In telling his followers the essence of his message to the planet, Jesus stated that the cardinal features of the gospel were:

1. The pre-eminence of the individual.

2. The will as the determining factor in man's experience.

3. Spiritual fellowship with God the Father.

4. The supreme satisfactions of the loving service of man.

5. The transcendency of the spiritual over the material in human personality.

The midwayer author goes on to say that "this world has never seriously or sincerely or honestly tried out these dynamic ideas and divine ideals." (*1863) Why not? Why do we resist fellowship with God? To a group of Greek believers in Jerusalem, Jesus said, "My Father sent me to the world to reveal his loving-kindness to the children of men, but those to whom I first came have refused to receive meI have told them of sonship with joy, liberty, and life more abundant in the spiritthe leaders of my people deliberately blinded their eyes that they see not, and hardened their heartsAll these years have I sought to heal them of their unbelief that they might be recipients of the Father's eternal salvation." (*1902)

Jesus sought then and seeks now to heal our unbelief. He brings an amazing demonstration of divine love to the planet. And, for the most part, his revelation is rejected and resisted or superficially accepted. Once again two thousand years later an updated revelation is given to us. My question to each of you and to myself is, are we superficial recipients of this revelation? If we are earnest in our receipt of this revelation, to what degree? We are told that "the call to the adventure of building a new and transformed human society by means of the spiritual rebirth of Jesus' brotherhood of the kingdom should thrill all who believe in him as men have not been stirred since the days when they walked about on earth as his companions in the flesh." (*2084)

Jesus' parable of the sower is an objective observation of the human condition and its diversity. There are those on the planet who have hardened their hearts by either pride or fear, those who are superficial in their interest in the affairs of the kingdom, and those who in some degree exhibit real interest in a spiritual renaissance for this planet. Quoting the Prophet Jeremiah, Jesus told his followers that "the human heart is deceitful above all thingsHow easy for you to become self-deceived." (*1609) Spiritual arrogance and pride follow closely on the heals of any epochal revelation. Consider the numerous examples in the first four epochal revelations. Such arrogance and pride disable all our attempts at genuine relationship, real fellowship with God and our brothers and sisters.

Jesus is the ultimate psychotherapist. He not only sees and describes the painful state of human nature. He provides us with a very simple prescription which is designed to handle virtually all of our neurotic conditions, our dysfunctional relationships and behavior. His message reveals that each of us has been given, through the unique gift of personality, a "will" which is the determining factor in each of our journeys toward fellowship with God. The question that faces each of us is whether we will stand up, recognize the ways in which we have been deceiving ourselves and others, using our "will" to enter into fellowship with God and our brothers and sisters, or we will allow that "will" to lie dormant and neuroses to build, overwhelming us and all of our relationships.

Jesus calls us to use our personal, individual "will" to overcome our superficiality. If the thought that you might be superficial bothers you, that is good. Because if it bothers you, like it bothers me, then we both might be induced to exercise our "wills," recognize our own self-deceit, adjust our attitudes and "enable" our "spiritual nature to begin" our "deliverance from the evils of inaction by the power-presence of living faith." (*1438, "The Young Man Who Was Afraid") Once you acknowledge your own lethargy and superficial nature some real healing can begin to take place. If you do not acknowledge any lethargy or superficiality, and self-deceit within your soul, then either your heart has been hardened by fear or pride, or you're extremely close to fusion.

Some Thoughts on Worship

"Worship is a personal communion with that which is divinely real, with that which is the very source of reality." (*2095)

Worship is our personal response to the Infinite Personality. It is our loving act of real appreciation for existence, for the opportunity of serving our Universal Father, the very source of that love which we share in our worship experience. It is a personal communication of love, signifying our adoration for the Eternal Creator. Worship is indeed the most profound response that we mortals are capable of to the Reality of our love experience.

