There is no event in the history of salvation that so expressly calls forth joy as does the experience of Christmas. Into the world of fear and worry, right into the midst of all our troubles, comes the proclamation of great joy, “Today a savior has been born to you!”

- Eberhard Arnold

The little stable in Bethlehem was the place where the love of God broke through. The mysterious men out of the East followed the Star and discovered the place of breaking-in, where the mystery of love lay in the helplessness of a human baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes in the feeding trough of an animal. They discovered the place where the love of God had broken through. That is the most important thing for every man, to discover in his own time and at his own hour the place where God’s love has broken through, and then to follow the Star that has risen for him and to remain true to the light that has fallen into his heart.

- Eberhard Arnold, 1935

The last prophet of the old time who was to precede the coming Christ was filled with the Holy Spirit when He was still unborn. His father and mother too became filled with the Holy Spirit for Him. Mary received the Spirit before Jesus’ life began. In this same way the apostolic Church, which from the beginning of its way followed Jesus, was full of the Holy Spirit. “When they had prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken, and all were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke God’s Word with joyful courage.”

- Eberhard Arnold