© 1995 Marvin Gawryn
© 1995 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
| Is the Science of The Urantia Book Revelatory? | Fall 1995 — Index | Spiritual Perspectives in the Workplace |
I’d like to begin sharing with you on the topic, “Ministry and Service: Our Call,” by relating a story told by a friend, Jim Davis, the associate pastor of the church we attend. You may have read in the papers last year of the outbreak of disease in India that killed many thousands of people. In the midst of those who were dying, Mother Theresa and her co-workers ministered to the needs of those who were leaving this world. Mother Theresa, in her 80’s, herself in frail health, was working day after day, 15 and 16 hours a day. A reporter who was following her around finally asked her, “How can you keep doing this?” “I have to,” she replied, “I love God, and these are God’s people.”
In the topic chosen, “Ministry and Service: Our Call,” I’d like to take a look first at the “our call” part. What does it mean to be called? Mother Theresa said, “I have to. I love God and these are God’s people.” What does she mean “I have to?”
There’s a feeling I’ve had inside, and I would guess many of you have had a similar feeling. It is a feeling of being pulled, a constant tugging at the soul. God is pulling us all the time; he doesn’t let up. Our sense of it ebbs and flows, gets more conscious and less conscious. But somewhere in our awareness, God keeps pulling us and we feel it. How does this pulling begin? I think it begins when, at some point, we hook ourselves to God.
Perhaps some of you are acquainted with “carabeeners?” They are used with ropes to do serious mountain climbing. Once they are hooked together, they are very secure. They don’t slip apart even under tremendous tension. I believe we hook ourselves to God by loving him. We attach ourselves to God securely and repeatedly each time we worship him in love. And then steadily, and increasingly, God can begin to pull us.
He pulls us in two directions; inward towards himself, and outward in service to his children. It is this constant pull outward to minister to our sisters and brothers that we have come to understand as “our call.”
He pulls us in two directions; inward towards himself, and outward in service to his children. It isthisconstantpull outward to minister to our sisters and brothers that we have come to understand as “our call.”
Each person’s calling evolves over time, and it is as unique as the person who feels called. Our Father knows our special qualities, and he inspires us accordingly. We vary greatly in temperament and experience. If we love God and follow his call, he will lead us to those particular service paths which excite our higher passions. When we feel deeply called, there’s a sense of right-fit between what is needed in a situation, and what we can offer to fill that need. So, not only do we feel “I have to;” at some deep level we also feel, that with God’s help, “I can.”
The wellspring of our sense of calling flows not only from our love for God; it also taps down to a core sense of duty. When we realize how much the Father gives us in every single moment, we feel we should give back. We want to do something to balance the equation. Giving ourselves in service deeply satisfies this urge to fulfill our duty. We can make our contribution to the cosmic balance. It becomes our great joy, our great satisfaction, to give back to God by ministering to his children. As the authors of The Urantia Book observe: “This is the birth of cosmic morality and the dawning realization of universal duty.” (UB 110:3.10)
For me the word, ministry, has become associated with the conveying of truth to a hungry soul, in all of the many ways it can be conveyed. For me the word, service, is the broader term that connotes doing good for another in all different kinds of ways.
Before talking about specific arenas of service, I should like to talk about two distinctions that have been very important to me as I have thought about this topic. The first distinction is loosely tied to the two words: ministry and service. For me the word, ministry, has become associated with the conveying of truth to a hungry soul, in all of the many ways it can be conveyed. For me the word, service, is the broader term that connotes doing good for another in all different kinds of ways.
This distinction was quite clear and important to Jesus. In describing his personal ministry on UB 132:4.2, the authors of The Urantia Book say he listened sympathetically, offered practical suggestions, and spoke words of comfort and consolation. In addition, however, “invariably would he tell these distressed mortals about the love of God and impart the information, by various and sundry methods, that they were children of this loving Father in Heaven.” On UB 178:1.11, talking to fifty of his followers, Jesus makes the distinction quite explicit. “Let all mankind benefit from the overflow of your loving spiritual ministry, enlightening intellectual communion, and uplifting social service; but none of these humanitarian labors, nor all of them, should be permitted to take the place of proclaiming the gospel.”
