Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Wind
In all his joy Eberhard could not hide his disappointment that the question
of economic support had not yet been dealt with. At the torturous expense of
his health, he determined to go once more from colony to colony to gather help
for the Rhön Bruderhof ’s economic survival. The fundraising journey through
the Alberta and Manitoba communities alone took a full three months. Some
communities were very hospitable and proved generous. Others – and those not
the poorest – skirted the issue, offering good wishes but contributing very little.
Here was further evidence of the “collective egoism” that Eberhard had denounced
so passionately. Nonetheless he was able to send a few hundred dollars home to
the Rhön Bruderhof each week.
An urgent matter pressing on Eberhard’s mind during those weeks was the future
of the Rhön Bruderhof. The catalyst was a a suggestion by Josef Stahl, minister at
the Lake Byron community in South Dakota: move the Rhön Bruderhof – every
man, woman, and child – to America. Sooner or later the Lake Byron community
was intending to relocate to Alberta. This would allow the Rhön Bruderhof to take
over the lease of Lake Byron. Of course Eberhard and his community would first
have to finish the scholarly work on the Hutterian manuscripts, and the gathering
of “the zealous.” The suggestion was raised again – this time officially – when the
Rhön Bruderhof and the Hutterian Brethren were formally united in December.
Would the Rhön Bruderhof be ready to move to America if the elders decided
that they should? Eberhard answered yes without hesitation. But the elders had
appointed him as servant of the Word for Germany and had commissioned him to
the task of building up the Bruderhof there. Taking all this into account, Eberhard
wrote to Emmy in February, “I have been deeply confirmed in the conviction that
we should remain as long as we possibly can in Europe, in our Germany that is
once more struggling and suffering so severely.”
In spite of the prolonged strain of his quest for unity Eberhard never questioned
whether the prize was worth the effort. Four years later he would reflect, “The
Hutterian communities convinced me deeply that in this communal life the three
articles of the Apostles’ Creed are brought together in unity: the creative life, the
redeemed life of complete forgiveness for all sins and deviations, and the life of the
Holy Spirit coming with its goodness from the powers of the future world. This was
manifesed in the wonderful unity among them, in a way I have simply not found in
Christian circles in Europe today.” 24
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