Earth. Community. Sacrament.

A Meeting of the Americas

Since the time of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the temple has been destroyed and raised again. The body of Christ is now the temple - a body that now encompasses the whole of the earth. 

In the Americas, we find a unique expression of Christ’s body, marked also by particular wounds. Can we, as dwellers in these lands, come to know who Christ is here (how Christ is at work here), what he has borne through our history, and together become instruments of His healing hands?

 Throughout the conference, we will delve deeply into unique expressions of the Body of Christ: the Earth, the Community, and the Sacrament. Our final full day and closing morning will weave together what has arisen and lead us out into the future with new strength and impulses for our communities.

Seed talks during the conference

1. Friday, 25 July: “The Body of Christ and the Geography of the Americas”— Paul Corman

   Text of Paul’s talk in Spanish and English

   After 4 semesters at the Stuttgart Seminar and a year and a half practicum in Berlin and Hamburg-Volksdorf, Paul was ordained on Lazarus Day, 1986 in Stuttgart.  His first sending was to Pforzheim, Germany until 1989 and then to Lima, Peru.  Since retiring in 2019, he has increased his adventures within the Christian Community and feel fortunate and grateful to have worked also in Latin America in Cali, Colombia and Santiago de Chile; in North America in NYC, Boston, Toronto, Vancouver, Chicago, San Francisco and Denver, in various communities in Germany, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and in the developing community in Manila.  These experiences have brought him much joy, meeting so many members and friends of the Christian Community around the world and learning evermore about how the Christian Community incarnates in different geographic settings, cultures, languages and folk. Before the congress in Atlanta begins, he will have spent time in the Los Angeles and Toronto communities to help out and, as the conference ends, he will fly to Hamburg to do the same there.  As long as he is able to continue with these shorter and longer visits as a "substitute" priest,  he says it certainly will never be boring!

2. Saturday, 26 July: “The Development of Christianity in South and North America”— Matthias Giles and Carlos Maranhão

   Text of Matthias’s talk in English and Spanish

   Matthias Giles was consecrated into the priesthood of the Christian Community in 2019 in Spring Valley, New York. He received a master’s degree in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School in 2014. The spiritual scientific works of Rudolf Steiner, discovered while a student at Earlham College, became a guiding force in his life and eventually led him to an encounter with the movement for religious renewal and the Act of Consecration of the Human Being. The invigorating forces of this healing medicine of the sacraments grew into an impulse to serve its working into the world and human destiny.

3. Sunday, 27 July: “The Development of The Christian Community in North and South America”— Daniel Kalinov and Manuel Del Toro

   Text of Daniel’s talk in English

   Daniel was born in Moscow, Russia. He met The Christian Community in Boston, while he was doing his Ph.D. in pure mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Shortly after this momentous meeting, it became clear to him that once he finished his Doctoral Studies he would like to attend the Seminary of the Christian Community to see if the vocation of the priest was right for him. And so, after studying in the Seminaries in Toronto and Stuttgart and doing an internship in Hannover, Germany, he was ordained in Toronto in July, 2024. He is more than happy for the opportunity to give his life and energy to serving Christ within His community, so that His Love and His Peace may be evermore present in our world.

4. Looking Toward the Future of the Body of Christ in the Americas:

   Text of Luis’s talk in Spanish and English 

   Luis González was born in the Canary Islands, where he lived most of his life. He worked mainly as a social worker in his professional life until we attended the Seminary of The Christian Community in Spring Valley, New York. He was consecrated as a priest in March 2019 and served the Sacramento Community until September 2021, when he was sent to Lima, Perú.