And on UB 132:6.1, after Jesus and Ganid returned a lost child to his mother in Rome, Jesus said, “You know Ganid, most human beings are like the lost child… Did we not supremely enjoy this ministry of restoring the child to his mother? So do those who lead men to God experience the supreme satisfaction of human service.” So the highest form of service, the indispensable service that Jesus always included, in various and sundry ways, was the ministry of sharing the essential soul-saving truths of the gospel.
A second distinction that’s been important to me is between two of the ways of sharing spiritual truth that we have available to us. First, is sharing the Bible or The Urantia Book themselves, and second is sharing, in their simpler form, our own best understanding of Jesus’ main teachings.
Unfortunately, at times, we have fallen into the trap of thinking one or the other of these approaches is the “right”or “best” one. As usual, Jesus’ piercing insight can correct our misunderstanding. On UB 133:4.2 he says to the miller in Corinth, “Give the milk of truth to those who are babes in spiritual perception. In your living and loving ministry serve spiritual food in attractive form and suited to the capacity of receptivity of each of your inquirers.” Serving spiritual food in a form that is attractive and suitable to the needs of our different inquirers is an art form which combines skill, intuition, and a cookbook with more than one recipe.
The Urantia Book was designed to respond to the sophisticated spiritual quest of the many modern men and women whose needs remain unmet by the current evolutionary forms of religion. The book presents a universe view, a theology, and a narrative of global history that deeply satisfies and reorients the modern mind, and stretches it to the very edges of its current capacity. Two of its most innovative theological contributions are an incredibly detailed description of the eternal life which sets this first life in a soul-satisfying context, and more than fifty pages devoted exclusively to revealing the Father’s most astounding gift to each one of us — his indwelling presence. For many people who are searching beyond contemporary religious sources,The Urantia Book may well satisfy them in their search for truth.
Most of us have discovered however, that, for many other people, the book itself is just too unconventional, even indigestible. And yet, another unique feature of The Urantia Book is that it also equips us to minister in special ways to the more basic needs of these hungry souls as well.
Most of us have discovered however, that, for many other people, the book itself is just too unconventional, even indigestible. And yet, another unique feature of The Urantia Book is that it also equips us to minister in special ways to the more basic needs of these hungry souls as well.
We have a replete, clear restatement of Jesus’ life and his original teachings. The authors of The Urantia Book state that each of the apostles taught their own version of the gospel, and that Jesus honored the variety and originality of their teachings.
I think that one of the most important things those of us who feel called to minister can do is similarly to develop our own understanding of this modern restatement of Jesus’ teachings, so we can express them clearly in our own ways, and serve spiritual food suited to the capacity of each of our inquirers. For we can only show another what we ourselves have clearly seen.
For me, the gospel centers on the miracle of the nurturing, guiding parent-child relationship we have with God. Our Father’s Spirit fragment resides at the very center of each of our personalities; it is an incredibly intimate kind of companionship we share with God, available in every moment. And there is guidance and direction in this miraculous relationship; we can discern God’s will and as we follow it, we grow spiritually, becoming more like God. This core of inner family relationship can eventually come to pattern our outer relationships. The joy of inner love overflows naturally in service to sisters and brothers around us; our sense of the family grows larger.
For me, the gospel centers on the miracle of the nurturing, guiding parent-child relationship we have with God. Our Father’s Spirit fragment resides at the very center of each of our personalities; it is an incredibly intimate kind of companionship we share with God, available in every moment.
And this astounding gift of childhood in God’s family never has to end. We are offered an eternal life filled with spiritual adventure, new worlds on which to serve, and character growth all the way to Paradise! And what is the price of entry to this grand universe family? Simple faith. All we have to do is open our hearts in childlike trust, and receive the gift our Father so much wants to give us, simply receive the gift of a life shared with him.
In thinking about ministry and service, it’s been very helpful for me to look at four different contexts or different arenas in which we can serve. Each of these service arenas can also be conceived of as a family, in a sense a sub-family within the Father’s larger universe family. I’d like to spend some time now looking at how we can minister in each of these service families.
The first, the global family, is the largest. Our primary calling in this arena is to reach out to those lost souls who have not yet found their way home, who have not yet discovered a living relationship with God. They are everywhere around us, spiritual orphans, wandering around in the confusion and pain of their self-conceived isolation.
