© 1998 The Christian Fellowship of Students of The Urantia Book
| Sermon: Sharing Our Spiritual Experience | Spring 1998 — Index | Significant Books: Stealing Jesus by Bruce Bawer |
O Lord, the refuge and hope of the afflicted.
I cry out for your help and guidance.
I am perplexed and confused.
Why am I brutalized, abused, and exploited?
What have I done to deserve such treatment?
Where have I failed in my relationships?
Teach me your wisdom; guide me in your love.
When should I turn the other cheek in sacrifical love?
When should I act in self-defense?
When should I use legal means to escape a degrading relationship?
Grant me objectivity to clearly see the truth.
May the insight of your spirit lead me to creative action.
Help me to maintain my self-respect as your child.
Endow me with courage to live in harmony with reality.
I do not understand the dynamics of evil:
How good people can do such bad things.
How the best intentions can end in failing to do good.
How moral people permit an immoral society.
Give me the vision and resilience to live with these ambiguities.
Let my faith transcend the discouraging experiences of life.
Lead me in paths of loving service, and keep me in your tender care. (86)
“Christianity has indeed done a great service for this world, but what is now most needed is Jesus. The world needs to see Jesus living again on earth in the experience of spirit-born mortals who effectively reveal the Master to all men. It is futile to talk about a revival of primitive Christianity; you must go forward from where you find yourselves. Modern culture must become spirtiually baptized with a new revelation of Jesus’ life and illuminated with a new undeerstanding of his gospel of eternal salvation. And when Jesus becomes thus lifted up, he will draw all men to himself. Jesus’ disciples should be more than conquerors, even overflowing sources of inspiration and enhanced living to all men. Religion is only an exhalted humanism until it is made divine by the discovery of the reality of the presence of God in personal experience.” (UB 195:10.1)
| Sermon: Sharing Our Spiritual Experience | Spring 1998 — Index | Significant Books: Stealing Jesus by Bruce Bawer |