We are here together in a memorable moment of history. We feel how the demonic powers are storming at us from all sides to shake the Church, like autumn storms rushing through the woods. Yet all the more we feel the original power of the living tree that is Jesus Christ, this tree of life of His Church. We feel this unconquerable power about which the Shepherd of Hermas says that in the midst of winter it persists as the flourishing strength of the Church. In this wintertime we are awaiting what is to come.

- Eberhard Arnold

Without the final future that we are awaiting, the whole of Christianity would really be nothing. If only our hearts were completely gripped by this! Surely after the unbelievably horrible and alarming news we have heard, we should all stretch out our hands toward what is to come. Let us ask that at last the world may be redeemed from all the horrors, and the dawn of the new day may break, even though the darkness of judgment must precede it.

- Eberhard Arnold

Only those hearts have peace and only those people bring peace and cause peace who love the whole truth. The truth of God brings wisdom and genuineness, for it creates perfect love. Love is ultimate truth. It brings peace. Love, as the peace of God, is the bond of perfection that unites in complete surrender and common activity all that was broken and scattered.

- Eberhard Arnold