© 2015 Meredith Hartt Tenney and Dr. David S. Tenney
© 2015 International Urantia Association (IUA)
| Jesus’ Birthday in NY-Pennsylvania | Tidings — August 2015 — Index | International Service Board at Work – 2nd Quarter Report for 2015 |
The theme of New England’s Spring 2015 retreat was Living Loyally in Unity, and that’s what we’ve been trying to do. After the acrimonious political divisions of the 90’s, membership in Urantia affiliated organizations dwindled in the Northeast and was scattered over the six New England states_._ Urantia Association of New England, (UAONE) had not met for several years, while the Fellowships’ Connecticut Society was equally inactive. Neither group had enough strength in numbers to keep going. Urantia Book readers seldom gathered, and the sense of spiritual community in the region was disappearing, but all that has changed.
Five years ago, a core group of readers came together to form a single, unified organization for readers in New England. We sought to create grassroots healing of old schisms within the Urantia movement and promote spiritual unity. We agreed that all Urantia Book readers would be welcome, and that membership would be open to any reader regardless of their individual affiliation. We invited participants who were members of the Urantia Association of the United States, others who were members of the Fellowship, and many who were members of both, or neither. Our newly formed organization, Urantia Book Service Corps of New England, (UBSCNE), pays membership dues to both organizations and seeks to offer support and service to both these organizations and other Urantia-affiliated groups and projects.
UBSCNE has been growing in size and has 25-30 active members. The diversity of our membership body has never presented problems. We have one elected slate of officers, all of whom belong to both main organizations. We now gather together for an annual spring spiritual retreat at Angel House, for a one day educational program every fall, and for a celebration on Jesus’ birthday at Hopkinton State Park. We’ve put up a website and just finished incorporating as Urantia Book Service Corps of New England. We study The Urantia Book together, worship and pray together, do service projects and provide spiritual support for each other. Once again, there is a feeling of spiritual community and unity in New England!
For details of our next two upcoming events at Angel House visit http://urantia-association.org/events-list/.
¶ References
| Jesus’ Birthday in NY-Pennsylvania | Tidings — August 2015 — Index | International Service Board at Work – 2nd Quarter Report for 2015 |