We must open ourselves to feel their need. Jesus was constantly scanning for them. Look closely at his trip to Rome: the young man who was afraid, the two women of the night, the mistress at the inn, the Chinese merchant, the runaway lad, and the criminal condemned to die. He felt their need, and he made bold to approach and engage them in conversation. Of course he was a little unconventional; he took some social risks. He could have been rejected; but he rarely was. His love of those he served opened the way for him to touch their souls. We too must learn to love like that. We too, at times, must take risks, act a little unconventionally, if we are to touch the hungry souls of our fellows.
They are all around us. People in crisis, people with so much on their minds. We find them at work and among our various acquaintances, at the lunch counter next to us. You want to know how to start? Read the section on “Personal Ministry,” p. 1460, and see how Jesus approached people. Usually he started by asking them questions. It takes a little courage, but it works, and the more you do it, the easier it gets.
A second, and smaller, arena for service is the interfaith family, the family of all believers, both within established traditions and outside them. These are people who, to one degree or another, have already found God. There is a great deal of service we can give and receive in this arena. If we have genuine respect for other peoples’ beliefs, we can graciously share the best of our understanding of truth and still realize that we have much to gain by gratefully receiving the best in their traditions.
The Urantia Book highlights the great importance of promoting loving brotherhood among the followers of different religions. Look at Jesus’ ministry to the religious leaders in Rome, and his service to the interfaith community in Urmia. It is an interesting testimony to the ecumenicity of The Urantia Book that so many of its readers feel called to dialogue with people of all traditions.
So far we have looked at service in the global family and the interfaith family. Each one is a smaller subset in God’s overall family. The third service arena I’d like to mention is still smaller, and yet it is probably the most intense, constant opportunity for devoted service that any of us are likely to experience. I’ speaking of the home family, and the 20 -yearlong-non-stop-service of raising children.
First of all, I think we tend to underestimate the value of our ministry in the home family. Sharing sources of truth to a hungry humanity seems more grand and glorious. So much of raising children is mundane, nuts and bolts care-giving. I think most of the time in home ministry we don’t even recognize that we are serving. The sheer labor involved is often numbing. At the end of most days, I don’t feel much deep soul-satisfaction of service rendered; I just want to fall into bed!
And yet this experience is basic in our spiritual training. Indeed, this is where most of us really learn what it means to serve, to put our interests aside for the welfare of another, to act selflessly on a devotion that turns our lives upside down.
When I have felt the frustration of family responsibilities keeping me from “more direct” evangelistic efforts, it has been very helpful for me to remember that Jesus, according to The Urantia Book account, spent twelve years after Joseph’s tragic death raising his father’s family and four years ministering to the world. For him family ministry was clearly a high priority.
And it’s not all mundane. Introducing our children to a living relationship with our Farther is spiritual ministry of the first order. If we do that well, we can look forward to an eternal friendship with each of our children in which to savor the fruits of our labors. A few months ago I was tucking in one of my children for the night and I said to her, “I’m so glad God has given you to me to raise as his child.” She gave me a huge hug and said back, “I’m so glad God gave you to me to be my daddy.” I felt the bells were ringing on high; it was an incredibly full moment!
Love and service are spiritually linked. On UB 129:0.2 of The Urantia Book we read: “Jesus…loved his family, and this natural affection had been tremendously augmented by his extraordinary devotion to them. The more fully we bestow ourselves upon our fellows, the more we come to love them; and since Jesus had given himself so fully to his family, he loved them with a great and fervent affection.” So it seems that love and service are very reciprocal. The more we love someone, the more we want to serve them, and the more we serve them, the more we grow to love them.
This insight leads into the fourth and last service arena I would like to mention: the inner family. By inner family I mean the constant set of internal relationships that each of us enjoys with the indwelling Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, and our Guardian Angels. I believe that, to the extent we cultivate these relationships, they constitute a genuine experience of inner family life.
Now how is it that we can render service to this inner family? To serve is to determine what would most satisfy and benefit another person, and do that for them. What is it that the indwelling Spirit of God most desires from us? It is our love, our trusting affection as his children. God wants to share with us in a mutual loving relationship, the full expression of which occurs only in the embrace of worship.
