Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Wind
the more reverence he felt for the Gemeinde and its members. 6 With holy awe and
restraint Eberhard sought to impart this reverence to others. Towards the end of
his life this task became increasingly important to him.
attEmptS at uniting
In keeping with his expectation that the kingdom of God would spread through
small cell groups, work fellowships, and settlements across the country, Eberhard
always took a great interest in movements spiritually akin to Sannerz. He
envisioned that God’s kingdom would come into being through such community
cells, which would “quietly and without fanfare esablish living relationships” in 129
even the smallest details of life and would finally grow together organically as “the
community of members in one single body.” He was not worried that this “single
body” might be artificially tacked or glued together. When unity arose, it would
be through God’s spirit alone. The “gift of perfect unity” could only be granted
“through the Creator’s spirit of love.” 7
Once again Eberhard was not content with philosophizing. The Habertshof
offered the nearest possibility for an attempt at uniting. From the very first day in
Sannerz, Eberhard had tried to work with the Habertshof leader, Max Zink, to find
opportunities for more contact and cooperation between the two communities.
In February of 1922 the Habertshof cooperative received Eberhard’s proposal for
an “immediate, unconditional uniting.” 8 “Unconditional” meant that Eberhard
actually put his own future and that of the Sannerz community into the hands of
the Habertshof. At this point the Sannerz community was sincerely ready to move
there lock, stock, and barrel, to integrate its work with the work of the Habertshof,
and to fit in and fall in step. But the Habertshof rejected the suggestion, and the
Neuwerk crisis of late summer 1922 put an end to the question.
The next opportunity to pursue uniting came in August of 1924 after the
Weggenossen conference. Adolf and Martha Braun were with Eberhard as he
composed a letter to the “werdende Gemeinde” of Neusonnefeld. “We are sending
you the urgent request that you live and work in community with us so that, from
now on, we act in unanimity with you in our daily life and in everything else. All
questions of detail are subordinate to the profound awareness of our oneness of
heart. Unanimity will be given to us in everything,” Eberhard wrote. Once again
there were no conditions, nothing held back; for the sake of unity the Sannerz
community was willing to put everything on the line – be it a move from Sannerz to