X ~ eXcommunicate

     Knowing we would be excommunicated from the Amish church was not something we approached lightly when making the decision to leave.
    It has not been easy being cut off from family and friends.
    It has been humiliating, frustrating, irritating, and downright awful at times in the way we were treated, but not once did it make us feel like rejoining the Amish.
    As a matter of fact, it had quite the opposite affect on us. The more they shun, avoid, and treat us badly the less we ever want to be a part of that culture again.
    Do I miss the closeness of community? Yes.
    Do I miss all my growing up friends? Yes.
    Do I wish things were different. Yes.
    Am I happy that some Amish churches are no longer as strict about excommunication when someone leaves? Yes!!
    Another one of my brothers and his family recently left the Amish church. Their experience is quite different than ours was sixteen years ago. They have not been excommunicated. They can still freely visit their family, eat with them, etc. 
    Some other Amish communities will still shun them, but I'm so happy that their closest relationships remain intact. I'm so happy that they will never have that visit from the ministry to inform them that they are being handed over to Satan. I'm so happy that they won't have to experience the loss of everyone they loved.
    I am also happy that a few relationships I had thought were lost forever in my own life have been somewhat restored.
    I am happy that it seems as if there's a shift coming in some Amish churches in the way they use excommunication and shunning.