Sunday Service for Young Children- Rudolf Steiner

The actions are performed by two or three celebrants. The head officiant stands in the middle. The officiant standing to the right (as seen by the community) is responsible for the Communion, i.e., the part of the service in which participants act as individuals.

The celebrant on the left is responsible for the Gospel reading. The lead celebrant has responsibility for all remaining parts. If only two celebrants are present, the lead celebrant takes the part of the missing celebrant.  All celebrants always face the same direction as the lead celebrant.

There is no liturgical garb. In all services, the parents, their substitutes, and the teachers lead in the students and then take their places at the rear of the room. Just before the service and even before the students are admitted, the lead celebrant says:

By your power, O spirit of God.
I will direct to you
The souls entrusted to me.
Your light illumines the center of my thinking. Your warmth fills the center of my compassion. Your penetrating soul power irradiates my willing body.
I make my service unto you.

Candles are lit before and after the community (including the elders) enter the room. Immediately before the first or last words of the service are heard, the seated officiants rise and place themselves before the AItar, then they return to their chairs. Only the head officiant remains standing all the time. The chairs are not used in the sacrificial ceremony.

Concerning the style of speech to be used, Steiner said: "Be hesitant at first, groping for words. Recognize when the spirit begins to flow to you and let it express itself then."

— Die Kultushandlungen der Christengemeinschaft und DIE KULTUSHANDLUNGEN IN DER FREIEN WALDORFSCHULE, pp. 99-100

I

Sunday Service for Children (This is celebrated for the children of 1st to 8th grades until Confirmation, on every possible Sunday. For Christmas and Sundays between December 25th and January 6th, the Christmas story is used.)

The candles are lit, then the parents or their substitutes and the teachers enter the room of consecration. The children enter the consecrated room in pairs. At the entrance one of the two celebrants takes a child by the hand and the ministrants together say in chorus to each child:

"You know, you are going to the service, which will raise your soul to the Spirit of the World."

Then, when all the children are gathered in front of the altar, the actual ceremony at the altar begins. The two ministrants stand to the right and left in front of the altar.

We now direct our thoughts and feelings to the spirit, to the spirit that liveth and worketh, that liveth and worketh in stone, plant and animal, that liveth and worketh in human thinking and human deed, that worketh in all activity, that moveth in all life, that leads the living into death, so that it may live anew, that leads the dead into the living, so that it may see the spirit.

(Until reaching the phrase "feeling and willing," the acting officiant stands with raised right arm pointing to the image of Christ at the altar. The fingers of the hand are not spread.)

He who is working as spirit in the universe received a body. Christ died. He became alive within the being of humanity, who gave him dwelling in their heart. May our heart turn to Him, too, it interfuses itself with his power, so that He may work in it, so that He permeates our thinking, feeling and willing.

The acting celebrant addresses the children:

My dear ones! We learn to understand the world. We learn to work in the world. The love of people to each other enlivens all work of mankind. Without love, human existence is bleak and empty. Christ is the teacher of human kindness.

All speak now [the acting ministrant may speak the single verse first]. The right hand of the acting ministrant encloses while this prayer his closed left hand. During this prayer he stands facing the church:

Let us pray.
We raise all our feelings and thinking to God's spirit.
We worship the spirit of God.
We love the spirit of God.
We will remember the spirit of God when we are alone, and also when we are with all dear folk.
Then He will be with us.

The acting ministrant now takes each child's hand or respectively he puts his hand on the child's head and says:

The spirit of God will be with you, if you seek Him.

The child answers:

I will seek Him.

Now the acting celebrant turns again towards the altar and speaks to the children with his hands to bless, both arms raised straight with outward-turned palms, the fingers spread in such a way that three groups emerge: little finger and ring finger, middle finger and index finger, and the thumb:

I call to God's Spirit, that He may be with you, if ye seek Him.
We now proclaim the Gospel ___ In the chapter and verse _____ 1 (During the reading, everyone stands.)

Gospel reading 2
Insertion (Pentecost)

We sing now...

Song 3
Addressed again to the children:

Dear children! I let you go now. But keep in good thoughts what you have heard, felt, and thought here.

(Music)
Then the children leave the hall after the books are closed and the acting celebrant retreats from the Christ image.

Footnotes

1. In the Waldorf School, this is always spoken by the main official.
2. Here originally John 1: 1-14 was always read ... Today the reading is based on the liturgical year. 
3. The acting officiant does not join the singing.
   