Look again at Jesus. He spent so much of his time in worshipful communion with his Father. This is where we encounter the living heart of his gospel.This is where we feel like God’s child. This is where we ourselves are renewed and nourished in his love, which then overflows in our ministry to others. Without worship we dry up, like a dusty riverbed cut off from its source. On UB 143:7.6 we read, “Worship is the technique of looking to the One for the inspiration of service to the many.”
We are also told that “the Spirit of Truth came to help the believer to witness to the realities of Jesus’ teachings and his life as he lived it in the flesh, and as he now again lives it anew and afresh in the individual believer of each passing generation of the spirit-filled sons of God.” (UB 194:2.6) It is in prayer that we develop our relationship with Jesus, and open ourselves to the transformation of his Spirit. If we have enlisted in Jesus’ ongoing work on this world, the more our relationship with him grows in prayer, the more he can live in us and through us, the more effective we can be in his service.
We are also told that our angels guide “the footsteps of the human personality into paths of new and progressive experiences…working through the social, ethical, and moral environment of human beings.” (UB 113:4.1) I think that it is in our inner lives, through sincere prayer, that we can develop friendship and a working partnership with our angels and the angels of others, and thus be more effective in our efforts to minister to our fellows.
I think we honor and serve and work with the members of our inner family by choosing to spend time in relationship with them in the depths of prayer and worship. And I think all of our service and ministry efforts in the other three family arenas take root and are sustained in this life of the inner family. It is the vital wellspring from which all of our service efforts must flow.
So, summarizing, we’ve looked at the nature of being called. We’ve looked at a couple of distinctions: between the ministry of sharing spiritual truth and all other types of service; and between sharing sources such as the Bible and The Urantia Book, and personally sharing the simple essentials of the restated gospel. We’ve looked at four arenas in which we can serve: the global family, the interfaith family, the home family, and the inner family. I believe that if our service efforts are to remain balanced and be effective in the long run, we need to be involved to some degree in service in each of these family arenas.
Before closing, I’d like to make an observation about the window of time coming up to the end of the millennium. The philosopher, Richard Tarnas, has written a book that is well worth reading. The title is The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that have Shaped Our World View. In it he tells a three thousand year story of the struggle between philosophy, science, and religion in their efforts to define reality and the human condition. Put very simplistically, the Greeks dominated for a thousand years with philosophy. Then, through the first millennium and the middle ages, the Christians dominated with religion. Starting five hundred years ago, science and philosophy progressively displaced the religious paradigm and installed a rational and mechanistic world view in its place.
In the last two hundred years, however, we have worked ourselves into a rather disturbing corner. Philosophy has argued itself to a standstill; it now admits it can’t definitively know anything at all. And the new science now, as well, is beginning to acknowledge its profound inability to offer a defining universe paradigm.
In the midst of all this lack of definition, the common person has been left to drift with no moorings on a confusing sea of relativism. Nothing seems quite sacred or sure anymore, and life just keeps getting more complex and confusing with each passing year. And yet something else is going on here. Sociologists report a great surge of people searching for spiritual direction both within the established traditions and outside of them. Contemporary periodicals abound with articles that have titles like, “America’s Quest for Spiritual Meaning,” and “Solving the Mystery of Jesus, and Why it Matters Today.” The kettle seems full and the water is beginning to bubble. I believe there is a cultural wave of spiritual searching that will continue to build until it crests at the end of the millennium.
The Urantia Book has so much of that for which people have been hoping and searching. Blending science, philosophy, and religion, it offers a new and brilliantly integrated universe paradigm, sufficient to meet humanity’s needs for the next one thousand years, proclaiming that:
These amazing truths are the feast for which our world hungers.
On UB 192:2.4 Jesus says to Peter, “Feed my sheep. Do not forsake the flock…Love the flock as I have loved you and devote yourself to their welfare even as I have devoted my life to your welfare.”
May we each, in our own way, heed the Master’s call to minister and serve.
Marvin Gawryn is a Marriage and Family Therapist, the author of Reaching High: The Psychology of Spiritual Living, and a long-time student of The Urantia Book. He lives with his wife and two children in the Seattle area.
| Is the Science of The Urantia Book Revelatory? | Fall 1995 — Index | Spiritual Perspectives in the Workplace |