I am Mennonite and I am contemplative. I co-direct The Hermitage, a contemplative retreat center with Mennonite ties. I know of many others who consider themselves both Mennonite and contemplative and I am sure there are many others I don’t know of.
What I am not sure of, however, is what the Mennonite contemplative conversation sounds like. I am not aware of much public discourse on what it looks like to be a contemplative Mennonite. I don’t exactly know how being Mennonite impacts being contemplative. But, surely it must.
Christian contemplative spirituality has many traditions. I’d be hard pressed to identify a Mennonite contemplative spirituality tradition. What are the practices of a contemplative Mennonite?
And so, I’d like to delve deeper and listen to this conversation. I’m less interested in proposing what contemplative Mennonite spirituality could look like, than I am in discovering what it already looks like. I’m also less interested in what historians have to say with so many words about early Anabaptist spirituality than I am in seeing how these themes are finding contemplative expression amongst Mennonites today.
Some of this little quest for understanding begins with myself, and with The Hermitage which has welcomed and formed many contemplative Mennonites. Some of this quest will likely involve hearing the reflections of others on their own contemplative Mennonite spirituality.
This has the potential to be a large quest, and I’m cautious about how far or fast I can go. The way is made by walking, so I guess I should put on some shoes.
*FYI - the image at the top is an altered image of the current “Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective”