Gaming

Historical Fiction and Writing – The Rose Trilogy: The Thorn, The Judgment, The Mercy

In some historical fiction, the reader may identify specific individuals, events, and dates as the backdrop to a story. Others tell stories about a people and a time in general, rather than a specific event or person. Considered the queen of Amish romantic historical fiction, Beverly Lewis scored again with The Rose Trilogy: The Thorn, The Judgment and The Mercy. One couldn’t help but compare/contrast our lives with that of the Amish. To review this trilogy, I have chosen to do just that compare/contrast “The Plain Life and the Fancy Life.” As students progress in writing, essays expand beyond five paragraphs.

The Rose Trilogy: The Thorn, The Judgment, The Mercy

by beverly lewis

Beverly Lewis introduces us to the Amish of Pennsylvania Dutch, The People, through this trilogy and more than 80 books. Although the story of Rose Ann Kauffman begins in 1985, we can easily find ourselves in similar situations. The people of God of all times have been faced with the challenge of living in the world, but not of the world. Amish speak of this struggle as contrasting “the simple life with the elegant life.” Looking at three areas we will examine this challenge: separation from the world, courtship in this world, and discipline in the church.

Rose Ann Kauffman or Rose lived with her parents in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Her grandparents lived in one of the “Dawdi (Grandparents) Houses” on the property. More than ten years earlier, her mother had been injured when her stroller overturned and she fell into a ravine. Although she suffered constantly, she refused to let her husband take her to a specialist. Later, as part of the story, she decided to leave and regained some health and was pain free. They had chosen, as a People, to live very simply. The church leader, the district bishop, allowed the Kauffman family to have indoor bathrooms because of Emma’s injury. Generally, modern conveniences such as motorized vehicles, electricity, running water, telephones, and televisions in a home have no place in the “Easy Life.” In addition, the People dressed and combed their hair in a manner consistent with their lifestyle. Although they did not own motorized vehicles, they sometimes hired motorized vehicle drivers to get to places like hospitals and rehabilitation centers. My question: “Are these things bad in themselves or is it what they can do to a person? If these activities represent sin, in and of themselves, why the exceptions? An answer to this question: modern ‘convenience’ represents an attempt to alienate people, especially young people, from their way of life and ultimately destroy their entire community.

For an example closer to “English” lives, as the Amish call us, I graduated from high school in 1967. During high school and college I went to churches that taught against going to the movies. One of the reasons given involved not wanting to support the film industry. Now I know that they can track sales and know what kind of movies are selling. At some point I did not even watch a movie on TV, although I watched TV shows. That made no sense, but he wanted to obey the “rules”. Over the years, things have changed and preachers now use movies as illustrations in sermons. The content should guide us in what we see. We must consider whether the content takes us away from the Lord; if so, we should discontinue it. As seen in Rose’s story, the Pueblo and “English” evangelicals face the challenge of “separating themselves from the world” with gradual change. I John 2:15 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

The Amish practice of courtship stems from their idea of ​​separation from the world. In this trilogy, young men of courtship age attended the Sunday night “Cantos”. Family members would take the young ladies to “Singing” and then the young women would pair up and the young men would offer to take a young girl home. Young men of courting age must purchase a special “courtship buggy” that was unlocked to prevent inappropriate behavior. During cold Pennsylvania winters, young men would have heated bricks and blankets to help keep their girls warm as they drove through the countryside “courting” or getting to know each other. One aspect of the whole process that seemed especially interesting involved secrecy. While the parents knew that their young lady spent time with someone after the “Song” and presumably someone from one of the respected families in their community, custom required secrecy. While the young couple may agree to marry, they don’t announce it until a couple of weeks before “wedding season” in early November each year. Our protagonist, Rose, would have benefited from the guidance of her parents.

Apparently, young Amish are discussing whether to kiss on the lips before their wedding or save it for that special day. Young “English” or evangelicals have similar conversations. Parents in both groups want their children to marry believers. Probably most Amish demand more exclusivity in this area. In one of the books, Rose’s grandparents questioned the wisdom of young people who go out late at night. In a way, this surprised me because I expected that generation to be more rooted in custom. Rose’s older sister had married an “English” man and left the community for five years. Her departure from her Town began to bother her only when her husband did not think of exposing her young daughter to worldly influences. Hen (short for Hannah) took Mattie Sue to spend some time with her parents and began dressing and acting Amish. Brandon did not like this change. He was pleased that Hen’s bishop and father allowed her to stay there for a short time, but encouraged her to do what was necessary to restore her marriage. Certainly, we would see a bigger difference when contrasting how non-believers in our society would deal with these problems.

Finally, I deal with the subject of discipline in the church. In this trilogy, the first title, The Thorn, probably refers to Bishop Aaron’s adopted son. He from the beginning he rebelled without showing interest in submitting to his adoptive parents or the People. Nick and Christian, the biological son of Aaron and Barbara, never got along. At one point Christian pulled Nick out and started cutting off his ponytail, a fight ensued and Christian died at the bottom of a ravine. Nick took him back to the house and then ran away. Not getting all the information, everyone blamed Nick. Several Bishops in the area placed Bishop Aaron on suspension; they relieved him of all his ministerial functions and he could only function as a member of the People. The Judgment unfolds the story of this act of church discipline. Finally, in La Misericordia, a series of turns represent God’s mercy for his people.

In the epilogue and author’s remarks, Beverly Lewis mentions the heritage of the Amish in relation to the Anabaptists of old and the Mennonites of today. In my experience, a Baptist distinctive is the autonomy of the local church. While a local body might ask nearby churches for help, there is no hierarchy as illustrated in this story. The members of the district in question did not agree with the decision of the other bishops. In the end, the bishops lifted the suspension when the truth came out.

This compelling story reveals just how alike and how different God’s people are. Of course, if we were to compare God’s people with the world, differences would abound. Just looking at the areas of separation from the world, courtship in the world, and discipline in the church gives us a good idea of ​​these differences and similarities. May God give us wisdom to be in the world, but not of the world!