Sermon: 2nd May 21

The Birth Pangs of a New Era

Gospel Reading: John 16: 1-33

Dear Community of Christians,

The writer of the Gospel uses the image of childbirth, that when the woman is in labour and about to give birth, the woman is in pain.

We can no longer look away; humanity is in great pain in the process of giving birth to a new era. An era that carries along with it the decadence of our current society. This is a bitter realization because we are all part of this decadence. What do we carry along with us? First and foremost, our total dependence on our egoistic bourgeois comfort. Then our intellectual pride in what we have achieved. And last, but not least, our sense of freedom from all superstition or belief. A spiritual world, God, Angels, even Christ, or spirituality, all of these are considered a superstition today. This comes about through our intellectual thinking, and no one is excluded from this manner of thought.
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In the divine-spiritual plan of the world it is preordained that this ability should be received by mankind. The spiritual world frees these forces from its spiritual possession. And with this intellectual power we can now work and be free to use it. We can see what an incredible power is now in the hands of humans and the peak it has reached in the last 100 years. But this power of sharp materialistic thinking in mankind’s hands is the background for the suffering and pain of today. This suffering is a necessary step to give birth to this upcoming new age we have to achieve.

​But at the same time this intellectual capacity has also become free for other, higher pursuits. For the human being can now lift this intellect quite freely - out of free will, into the sphere of the spirit, where the light power of the angelic hierarchies’ shines. When they shine through our intellect, our thoughts become lightened, warmed and free from egoistic drives and desires. We begin to love the world and human beings in their incredible diversity and beauty, even with their dark sides. Then our whole will can be directed to serve this grandiose divine creation.
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We are moved to do everything possible to birth this new era, which we can also conceive of, as a being that will continue to develop in the service of the original creation. In this sense, this burgeoning age will not be pulled into the abyss by the dark sharp and godless intellectual forces but turn instead to higher worlds.

Rev. Ute Koenig