~I awoke
With a feeling of simply finding
The driving force present in my soul depths.
When I look within, I find a strong yearning
A powerful force living as a seed
Gestating future development
As we press on into the Autumn death…
~hag
5 October 1872 – the Birthday of Friedrich Rittelmeyer, a Protestant German minister, & theologian – friend of Rudolf Steiner – co-founder & driving force of The Christian Community.
Growing up in Frankish Schweinfurt – his father was a Lutheran minister – it was already clear to him as a child that he wanted to go into a religious profession. From 1890 Rittelmeyer studied philosophy & Protestant theology. His teacher Oswald Külpe, encouraged him to write his dissertation on Friedrich Nietzsche.
He also went on a study trip to meet theologians & socially-engaged ministers of the time, as well as members of the Moravian Church. From 1895 to 1902 he was at the Stadtvikar in Würzburg. In 1903 he took up the preachership of Heilig-Geist-Kirche in Nuremberg. There he married Julie Kerler on 5 April 1904. Rittelmeyer worked & closely collaborated with Christian Geyer, the head preacher of the Sebalduskirche, together they produced two joint volumes of sermons. Around 1910 they both led discussions with the Bavarian Church Council on a liberal interpretation of the Bible.
Also in 1910 the Nuremberg school teacher Michael Bauer enabled Rittelmeyer to have his first encounter with Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Rittelmeyer described the encounter & discussed Steiner’s personality & work in his book ‘Rudolf Steiner Enters my Life’.
In 1916 Rittelmeyer was sent to the Neue Kirche in Berlin, working as preacher there. He opposed the First World War, & with 4 other Berlin theologians signed a proclamation of peace & understanding on the occasion of Reformation Day (October 1917).
In September 1922 he established the “Movement for Religious Revival” (Christengemeinschaft) Rittelmeyer acted as its first “Erzoberlenker” or Head Priest, & from its base in Stuttgart was the leading envoy right up to his death.
~By their silence I understand their presence
I have quivered beneath the power of their hands on my head
& trembled in the void of their absence
When they turned & left me to my destiny…
~hag
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Late to the game? Still want to be part of this historic event? contact Tess Parker
For those who are longing for a deep dive: The Applied Anthroposophy Course (AAC) brings transformative online content into the alchemy of individual and group inner work. The mission is to explore the urgent issues of our time through the lens of spiritual philosophy, awakening meaning, inner reflection, and outer action.
I will be facilitating one of the Chrysalis Groups: ‘The Cycle of the Year as a Path of Initiation into the New Mysteries’ – on 10 am CT Thursday mornings starting Oct. 21, 2021
The Royal Art of community awaits your participation.
See you there ~hag
Those are some powerful lines of prose you’ve written Hazel. I’m just in the early stages of experiencing the thrill you speak of – intuiting their presence, and can relate with your “trembling” feeling – it’s such a rush of excitement when the infinite flows into my finite being. To know that one’s thoughts can be influenced by higher-than-human forces is exciting indeed. Then, as if for confirmation, I read this verse from Jeremiah this morning:
“O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. O Lord, correct me, but with justice; not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.” (vs. 23,24).
Hi Maverick,
Rudolf Steiner said that the 16 Hebrew Prophets, beginning with Isaiah, followed by Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, et al, came forth from the Lord God, and ran parallel with the advent of the Fourth Cultural Epoch, which began in 747 BC. Thus, the prophets of the Hebrew stream ran parallel with the philosophers of the Greek stream, which was all about deductive reasoning. The prophets were all about preparing for the Messiah, and the philosophers were all about preparing the sense-perceptible world for the Christ at the turning point of time.
I find this homage from the Lord God to Jeremiah very indicative of how the several Prophets were all received by the Lord as being His agents in the higher quest.
Jeremiah’s Call and Commission
1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, 2 to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
4 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you;
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
6 Then I said, “Alas, Lord God!
Behold, I do not know how to speak,
Because I am a youth.”
7 But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
Because everywhere I send you, you shall go,
And all that I command you, you shall speak.
8 “Do not be afraid of them,
For I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.
9 Then the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me,
“Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
10 “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To pluck up and to break down,
To destroy and to overthrow,
To build and to plant.”
Maverick, I have invited you into my home, and everything you have ever said is a sacred trust. This is how I feel about you. I see you as being very hard on yourself. I remember a specific conversation in which we talked about the adultress taken in sin and brought to the Christ in John, Chapter 8. You saw a different interpretation than mine when Christ drew words in the ground. I am trying to remember that. I saw it as Christ writing into the earth that He was now Lord of Karma, and you saw it as relating to Moses and the two tablets of the Decalogue.
Maybe you can help me with this.