God himself is the giver. The Spirit gave God’s fiery brand into the Son’s hand. The torch of wrath became the giver of life. The glowing heat of judgment has gushed forth into the fire of life. It lives in the light of love which liberates and gathers us.
- Eberhard Arnold
- Eberhard Arnold, November 1918 From an EssayWhen poets describe their experience of the powers that move in their inmost hearts, then they speak about longing. If we allow only a few rays of hope from the poets to work upon us, we will be deeply moved by the indissoluble connection between mankind and longing. Even the smallest selection of the poetic outpouring of human longing will confront us with their deepest content: the longing for God and for unity with God. At the deepest level, they have recognized that the essence of all longing is the cry of the soul to God.
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The reality of repentance and of our smallness is effective only if one takes the smallness for granted. As long as that which moves us is not God and His kingdom but instead “my” heart, “my” inadequacy, “my” remorse and “my” repentance, the whole thing is and remains a completely heathen idolatry.
- Eberhard Arnold
Like the water of the mountains, the Spirit of the heights seeks the lowest place. He strives downwards. His Church bears the lowly and childlike spirit which alone is of God. She is with Mary in the stable. The Church comes into being with Christ on the gallows. She goes the way of apostolic poverty. With her one mind and one heart, she honors no one but God in Christ Jesus.
- Eberhard Arnold