Strike with your Sickle and Reap

7th November '21

Gospel Reading: Revelations 14: 1-20

Dear Community of Christians,

The Book of Revelations tells us that the figure of the Son of Man can be seen standing on a cloud, wearing a golden crown on his head, with a sickle in his hand. With a loud voice an angel calls "Strike with your sickle and reap -- for the time of harvest has come.”

A few years ago we might have said this is certainly a dramatic picture, but it belongs to a distant future.

Today however, after two years of a global crisis, freedom of expression a thing of the past, without the right to determine what happens with our own bodies, we might look at these apocalyptic images with a different awareness.

We can no longer ignore the fact that opposing forces want to steer world development in a different direction.

The sickle in the hand of the Son of Man, Christ, is swung to reap the harvest. But with the good harvest, the chaff is also destroyed. This chaff is useless in view of developments that stand in the way of the spiritual progress of humanity.

If we as humans want to be part of the good harvest, it is important to develop spiritual thoughts and feelings during our life on earth and not to perceive them as irrelevant.

In order to avoid being manipulated by the dark forces, we can aspire to become free-thinking individuals willing to take on responsibility for our own actions and be guided by our heart-centred connection to the spirit. This mighty task can only truly be tackled out of a common Christ consciousness.

​If we direct our attention to this path, we will cultivate Christian capacities and an abundant harvest gathered by the sickle in the hand of the Son of Man.  

Rev. Ute Koenig