— Die KULTUSHANDLUNGEN DER CHRISTENGEMEINSCHAFT UND DIE KULTUSHANDLUNGEN IN DER FREIEN WALDORFSCHULE, pp. 74-76.

The Altar:

Three steps rise to the altar. On the steps, on the left and right, there are always single candle-holders.

On the altar are seven candles, with the tallest at the center. To the left and right of the candles are flowers. 

Left and right of the altar stand, facing the congregation, very low chairs with large backrests. 

The whole altar is bedecked in red. Above it hangs the portrait of Christ by Leonardo da Vinci.

— Hischam A. Hapatsch, DIE KULTUSHANDLUNGEN DER CHRISTENGEMEINSCHAFT UND
DIE KULTUSHANDLUNGEN IN DER FREIEN WALDORFSCHULE

Translation help- many thanks to Dagmar. 😊

Deutsch:

Die Sonntagshandlung für die Kinder


(Diese wird für die Kinder der 1. bis 8. Klasse bis zur Konfirmation möglichst an jedem Sonntag gefeiert, für Weihnachten und die Sonntage zwischen dem 25,12, und 6.1 gibt es statt dessen die Weihnachtshandlung.)

(Die Kerzen werden entzündet. Dann betreten die Eltern bzw. deren Stellvertreter sowie die Lehrer den Weiheraum. Die Kinder werden paarweise in den Weiheraum eingelassen. Am Eingang wird jedes Kind von einem der beiden Ministranten an der Hand genommen und zu ihm - die Ministranten sprechen dies zusammen chorweise - gesagt:)


Du weißt, du gehst zu der Handlung,
Die deine Seele erheben soll zu dem Geiste der Welt.

(Nun, wenn alle Kinder vor dem Altar versammelt sind, beginnt am Altar die eigentliche Handlung. Die beiden Ministranten stehen rechts und links vor dem Altar.)


Wir erheben jetzt die Gedanken und Empfindungen zu dem Geiste,

Zu dem Geiste, der lebet und wirket,

Der lebet und wirket in Stein, Pflanze und Tier;

Der lebet und wirket in Menschendenken und Menschentun,

Der wirket in allem Wirkenden,

Der lebet in allem Lebenden,

Der das Lebende in den Tod führt, auf daß es neu lebe,

Der das Tote ins Lebende führt, auf daß es den Geist schaue.


(Bis "...Fùhlen und Wollen" erhebt der Handelnde seinem rechten Arm in weisender Gebärde zum Christusbild über dem Altar. Die Finger der Hand werden dabei nicht gespreizt.)


In ihm nahm Leib an, der da wirket als Geist im All.

Christus starb.

Er wurde lebendig im Sein der Menschen,

Die ihm Wohnung gaben in ihrem Herzen.

Auch unser Herz wende sich zu ihm,

Es durchdringe sich mit seiner Kraft,

Auf daß er in ihm wirke,

Auf daß er durchdringe

Unser Denken, Fühlen und Wollen.


(Der Handelnde wendet sich zu den Kindern:)


Meine Lieben! Wir lernen, um die Welt zu verstehen.

Wir lernen, um in der Welt zu arbeiten.

Die Liebe der Menschen zueinander belebt alle Menschenarbeit

Ohne die Liebe wird das Menschensein öde und leer.

Christus ist der Lehrer der Menschenliebe.


(Alle sprechen nun [wobei der Handelnde die Zeilen auch einzeln vorsprechen kann]. Die rechte Hand des Handelnden umfaßt bei diesen Gebet die geschlossene Linke. Er ist während dieses Gebetes der Gemeinde zugewandt.)


Wir wollen beten.

Wir erheben all unser Empfinden und Denken zum Gottesgeiste.

Wir verehren den Gottesgeist.

Wir lieben den Gottesgeist.

Wir werden gedenken des Gottesgeistes,

Wenn wir allein sind,

Und auch, wenn wir mit Menschen zusammen sind.

Dann wird er mit uns sein.


(Der Handelnde reicht nun jedem Kind die Hand bzw. legt ihm die Hand auf den Kopf und spricht:)


Der Gottesgeist wird sein mit dir, wenn du ihn suchest.


(Das Kind antwortet:)


Ich will ihn suchen.


(Nun tritt der Handelnde wiederum zum Altar zurück und spricht zu den Kindern gewandt mit segnenden Händen. Dabei werden beide Arme mit nach außen gewendeten Handflächen gestreckt erhoben. Die Finger werden in der Art gespreizt, daß drei Gruppen entstehen: Kleiner Finger und Ringfinger, Mittelfinger und Zeigefiager und der Daumen.)


