Here’s a simple article from the Alberta Press giving us a look at the Amish approach to “retirement” and aging. This comes from the Prince Edward Island settlement at Dundas. It largely consists of an interview with James Kuepfer, 35, and his father Peter (as an aside, note Kuepfer is not a common name among the Amish, but it is found in Canada). The men…
While we’ve lately featured numerous videos of Amish singing, we haven’t had too many examples of church singing here. If you haven’t heard Amish church singing before, today’s clip of Amish singing Lebt Friedsam, by Ed Yoder, will give you a sense of what it is like. A song leader opens with the first notes of each line of the hymn. The congregation then joins…
Marlene Miller joined the Amish at age 23, married and had ten children. She wrote about her life experience in Grace Called Me Home, later republished as Called to Be Amish: My Journey from Head Majorette to the Old Order. I just learned yesterday that Marlene passed away Saturday from cancer, at the age of 76. Longer-time readers might recall an interview with Marlene here…
Following our NYC Amish singing post, I came across a few more nice videos of Amish singing. This one features three Amish teens from somewhere in Minnesota. The song is “The Whippoorwill Song” (aka “I Give You Freedom”), written by Alfred B. Smith in 1975 (lyrics below). You can hear quite a contrast when it’s just three singing, versus the groups of two dozen or…
We’ve lately seen photos of Amish on the beach on Staten Island, so how about Amish singing an uplifting Christian song in the NYC subway? Beautifully sung. There is some discussion in the Youtube comments over whether these are Amish, or a Mennonite or other Anabaptist church. Would you recognize this group as Amish? These people have the appearance of mainstream-to-progressive Amish, and going…
Gloria Yoder answers questions from time to time in her Amish Cook column. In her latest, she gets an interesting question from a reader: another friend and reader, Betsy, from Lebanon, Ohio…wondered if there are different levels of Amish and how we believe about our relationship with Jesus, which is so very sweet and important. Her answer: Thanks for asking Betsy, your question blessed my…
Following a reader question on the topic, several months ago I shared an example of an obituary of an Amish person. Many Amish do have their obituaries posted in general news sources, even appearing online. I came across another example today, of an Amish woman named Elizabeth Petersheim. Elizabeth passed away on Saturday. Her obituary caught my attention for several reasons. One is that it…
The latest edition of Raber’s Almanac contains additional spiritual material that I don’t recall seeing as much of in previous editions – including some Christian poems and stories. One of them caught my eye. It is a story of an encounter between two Bishops, one liberal and one more traditional. I thought this was a good story because it illustrates the tension which could exist…
A funeral director serving the Amish in Lancaster County says that Amish rarely donate organs. But the law still requires that the bodies of the deceased be held “until an organ procurement organization reviews the case and releases the body.” This hold-up frequently causes distress to Amish families who wish to proceed with traditional viewing and funeral preparations, according to Philip W. Furman. Furman’s family’s…
“You’re supposed to defend yourself if you’ve been aggressed upon.” That’s what Ora Hochstetler, now 82, says in his own defense, a half-century after his excommunication from the Amish church. He likens it to a famous battle from Scripture: “Kind of like David and Goliath. I don’t believe in just going out and boom, kill somebody, but if I’m aggressed upon, I believe in defending…