Nonviolence and Nonconformity the Mennonite Way

Colette DeDonato talks with Pastor Sheri Hostetler

In addition to being a poet, writer, and mother of a one-year-old, Sheri Hostetler is pastor at First Mennonite Church of San Francisco. Sheri has a master’s degree in theology from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and received further training in pastoral ministry at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. Before becoming a pastor and spiritual director, she worked as a journalist and editor.

Colette: Before I met you, the only Mennonite I’d known was a gay man living in San Francisco who had been raised in a conservative Mennonite community in Iowa and who’d escaped to California. Aside from hearing his recollections, the only image of Mennonites I’d had was from a little book that someone gave to me about the Amish. In it there were pictures of women and children working on a farm, wearing bonnets. “The Mennonites” was a subsection in the book that described Mennonites as less conservative Amish. Since you live in Oakland and shop at Trader Joe’s like your neighbors, are people surprised when you tell them you are a Mennonite?

Sheri: Our congregation once put together an ad for our church that tried to address the stereotype. It let people know that we don’t drive buggies or wear head coverings. So, yes, I guess we do struggle with this stereotype. Before we can get the message out about who we are, we first have to tell people who we aren’t. On the other hand, people are naturally curious about Mennonites in a way that they aren’t curious about, say, Methodists. A few of our present members first came to visit us—and ended up becoming a part of the congregation—because of that curiosity. Unless you’ve had some firsthand experience of Mennonites, there’s almost no way you’d have any other image in mind.
  There’s a wonderful photo in a little book I have about Mennonites and Amish. It shows two women at a Mennonite church conference. On the left is an Amish woman in a dark, plain dress that goes down to her ankles. Her graying hair is bound up in a bun, on top of which is a traditional head covering. To her right is a young woman wearing a short dress, with long, tanned legs, long hair, and a cigarette poised in her slender fingers.
  The one thing I would say that those two women have in common is their attachment to a verse from Romans that we still read today: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.” Mennonites and Amish alike share this distinctive belief in nonconformity, a belief that we are somehow different from the rest of the world. For the Amish, this nonconformity calls for distinctive dress and modes of transportation. For Hutterites, another Anabaptist group, it means not believing in private property, believing instead that all property is held in common by the community. Or, if you are a thoroughly modern Mennonite who wears short dresses, nonconformity might mean living fully in the world, looking for the most part like everyone else, but attempting to live by a different set of values.
  I grew up attending a conservative, traditional Mennonite Church in Ohio. To this day, that church would not have a woman as pastor. They felt they were making a big step when they called a woman to be an elder (a lay leader) a few years ago. So I never had any idea growing up that I wanted to be a pastor, or that I could be. It just wasn’t on my radar screen. It wasn’t until I became a member at First Mennonite here in San Francisco (and this is a congregation that has had a long string of female pastors) that I even began to realize that this was something I felt drawn to. I joined in the 1990s, and in 2000, the church needed a pastor and by that time I had received the additional training I needed to become one. So that’s the short story of how I became the pastor at the church.

Colette: Can you give me a brief history of the Mennonite Church?

Sheri: Mennonites were part of what’s called the Radical Reformation, which was a continuation, in a way, of the Protestant Reformation begun by Martin Luther. (Martin Luther could not stand the Mennonites. He referred to them as Schwarmer, a German word for a person driven by impulses and emotions rather than common sense.) Basically, the people who would eventually be called Mennonites came to believe that the Reformation hadn’t gone far enough. In particular, they came to believe that the church should be made up of adults who have voluntarily chosen to be a part of it. They believed that only a reasoning adult could make the decision to voluntarily follow the way of Jesus and become a member of the church.
  It was their insistence on adult baptism—and in particular re-baptizing someone who had already been baptized as an infant—that eventually gave the civic and religious authorities in the early 1500s the excuse they needed to persecute them. The authorities invoked a third-century law that decreed the death penalty for anyone who practiced re-baptism. The name “Mennonite” comes from Menno Simons, who was an early church leader. I believe it was more of a nickname, but it stuck.

Colette: How did progressive social action come into it?

Sheri: Well, the Mennonite Church has a strong history of progressive social action. Much of that stems from its pacifism. The church, from early on, decided that followers of Jesus must not take anyone’s life, based on our understanding of his teachings. That’s been a stance that historically has gotten Mennonites into a lot of trouble vis-à-vis the state, and I think it’s engendered among Mennonites a certain counterculturalism and a certain suspicion toward the state.
  So the church actively participates in peacemaking around the world, conflict resolution, counseling conscientious objectors, supporting people who choose to not to pay “war taxes”—that is, the percentage of their income tax that goes to the military. There’s a group called Christian Peacemaker Teams that has gotten quite a bit of press lately, since four CPTers were kidnapped in Iraq and one of them, Tom Fox, was killed. The Mennonite Church was one of the founders of CPT, which places peacemakers in violent situations around the world to “get in the way” of violence. They accompany people who may otherwise be killed and they document human rights abuses.
  In addition to these peacemaking activities, Mennonites have historically been involved in relief and development work around the world. I’d say most Mennonites know somebody who has given three or more years of their life to volunteer, say, in Africa, helping to develop sources of clean water or teaching in a school. There’s a strong emphasis on being of practical use to others.
  Our own congregation participates in these activities. A member of our congregation was in CPT for years, and we sponsored a Mennonite Voluntary Service Unit, a group of young people, usually just out of college, to live together in community and work at various nonprofits in the Bay Area. These young people are paid a very small stipend that covers living expenses plus $40 extra in spending money per month! So, obviously, another of the values that is emphasized within this V.S. Unit (and in the Mennonite Church) is simple living.
Living outside the lines of a consumer culture is a vital part of our belief system. “Living More with Less” is not only a dictum among Mennonites, but it’s actually the name of a series of books which describe countless ways to live more simply—to recycle, renew, or, more often, just do without.

