© 2007 Phil Taylor
© 2007 The Urantia Book Fellowship
| Archangels: Agents of Epochal Change | Volume 8, Number 1, 2007 (Summer) — Index | Year 2006 Update on The Coming Scientific Validation of The Urantia Book |
I lived my life in the flesh to show how you can, through loving service, become God revealing to your fellow men even as, by loving you and serving you, I have become God-revealing to you. . . . Love all men as I have loved you; serve your fellow mortals as I have served you. . . . [UB 193:0.5]
The essence of Jesus’ teachings was love and service. He taught that service to one’s fellows is the highest concept of believers, and those who are born of the spirit will show forth the fruits of the spirit in loving service to their fellow creatures. Acceptance of His teachings leads us to the recognition that we are all sons and daughters of a loving God and that our attitude towards our fellows should be characterized by loving service. Cultivating an attitude of loving service is the theme of this year’s conference. So let us come together in reflection and communion in the spirit to experience the “Thrill of Loving Service.”
Said Jesus to his followers, “You are to love all men as I have loved you; you are to serve all men as I have served you.” [UB 191:4.3] “If you would share the Masterʼs joy, you must share his love. And to share his love means that you have shared his service.” [UB 180:1.5]
The purpose of this conference is to bring the idea and ideals of service to the forefront of the minds of those readers who are associated with the Fifth Epochal Revelation. We hope to raise the awareness that service is a key component of Jesus’ gospel of love for man and God and that we can all serve in some capacity as we go about living our spiritual lives. Our goal then is to entice readers with the thrilling experience of loving service by helping each conference attendee explore the possibilities of living a more service filled life.
In all we hope to come to a better understanding of how service is personal, individual, and spiritually dependent on God. Ultimately we hope attendees will leave this conference with a strong desire to walk that “second mile of free service and liberty loving devotion” [UB 195:10.5] and recognize that “. . . the ideal life is one of loving service. . .” [UB 110:3.3]
The structure of the conference will reveal the progressive nature of service. Service is a progressive realization that starts with serving in a small capacity and continually expands into greater levels of service all the way to an eternity of service as finaliters. At this conference we will look at how service begins on a personal level with the individual and his or her own spiritual growth and development and then expands to greater levels of service and increasing capacities to serve.
We propose to use the three concentric circles to represent the three stages of the conference programming. The inner circle represents the beginning stages of service focusing on the inner spiritual requirements for service and recognition of the capacity to serve in small ways. The middle circle represents advanced and expanded service serving the spiritual and social needs of our fellows.
The outer circle represents ever increasing levels of service as found in the study of universe careers, cosmic citizenship and service in and to the Supreme.
Service is best revealed in experience and this conference will prosper by attracting those individuals who are willing to share their experiences with others. We hope that workshop facilitators and presenters will develop programming that will maximize the use of their own experiences and the experiences of the attendees to exemplify to all the thrill of loving service.
In this stage of the programming we are beginning to define service and why we value the ideals of service. We will look at the roots of service and the motivations for service as found in the Gospel to help answer the questions why we choose to serve.
The core of this phase of the programming should develop workshops and presentations that study the aspects of personal spiritual growth and development that are the necessary requirements for a servant. Before we serve others we must first minister to our own spiritual needs and find ways to cultivate spiritual habits for growth. We will offer programs that study patterns of spiritual growth by looking at the fundamentals of the Gospel, worship, prayer, conditions favorable for growth, obstacles to growth, and other spiritual preparations for increasing our capacity to serve. The pattern of Jesus’ early life will help illuminate this first stage of the programming. How did the Master prepare himself for service?
We will study how we can begin to serve by looking at the idea of cultivating a mindset to serve and developing an awareness of our service potential as well as an awareness of the spiritual and material needs of our fellows. We will discuss how service can start in a small capacity and gradually expand into greater levels of service.
The goal of this first stage of the programming is to help people begin to contemplate and explore the preparation for and the experience of the beginning stages of service.
In the second phase of service the stage has been set. The foundations for greater service have been laid. We have studied programs of progressive spiritual growth. We have explored spiritual habits that foster service. We have discussed the mindset to serve and minister to the needs of our fellows. Now we ask the question how we can increase our capacity to serve?
This stage of the programming will focus on the requirements and training that is necessary to achieve more effective personal ministry and for some, the possibility of some forms of public ministry. The examples of the Master’s personal and public ministry will help illustrate the second stage of this programming. We will also rely on the experiences of the speakers and attendees who have begun to serve in this more advanced capacity.
In addition to an exploration of advanced spiritual service this phase of the programming will discover the opportunities to serve socially in ways that will foster social growth and cultural advancements that will lead our communities towards the progressive path of light and life. Here we are trying to cultivate an expansion of the service perspective to also consider serving spiritually to social needs.
In light of these advanced levels of service what is it that will be required of us to be more effective? We hope to develop programs and workshops that will bring to light the techniques of social and spiritual cooperation by answering the questions: How do we cultivate spiritual cooperation? How do we build groups, partnerships and friendships to serve together? How do we develop our leadership skills? How do we organize our lives materially to give us greater opportunity to serve? How do we cooperate to develop a common understanding of the Father’s Will?
We also hope to look at what tools and mechanisms are available to us to enhance our service. How does Michael train us for greater service? How are we supported by our angelic ministers and how can we help them serve us?
This phase of the conference is dedicated to understanding how we can advance our capacity to serve as individuals but also how we can discover unity in service—how men and women come together in service and realize true spiritual brotherhood—spiritual cooperation.
In this last stage of the programming we begin to expand our horizons to look beyond our present sphere of Urantia and begin to envision how service will unfold in the universe and how service is an integral part of our universe careers. We will begin to look at the concepts of planetary citizenship, universe citizenship and service to God the Supreme. Our study of the Family of God as found in the Gospel will expand outwards into the Universe and into Eternity to begin to contemplate the perfection of service. Where is all of this spiritual growth and progress leading us? We will study the concepts of the perfection of creature will and how this relates to the destiny of perfected, eternal service.
We will study the plans for continued universe training and spiritual development that are revealed in the schools and spheres of training and advancement that mark the path of our ascendant careers. We will look at how our present service careers have implications to our universe careers and explore how this present experience of service has repercussions beyond our present planetary status all the way to the supreme.
The goal of this last stage of the programming is to enhance and expand our perception and understanding of service as it is seen within the context of cosmic citizenship and our universal careers.
Religion is not a technique for attaining a static and blissful peace of mind; it is an impulse for organizing the soul for dynamic service. It is totality of selfhood in the loyal service of loving God and serving man. [UB 100:3.1]
| Archangels: Agents of Epochal Change | Volume 8, Number 1, 2007 (Summer) — Index | Year 2006 Update on The Coming Scientific Validation of The Urantia Book |