Mennonites

Downtown today, I saw a whole bunch of Mennonites singing on the steps of City Hall. I took a bunch of videos with my iPwn 3G S.

It was a very interesting experience. Beautiful, in some ways. Standing by the curb, filming with the iPhone, with the sounds of pious and beautiful religious music in front of me and reggaeton, car horns, and motorcycles flashing behind me, it sort of epitomized the struggle to remain religious in a world that moves as fast as ours. Historically, religion has been a slow-moving concept; it begs contemplation, thoroughness, and reverence. Nowadays, it’s hard to maintain those things. It’s possible, but it’s hard. I liked that these people had the nerve and the interest to sing in that context. And it’s not like they were isolated. They were definitely old fashioned; the men wearing collared long-sleeved shirts, belts, dress pants, and the women wearing ankle-length, long-sleeved dresses and hair coverings, but they weren’t naive. One man came up to me afterwards, and introduced me to his five children, and commented on my iPhone. Then he asked me if I “knew the Lord”. I told him I did, and that I was Jewish, and he was very pleased. There was this sense of genuine excitement at appealing to someone else’s faith. He liked that a Jew appreciated their Christ-oriented music, and I liked that they wanted to sing it for me. He told me about their congregation, which is in Russell, and I think I’m going to try to go to some services. They sound very interesting. The congregation sings in this area often during the summer, so I will try to see them again. I loved hearing them sing, and I want to talk more religion with them. I don’t know all that much about Mennonites, and they seem like very interesting people.