Mennonites and Shunning

On Mennonites and their practice of shunning...

“Salt of the Earth”

They come together in
Community raise a
Neighbour’s barn in days.

A restless horse eager to
Race home waits beside a
White clapboard country
Church.

Limestone markers stand
In a field, askew like
Wounded soldiers.
Some date back a century
And more.







Inside wrapped in their
liturgical blankets
Detached from the world
Worshippers raise their
Voices singing hymns of
Suffering and sacrifice.
Sitting upright in hard
Wooden pews built by
Grandfathers generations
Ago.

Observing the sacraments.
Praising their Lord.
Women with covered heads
Bowed,
Men with untrimmed beards
sit stoically on opposite
Sides of the
Divide.

Those that diverge from truth
Deviate from the path
They
Are shunned.
Kept in quiet solitude
Close
Yet Far.