Welcome Urantia Book readers in Texas!
Published by the Lone Star UA for its members
October, 2006 --------------------------------------Volume 14 Number 10
Greetings!
These updates are sent to reader/believers in the Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi region by LSUA. They are a compilation of information and news related to Urantia Association International activities and projects. UAI is a fraternal organization, its mission is to foster study and disseminate the supernal teachings found in The Urantia Book.
- October Edition of TIDINGS Magazine ~ UAI's Communication Center
- Plans and Ideas ~A New Strategy for Beginning and Improving Study Groups.
- Call for Dues ~ Message from LSUA Treasurer.
- Local Contacts and Welcome to New Members/Readers
- Global Seeding ~ A Project for Younger and Older Disseminators.
- ~Good~Thots~ An Essay on Goodness from Part One
- LINKS TO UAI WEBSITES, CONTACT INFORMATION
1. TIDINGS is an online magazine created for readers by UAI Executive Administrator emeritus, Cathy Jones, and she is its editor. October's edition begins with a message from UAI President Charland, he offers the latest insider info on UAI education activity, charter changes, nominations to the Service Board, and the global strategy meeting.
Gaétan's message is followed by Dorothy Elders' story, "How the UB found Me!". Many of you know Dorothy as the long standing leader of UBIS, the Association's internet school. Lovely picture of her there.
After Dorothy, Guy LeBlanc of Quebec gives his, "How the UB found Me!" story. He wrote: "...As I love the children much, my Thought Adjuster showed me how to love adults. He never ceases teaching me...."
Then TIDINGS begins a new series of articles titled, "Getting to Know the Trustees". There are five principle Trustees, Seppo Kanerva, Georges Michael Dupont, Gard Jamison, Mo Seigel and Rich Keeler. The first in the series is on Mo. [n.b. There is also a rotating group of Associate Trustees, three or four in number.]
Also in the October issue are reports from readers in Scotland and Chile re Local activities. Readers now span all Urantia and TIDINGS brings our stories together in an online magazine.
Cathy's Announcement:
Dear Friends,
We are very happy to announce the October TIDINGS is now ready for your viewing.
Thank you to all those who contributed to this Fall edition and we sincerely encourage you to continue sending in your news and personal stories.
Sincerely,
Cathy Jones - Editor
Mario Caoile - Layout and Design
Olga Lopez - Spanish Translation
Line St.Pierre - French Translation
TIDINGS English edition
standard http://www.urantia-uai.org/tidings/english/2006/tidings_2006_10.pdf
low http://www.urantia-uai.org/tidings/english/2006/tidings_2006_10LO.pdfTIDINGS Spanish edition
standard http://urantia-uai.org/tidings/espanol/2006/tidings_2006_10esp.pdf
low http://urantia-uai.org/tidings/espanol/2006/tidings_2006_10espLO.pdfTIDINGS French edition
standard http://www.urantia-uai.org/tidings/french/2006/tidings_2006_10fre.pdf
low http://www.urantia-uai.org/tidings/french/2006/tidings_2006_10freLO.pdf
2. Rick Lyon holds UAI's Study Group chair. In the first of several posts he lays out the Study Group Committee's strategy, which cannot be fulfilled without reader cooperation:
Dear UAI National and Local officers,
Over the next few months, all national and local association governing board members will receive a series of letters discussing different aspects for study groups of The Urantia Book. By the end of this series, with your help and input, we hope to develop a plans and ideas for supporting existing study groups and creating new ones.
The UAI Study Group Committee encourages the local associations to take the active leadership role for this project with full support from the ISB Study Group Committee. Only those individuals at the local level can do the real work of supporting existing study groups and encouraging the creation of new study groups. Only local individuals can know and understand the culture of their own local communities and reach out to support and encourage new and experienced readers in their area. If funding is available, we hope to send all the national and local organizations a copy of the Study Group Starter Kit. We encourage you to share the information you will receive with all your members and encourage them to create or attend a study group of their own.
If you would prefer to receive this information in a language other than English, please let me know as soon as possible. I am planning to mail the first letter in two weeks. We look forward to working with all of you in this important project. Your ideas and suggestions are very important to this project and are always welcome.
