Quiet Time

Apr 16, 2026 | by Dr. Darren M. McClellan

Dear APUMC, 

I thought I would share a reflection this morning from one of my favorite “quiet time” conversation partners, Eberhard Arnold (1883-1935). 

In 1920, determined to put into practice the teachings of Jesus, Eberhard and his wife, Emmy, left Berlin with their five young children and moved to the village of Sannerz, where they started the community that has grown into the international movement known as the Bruderhof. As I read him, Eberhard Arnold is one of those amazing Christian characters who was able to connect the dots between faith and action, belief and obedience.  

Over the last several months, I have been attempting to sit and pray through his writings on the restoration of the human conscience—that is, what we might call ‘our moral compass.’ 

His claim on this subject is that when Christ’s forgiveness sets the conscience free and floods it with his life-renewing spirit, it becomes an active force for good, giving us clarity in personal, social, and political questions and leading us to peace, joy, justice, and community. In other words, with God’s help, our moral compass can be restored!  

I am greatly encouraged by that thought. 
How about you? 

With an awareness of the increasing amount of idolatrous jargon and pseudo-religious imagery that is now appearing in the news and on the world’s stage, I appreciate Arnold’s pastoral counsel here. When I consider his own historical context, the resonance of his insight is compelling to me. It is not hard to decipher Eberhard Arnold’s work. The challenge is in determining if, where, and how it may apply to future generations. 

I welcome your thoughts on this as well: 

“From first to last, life is called to unity with God, expressed as the unity of the church, the unity created by his Spirit of Love. In this community of brotherly love, the conscience gains a strength that goes beyond the rejection of what is wicked and evil. It becomes the driving power behind joyful, constructive work. The conscience that is fettered to Christ is bound to the king and Lord of the coming order of God. Therefore, it demands and creates everywhere the one form of life that strives to correspond to the order of the kingdom of God down to the last detail. In Christ, we are concerned in all areas of life with the greatest and highest that can be entrusted to us: the eminence of God, the rulership of his heart. 

However, the apostles of this Messiah-King also know of an enfeebled state of conscience in which the conscience is influenced from another side and chained to dead objects: an idolatrous conscience, one that is bound to idols. Even a believing conscience can be critically weakened by the influence of other spirits: those that are hostile to the spirit proceeding from God. Kings, foreign dictators, and other leaders [Führer] arise to bind our conscience and lead us away from Christ. 

The conscience is always weak when it is bound by an influence different from that of Jesus Christ. It wavers and goes astray. It is wrong and its judgments. It makes demands that have every appearance of decisiveness and manliness, and yet arise out of weakness: they do not represent things as they actually are, they give no real help, they use weapons that are injurious to life, they contradict truth, and that they contradict God‘s word and the spirit of Jesus Christ; they are dead and lead to death. 

A conscience that pays allegiance to the wrong leader is bound to regress constantly against the will to life that characterizes the rulership of Christ. This fact is most painfully clear in the case of all who combine the name “Christ“ with an alien name and goal. In this futile undertaking, Christianity today, more than ever before, is deprived of the spirit of him whom it still wants to confess. The pure spirit does not allow itself to be mixed with any other spirit. His kingdom does not tolerate any rival power structure. 

What do idols in the house of God have in common? Has goodness anything to do with wickedness? Can the one join forces with the other in the same undertaking? Does light associate with darkness? When has the kingdom of God made an alliance with a state built by human power? Did Jesus ever mix other watch words with his prophetic message? How can the word of Jesus tolerate rival human commands? When has God shared his sovereignty with human rulers? Can the city of God go hand-in-hand with Babel? Can one equate Christ and Belial, God and the devil? (2 Cor. 6:14-16)… 

Surely there is a radiant light that overcomes all gloom and shadows. Faced with the rising sun, night is powerless. The spirit that gives life is victorious over the spirit of murder. No other authority can bring peace. The Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Light, sets the conscience free (Rom. 8:2). This Spirit conquers without destroying. God‘s rule takes command over the heart. The Spirit of his rulership transforms hearts and nations. The church of Jesus Christ here and now shapes an order of communal life with the same character as his future (Acts 2-4). The church’s will to unity and her spirit of love transform everything (Eph. 2:13-22). 

The conscience is at peace only when it is in perfect accord with God‘s will. In the conscience of a believing and loving person, the will to truth dwells as the spirit of Jesus. In this dark hour of world history, it is of crucial importance that this news, this answer, is carried to the four corners of the earth… 

The distress in this hour demands a supreme strength— a strength found only in the healing brought down to mortally sick humankind by God’s kingdom of life and love. This mission goes out to every nation. The task is clear. The message runs: ‘let yourselves be united! Unite in God! Unite with God!’“ (2 Cor. 5:19-20). 

—Eberhard Arnold, Inner Land, Vol.2: The Conscience, pp. 48-50, by Plough Publishing House. 

This Sunday, we will hear more of Peter’s first sermon in Acts 2. This is a Word “for every one of you” he says. It promises to be applicable!  

As always, I am glad to join whatever conversation may be on your heart or mind these days.  

I hope to see you soon.

Darren