And now I must tell you about the sun. The sun shines. He sends forth his beams and gives warmth. He awakens and strengthens life. Should he disappear, everything would suddenly be dead, really dead! But it is not one and the same thing whether the sun shines on a rock or on a flower. Certainly the sun has also awakened life from rocks. In hearts of stone that will not be called to life, the light of God works in a different way than in a heart that receives the light.
- Eberhard Arnold
- Eberhard Arnold, January 1920 From an EssayJustice and love demand that everyone take part in simple practical work with a spade, hatchet, or rake. Everyone should be ready to devote a few hours every day to this practical work; those who have done purely mental work till now will feel its humanizing effect especially. In this way it will be possible for each person’s unique gifts to be kindled. The light that flickers within each heart will then exhibit its once-hidden glow in scholarly research or in music, in expressive words, or in the craftsman’s art in wood, stone, or paint…such work will reveal the joy in life that is in each person. Only death knows idleness and tedium. Where there is life, the mind’s creative will remains alert and comes to expression in the service of the whole.
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Jesus paves the new way for God to enter the world. This new way seeks out darkness but does not fall prey to it. Not until now can God, in the outpouring of his Spirit, unfold his heart to humankind in full forgiveness and reconciliation.
- Eberhard Arnold, December 1890
There is a certainty in which we accept—really take—that for which we have asked. But this is possible only when the Spirit himself can fully speak within us. God speaks when we are silent. His will becomes powerful when our self-will becomes quiet. His power is evident when our weakness no longer is “strength”.
- Eberhard Arnold