Dear friends,

When you receive our new program, you might be astonished with how many different events you will find, in a time where common activities are not allowed. I have decided to continue our work as a spiritual and religious community, despite all the limitations. It goes without saying that each individual is free to decide whether or not to participate personally in any of the activities. My position in favour of this decision is based on two different points of view with regard to political events.

Medical problems and issues cannot be decided by politicians and certainly cannot be solved. And there has never been a public debate between the different scientists about their different view on this virus and its consequences. This debate is still missing to this day. Independently of the official media, newspapers and television, there are other sources that provide quite different information, including other figures on the disease itself. It is not possible for a clear-thinking person to simply disqualify the critical scientists as frivolous or marginal.

I hope that you will understand my decision to trust the spiritual strength of our Community, and that our inner efforts will be of help and encouragement to us all.
In this program for the end of 2020 you will be able to discover some innovations. For our great future building projects, we asked a graphic designer to develop a new logo for us. All who were involved in this process are now very thankful for this beautiful Logo. From now on, you will see this Logo regularly as we present our work to the public.

And you might discover a new name on the last page of the program. As you know the correspondent of the Christian Community in Ireland, Audrey Flynn, has taken another important task in her life. We wish her well in her future work; however, she continues to support our work in other ways. Now Brian Walsh, who was already connected with the congregation, has offered to help as the correspondent and has become a great help in many different fields of work. You might especially discover this on our website, which is now much more up to date.

Brian will also give talks on the 12 senses, which have such an important role in our life for today and for the future. Brian's reflections will certainly give us interesting insights into how we might connect with our senses.

I am also very thankful for Alan’s contribution during the Holy Nights. As we know from our own experiences that the time of the twelve Holy Nights are the most open time to connect ourselves with the spiritual world and also to receive their grace for the whole year. It seems more important than ever to give ourselves openly to this time. Of course, this is only one view of this time. The spiritual world needs also our attention. As Rudolf Steiner mentioned many times, our prayers, our intensive thinking and our offerings to this spiritual world is sustenance for its inhabitant’s. And with the help of art, music, and community endeavour these twelve special nights will come to fruition with a small concert. I am very grateful to Frolieb Tomsits and her colleague for having the courage to come to Ireland in spite of difficult external conditions. Our community life is greatly enhanced by her talent and generosity in sharing her skills.

I think that the forces of trust on the one hand, and the forces of courage on the other hand are what we need now in these circumstances. Only with these forces can we stand up to the opposing forces.

Dear Community of Christians,
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For most religious communities in the world, a dramatic church year is coming to an end. By living with the contents of the Gospel throughout the year, we have also arrived at the last book of the Gospel, the Revelation of John. Many words of Christ, and also of the parables, have comforted and strengthened us during the year. But the book of Revelation has a wider meaning. Here speaks not the incarnated Jesus Christ, but the Risen One, the angels, and the whole spiritual world speak to the people on earth. There is a very moving moment in this book when John, overwhelmed by what he has heard and seen, has spiritually received, falls down in prayer before the One who has told him everything. Then the One said: “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers, those who herald the future and those who take the words of this book into their hearts.”

This is an unalterable promise, but of course it is also linked to the hope that people will remain truly connected to the world of the angelic hierarchies, to the Lord of destiny, of whom Revelation says: “I am the first and the last, the very beginning and also the ultimate purpose of the world.”

The church year is coming to an end, but the dramatic time of now, is probably far from over. This means that we should not underestimate the spiritual dimension of the current crisis. There is a spiritual and a social demand in what we are being asked to do. And that is the test! Can we completely overcome fear? Can we overlook the fact that we are being tested? The dark powers, visible and invisible, that work behind-the-scenes, have an effective method of enforcing their intentions. Above all through fear. There are many things about which we can be fearful. But behind all the different colors of fear stands the fear of death. Or more accurately for a languishing death, when slowly all the comfort we are used to in our personal life and in our physical body is taken away from us. And this fear is also present when we act against the restrictions, a fear that we will get punished. It holds us back from acting.

Standing against this fear is our knowledge that we are embedded in the spiritual world. We know it, because we have experienced it many times in life. But now we have to make it visible in daily life, through our conscious behavior. When we step away from fear, then we can freely offer something. Important impulses for the world. These are seeds, and sprouts of potential for the future. Within every ending is planted a new beginning.

Dear Community of Christians,

In the book of Matthew, the first book of the Gospels, there is a chapter which is called Proclamation to the Pharisees. When Christ presented his apocalyptic images to them, “He said: Yes, I tell you: Before the time of this generation shall have come to an end, the first signs will appear. The heaven and the earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” And now we have heard the end of these gospels, in the Book of Revelation: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” How can we understand what was prophesized by Christ, and the prophesy belonging to our time, and to the future, found in Revelations? Which incredible dimension of change lies between these two statements? How can we understand with our daily consciousness that there will be no sun, no earth anymore? That means, all that lives, crawls, grows and flourishes will one day cease to exist. Is there a thought that can help us to understand?

