© 2001 Avi Dogim, David Glass, David Kantor
© 2001 The Urantia Book Fellowship
International Conference 2002
¶ Revelation in Action — Translating the Teachings of The Urantia Book into Loving Service
The Urantia Book Fellowship’s International Conference (IC02) is a call to adventure. Readers from all over the world will assemble in Estes Park Colorado from June 30th to July 6th for study, worship, fellowship and recreation. The IC02 goal is to translate the teachings of The Urantia Book into living and loving service. Imagine the possibilities of more than one thousand of us coming together as a spiritual family! Together we can better realize the potentials of the Urantia revelation and return home inspired to actualize the mmore effectively!
The program will provide a vision of “Revelation in Action” through creative plenary presentations, examination of key Urantia Book concepts through large group break out sessions, and practice and application in small group workshops. There will be intensive study of the book, as well as informal study groups. Attendees will be invited to engage in an interactive process to create a vision for dynamic service and leave as “second milers.”
Prayer and worship experiences will be varied with music playing a central role. There will be opportunity for quiet group meditation, contemplative prayer and yoga before breakfast and a worship gathering geared toward adults after breakfast. The early evening worship will be family oriented and will invite active participation. Conference attendees may choose from worship programs inspired by The Urantia Book as well as other spiritual traditions.
The conference will provide age appropriate programs for all our children, from infants to young adults. The older children will be asked to help with the planning of their own programs.
As always, the conference will provide many opportunities for informal fellowship, recreation,entertainment and celebration.
Registration materials and other conference information will soon appear on the Fellowship’s website www.ubfellowship.org, and in various Fellowship and Urantia Book related publications. If you have e-mail, let us know you plan to come to IC02 by contacting the Fellowship at fellowship@urantiabook.org. You will be placed on the IC02 e-mail list to receive the latest conference information. Come. Join “Revelation in Action”!
¶ Highlights from the August 1, 2001 Meeting of the General Council
John Hay, of Boulder, Colorado, was elected to fill a vacancy on the General Council.
Duane Faw made a gift of his Paramony to the Fellowship. The Paramony is a very useful study aid which cross-references The Urantia Book and the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. The General Council formally expressed the Fellowship’s gratitude to Duane for this gift. The Fellowship plans to publish the Paramony in the near future.
On June 20, 2001, a federal jury found Urantia Foundation’s 1983 copyright renewal in The Urantia Book to be invalid, and placed The Urantia Book in the public domain. Accordingly, after extended discussion, the General Council voted 26 to 8 with 1 abstention to authorize Uversa Press to promptly publish The Urantia Book. In addition to carefully reproducing the original 1955 text, the Uversa Press edition of The Urantia Book will contain a new and long awaited subject index to facilitate easier location of passages in the text. The project is expected to take about six months to complete.
¶ President’s Letter
Dear Friends.
By the time you read this, many of you will have be come aware of the fact that the Fellowship is preparing to publish The Urantia Book. A decisive majority of the Fellowship’s General Council voted to do so at the August 2001 meeting held in conjunction with the Summer Study Session at the University of California in Santa Cruz.
Now that The Urantia Book is in the public domain, we feel that taking this step is in the best interests of the thousands upon thousands of individuals who have yet to discover this amazing text that has changed our lives.
This new edition for Uversa Press (the Fellowship’s publishing arm), while maintaining the integrity of the original text, will feature significant enhancements including a paper-section-paragraph referencing system, a long awaited subject index and an attractive cover. This edition will also include information enabling new readers to contact the Fellowship and, consequently, find other readers,study groups and local societies. New readers will thusly be provided with study,dissemination and reader service opportunities coordinated by the Fellowship.The Fellowship’s ability to serve will then grow immeasurably.
A group of experienced volunteersare busy preparing the book for printing. It is estimated that we will need $150,000 to cover the costs of publication-costs that will be recovered as the book sells. A major fundraising effort is well underway.
One of our biggest challenges as an organization is the effective coordination of volunteers. While I believe that, over the years, we have made significant progress in the way decisions are made on the General Council and on the Executive Committee, we have a longway to go before we havea system in place that makes good use of the enormous wealth of talent that exists within the readership. I know that many Urantia Book readers have a strong desire to participate in dissemination and reader service efforts.
