The president of the US National Clergy Council and founder of the Faith and Action ministry, the Rev Rob Schenck, has reflected on the lessons he learned from the Amish community of Nickel Mines when he visited them last week in the aftermath of the horrific school shootings tragedy.

Rev Schenck was privileged to be one of the few non-Amish welcomed into the very private Amish mourning rituals for the five slain school girls in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

The private and pacifist Amish rarely let outsiders take such close steps into their most intimate moments. What was even more touching to Schenck was that this was a time of such personal grief, when they were suffering the unspeakable loss of their children to a most brutal act of violence.

But something else that struck the heart of Rev Schenck was the humility of the Amish in the face of such a tragedy.

One "preacher" told him: "You English (their term for the non-Amish) sometimes think we're perfect; we're not. We've got all the problems you have, and we have bad people, too. It could have been an Amish that did this."

Rev Schenck was invited right into the most intimate moments of grief, just days after the tragedy, as he visited the victims' homes, sat on the mourning benches and talked with the families about the details of the day.

He was even able to watch as one mother cared for her daughter's damaged body.

"I was struck by how prepared they were for this. Not simply in a technical sense, but in a deeply spiritual, philosophical and moral sense. The Amish were well rehearsed for this tragedy," said Rev Schenck.

The Amish centre their strict lives on an interpretation of the words of Jesus that requires not only faith and understanding but action. This is nowhere more evident than in the importance they place on Jesus' teachings on forgiveness and Matthew 5:38 - 39.

"The Amish know this commitment leaves them vulnerable to precisely the kind of harm that befell their children on October 2, 2006. So, they have used their historic silence and cloistered existence as a shield against a hostile outside world. Sadly, that shield proved ineffective against a threat as close as a neighbourhood milk truck driver.

But still, even such a tragic and horrifically violent act on their own children has not shaken their faith in Jesus' command.

Rev Schenck remarked on a scene he would "never forget", when a grandfather stood at the foot of his own murdered granddaughter's coffin and said, "It is important to teach our children not to think evil of the man who did this."

The National Clergy Council president said: "It was a remarkable act of generosity."

This generosity had already been expressed earlier when Amish emissaries went to the killer's family offering complete forgiveness and an invitation to the funerals.

Rev Schenck said there were three big lessons that he learned from his visit to the Amish in the aftermath of the school shootings.

"First, I learned to look for a reason to be thankful, even if it's in the very worst of circumstances," he said.

One Amish leader pointed out as he wept, "More children could have died, but they didn't; that's a reason to thank God." A family member said, "The girls could have suffered something worse than death. We thank God they didn't." A bishop said, "This has brought the community together, both within the Amish and outside. That's something to thank God for."

The second lesson Rev Schenck learned that day was the importance of faith and family as "bulwarks against evil" and the "balm for even the greatest pain and suffering".

He was deeply moved by the way the Amish family ties knitted together even more closely and the community became even more resolute in its turn to God.

"The talk was constantly of God and prayer and love. It was so pronounced it was palpable," he said. "The mother tending to her daughter as the girl lay in an open coffin, said with a teary smile to the many children around her, 'See, she's with God in heaven now.'"

The final lesson that will stay with Rev Schenck forever was his observation firsthand of the power of forgiveness.

Not only did he visit the homes of the victims, but he also visited the grieving home of the shooter Charles Roberts where he said he was able to see the "amazing principle" of forgiveness in action "in the almost supernaturally generous extension of immediate forgiveness by the victims' families; and, in the humble way the Roberts' accepted this gift".

One Amish leader explained the importance of this by saying, "God has offered us forgiveness for our sins in the work of Christ on the Cross, but we must accept that gift to enjoy it. Once we've accepted it, then we can share it in small measure with others."

Rev Schenck reflected: "Because the Roberts' accepted the gift, they can continue to share it, and this cycle of forgiveness will go on to heal this community much faster than one embroiled in hatred and vindictiveness."

(Copyright 2006 by Rob Schenck and Faith and Action ( www.faithandaction.org). Used by permission.)