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August 15, 1983

Dear_______:

Thank you for your letter asking me not to resign as chairman of the Fraternal Relations Committee. My decision was seriously considered and prayerfully contemplated. It has a long history which I cannot take the time to review in much detail.

Since 1956 I have not had the slightest doubt that the Father's will for me is to spend my time evolving an interface between the Christian churches and the Urantia movement. For one reason or another this calling has been put off or placed in low gear year after year for one reason or another. Places of honor and importance have been offered to me--such as Christy's invitation for me to come up and take her place in directing the Foundation and Brotherhood Office--which were temptations for me to abandon this call. I have served in various capacities on the Executive Committee over the years in response to what might be termed "emergency" situations because I have had an unwavering conviction that my real calling was outreach and interface work with our Christian churches and culture.

Christy's passing to the Mansion Worlds was the culminating event which made me realize that it is time for me to be about "the Father's business." For many years my desire to be of service, my basic preference to co-operate with the group, and the pain it causes me to say "no" to people when asked for help, has allowed others to shape my life more than the specific divine calling which I have felt.

I do not regret these diversions and am happy that I could so serve. On the other hand, as I look back over my life of service in the Brotherhood, almost every major suggestion I have made, and a good many of the minor ones, have been rejected only to be put into practice several years later. The only exception I can think of was the recommendation to Dr. Sadler that we create the position of Field Representative--and this position fell out of favor with the Executive Committee years later.

Although I am a fairly rugged individual, one finally tires of kindly and friendly negativism and institutional lethargy which appears to be at least subconsciously motivated by fear more than wisdom--especially when one does not feel called to this kind of institutional service. When one has to struggle for every inch of progress, finally there comes a time when one realizes that one should devote his life to the specific service where the Father has been calling him for years.

I really thought it would be possible for me to go about my work evolving an interface with the Christian churches and also serve as chairman of the Fraternal Relations Committee. What I am doing in the Christian Fellowship and what we ought to be doing in the Fraternal Relations Committee are essentially the Same. Experience during the past year, however, has demonstrated the incompatibility of creative outreach work with institutional policy making and business.

There have been so many hassles among factions on the Executive Committee, it has broken my psychological and spiritual concentration and taken up so much time my outreach work has been virtually dormant. the one tool we need for individual and small group outreach work with churches--a multimedia introducing The Urantia Book--went over like a lead balloon. Yes, I know, it will be done several years from now; but I'm tired of bucking this kind of resistance at every step. I want to work, not argue.

It is almost impossible to do creative work in the institutional atmosphere which we now have. I am confident that fresh leadership will come along some day which will change this. If this does not happen, others will be taking over the work the Brotherhood should be doing.

Although I believe my decision is in harmony with the Father's will for my life, when it comes to the bottom line, I am much more of a team person than a "loner." If it is the wish of the Executive Committee, I will again postpone my calling to higher priorities, to attempt to serve the highest good of the Brotherhood.

Cordially,

Meredith J. Sprunger