Gelassenheit

Gelassenheit-An old German word, not easily translated into English. It comes from an old Anabaptist tradition meaning "yieldedness," "letting go," "total surrender," "abandonment, having all things in common," first to God, and then to the brotherhood of believers that we choose to live our lives among. The first part, seems, at times, to be easy. We all want to surrender ourselves to God, don't we? The second is more difficult. What does it mean to be surrendered to the brotherhood? And how is this in turn a surrendering to God?

Over the years Gelassenhiet among the brotherhood has been abused. In what was called the shepherding movement, individuals gave up all of their decision making process to others. Shepherds had absolute control of the lives of their sheep. This is not right, nor is it godly. To be surrendered to the brotherhood is not to give up the right to make decisions, it is to live in concensus, listening to the wisdom of others who have your best interest at heart. It means being responsible for yourself, and for and to, the brotherhood.

This is not at all an easy process. Human nature gets in the way. I want to surrender, and I want control. It is a power struggle within my own spirit. But, it doesn't mean that I always have to agree. It means that I have to be "willing" to walk the road with others, listening and sharing God's truth.

I don't always agree with my church or my pastor, but I must be committed to a covenant relationship with the brotherhood of which every member is a part. It is by gelassenheit that a true disciple is recognizable. Although learned men have suggested many possible English words to express the meaning of gelassenheit, it is in living among others that German word finds its truest meaning. The following phrases will give the reader some idea of what the early Anabaptists meant when they used the term:

self -surrender,
self-abandonment,
resignation in God’s will,
the readiness to suffer for the sake of God,
A letting go,
peace and calmness of mind.


It is all about community. A community of love and forgiveness is possible only by overcoming all selfishness. Those who unite in the same faith and who have a pure conscience before God and man form a brotherhood. Members of a brotherhood do not readily distinguish between the group and the individual. The spirit of gelassenheit welds the two together. Gelassenheit refers to an attitude that is ready to yield, abandon, or surrender personal selfish desires before God and the brotherhood.

This then is my own understanding of gelassenheit. "When we truly realize the love of God, we will be ready to give up for love’s sake even that which God has given us. " Hans Denck