As we enter the second century by Rev. Richard Goodall

​Seeing ourselves in the context of the whole world situation we can consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have the possibility of understanding what is actually manifesting itself in terms of its spiritual background. We are also extremely fortunate to be gifted with the possibility to participate in the renewed sacraments as the battle between light and dark forces intensifies around the world.

The immense depth and inexhaustible fullness of the Act of Consecration of Man and the epistles throughout the year are a continuous source of strength, orientation and sustenance for our thinking souls. We need to continuously strive to deepen our experience and understanding of this gift. It is to this end that the introduction to each Sunday service is held. For this possibility we are greatly indebted to Rudolf Steiner and the whole body of his spiritual scientific work. We are through these gifts able to know what we as individuals can do to have a positive influence on the outcomes of world events.

The very existence of the human being as created in the image and likeness of God and as a microcosm of the whole macrocosm continues to not only be challenged and ridiculed, but also threatened. The rapid development and deployment of Artificial Intelligence and the intention to forcefully introduce this into the human constitution has a lot to do with the acceleration of this threat.

It has become the task and responsibility of every individual to sustain and deepen their own sense of humanity in its true spiritual context. What is becoming ever more evident is that this sense of our humanity can only be sustained through a living relationship to the spiritual world (and more particularly to the Christ) and through our interest in and relationship with each other.

We have a responsibility to bring about meeting hubs and gathering opportunities in which real human interaction and conversation can be nurtured. Only so can we build the social cohesion that we all need and yearn for. Perhaps it is exactly the increasing sense of separation that will make us bring “free communities” into existence – one of our primary tasks.

We are in a critical period of history in another sense in that we have celebrated the centenary of many spiritual initiatives which were brought into existence with the help of Rudolf Steiner. As he pointed out at the time the initial impulses would be carried by their founding spiritual beings for 3 times 33⅓ years and thereafter would only continue to grow and flourish if they were taken up by individual human souls who made the impulses their own. We are at that point now and so we each have a responsibility to maintain and nurture what we have been given so that it does not become diluted and lost.

This second century of the existence of The Christian Community is a time for re-inventing ourselves individually and collectively. I think that we need to tell a new hopeful and intention-filled story about ourselves which leads us into the kind of future that we wish for ourselves and for the world. The stories we tell about our future and our essence as a community will become our reality in time.

We need to never lose sight of the fact that the main impulse of our time is the re-appearance of Christ in the etheric – in the sphere of life – and what we are experiencing globally is the backlash of the dark forces against this great cosmic occurrence and what it means for human souls. To sink into fear is to succumb to the opposition against Christ. The opposite is asked of us – that we consciously align ourselves with Christ forces daily and thereby allow Him to balance the opposing forces against each other in all of us.

We are not here to create a bubble of splendid isolation from the reality of what is happening in the world but to “unite with the world’s evolving” – which means to engage with the darkness in the world but in so doing to find Christ within this darkness. To look for and invite the light into the darkness. This is the nature of resurrection forces – they work where death forces manifest.

Two aspects of doing this are to accept all of our destiny situations with complete equanimity and to regularly find moments of inner quiet and peace in our day in which we connect with the spiritual world. To whatever extent we manage this we become a place of healing in the world. With this inner equanimity we can face the world with a healing intention.
 
There is still long way to go in building the carrying capacity of our communities. In regard to the growth of the respective community everyone in the community is called upon to play their part in being ‘brand ambassadors’ for what we bring to the world. This is a community matter and not restricted to the priests or those who hold the affairs of the community in trust alone.