© 2024 Mariano Pérez
© 2024 Urantia Association of Spain
In April 2004, 20 years ago, the first study group in Madrid began its journey. It was thanks to the personal push of Victor Garcia Bory, after his visit to Madrid, together with Richard Keeler to talk, among other things, about a new translation into Spanish, pending at that time.
After gathering information here and there from all the possible readers in Madrid, I got to work and, through email, by phone and even through regular mail, I contacted all the readers I could and set a date for a meeting at my house that April. Since then we continue to meet once a month, on Saturday or Sunday.
I still remember the excitement and expectation I felt when I managed to gather around a dozen people, interested in sharing the content of The Urantia Book. I knew it was the beginning of something important, something useful in our lives and that it would last over time.
Of all those who participated in that first meeting, apart from my wife Blanca, only Rafael Mondéjar remains, who accompanies us online from Colombia when he can; there was also Demetrio, who left us recently and whom we can no longer enjoy at our meetings. A few months later, Lola joined, who has since acted as secretary, since she is the one we go to when we do not remember the section where we left off at the last meeting.
Fernando Carazo also joined us in the first years, always participative and restless. In these first years we had a very laborious and involving methodology for studying the book for the person who had to prepare the document. Normally, through a PowerPoint presentation, the entire document was summarized. Then, I remember that it was at the suggestion of our dear Santiago, another reader who has been with us for a long time and who accompanies us when he can, that we moved on to another simpler method: reading the book, rotating in the reading, so as not to leave anything out, which is the risk we had with the previous method. I must say in defense of the first method that there was a greater commitment, since sooner or later, each one had to prepare and present the corresponding document.
Like all study groups, we underwent a major reconversion during the pandemic, going from the face-to-face, the close, the endearing, to the online method, more distant, colder; but this also allowed us, at the request of our tireless Javier and his wife Mar, to invite some solitary readers, mainly abroad (Ramiro, Rafa, Mayra, Pablo Morales). We have had to adapt to the new times, and now online prevails more than face-to-face, or mixed, which we have also done successfully.
Years ago, when some kind of spiritual current “touched” the minds of several people, the group grew abnormally, which encouraged me to create two groups in order to be more functional, since starting with 9 to 10 people it gets quite complicated. But, just like what happens with the foam of the cava, it deflated as quickly as it had grown. Recently, not so much because there were many, but because of trying to have flexibility in the meeting days and reading level, I tried to create a second study group, taking advantage of the interest of some new readers; but the lack of commitment prevails in the souls, in theory “seekers.” Even so, we have added two new members to the group with a lot of potential, Lucho and Silvia.
There are many people who have passed through the group, some just curious, others who for different reasons have left the group, due to a change of residence like Ginés, but we have all kept something, we have shared and learned.
What we must be clear about is that the study group is extremely important, it is the primary cell where readers can find refuge, they can share the teachings of the book and express their concerns and, why not, build a true brotherhood of children of God. In fact, when I address some of them, I simply call them “brother,” because that is how I feel.
¶ References
- Index of the magazine “Luz y Vida” of the Association of Spain
- This article from the magazine “Luz y Vida Online”