For those of us who live in the midwest, these are glorious spring days, especially with some badly needed rain. Everything is greening and the bird songs are lively. My wife and I spent a couple days last week in Lanesboro MN, biking a beautiful trail that follows the Root River. I had forgotten to bring any reading material, but we did find one store that had a few books. I read a book entitled “Crossing Over” which was about a woman’s transition out of the Amish community. Lanesboro has many Amish in the area, so each day we heard the wonderful clip-clop of horses below our inn’s window. It’s a bit sureal to have a community that’s able to live as though it were still 150 years ago. A part of me admires that our culture can accomodate this, and that a group of people can remain so distinctive within it. But the book did give a glimpse at how controlling the most conservative element of the Amish (the old order) can be in order to maintain their community. I believe any religious group has elements of this – that our care of doctrine can often ride herd on our care of people’s right to question and explore the many wonderful queries that faith intrinsically entails. In this day of global interconnectedness and global challenges, we need more grace and openness to others’ wisdom, while at the same time finding inspiration within our own tradition. I am thankful for a tradition that allows that and is not suspect of differing beliefs, pieties and mores.