Ich rufe zum Gottesgeist,

Daß er sei bei euch, wenn ihr ihn suchet.


Es wird nun verkündet das Evangelium nach ... im ... Kapitel, Vers ... bis....1


(Während der Lesung stehen alle.)


Evangelienlesung2



Einschub (Pfingsten)



Wir singen jetzt...


Lied3


(Wieder zu den Kindern gesandt:)


Liebe Kinder! Ich entlasse euch nun,

Aber behaltet in guten Gedanken,

Was ihr hier gehört, empfunden, gedacht habt.



(Musik.)


(Dann verlassen die Kinder den Saal, nachdem die Bücher geschlossen und der Handelnde vom Christus-Bilde zurückgetreten ist.)


1In der Frein Waldorfschule wird dies immer vom Hauptoffizianten gesprochen.

2Hier is ursprünglich immer Joh 1:1-14 (vgl. S. 64) verlesen worden. Heute orientiert man sich am Kirchenjahr.

3Der Handelnde singt nich mit.

Occult Columns- Trees & Planets

When Rudolf Steiner was faced with the task of designing columns for the first Goetheanum, which was later burned down at the end of 1922, he recognized the spiritual necessity that there should be seven columns, and chose for each one a different kind of wood. Old traditions, (Celtic and Druidic lore) which associated each tree or groups of trees with a certain planet were reawakened to a new life and significance by the eye of the seer and the hand of the artist.

Jupiter & Venus columns drawn by Arild Rosenkrantz

The earth itself advances through seven conditions of evolution, which are called by the names of the seven planets, Saturn, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus-states ...

In the year 1907 Rudolf Steiner published the collection Occult SEALS & COLUMNS ...
The pictures, based on his sketches and instructions, have been drawn and re-drawn by a number of artists ...
The seven Seals and Columns decorated the Lecture Hall at the Congress of European Sections of the Theosophical Society, held in 1907 in Munich, where Rudolf Steiner and his pupils were responsible for the arrangements ...

The designs of the seven Columns were afterwards reproduced in fully plastic form in the great wooden pillars supporting the large dome of the first Goetheanum.

SUN

Thus speaks the high-reaching
Light-flooded ash.
The Tree of the golden sun.
"O Man, be upright and noble
Waste not yourself on the worthless
Be conscious of the pure nobility
of Man."

MOON

Thus speaks the silvery moon at
May time, through the flowering
Cherry Tree.
Whose blossoms in summer,
to fruit ripen.
"O Man, like the plant, transfer
the lower to the higher
Purify the passions, grow mature
And harvest the fruit of life."

MARS

Thus speaks the knotty oak,
The servant of iron Mars,
"O Man, take root in the depths
and reach for the heights,
Be mighty and strong
Be warrior, knight and protector."

MERCURY

Thus speaks the mercurial planet
Through the living growth of
The Elm,
And through her winged seeds
"O Man, be stir yourself,
Be active, lively and quick."

JUPITER

Thus speaks the broad-leafed maple
The tree of Jupiter, to whom tin
is sacred.
"O Man, overcome the haste and hurry within you.
Seek hours of quiet
Which bring goodness and wisdom
To birth."

VENUS

Thus speaks the coppery Venus
Through the virgin softness
of Birch,
Which is delicately rooted and
drinks in the light.
"O Man, work on your soul
In Tenderness,
Admire lovingly the beauty
of the world."

SATURN

Thus speaks leaden Saturn
Through the trees of
of shaded forests
The pines, the beeches and
cypresses,
"O man, feel the responsibility
for the need of your time
and of all mankind.
With inner devotion take hold
of the work that life puts
before you."

-Johannes Hemleben, Seven Trees & Seven Planets


Verses for the Days of the Week, Johannes Hemleben (another translation of the above)


Sunday:

Thus speaks the light-filled
High towering ash
Tree of the golden Sun.
'Oh man, be upright and noble.
Waste not thyself on what is unworthy;
Be mindful of thy human dignity.'


Monday:

Thus speaks the silvery Moon in May
Through the flowering cherry trees,
Whose blossoms open to fruit in summer:
'Oh man, transform like the plant
The lower into the upper; purify thy desires.
Ripen and gather the fruits of life.'

