All Shook Up - Ann Lee

1736–84

This book includes a number of women who were quite controversial in their times, and few were more so than Ann Lee, who led the group known as the Shakers. Born into a blacksmith’s family in England, she got no formal education growing up but worked in a textile mill. She was described as very serious minded, “not addicted to play.”

In her midtwenties, Ann joined a new sect led by the preaching team of James and Jane Wardley. Former Quakers, the Wardleys had been influenced by a prophetic group from France that emphasized the second coming of Christ. Over the years, Ann assumed some leadership in this group and also suffered with them, occasionally going to prison on charges of blasphemy or dancing on the Sabbath. The “dancing” was just the group’s active worship style; outsiders called them “Shakers.”

Their future, they believed, was in America, so Ann led a small group of Shakers to settle in New York, near Albany, starting a religious community there. In New York they found greater acceptance for their ways and beliefs. Arriving in 1774, just before the American Revolution, they took a stance of pacifist neutrality in that conflict. After the war, Lee and others took missions trips into New England to invite others into their church.

America was—and would continue to be—a nation of pioneers. This was true in religion as well as politics or geography. The country’s independent spirit led many disaffected believers to leave their churches and start new ones. The Shaker movement, with the charismatic “Mother” Ann Lee at the helm, became a magnet for many of these splinter groups. Like the mystics of old, she had visions and ecstatic utterances that sparked either loyalty or enmity in those around her. Yet the Shakers—or, officially, the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing—became part of early American culture, known for hard work and hearty worship, with haunting songs and well-crafted furniture. “Put your hands to work, and your hearts to God,” Mother Ann exhorted her people.

Despite all the controversy that Ann caused, that’s a pretty good way to live, applying hands and heart to fulfill the calling God has given us.

The prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.

2 Timothy 4:8