ritual’s cathartic value is that it offers healing, spiritual reunion, and
a oneness with the community and the divine that transcends the self. This church-based system of justice restores repentant offenders and offers a healthy process for healing. These rituals, however, are often not adequate to address addictive behaviors tied to alcohol, sex, or domestic abuse. Offenders with serious psychological disorders may sincerely confess again and again to behaviors that the church is not equipped to handle. When this happens, leaders or Amish friends may encourage the offender to find professional treatment, or outside authorities may intervene with results that are disruptive to the community and painful to all involved.38
These rituals of worship, ordination, and discipline have successfully withstood the changes and innovations that transformed the larger Christian world in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In short, these religious rites show little if any accommodation to or acceptance of outside cultural influences. Such practices, invisible to the public eye, comprise the heart of Amish spirituality as divine presence touches earth, binding decisions are ratified in heaven, the penitent confess on bended knees, and the congregation sings ancient songs of praise.
CHAPTER 6
THE AMISH WAY
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In the summer of 2010, an Amish community in Ohio was shocked to learn that Monroe Beachy, an Amish investment manager, had filed for bankruptcy after losing $17 million placed in his confidence by some 2,700 investors, most of whom were Amish. Upset that he had violated church teaching by filing for bankruptcy, Amish investors proposed to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court an alternative church plan to repay creditors. In their plea to the court to dismiss the bankruptcy claim, Amish leaders explained their rationale: “As a Plain Community we have historically believed that the Bible teaches we are strangers and pilgrims upon the earth (Hebrews 11:13–14), and to treat our fellowmen with integrity and respect. We file no claims in court. We are responsible to pay our debts. We purpose to live peaceably with all men, which extends to every aspect of our lives, even into our business life. … We will do all in our power to collectively pay this debt rather than file bankruptcy.”
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A Deep Taproot
The Amish response to Beachy’s bankruptcy claim represents an unusual twist in the story of investment fund failures, which usually end with irate investors scrambling to get the highest possible fraction of the reorganized assets. Instead, the Amish plan aimed to distribute the remaining funds based on biblical principles of care for the poor and needy, and it viewed investors as members of a community rather than individuals seeking amends. The plan reveals a distinctive culture, the values of which may appear inscrutable to those outside it. Speaking with us about the distinctive features of Amish life, the owner of a farm equipment company said, “You guys probably call it culture, but I just call it ‘the Amish way.’”
Every society has its own way—its particular set of values and practices that shape how people perceive and go about life. Humans are both the producers and the products of culture. We construct and reproduce our way of life, our customs and values; and the culture we create, in turn, shapes our understanding of our social and physical environment.1
Gelassenheit is the deep taproot that nourishes the Amish way. A German word that resists easy translation, it roughly means “calmness, acceptance, and yieldedness.”2 In everyday conversation, Amish people more often use a different expression. “We say geh lessa all the time,” explains one father. “It means to let go, quit trying to figure it out, let it alone.” In brief, Gelassenheit is the Amish version of “let it be”: stop trying to change things and accept life for what it is. This master disposition, deeply bred into the Amish soul, governs perceptions, emotions, behavior, organizational structure, and even aspects of architecture.3 Gelassenheit is the seed from which the other cultural values that we examine in this chapter—obedience, humility, plainness, and joy in everyday routines—grow.
As we noted in chapter 4, in the spiritual realm Gelassenheit signals yieldedness to God’s will. Paul Kline, a deacon and retired lumberyard owner, summarizes the sweeping implications of Gelassenheit this way:4
• Yieldedness, resignation, inner surrender, obedience, and overcoming selfishness;
• Willingness to reject force and manipulation, to suffer, to surrender self-will and arrogant self-assertiveness;
• Expressing humility, plain dress, a plain lifestyle, and obedience to the Ordnung.
In practical terms, the submissive posture of Gelassenheit discourages higher education, abstract thinking, competition, and scientific pursuits. The yielded person submits to the authority of God-ordained leaders, respects the wisdom of tradition, and washes the feet of others in a sacred rite of humility.