Tuesday:

Thus speaks the gnarled oak tree
Servant of iron Mars:
'Oh man, take root in the depths,
And reach to the heights.
Be stalwart and strong.
Be a fighter,
Knight and protector.'

Wednesday:

Thus speaks quicksilver Mercury
Through the living growth of the elm,
And their winged seeds:
'Oh man, bestir thyself,
Be alert
Lively and swift.'

Thursday:

Thus speaks the maple
With its wide spreading leaves, the tree of Jupiter
To whom tin is sacred:
'Oh man, overcome haste and hurry within thee.
Seek for hours of quiet
In which goodness and wisdom can be born.'

Friday:

Thus speaks the coppery Venus
Through the virginal white-shimmering birch
Which has shallow roots and drinks much light:
'Oh man, work on thy soul
With tenderness.
Marvel at the beauty of the world.'

Saturday:

Thus speaks the leaden Saturn through the trees of the dark forest:
Through fir, cypress and beech:
'Oh man, feel responsibility for the need of the times
And the whole of mankind.
Take up with fervour and earnestness the tasks
Which life has given thee.'


Rudolf Steiner to Ita Wegman:

I hold the Sun within me
As King he leads me to the world.
I hold the Moon within me.
She preserves my form.
I hold Mercury within me.
He holds Sun and Moon together.

I hold Venus within me.
Without her love all is naught.
She unites herself with Mars,
Who speaks my being in the Word.

That Jupiter may illumine the whole
With wisdom light.
And Saturn the mature
May ray within the colours of my being.

Sun and Moon columns drawn by Arild Rosenkrantz

Ways to Wake your Brain

"Contrary to what most people believe, drinking lots of coffee on a regular basis won't enhance your mental performance", Professor Rogers says.

Dr Andy Johnson, of Bournemouth University, tested the impact on afternoon drowsiness of eating sugar, sage (the herb) and chewing gum.

He lined up 24 volunteers and in the morning did some tests to measure alertness. Then, in the afternoon, our volunteers were randomly allocated to either chew gum, eat fudge, swallow a pill containing sage or a placebo.

One hour later they did some really boring tests. They repeated this process three more times over the course of the week, each time trying something different.

As expected, swallowing a placebo pill made little difference. The volunteers still felt drowsier in the afternoon. Eating fudge, if anything, made them feel slightly worse.


Chewing gum, surprisingly, improved mood, possibly because chewing seems to increases blood flow to brain. Going for a brisk walk would probably be just as effective.

In fact, the only thing in our test that really did seem to improve our volunteers' performance was the sage pills. This was not as unlikely as it might sound. There was a recent systematic review of clinical trials "assessing pharmacological properties of Salvia species on memory, cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease".

The review looked at eight studies which have tested the effects of sage on things like memory. Six of these trials involved normal subjects and two were done on people with Alzheimer's.

The researchers concluded that extracts of sage can enhance cognitive performance and it is safe, but they also caution that because so many different herbal preparations were used (extracts, essential oils, raw sage) better-designed trials are needed to establish which preparation is best.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29817519

Evening Prayer

I go into the realm of the invisible,
The weight of my earthly body,
The surging forces of my earthly life
Release their hold.

In the world into which I now enter
The watchful care of the Angels,
The loving kindness of the Archangels,
The creative power of the Spirits of the Ages
Work upon the souls of men.

My heart bears in it many thoughts of conflict
But also the thought of Christ.
May this grow in the world of sleep
Into full being
That I may receive through powers of light
His Living Peace.

Amen

-Adam Bittleston

He that Loveth Father or Mother more than Me is not Worthy of Me

Selflessness implies God. The sharing of self inspires God. It is with the love of a parent or same love of a child we can understand our relationship to God.

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

- Matthew 10:37


If father is set upon his child or child against mother as the Scripture implies (Matthew 10:34), it is because the father is no longer a true father, in God, or the daughter, a true daughter to the mother whom she is set upon. To love one another, before loving Christ, before loving God, is a self-love in likeness alone.

To love Christ firstly and embrace God before that love of person, is to greet that person in the highest esteem, permitting a love that knows both likeness and difference. If love is to be based upon likeness only, then it stands to follow that arguments will sooner or later ensue. If love is to incorporate the Heavenly grace of a greater love than is consciously understood, then we may revere the person, by firstly revering our beloved God and Christ.

Each man who comes to us as representative of Christ in goodness, who by deed or by word has been touched with his active love, is an emissary of God that we must not turn away lest we offend Him. This is so.

-B.Hive