Worship is an ever-present opportunity for the one who loves God. You "should rejoice in the recognition of the ever-present possibility of immediate communion with the bestowal spirit of the Father so intimately associated with your inner soul and your spiritualizing self." (*63)

Once we begin to fathom the nature of the personal communion possible with the Father, we recognize the importance of maintaining our communion. We are told that "the enlightened worlds all recognize and worship the Universal Father." (*21) Worship becomes then the center of our religious experience, the very source of our inspiration to be of service in the Father's kingdom.

"Worship is the highest privilege and the first duty of all created intelligences." (*303) Worship is a privilege because it signifies the sublime and wonderful nature of our intimate relationship with the very source of reality. Worship is a duty because it is the basis of our relationship with the source of all reality, the Universal Father. Without worship, we lack that personal basis for knowing our true identity and eternal destiny, to become perfect even as our Father.

Worship is the greatest pleasure in all of existence. Worship is the most enjoyable experience experienceable! Worship takes us immediately, even now, into the presence of the Universal Father, the Source of Truth, Beauty and Goodness, Love Personified, and transforms our souls by its loving touch. Worship is our bridge to the Paradise Isle; it is the one experience which will ensure safe passage from our isolated planet on the backroads of infinity to the Home of Our Creator, Our God, Our Father.

Worship is transformative, "the act of a part identifying itself with the Whole; the finite striking step with eternity." (*1616) "Worship, taught Jesus, makes one increasingly like the being who is worshiped. Worship is a transformative experience whereby the finite gradually approaches and ultimately attains the presence of the Infinite." (*1641)

It is said of Jesus that "the secret of his unparalleled religious life was this consciousness of the presence of God; and he attained it by intelligent prayer and sincere worship--unbroken communion with God." (*2089) The secret of our religious lives will be our own sense of inner communion which we establish by our personal attention to prayer and sincere worship. Without this relationship to God, our lives would be very superficial indeed.

Worship is not a complicated technique. The greatest difficulty with worship is the commitment to want to know the Universal Father on an intimate basis. The degree of commitment ensures the success of the personal contact.

The experience of worship can arise in many, many ways. The following is only one suggested approach that may be of assistance to you.

1. Take a couple of minutes to quiet yourself down, follow your breathing for a moment or two, allowing yourself to be centered. "Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still." (Psalm 4)

2. Move in faith into the center of your being, the dwelling place of God. To move in faith to your center, you may use a centering "worship word," such as "Father," a single, simple word that expresses your faith-intent, begin to let your "worship word" repeat itself within your soul. "I will praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart." (Psalm 8)

3. Whenever you find in the course of your worship that you are pulled away from the center of your soul by some distraction, gently return to the Presence by the use of your "worship word." All sorts of thoughts may attempt to dominate your attention. Do not allow any of these thoughts to captivate your attention. "My eyes are ever toward the Lord for He will release my feet from the net." (Psalm 25)

4. You may wish to move from worship to prayer, or from worship to worshipful problem solving. If this is your intention, then move gently into your prayer or worshipful problem solving, recognizing that prayer and worshipful problem solving are not real worship. In worship, our intention is the act of loving God purely, with no element of self-interest. Let your real worship be pure.

With respect to our approach to fellowship, Jesus' message is plain and simple: worship and service, service and worship. These two elements of approach bring each of us into fellowship with God directly. But, they need to go hand in hand. The revelators make it clear that we seriously neglect our worshipful approach to God. Do you make worship a part of your daily routine? If not, then your approach is off. I cannot underscore too much the importance of daily worship in your spiritual journey. I understand that our time constraints make it difficult to fit in; when this is the case, have we not clearly misaligned our priorities in a serious manner? Should not there always be time for a personal rendezvous with God the Father, Michael of Nebadon and the Creative Mother Spirit, and attending guardian angels on a daily basis?

If we do not make time for worship are we not like Martha in the kitchen "cumbered by many trivial cares"; the rich young man, Matadormus, enslaved by his "love of himself and his riches"; the young man who needed to return home to comfort his family, trapped by excuse after excuse? There are no excuses with The Urantia Book; it's all there for us to see and be motivated by. We know with absolute certainty that the Father of all creation desires a relationship with each of us. The question to each of us--to you--is: Do you truly, in your heart of hearts, want fellowship with the Universal Father?