© 2023 Enrique Traver
© 2023 International Urantia Association (IUA)
| Tidings — March 2023 — Content | Tidings — March 2023 — Index | Latin American Continental Conference — Mexico |
Dear Friends,
More than ever, during these times of great world tension, I feel the urgency of our services to the Father and the brotherhood. By our services, I am not referring specifically to those of the Association’s legal entity, but to what it administers.
The fact that the Urantia Association International is a global organization can give people the impression that we are an institutional organization wanting to control their lives and dictate rules of behavior instead of being a welcoming center of harmony and unity, of help, support, and friendship.
I am a dedicated fan of the definition about who we are, as stated in the first paragraph of our website. See About Us – Who We Are.
Urantia Association International is a worldwide network of ordinary people who have found an extraordinary book—The Urantia Book. Students believe that the teachings of this book have the potential to rejuvenate spirituality in the world and enhance the comfort, happiness, and well-being of every person.
That is, we are a group of people who are passionate about The Urantia Book teachings_,_ and we believe that these teachings can change the world, eventually bringing about a state of light and life. Thus, together, we decided to organize in order to accomplish a specific mission, which is:
To foster the study of The Urantia Book and to disseminate its teachings.
As a group of people who are enthusiastic and eager to change the world through this revelation, we yearn to expand our body and add new members to the group. The world is wide, with lots of challenges to overcome to successfully fulfill our mission. So, we need more enthusiasts, more talented friends for this mission.
However, our goal is not to count new members or new associates. Instead, our goal is to enthrone God in the hearts of all people, to quench the spiritual hunger and thirst of all those who seek to know God.
He [Jesus] early taught his followers that the kingdom of heaven was a spiritual experience having to do with the enthronement of God in the hearts of men. [UB 137:7.12]
If new discoverers of the revelation are enthusiastic about the teachings and want to join our organization to help enlarge the group of dedicated volunteers serving our Father, brotherhood, and revelation, they are more than welcome. And they are really needed. But our mission is truly reached when they find God.
Our work and dedication, in my view, takes on a sense of urgency in the face of the troubling changes and clashes that are taking place in the world. We cannot be sure, but perhaps these ongoing changes may be those anticipated by the Publication Mandate:
The book belongs to the era immediately to follow the conclusion of the present ideological struggle. That will be the day when men will be willing to seek truth and righteousness. When the chaos of the present confusion has passed, it will be more readily possible to formulate the cosmos of a new and improved era of human relationships. And it is for this better order of affairs on earth that the book has been made ready [emphasis added]
So, the book is there! What about us? Are we ready? Is this anticipated era approaching us? Could the current situation of the world be the ideological struggle referred to in the mandate? It may not be and perhaps we still have plenty time to be prepared, but we really don`t know. We just feel things are happening and there is no doubt that we need to be ready. The world urgently needs to seek God. We can’t miss the time! As anticipated by the publication mandate, we can`t even imagine the importance of our job towards this mission:
(You) who have dedicated (your) lives to the service of the Book and the Brotherhood can little realize the import of (your) doings. (You) will doubtless live and die without fully realizing that (you) are participating in the birth of a new age of religion on this world.
We need to be ready; we need to be prepared. _We must do what we do best—_to help others to connect to God by sharing the teachings of The Urantia Book.
To be ready, an important thing to accomplish in these turbulent times, is to achieve harmony and create a safe place for the souls who seek God. Harmony requires UNITY, a convergence point free of conflicts.
Unity and harmony are two things people around the world have been unable to reach throughout the current ideological battles. In this scenario, the most effective way to reach a convergence of the ideas is through God; it is love and it is a place where we all can speak the same language and feel the same comfort. A place where we can feel as being ONE.
You do not have to see alike or feel alike or even think alike in order spiritually to be alike. Spiritual unity is derived from the consciousness that each of you is indwelt, and increasingly dominated, by the spirit gift of the heavenly Father. Your apostolic harmony must grow out of the fact that the spirit hope of each of you is identical in origin, nature, and destiny. [UB 141:5.1]
How can the Association attract to a safe kingdom of harmony and peace all those lost and afflicted souls who may emerge from the chaos that lies ahead? How can we accept the idea of being divided among ourselves? It is time to think, to reflect on the teachings that we know so well_._ God’s kingdom has no divisions; it is not separated. It is the unity that drives us to harmony. To accomplish this, we need to focus on service and revelation. We must have a plan, a strategy that leads us to exercise coordinated and harmonious actions guided by the teachings of The Urantia Book.
Many of us are talented individuals, but we cannot dismiss the unity needed to achieve our goals. We need to be guided by a plan that outlines necessary roles to fulfill so we can concentrate our joint efforts to serve and accomplish our mission.
Much has already been done over the past 68 years. We certainly have made great progress thanks to the dedication and efforts of talented and dedicated people. But now it’s time to make course corrections.
We are presently focused on seeking unity and building a long-term plan. To do this, we need to act as a true team, where each one of us is aware of our individual responsibilities. We should assess what we are doing well, what needs to be improved, and how to help each other.
Let’s trust the path the Truth Spirit discloses, and let’s follow the guidance of our Thought Adjuster in order to walk this path. Let’s ensure we will be there “the day when men will be willing to seek truth and righteousness when the chaos of the present confusion has passed.”
Let’s do our Father’s will.
Enrique Traver
¶ References
| Tidings — March 2023 — Content | Tidings — March 2023 — Index | Latin American Continental Conference — Mexico |