We ate the torchbearers for a new age of religion on this world. We each have our part to play in the effort to spiritually uplift the planet. The task is of such gigantic proportions that none of us can fully appreciate the immensity of its import.

It is not incumbent upon us to go about proclaiming our message with "noise and glamor" any more than Jesus did. When we are repeatedly told to study the way Jesus went about his task of instructing his followers we learn that he did so quietly and without fanfare. Most of the really important things which Jesus said or did seemed to happen casually "as he passed by."

There was so little of the professional, the well-planned, or the premeditated in the Master's early ministry. He dispensed health and scattered happiness naturally and gracefully as he journeyed through life. And we are admonished to learn to minister in this very fashion as we pass by. Jesus had so many charming attributes which made him effective as a leader of men. I mention two -- goodness and graciousness. "Graciousness is the aroma of friendliness which emanates from a love-saturated soul" and "goodness is universally attractive only when it is gracious."

Jesus charged his followers: "That which the world needs most to know is: men are the sons of God, and though faith they can actually realize, and fully experience, this ennobling truth." In this simple but profound statement Jesus summed up the very heart of his teaching.

And Jesus elaborated, "My bestowal should help all men to know that they are the children of God but such knowledge will not suffice if they fail personally to faith-grasp the saving truth that they are the living spirit sons of the eternal Father. The gospel of the kingdom is concerned with the love of the Father and the service of his children on earth."

"I have lived my life in the flesh to show how you can, through loving service, become God-revealing to your fellowmen even as, by loving you and serving you, I have become God-revealing to you."

Never has such exhilarating news been revealed on this planet as that given us in the Urantia Book. But in our joy of knowing this revelation we must be alert that we don not repeat the mistake of the Apostles, who in the supreme ecstasy occasioned by the coming of the Spirit of Truth, proclaimed the fact of Jesus' resurrection and life after death for all, in the place of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man.

We must not substitute a lesser role for the great one that has been given to us. Our purpose is to bring people closer to God. We must not slip into the error of believing that our sole and meager task is to sell books. Of course, we want to dispense books but that will take care of itself if we preach the message of sonship with God. "If the Urantia Book becomes mandatory in our ministry, then we have truly subordinated it to our first and primary objective and purpose, which is the service of God." What the world needs most to know is that men are the sons of God.

Religion is challenged today by scientific skepticism and materialistic tendencies. In this gigantic struggle between the secular and the spiritual it is our task to help bring about a spiritual renaissance and assist in the eventual triumph of the religion of Jesus. And Jesus said, "Some day the gospel which I declare to you will rule this very world."

The stage has been set and now we must act our part to step out into the vanguard of progress. Many are waiting in the wings for their call to action. The Urantia Book says of the Christian Church, "If the Christian Church would only dare to espouse the Master's program, thousands of apparently hungry youths would rush forward to enlist in such a spiritual undertaking, and they would not hesitate to go all the way through with this great adventure."

We are in association with a revelation of truth which is also a part of the natural evolution of religion on Urantia. We, the soldiers of the circles, will presently begin to function as a part of the spiritual illumination and religious readjustment of the oncoming dispensation. I believe we are witnessing at the present time a subsidence of the political, social, and moral convulsions of the mortal races of this world. The transition upheavals of a new age have in some phases attained their height and the long and slow progress of dispensational adjustment is now beginning.

The hour has come to define a program for the proclamation, not of the fact of the possession of the superb Urantia Book, but rather a proclamation of the real story of the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the greatest story ever told.

And when we go abroad to tell all nations the good news of this gospel, let us remember Jesus' promise: "I will go before you, and my Spirit of Truth shall abide in your hearts. I am with you always."

The harvest is indeed plenteous, and though the laborers may be few they are sufficient to insure the steady increase of their ranks to eventually encompass every mortal on the planet.

And as I end this welcoming address to the soldiers of the circles, I want to thank our Heavenly Father for the many dedicated and sincere souls who by their presence here today and by their personal work give assurance of their desire to do the Father's will and to live the God-revealing life.