To: The General Council of The Urantia Book Fellowship
From: Lee Smith, Education Committee Chairperson
An annual report gives a snapshot in time of an entity’s evolution and progress. Herein, we are given an opportunity to pause and reflect on the purposes, quality of functioning, and future endeavors of our organization and its various committees. As this is my first full year as a committee chair, I am particularly pleased that I am able to present this report during a fascinating period in the evolution of our movement.
Over time the Education Committee has gone through some informal changes. The original, constituted purpose (which I do not believe has ever been formally amended since it was written in 1955), is as follows:
Section 11.14. The Education Committee: The Education Committee shall find, prepare, and qualify teachers of The Urantia Book, who shall be persons of high moral character, devoted to the teachings and principles of The Urantia Book; it shall seek to interest such suitable persons in preparing themselves to teach the truths of The Urantia Book and to prepare and qualify such persons to teach The Urantia Book. By and with the approval and consent of the Executive Committee, it shall establish and implement standards of character, conduct, and education for such teachers. Any title or certificate conferred by the Education Committee may be revoked by the Executive Committee for conduct unworthy of the office upon request of the Education Committee and recommendation of the Judicial Committee after a hearing upon notice to show cause.
For whatever reasons, it appears that the Education Committee has never established a formal on-going process that is aimed at fulfilling the task described above.
Our web site descriptive, however, is a both more current and succinct:
Education-- Responsible for many aspects of the triennial International Conferences, the annual summer study sessions and the Wrightwood Series of in-depth studies on topics of contemporary concern.
Nevertheless, I believe that The Fellowship’s Constituted Purpose Statement is actually more true to the Education Committee’s real mission:
The purposes of THE FELLOWSHIP are the study and dissemination of the teachings of The Urantia Book; the promotion, improvement, and expansion among the peoples of the world of the comprehension and understanding of Cosmology and the relation of the planet on which we live to the Universe, of the genesis and destiny of Man and his relation to God, and of the teachings of Jesus; and the inculcation and encouragement of the realization and appreciation of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man -- in order to increase and enhance the comfort, happiness, and well-being of Man, as an individual and as a member of society, by fostering a religion, a philosophy, and a cosmology which are commensurate with Man's intellectual and cultural development, through the medium of fraternal association, ever obedient and subservient to the laws of this country and of all countries wherein THE FELLOWSHIP may extend.
In this regard though, I am particularly drawn to these words from the Midwayers:
P2090:4, 196:1.3 To "follow Jesus" means to personally share his religious faith and to enter into the spirit of the Master's life of unselfish service for man. One of the most important things in human living is to find out what Jesus believed, to discover his ideals, and to strive for the achievement of his exalted life purpose. Of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it.
P2086:2, 195:10.16 The great hope of Urantia lies in the possibility of a new revelation of Jesus with a new and enlarged presentation of his saving message which would spiritually unite in loving service the numerous families of his present-day professed followers
P2096:9, 196:3.30 Be not discouraged; human evolution is still in progress, and the revelation of God to the world, in and through Jesus, shall not fail.
I personally believe that The Urantia Book Fellowship and, indeed, the entire Urantia Book readership (movement) has difficulty staying focused on the essential message of the Fifth Epochal Revelation: to foster the renewed and restated gospel of experiencing universal family fellowship with God, a loving Parent. I further believe that the apex of the Urantia Papers (and its subsequent experiential realization as a living revelation) is most powerfully shown in the re-revealed life and teachings of Jesus. The Jesus-mania that the world has been experiencing of late is an indication of the potential readiness of the masses for the teachings found in the FER and particularly in the Jesus papers.
Perhaps it is time for the Education Committee to update its Constitutional purpose and I will ask our committee and the General Council as a whole to consider this.
I further believe it is an appropriate time for the Education Committee to focus more on “fostering a religion, a philosophy, and a cosmology” by linking our educational focus to the Jesus Papers, even to using Jesus: A New Revelation as a teaching tool. Despite our enthusiasm to have a Fellowship-produced copy of The Urantia Book, I must remind everyone that JANR is published, packaged and ready to go out now.
