© 1977 David Gray, Nicholas W. Scalzo, David Kulieke, Ed Harrigan, Sue Via Brazell
© 1977 The Urantia Book Fellowship (formerly Urantia Brotherhood)
“As prayer may be likened to recharging the spiritual batteries of the soul, so worship may be compared to the act of tuning in the soul to catch the universe broadcasts of the infinite spirit of the Universal Father.” (UB 144:4.8)
Prayer is self-reminding. It is like putting a letter on a clip on the inside of your front door so you will remember to mail it when you go out. Prayer is putting a note in a place where your mind will notice it, to keep yourself on the path of progress.
And prayer is getting in touch with the wisdom of the universe, making it applicable and active in our lives. An amazing and widely heralded advance in the technology of measuring time is the quartz-regulated movement, in which a tiny crystal of quartz is stimulated by a small electric current which causes it to vibrate. Because of its crystal structure, the quartz chip maintains a constant rate of vibration, so that by electronically linking the movement of the watch to the crystal we achieve great accuracy in timekeeping. Just as a mechanism is needed to apply the vibratory property of the quartz crystal to keeping time, so is prayer the means by which we tune in our consciousness to catch the accurate wisdom forecasts of the spirit within.
—David Gray
“. . . a true family — a good family — reveals to the parental procreators the attitude of the Creator to his children, while at the same time such true parents portray to their children the first of a long series of ascending disclosures of the love of the Paradise parent of all universe children.” (UB 84:7.30)
We have often been perplexed by the problem of introducing our children to the love relationship we have with our Universal Father, our Creator Michael, and the many personalities within their universe family. We found that before we could teach our children how to pray and worship we had to understand these things for ourselves.
What is prayer? What is worship? These words refer to the personal and spontaneous expression of our attitude to our universe parents. Prayer is a spiritual talk with our Universal Father and his sons and daughters.
—Nicholas W. Scalzo
“When a group engages in community prayer for moral enhancement and spiritual uplift, such devotions are reactive upon the individuals composing the grow; they are all made better because of participation.” (UB 91:5.2)
True worship goes directly to God the Father, and he is the source of all things, including energy. “… energy … as a universe phenomenon is inherent in the Universal Father.” (UB 42:1.2) Worship is a method of tapping into that energy. The technique requires total self-forgetfulness; it implies no self-motivation. “There is absolutely no self-request or other element of personal interest in true worship…” (UB 5:3.3)
A person suffocates himself who would willingly choke the urge to worship and shut out this energy, this life given freely by God. This is like the limitation of freedom suffered by him who is unwilling to submit his will to God’s. This person maintains total control of his decisions and destiny to the very limited extent his own abilities and wisdom will allow; whereas, if he gives himself to the will of the Father, he loses this false freedom but gains a prison with walls of infinity and eternity. Perhaps the most effective measure to acquire this true freedom, and the resulting power and energy which result from being in consonance with God, is to establish a conscious, loving rapport with him: to worship. “And this interchange of strength for weakness, courage for fear, the will of God for the mind of self, constitutes worship.” (UB 160:3.1)
—David Kulieke
A glance out of my living room window affords a view of several rugged mountain sides softened with a white layer of powdered snow. Beauty surrounds us in the countryside and goodness abounds from the sincere friends that pass through our door. But the real gift is the potential for growth: to realize and discover new consciousness of greater intimacy with our most enlightening friendship, that with our Creator Son, Michael of Nebadon,
I believe that prayer, more than any other daily conscious exercise, unlocks the secret to an enlarged comprehension of the truth in the words and teachings of Part IV of The URANTIA Book. Let us look deeper into the marvelous associate properties of prayer.
If your son needs a fish and foolishly asks for a harmful substitute because it perchanced to be in the same net with the fish, related Jesus, would you give him what he wanted or what he needed? Many times our prayers fall short of our needs because our understanding is not complete. The URANTIA Book teaches us that our prayer is fully received by the proper spiritual ear even before the words are formulated. In other words, our fuss about what we should say in prayer or if we should pray in groups or alone is without need. The exercise of developing prayerful moods several times during the day appears to be more important for personal growth than the sequence of words used. If you want to know a friend better it is important to visit with that friend often; the conversation will naturally flow more easily as you become more familiar and comfortable. God will ultimately become the best friend we will ever know.
—Ed Harrigan
“Pray as Jesus taught his disciples — honestly, unselfishly, with fairness, and without doubting.” (UB 91:6.6)
One nail will hold only two boards together, but a keg of nails will go far in building a house. The prayers of one person are heard; but when many people concentrate their prayers on a single subject, surprising results are often seen. When we unite our prayers, we also have a sense of communicating with each other; and for farflung Urantians this can be exhilarating. When one prays, and knows other Urantians are doing the same, there is a warm feeling that causes happiness to bubble to the top.
—Sue Via Brazell
“Whence then comes the energy to do these great things? Look to your Master. Exon now he is out in the hills taking in power while we are here giving out energy. The secret of all this problem is wrapped up in spiritual communion, in worship.” (UB 160:3.1)
How can we consciously relate to the Supreme Being as we go about our daily lives? How can each of us enrich our contribution to his growth? How will our relationship with the Supreme differ from our relationship with God the Father? What are your thoughts on the Supreme? A future issue of The URANTIAN Journal of URANTIA Brotherhood is being planned around this theme, and we would welcome your contributions. Please let us know if you would like to write an article on this subject. Thank you.
The Editors
“The psychic and spiritual concomitants of the prayer of faith are immediate, personal, and experiential. There is no other technique whereby every man, regardless of all other mortal accomplishments, can so effectively and immediately approach the threshold of that realm wherein he can communicate with his Maker, where the creature contacts with the reality of the Creator, with the indwelling Thought Adjuster.” (UB 91:6.7)