© 1989 Ann Bendall
© 1989 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
| Towards Specialization | Vol 10 No 6 Nov 1989 — Index | The Star Of Bethlehem Foretold In The Urantia Book? |
The timing, weatherwise, was perfect — although the local community were hoping for well-overdue rain — but for us, attendees of the conference, the Sunshine Coast turned on its namesake.
The venue, Halse Lodge, a beautiful old heritage-protected Queenslander, is set only a few minutes walk from the beach, pub, shops and rainforest walks. The atmosphere was relaxed and homely. We were blessed with the Conference Room at Halse Lodge being available for our sole usage for the duration of our stay. The adjoining kitchen area enabled us to have beverages as we desired, which increased the homely effect.
Despite interstate travelling problems associated with the Air Strike, we had 31 attendees who started arriving from 12 o’clock onwards on Thursday 5th October.
The conference officially convened at 4 pm on Thursday with Ken Glasziou giving a talk on the Paris International Meeting which he and his wife Betty attended in August, 1989.
This was followed by an introduction to Friday’s workshop by Neil Francey, explaining the format, and our aspirations in respect of outcomes from the groups’ endeavours.
Dinner at Halse Lodge was at 7 pm with entertainment thereafter by way of videos on The URANTIA Book, followed by socializing . We were very pleased to have Richard Keeler, one of the Trustees of the URANTIA Foundation, attend, who naturally was bombarded with questions about the American scene.
On Friday morning, after a hymn-sing-along, we divided into five groups for the “Missing Link” workshop which was based on the following quotation -
“Let me emphatically state this eternal truth: If you, by truth co-ordination, learn to exemplify in your lives this beautiful wholeness of righteousness, your fellow men will then seek after you that they may gain what you have so acquired. The measure wherewith truth seekers are drawn to you represents the measure of your truth endowment, your righteousness. The extent to which you have to go with your message to the people is, in a way, the measure of your failure to live the whole or righteous life, the truth-co-ordinated life.” (Jesus, UB 155:1.5)
The following is a synopsis of the aims of the workshop prepared by Ken Glasziou.
The theme of the ‘Missing Link’ workshop centres around the statement from page 1726 of The URANTIA Book telling us that if we absorb the message revealed by the life of Jesus and reflect that message fully in our lives, then truth seekers will be drawn to us. The next part of the statement seems to be telling us that if we find it necessary to public1y announce the message in order to find new readers, then we can be certain that we have yet to attain that stage of spiritual growth when we start to be personal advertisements for the way of Jesus.
Many URANTIA Book readers at times express the opinion that we do not find the Book but rather that it finds us.
If we subscribe to that view, we are making a startling admission — we are really declaring, with humility of course and without realizing it, that we have been chosen to carry out a task related to this Book that has found us. Hopefully, the ‘Missing Link’ workshop will contribute in aiding us to attain our potential for further spiritual growth, and hence to fulfil more effectively, the task expected of us."
Thirty-six pages with excerpts from the Blue Book relating to Joy, Joyous, Joyful, Joyfully, Joys, had been forwarded to participants a few weeks prior to the workshop for them to peruse and note those which would have relevance to what they believed was the ‘Missing Link’.
The day produced some thought provokers and highlighted problem areas for each of us as individuals and was a wonderful group and team experience.
After dinner we had a fun night with Trevor, Kathleen and Richard playing and all of us singing along for about three hours. After fifteen minutes of music, Marijke, the manageress of Halse Lodge asked if she could join us and stayed until midnight.
Saturday consisted of presentations by myself on — The Future — What and How Far Away.
David Regal — Doing our Father’s Will in Daily Occupation. Howard Lowe — What is the Value of Meeting with Fellow Believers
Kathleen Swadling — Religion In Society.
After a quick lunch, we were transported to Noosa and spent the afternoon on a boat trip up the Everglades. Cooloola Cruises is a trip not to be missed if you come to this area. The guides were informative and had an obvious love of all God’s natural creation.
Saturday night was a Video night with most of us retiring reasonably early.
On Sunday we had presentations (Chaired by Betty Glasziou) from -
Kevin Meyrick — Book Distribution in Australia.
Madeline Noordzy — Six-0-Six Newsletter Information.
William Wentworth — Report as Area Co-ordinator and on his visits to New Zealand and Perth.
Martin Mc Burney — News from Melbourne.
And finally Richard Keeler gave us a talk on his experiences as a URANTIA Book reader for 30 years.
At 1.30 pm we had our usual picture taking with Terry Hovaghimiam, draped with six cameras, doing most of the work and then it was goodbye until next time, God willing, and back to our daily lives.
For myself, and I believe all of the group, we give thanks to God for enabling us to attend what was an encounter of humour, companionship, kindred spirit fraternizing, and growth; and pray our next meeting will be bigger and better and may we become more spiritual as a result of NOOSA '89 .
Cecilia A. Bendall, Nambour, Qld.
| Towards Specialization | Vol 10 No 6 Nov 1989 — Index | The Star Of Bethlehem Foretold In The Urantia Book? |