When we die, our consciousness is no longer informed by what we have experienced with our earthly senses. The initiate Rudolf Steiner describes how our consciousness will not be extinguished after death. It cannot die. However, when we cross over into the life after death, we do not arrive in this world as a blank canvas. Every human being brings into this world of spirit his life experiences, his mental work, his feelings and desires, his will impulses and actions; all that has been inscribed in our life forces is with us. 

Immediately the question may arise, what kind of consequences does this have for our physical life on earth today? If we become aware that we bring everything described into the world after death, it must actually affect the spiritual world. Now it is clear, people will accomplish, in time, the transformation of heaven and earth. Admittedly, something about this idea seems too simple. Have all the dark, heavy, and evil forces, which humans bring into the world after death, simply disappeared from existence? But actually, they do exist as a reality.  This forces us to conclude that we have to convert these powers while here on earth. These powerful forces are seemingly invincible for us humans, and we might fail. But if we have the will to connect ourselves with Christs divine word, with his sacrifice of Love, we may gain strength to stand against these adversarial forces. He offers his help, for all those who accept it, for this tremendous task of transformation of evil forces. And on our journey to transform the world of matter. 
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This is already predisposed in the beginning of Christ's activity on earth. Therefore, the one who sat on the throne could say, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, both the beginning and the ultimate purpose of the world...”

Dear Community of Christians,

Not so long ago, pictures of Christian motifs were naturally found in every house. It could be an image of the Holy Family, an image of Jesus Christ or an angel. Some people prayed in front of them, for others it was only part of their decoration. But at least there was still an expression of religious feeling.  

Today when we hear of angels, their devotion towards their task, and their words, as it is mentioned in the Book of Revelation, it takes an intense personal effort to decipher the images and their words.

We know that in world, and human history there have been phases of development in which the presence of the spiritual world has been experienced very tangibly. But the dreamy knowledge of the constant presence of the spiritual world had to change. Man had to become independent. Human beings had to gain their autonomy. Today we are in the middle of this process towards achieving this independence. A general religious feeling has no place anymore in society. What we have achieved in terms of self-reliance can be seen in our enormous technical achievements. Like God, Man created with his technology a New World. But now we run the risk of feeling like Gods who have the attitude of ruling the world and we misuse the Independence of the Spiritual world.  Do the words of Revelation still have a reality for us?

“Have reverence for the divine world, the source of all revelation. The hour of the divine decision has come.”

Can we find a relationship towards those words?

A decision always means choosing; one side, or another? Now it is man who has to decide, but the spiritual world creates the conditions which will lead to the decision. Hence people have to ask themselves: Does what happens on earth have the moral weight, the moral power to serve the further development of mankind, as the Divine World powers work for it? Or does it only serve the self and its own development of power? This question applies to humanity, and to the individual destiny. The answer to this, that will be the decision.  In the world of angels there is no morality. The angels and their task are one. The morality of humans must be developed on earth, and we have to educate ourselves in this direction continuously, through the activity of our conscience.
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Our naïve child-like faith is no longer sufficient in view of the reality of the spiritual world and its entities.  The spiritual world, the angelic world asks for our commitment for the future of our human earthly world.  This can only be achieved through the development of our selflessness and love towards every small deed. This then forms the new morality and our relationship towards technology, which must always be rooted in our individual development.

Dear Community of Christians,

The writer of the book of Revelations was a living human being, initiated into the secrets of world evolution. The scope of his insights into world development included past, present and future.  The way he describes that there are people present in the spiritual world with white robes, with purified thoughts, feelings and willing impulses, is a consoling image. 

These images are recognized on a spiritual level. This recognition was also present when he described the following image: 

“all angels stood in a circle about the throne and the elders and the four living Beings, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped the divine Ground of the world”. 

How can we find help to understand such images? Let us consider if we stand as human beings in the Centre of the life-sustaining sun, in our current state of incomplete soul. It becomes immediately clear, this is impossible. 

If we really think that the sun is just an assembly of fiery material elements, we might never come to the understanding where the ideas, the intuition of human beings comes from. Are they also just airy, fiery material elements? The great works of art would have never been created if we think in this way. The fact is that behind our visible sun, the spiritual creative power - the actual fundamental conditions of life work actively. It should make us aware that today the most important inner activity is to acknowledge the presence of spirituality as reality. 
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In a next step, the presence of the spiritual and visible sun could convey to us that there is enough reason to be thankful every day.  Hiding behind the gratitude, is amazement about everything we can learn and experience.   -  In order to expand the force of amazement, - striving for knowledge must be added. Some of those amazing daily occurrences happen, but actually we are not consciously involved. Probably we were unable to recognize it, and we turn to others for what THEY think, assuming they know better, and we possibly follow guidelines which we cannot reconcile with our conscience. Conscience is a voice in our soul, it is the Christ sun in us and it is the most important spiritual skill we have, to work on our clear thinking, our emotions, our feeling and to overcome our egoistic weaknesses. Even if we are not successful in our one life, we have already begun cleaning the garment of our soul, and at the same time, we contribute a healing quality for mankind.