The Fellowship has begun an office reorganization process, which, along with increasing efficiency, will help to coordinate these plentiful human resources. Just as we will always accept a financial contribution for the facilitation of our work, we should always be ready to effectively channel the efforts of any sincere service volunteer.
In friendship,
Avi Dogim
¶ Gratitude
by David Glass
I thank you, God, for creating me
In the midst of a Universe Family.
The blessings of love I do now return
To you, my Great Father, while I do earn
The achievement of cosmic citizenship
As a member in your Divine Partnership.
I thank you for bestowing on me free will
By use of which I’ll advance until
The great day shall come and then pass by
Of our spirit-soul fusion in your Golden Sky.
In limitless happiness, eternal love,
I shall find all your treasures and joys above.
Lead me in life by your perfect will;
Guide me each day, and at night be here still.
Omnipotent Father, my personal Lord,
Who has given me life, you alone can afford
Me a breath-taking view of your boundless infinity,
Appreciable only in endless eternity.
My God and my Father, I now come to meet you;
You are my Upholder, I rise now to greet you.
¶ Report on a Visit to Colombia
By David Kantor
On August 5, 2001, Agustin Arellano and I arrived for a one-week visit with various reader groups in Bogota, Colombia. Both of us were presenters at the Colombian IUA conference where some 120 readers gathered to study and socialize over the Jesus birthday weekend. The Fellowship provided eleven scholarships to the conference for local readers who would not otherwise have been able to attend.
In addition to participating in the IUA group and visiting with long-time readers in the Bogota area, we were able to sit in on a middle school class on religious studies taught by reader Jose Manuel Rodriguez Vargas. He has two classes per week of approximately 40 students each. The students are given paragraphs to read from The Urantia Book on general religious topics, and then write essays and give oral reports on the material. For those who are interested in studying further, Jose provides an off-hours Urantia Book study group.
We also had the privilege of meeting with Pastor Bolivar who heads the “International Church of the New Revelation.” He draws a crowd of 100 to 120 people every Sunday for services. The church, which has been using El Libro de Urantia as a primary text for more than two years, provides an educational program for young people, which starts with a study of the Bible and then uses the Urantia text for interpretation and further study. Pastor Bolivar told me that he is using this approach because he wants to train young people to introduce The Urantia Book to main stream churches and feels they must have a good Biblical foundation in order to do so successfully.
In addition to his church, he has a network of some l0 or 12 other pastors who are using the Urantia text to some degree in their churches.Agustin and I were both invited to return and give presentations to their group. We were very warmly received.
We were thus able to experience The Urantia Book in Colombia as it is being applied in a variety of settings. It is exciting to see such experimentation going on, and it should be interesting and useful to all of us to see which experiments lead to a greater embrace of the book on this fascinating world.
¶ A Labor of Love
“It was something that needed to be done; and I had the time, so I took it on,” said Duane Faw, describing his years of dedication in producing the Paramony. Duane presented the updated version of the Paramony, to The Urantia Book Fellowship during the recent Summer Study Session in Santa Cruz, CA. In this new edition, the original 25,000 crossreferences betweenthe Bible and The Urantia Book have been expanded to 40,000, and Duane has added key word headings as an additional study aid. Larry Watkins’ programming expertise was especially helpful in putting the Paramony into presentable formats for the four different sections of The Urantia Book. The Paramony will be published by Uversa Press in the near future, and it will also be available on a CD.
¶ Familiar, But Sometimes Forgotten?
Do you like Urantia Book Trivia?
The following questions are designed to entertain and challenge you regarding your knowledge of The Urantia Book. The answers are given by paper number, section and paragraph. Enjoy! And no peeking in advance!
- When did the circuit of the archangels operate for the first time from Urantia? (UB 189:3.2)
- Complete the blanks “The peace of Urantia will be promoted far more by than by all the sentimental sophistry of visionary peace planning.” (UB 70:3.4)
- How many morontia appearances did Jesus make? (UB 193:3.1)
- Name the seven adjutant mind spirits. (UB 36:5.5-12)
- How many angelic hosts make up an angelic army? (UB 38:6.2)
- Who is Gavalia? (UB 37:2.6)
- How many changes in your morontia form will you undergo as you progress through the morontia life of Nebadon? (UB 48:1.5)
- “ is the divine antidote for exaltation of ego.” (UB 48:4.15)
- Whom did the apostles refer to as “Chief”? (UB 139:1.2)
- Name as many as you can of the ten women selected and commissioned by Jesus as the first members of the women’s evangelistic corps. (UB 150:1.1)
- “Only a can re-establish interplanetary lines of communication on such a spiritually isolated world.” (UB 35:9.9)
- Define an “agondonter.” (UB 50:7.2)
¶ SSS Santa Cruz “Sweet and Special”
About 250 readers attended the Summer Study Session in Santa Cruz, CA, August 9-12, enjoying the many speeches, workshops, the beautiful setting, and most of all, the social contacts and experiences afforded by renewing old friendships and making new ones. The hospitality of those California readers who devoted so much time and effort to making this conference special are much appreciated, especially the careful planning of the program and activities by the Education Committee.
