We love the soil because God’s spirit spoke and created the earth, and because he called it out of its uncultivated natural state so that it might be cultivated by the communal work of human beings. We love physical work – the work of muscle and hand – and we love the craftsman’s art, in which the spirit guides the hand. In the way spirit and hand work together and through each other, we see the mystery of community. God – the creative Spirit – has formed nature, and he has entrusted the earth to us, his sons and daughters, as an inheritance but also as a task: our garden must become his garden, and our work must further his kingdom.
- Eberhard Arnold
May 08,2026
- Eberhard Arnold Meeting transcript, October 1934It is always a matter of the clashing of two opposing goals. One goal seeks the person of high position, the great person, the spiritual person, the clever person, the fine person, who because of his natural abilities exhibits a special talent in the high places of mankind. And the other goal seeks the lowly people, the suffering people, who because of their low position live in a valley; who in the high places of mankind create the low place; the humble people, those who are wrongfully enslaved, the exploited and the weak and poor, the poorest of the poor.
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In Jesus’ resurrected presence, the invisible kingdom of God has become visible reality. The word has taken shape, love has become real. Jesus showed what love meant. His word and life proved that love knows no bounds. Love halts at no barrier. It can never be silenced, no matter what circumstances make it seem impossible to practice it. Nothing is impossible for the faith that springs from the fire of love.
- Eberhard Arnold
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). There is no other perfection, only that of love. So be aware of the things that thwart this love: property and worry! Wherever possessions are heaped up while elsewhere people go hungry and cold, there is no love. So gather no wealth for yourself. Do not worry. Worriers build life on wealth just as much as the wealthy. Look at the birds and flowers, and believe in the loving God, the Father who provides everything.
- Eberhard Arnold