Although self-surrender seems repressive to modern people, the Amish believe that those who forego personal advancement for the sake of family and community make a redemptive sacrifice that honors God and transforms the church into the body of Christ. “The yielding and submitting is at the core of our faith and relationship with God,” said one member.
FIGURE 6.1. Five Dimensions of Gelassenheit
Etched into Amish consciousness, Gelassenheit penetrates Amish life from body language to social organization, from personal speech to ethnic symbolism, as shown in figure 6.1. How one smiles, laughs, shakes hands, removes one’s hat, and drives one’s horse signal Gelassenheit or its absence. A boisterous laugh and a quick retort betray a cocky spirit. Personal features on public display—a dress that is too bright or too short, a hat with a turned-up brim, stockings in a too-thin material, prayer caps loosely tied or even untied, sleeves rolled up—can signal a celebration of the individual spirit rather than a yielding to the community. An aggressive handshake and a curt greeting disclose an assertive self that does not befit Gelassenheit. Rather, a gentle chuckle or hesitation before a response embodies a spirit of humility. Likewise, a slow and thoughtful answer, deference to another’s idea, and simple silence are signs of the Amish way.
Gelassenheit transforms personal interests and individual energies into cultural capital that benefits the entire church-community. The cultural grammar of Gelassenheit blends submission to God’s will, personal meekness, and small-scale organization. The meek spirit of Gelassenheit unfolds as individuals yield to higher authorities: the will of God, church, elders, parents, community, and tradition.
Taming the Big “I”
Gelassenheit stands in sharp contrast to the bold, assertive individualism of mainstream culture. This core value of the Amish way collides with modernity’s penchant for individual achievement. While modern culture cultivates self-determination and personal fulfillment, Gelassenheit breeds a subdued person who discovers fulfillment in the service of community. But rather than pitting the individual against the community, the Amish see the primary opposition as between two social systems: the church, which calls for self-denial, and the world, which exalts the individual.
In a collective society, maintaining harmony and cooperation requires the taming of egos. In an essay entitled “The Big ‘I,’” an Amish author insists that “today everyone chooses the lifestyle which best suits his own tastes, and it’s no one else’s business. Rather, the idea is to live and let live. You let me go and I’ll let you go, [and it] brings the opposite of true submission, it brings rebellion, greed, and pride.”5
Two Pennsylvania Dutch words, uffgewwe (to give up) and unnergewwe (to give under), capture the relationship between individuals and community. Adults are asked to “give up” things and to “give themselves under” the authority of the church. One member explained, “To give yourself under the church means to yield, to submit.” Baptismal candidates sit in a bent posture with their hands covering their faces, signifying their willingness to “give up” self-will and to “give themselves under” the authority of the church. One member, writing to a person facing excommunication, said, “My heart just bleeds for you, all cause you cannot give yourself up to church rules and those set above you in the church by God.”6
It would be easy to conclude that losing one’s self in Amish society is demeaning or dehumanizing. But bending to the call of community does not necessarily smother individual expression. Within cultural boundaries, creative self-expression flourishes—from quilting patterns and embroidered handkerchiefs to colorful stickers on children’s lunch pails, from gardening to hobbies, from farming to crafts. As in other societies, Amish personality styles, preferences, and habits vary. An Amish father explained it this way: “The idea that Amish people give up freedom of choice and let the community make them all the same is a myth. Granted, Amish life has a strong communal dimension, but this doesn’t mean individuality necessarily withers away for us. All it means is that we have another source of social strength and collective wisdom to help make choices for the betterment of all and ultimately for the good of self.”9
He then offered examples of choices he had made that were not dictated by the church. “Choice of jobs is something we make from time to time. When I made the choice to go ask Sweet Nancy for a date and she said yes, we made a consequential and very rewarding choice, for it led to the choice of marriage and beginning a family—something I would not trade for any amount of wealth or status. Buying a home was a major choice. How big, how many acres, what price range? Do we buy acreage and build, or do we buy an existing house? Do we buy at public auction or private? And so on. I could go on and on about a myriad of banal choices we make on a daily basis, like Pepsi or Coke, vanilla or butter pecan, boxers or briefs. You get the idea.”
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