Colette: Many organizations, including the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, look to the Mennonite conscientious objector work as a model for developing CO programs. Our executive director Maia Duerr was inspired enough by the Mennonite Central Committee’s “Ask a Vet” idea that she developed a similar one for BPF. Can you tell me a little about this CO work?

Sheri: Since Mennonites have historically embraced pacifism, they’ve been on the forefront in finding alternatives for young people who feel they can’t morally participate in war.
You can go to the Mennonite Central Committee website (www.mcc.org/co) and read about all the CO work that is being done, including the “Ask a Vet” interviews, where military veterans and conscientious objectors talk about their experiences. All of our CO work is based on “And No One Shall Make Them Afraid: A Mennonite Statement and Study on Violence,” prepared by the Joint Committee on Violence for the Mennonite Church.
The statement says that all violence is fundamentally incompatible with the teachings of Jesus Christ. Therefore, as followers of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, we must directly confront the reality of violence in and around us. Jesus asks us not to resist evil with violence and to forgive rather than to seek revenge. We want to find ways to reject all forms of violence in our relationships and endeavors, and to increase our efforts to live out the nonviolent way of Jesus.

Colette: I read that you started a magazine called Mennonot to give a voice to those in your tradition who might feel marginalized.

Sheri: Yes, it lasted for several years. I didn’t have the time to continue doing it. I started it because I felt there was no public forum in which Mennonites could be really honest about their lives.
  There were so many topics that were off-limits within the mainstream Mennonite periodicals. For instance, it would be impossible to this day to imagine a mainstream Mennonite publication printing an article by a gay or lesbian person who was out and proud of it, or a woman who had had an abortion and felt that that was an appropriate moral choice. Mennonites have traditionally emphasized adhering to the group’s norms. It’s the shadow side of our emphasis on community. We’re still figuring out how to do open and loving debate on all sorts of issues. So Mennonot was a place for self-identified “Mennonites on the margins” to have a voice.
  Despite my discomfort, I’d still rather deal with the ills associated with the shadow side of community than with the ills of individualism. In American culture, we virtually worship the autonomy of the individual, so that, at its most extreme, one is no longer a member of a beloved community but an individual consumer of religious products. You aren’t getting what you need from the church? Leave. When things get tough, go shopping for another faith community. To my thinking, Mennonites are a reminder of the other side of this. They remind us of community. They remind us that we are not only accountable to our own self-fulfillment but to the common good.

Colette: How do you see yourself in the context of the larger Christian community? In relation to the Religious Right and other more conservative Christian traditions and interpretations of the Bible?

Sheri: Mainstream Mennonites have tended to be socially progressive and theologically conservative. But having said that, there is an incredibly wide variety within the Mennonite Church. Our own congregation—and we are certainly not the only one—would identify itself as progressive in both social thought and theology. We participate in antiwar marches and debate the divinity of Jesus. But there are Mennonites back in my home congregation in Ohio who listen to Pat Robertson, believe that George Bush is a wonderful Christian, and think the Bible needs to be taken literally—whatever that means. I often wonder what keeps this incredibly disparate group of people together.

Colette: Do you or members of your congregation do any interfaith work?

Sheri: After 9/11, we participated in several interfaith events in San Francisco. Some of us were involved with the Alternatives to War Forum, which was an interfaith group that met monthly and brought in speakers who could talk about the efficacy of nonviolence.

Colette: Are most members considered culturally Mennonite? In other words, is it part of their history, just as one might be culturally Jewish? Or do you have many converts who feel oppressed by other Christian traditions and come to your church for refuge?

Sheri: Our congregation is equal parts people who would identify as culturally Mennonite and people who have been drawn to Mennonite belief and practice from some other (or no) religious tradition. I’m a good example of a “cultural” Mennonite. I can trace my Amish/Mennonite ancestry, on both my mother’s and father’s side, back to about the 1600s. I grew up in a community in Ohio that was predominantly Mennonite and Amish. My father’s first language was a dialect of German called Pennsylvania Dutch.
  That said, I’m particularly proud of the fact that people who are not culturally Mennonite come to First Mennonite and feel at home there. I think we create a very safe space for people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and/or who are questioning some core Christian beliefs. It’s a safe place to be a seeker—someone who doesn’t have all the answers. A number of people at our church are refugees from more conservative denominations. But we call ourselves Christian—we ground ourselves in that tradition. We do strive to take the ethical teachings of Jesus seriously. So people without a Mennonite background (and, of course, those who have one!) tend to be very drawn to that mix of theological openness and ethical commitment.

Colette: What is the most spiritually renewing aspect of your job as a pastor?

Sheri: Having a front-row seat in people’s lives. I have the honor of being with people and talking with them about what is most important to them, about what makes them get up in the morning. And I also have the honor of being with them at key moments of their lives—when they are getting married, when someone they love has died, when they are going through their own crisis of faith and meaning. I’ve seen people hit bottom and pull themselves back up again. In short, I am witness to these dramas of despair and redemption all the time, and that’s inspiring to me. People are incredibly resilient, and have incredible spiritual imaginations. I get to hear that, see it, and participate in it. I can’t believe I get paid to do this.

Colette DeDonato is managing editor of Turning Wheel.