© 2015 Alain Cyr
© 2015 International Urantia Association (IUA)
If you were present at this event, I suspect you took great pleasure in participating. I had the opportunity of being there and I saw a lot of light pouring out from the participants. For all and any who couldn’t make it I offer this short summary.
The plenaries were much in line with the theme of the conference, “Progressing from Human to Divine”; every speaker demonstrated how they let God penetrate their daily lives. The choice of workshops, facilitated either in English or French, was abundant. For the early birds who showed up promptly in the amphitheatre, the ambiance was stirred up with the inspiring music of Rebecca Oswald. Later, the evening entertainment included various singers such as Marc Belleau and his quartet, Bob Solone and his piano session, and a wonderful group of singers from abroad whose names escape me; not to mention a couple of spontaneous jam sessions improvised in one of the halls at our disposal. Evening dancing and socializing was also at our convenience in the campus bar. A star gazing event was made possible on the warm and breezy evening which gave course to a clear sky presenting a blue moon.
We were also privileged to share ideas with many of the Trustees of Urantia Foundation. President Mo Siegel offered us a positive and encouraging picture in regard to the dissemination of The Urantia Book. A silent auction was open for everyone and it seems that over $3,000 was raised for this good cause. Thank you, Marian Hughes, for handling this project.
Most of all and in my opinion, the valued result of this experience is disclosed in the manner in which all were united in a willingness to act and move forward; to swim with the river and not just look at the flow.
It was announced that the next Urantia Association International Conference is to be held in the Netherlands in 2018. Also joint events and projects of the Association and Fellowship are in the air.
¶ Statistics on Conference Participation
Countries represented: 19; total participants: 225 (73 women, 152 men); children: 9 (aged 2 to 12. Day care assistance was provided for the young ones).
¶ Country representations:
United States 106, Canada 82, Netherlands 7, France 6, United Kingdom 4, Belgium 3, Colombia 2, Switzerland 2, Ukraine 2, Congo 1, Estonia 1, Finland 1, Germany 1, Greece 1, Haiti 1, Israel 1, Mexico 1, Péru 1, Sénégal 1, Sweden 1
On the subjective level, I can only say that this event for me was a bath in a tremendous study group that allowed me to reacquaint with old friends, fraternize with people I had been in touch with but had never met in person, meet people from diverse parts of Urantia who came to share our common ideal and especially, to learn how to love a bit more on the path to light and life.
To view the video presentations of the plenary sessions visit: https://vimeo.com/album/3537836
To view photos of the conference visit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/131017306@N03/sets/72157655409215754/
Read more about Conference Archives, Reader Activity Reports, Quebec Conference 2015.