community phones

One thing I was asked not to bring to the Congregational Novitiate next week was a cell phone. I will admit it has been a bit strange not having this apparatus close by. For one thing I had to break down and buy a watch as I had used my phone as my watch for years. The idea I think is to not be distracted by constant communication during this year of prayer, study and reflection. People will still be able to call us, they will just need to use our community house phone. Perhaps that is why this story struck me in the Washington Post this morning ...

"Still Called by Faith To the Phone Booth: As Companies Cut Back, Amish and Mennonites Are Building Their Own"

It used to be that Old Order Mennonite and Amish families in St. Mary's [County, Maryland] relied on public, coin-operated pay phones. But as people migrated to cellphones, telecommunications companies took notice. On average, they remove more than 1,000 pay phones a year in Maryland, according to state records. Verizon, for example, plans to take out two pay phones along heavily-Amish Thompson Corner and Budds Creek roads in St. Mary's. ...

There are rules. Families can't post phones too close to homes, and they can't outfit them with amplified ringers that effectively would make them house phones. Some Amish don't cotton to voice mail, but Old Order Mennonites seem more accepting of the feature. For both groups, the idea is to limit forces they think will distract them from faith and family.

"The telephone, and the use of the telephone, is not something we're opposed to. We just don't want it to be the main part of our lives," said Ethan Brubacher, 31, a nephew of Elmer, who owns Quiet Valley Structures, a shed-building business in Loveville. He and 11 neighbors share a community phone booth that is screened off by a row of 20 evergreen hedges.

Which I guess is the point. My blogging and e-mail practices will also need to change a bit. They shouldn't be the main part of my life. I head to New Jersey Wednesday. I'm planning to take a blogging hiatus then to let this experience seep in. There will probably be periodic short updates, but I don't plan to return to regular blogging until October. That should give me time to pray and reflect on how to integrate blogging in to this new life in a healthy way.