Jesus challenged us to work while it is still day. (John 9:4) He compared His Kingdom to labor in a vineyard, the investment of entrusted money, the good use of every talent. If God’s Kingdom is to transform this vale of tears into a place of joy, it has to be a realm of work. Work, and work alone, befits the destiny of the human spirit. By our nature as human beings we are called to a life of creativity. Healthy joy in life will be ours only through unclouded, loving fellowship in work.
- Eberhard Arnold, 1919
- 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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Our all-inclusive task is to awaken the people of Israel to the impending catastrophe, to shake out of sleep the whole of mankind before their certain overthrow, that all may be prepared for the coming Kingdom.
- Eberhard Arnold
It was Jesus who showed and brought and gave us God’s nature and power. Ever since He came, it is possible for us to pray to the Father in spirit and in truth. This spirit of truth makes us free from the impure mixing of religious practices with their human emphasis on what is outward and their idolatrous materialization. It brings us into the unified realm of the pure Church of God and of God’s unconditional rulership. This truth is the essence and reality of God’s genuine, clear word as it has gone forth from Him from the beginning.
- Eberhard Arnold