The Committee will gratefully entertain ideas for teaching and training efforts that focus on Jesus’ life and teaching. We will continue, of course, with the traditionally broader elements of committee work.
To lend some evidence to what I am stating, I have attached a survey taken by one of our committee members at the conclusion of IC96. You will note the overview indicates that, even among seasoned UB readers, the desire of experiential process is a paramount theme.
We have been told of Jesus’ teachings that:
P2090:5, 196:1.4 The common people heard Jesus gladly, and they will again respond to the presentation of his sincere human life of consecrated religious motivation if such truths shall again be proclaimed to the world. The people heard him gladly because he was one of them, an unpretentious layman; the world's greatest religious teacher was indeed a layman.
I frequently have copies of the UB returned to me with comments that the book is too “detailed,” “intellectual,” “elitist,” etc. My impression from the rap on the street, so to speak, is that Urantia Book readers tend to be seen as a rather insular group in regards to our cosmic knowledge and intellectual self-assuredness.
Yet, in The Last Teaching at Pella, we are reminded that:
P1856:2, 169:4.4 Jesus well knew that God can be known only by the realities of experience; never can he be understood by the mere teaching of the mind. Jesus taught his apostles that, while they never could fully understand God, they could most certainly know him, even as they had known the Son of Man. You can know God, not by understanding what Jesus said, but by knowing what Jesus was. Jesus was a revelation of God.
P1857:3, 169:4.12 But mark you! never did Jesus say, "Whoso has heard me has heard God." But he did say, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." To hear Jesus' teaching is not equivalent to knowing God, but to see Jesus is an experience which in itself is a revelation of the Father to the soul. The God of universes rules the far-flung creation, but it is the Father in heaven who sends forth his spirit to dwell within your minds.
If this is important to us, how then do we see Jesus and reveal him ---and thereby the Father --to our fellows?
P2084:1, 195:10.1 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.
I recently came across a gospel CD of African-American heritage wherein one song, “Live in Me, Jesus,” particularly struck me. Its refrain is: “let me be the legs for You to walk, let me be the mouth for You to talk… live in me Jesus, have Your way in me, tell the world through me that You love them… because I may be the only Jesus that this generation will ever see.”
I submit that we actually do have a unique advantage in doing just that: presenting Jesus again through human eyes. We are blessed with an understanding of Revelation. The only complement we really need then is the action of our faith.
P1111:2, 101:5.9 Evolved religion rests wholly on faith. Revelation has the additional assurance of its expanded presentation of the truths of divinity and reality and the still more valuable testimony of the actual experience which accumulates in consequence of the practical working union of the faith of evolution and the truth of revelation. Such a working union of human faith and divine truth constitutes the possession of a character well on the road to the actual acquirement of a morontial personality.
Faith is the basis for spiritual growth in a physical universe. As we progress towards Paradise, we are told that the assurance of experiential truth attainment gradually replaces the assurance of faith. In the meantime:
P1113:6, 101:6.10 Through the appropriation of the faith of Jesus, mortal man can foretaste in time the realities of eternity. Jesus made the discovery, in human experience, of the Final Father, and his brothers in the flesh of mortal life can follow him along this same experience of Father discovery. They can even attain, as they are, the same satisfaction in this experience with the Father as did Jesus as he was.
So many of us have had our faith supremely tested recently, that “invigorating faith” quite naturally became this year’s Summer Session theme. At this year’s gathering the Education Committee is attempting to incorporate the spiritual value (faith value) of building relationships—both human and divine—as we learn and share more deeply the ideas and ideals of the Fifth Epochal Revelation. In so doing, we are co-creating another small, but growing, part of the kingdom of heaven on earth.
The Education committee looks forward to participating with the planning team for IC 2002. The Wrightwood Seminar Series has been temporarily put on hold in order to concentrate on the Summer Session and IC 2002. However, if a seminar could be convened this fall that would contribute significantly to the IC 2002 program, I would consider it useful to impanel a Wrightwood group in liaison with the IC2002 program team.
In any case and in all cases, I pray that Jesus will live and be seen… in each of us.
In Loving Fellowship,
Lee Smith
Education
Chair