Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Wind
with the Rhön Bruderhof. The next day Eberhard Arnold was incorporated into
the Hutterian Brethren by baptism, with the pouring over of water, according
to Hutterian pracice. Christian Waldner and Elias Walter performed the
ceremony.
Here the question may arise, why a second baptism? All the servants of the
Word essentially agreed that Eberhard’s baptism of faith by immersion was just
as valid as the baptisms performed at the Sannerz and Rhön Bruderhofs. They
simply wanted to proceed with the assurance that none of the absent servants
of the Word could dispute the new unity because of doubts on this point. After
some hesitation Eberhard accepted the pouring over of water, referring to it as a
sign of the “baptism of the Spirit, which comes from above when the Holy Spirit is
poured out, flooding, surrounding, and blowing through and through.” With him,
the entire brotherhood of the Rhön Bruderhof was received into the Hutterian
Brethren.
A few days later more than twenty servants of the Word assembled for Eberhard’s
ordination. This shows that they did not consider it necessary for him first to be
appointed to the service of the Word – he was, after all, already word leader of
the Rhön Bruderhof. What took place now was his confirmation in this task. The
official record stated:
On December 19, 1930, Eberhard Arnold was confirmed in the service of the Word
of God with the laying on of hands by the elders Christian Waldner, Elias Walter,
Johannes Kleinsasser and Johannes Entz…With this the church appoints Eberhard
Arnold to the task for Germany, to proclaim the word of God there, to gather the
zealous, and to esablish the Bruderhof near Neuhof (Fulda in Hessen-Nassau) in
proper order.
Eberhard wrote to Emmy, “It should be seen as a divine confirmation of the task
I was given for this journey that we are now the first Bruderhof to belong at the
same time to the Dariusleut, Schmiedeleut, and Lehrerleut.” Some days earlier he
had sent off a Christmas parcel with symbolic contents: traditional Hutterian
kerchiefs (most of them second-hand, to avoid import duties) for all women
and girls on the Rhön Bruderhof, a present from the women at the Elm Spring
community. Eberhard enclosed a note with these head coverings, explaining that
“by wearing the same style of dress, you will show that you love them and belong
to them.”
162