Lee Smith, Education Committee Chair, points out that the format for this conference differed from a typical “study session,” the intention being to foster workshops that would be interactive, employing a “free flow” approach, offering participants an opportunity to share the experiential meanings and values of their living faith adventures in small groups. As Lee reports,“There was … some concern expressed that this summer’s session was not focused enough on the actual study of the Urantia Papers. ”However,“ Lee said,”a sampling survey of the 250 persons who attended revealed that, by and large, this format was well received."
One attendee, a minister from the San Francisco Bay area, stated: “The interactive, experiential format this time was excellent. The worship times were superb. The speakers were out standing. The planning and execution were excellent, and the over-all feeling of this event was sweet and special.”
Evenings were filled with social activities sponsored by different local groups,the local readers, the Teaching Mission group, and on Sunday night, by Larry and Elizabeth Jones, who welcomed conference attendees to a wonderful gourmet dinner in their beautiful mountain-top home in Santa Cruz.
¶ Upcoming events
- Oct. 26-28, 2001- Lone Star Roundup Conference, Camp Buckner, TX: “Bringing the Infinite Spirit Down to Earth”
An examination of the various functions of the Infinite Spirit, including angelic ministry, mind, universe power, and the feminine or “yin” aspect of the “Infinite Mother Spirit” and how we can feel this presence in our lives. Join us “in the Spirit.”, For further information, contact Adrienne Jarnagin at (512)756-1637 or e-mail her at-aj@tstar.net. - Nov. 2-4, 2001- Golden Gate Circle Fall Retreat: “The Universal Father” The Universal Father is an infinite spiritual reality; he is “the sovereign,eternal, immortal, invisible, and only true God.” The Urantia Book, UB 1:3.1.
Place: St. Dorothy’s Rest, Camp Meeker, CA (Sonoma County)
Cost. $85 plus the cost of one meal per cooking crew
Contact: Dolores L. Nice, (650)369-6803 or dlnice@worldnet.att.net - First Society’s Special Programs held at Harris Hall, Northwestern Univ.,Evanston, IL, Sundays, 1-4p.m.:
October 7 “What’s a Nice Jewish Girl Like Me Doing in a Place Like This?” presented by Barbara Dreier
November 18, “What Is Special about Our Planet Urantia?” presented by John Roper - The Annual Holiday Party, jointly hosted by First Society, IUA and Urantia Foundation.
The event will take place at the Foundation, 533 Diversey Parkway, Chicago, IL, Sunday, December 9; Program 4 p.m., Open House 5-9. Contact Carolyn Kendall, President, First Socity, for information at 847/537-1078.
¶ Tell Us About…
your society or study group activities. Sharing experiences is always mutually interesting and informative, and pictures can add dimension.
Articles for the Mighty Messenger should be no longer than about 400 words. Upcoming deadlines for this quarterly publication are November 30, 2001,and February 28, 2002.
Please send all information to the Fellowship office, 529 Wrightwood Ave.,Chicago, IL 60614-1794 or e-mail to: fellowship@urantiabook.org
¶ Mighty Messenger
Published quarterly by Uversa Press for the Publications Committee of The Urantia Book Fellowship
Members: Linda Buselli, Chair Nancy Johnson, Sage Waitts, Gary Deinstadt, Al Aldo
Phone: 773-327-0424. Fax:773-327-6159
email: fellowship@urantiabook.org
website: http://www.ubfellowship.org
Greatness lies not so much in possessing strength as in making a wise and divine use of such strength. (UB 48:7.27)
¶ External Links
- Newsletter in Urantia Book Historical Society: https://ubhs.hosted-by-files.com/http/FrameDocTypesBZ.html