Thanks,
Rick Lyon
UAI Study Group Committee
ricklyon@tctc.com
765-366-7203 in the USA
3. It's been a year since the call for dues went out. The LSUA governing board thanks you for your support, LSUA funds is used in several ways. Treasurer David Jaggers explains.
Treasurer's Report and Call for DuesDear Lone Star Urantia Association members,
Local dues are an invaluable resource to the UAI and to the Foundation, and contribute greatly to the work of spreading the revelation. Thank you very much for your contributions in 2006.
This year we took in $287.50 in dues. We paid $80 in national dues to the Urantia Association of the United States. We donated $75 to the Foundation towards the Chinese translation. We also paid $14.75 for checks, and spent $30 for the Michaelmas celebration; leaving us with a balance of $87.75.
As treasurer I'm now putting forth the call for dues for the coming year.
Dues are $25 for single members or $35 for families.Please write your checks out to The Lone Star Urantia Association and send them to:
Lone Star UAI
c/o David Jaggers
3908 Lakeside Drive
Bryan, Texas, 77807Thank you very much,
David Jaggers
Treasurer, LSUA
4. NEW CONTACTS IN TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA Welcome and a tip of the hat to new members and recipients of the Update.
Readers submit their names (to Urantia Foundation which passed them on to UAI) asking to be listed as contacts:
New contacts this month are:
Abraham R of Arlington
Sara F of HoustonIf you live near one or more of these readers, contact them about Study Group and local UB activities. Lone Star's membership officer is David Glass, he keeps track of new "Referrals". He can give you phone numbers and eddresses for these contacts, and others in your area. Write him if you want to start or add to your Study Group, make new UB friends, or just welcome another reader: DGlass63@aol.com
Also at your service are the other officers of Lone Star Urantia Association.
These are LSUA Local Officers contacts:President - Debra Guevara
debraathome@yahoo.comVice President - Betty Tarpley
cbt741@sbcglobal.netSecretary - Rick Guevara
rvguevara@yahoo.comTreasurer/Editor - David Jaggers
dsjaggers@txcyber.comCommunications/Editor - Rick Warren
rewar@swbell.net
5. Dear UAI Family.
The letter below was posted to the UBYA (young readers website) last week. Please pass it along to younger readers and leaders in your area who might not be subscribed to UBYA. And feel free to put it in your newsletters and on your Local or National websites. Global seeding is a centuries long project that will require the assistance of almost all readers, either as supporters or field workers. Therefore must we ever engage young readers in the agelong work of disseminating the virus along with the revelation.Thank you! Rick.
PS. "Mike" refers to our own Mike MacIssac, organizer and web-host of UYBA.
Hi Mike, youth group readers, Siblings all,
Gaetan, Mark Bloomfield and I have been talking about finishing seeding the planet. We thought the youth group might want to offer yet more service in this somewhat organized endeavor. If you'd like to join such a project, either individually or as a group, Mark and I will assist as we can. I've seeded the Book in about 1000 libraries, schools and prisons of Texas, and some internationally.
And Mark's done it 8000 times, person to person, in many, many countries and institutions. But it is obvious, finishing the seeding will require your help (probably your grandchildren's help as well) since only a small percent of this task is complete---after fifty years. The distant goal is to make the revelation available in every area in a form comprehensible to its inhabitants. This will take coordination between all readers and leaders.
Also, I've been pondering ways to present the Book where it's needed most, on campuses, learning centers and universities. These are places most of you go, sooner or later. But it's wise to know when to put the Book out in the open and when to take a low profile approach to dissemination. With that in mind, the Dissemination Committee wants to try an experiment with your consent and assistance: The DC will supply college, university, seminary student/readers with Foundation brochures to post on campus bulletin boards and other appropriate venues.
One of the bylaw recommendations for the DC is this:
iv. Working with Communications Committee to develop brochures and information resources to communicate with the public sector that does not read The Urantia Book.
The back of a brochure gives the disseminator a place to stamp contact info and then perhaps serve as a local rep/liaison for the revelation. The Revelators said just one percent of humans are genuine leaders, that means Urantia has a pool of 60 million unidentified leaders for us to draw from, future fellow readers who will help spread the benign virus and the revelation. Many of them are in schools and you are their only live link to the UB.
If you haven't already noticed, the revelation somehow finds its way to leaders and teachers. And some of you will feel drawn to the global seed project, some working alone and some on a team. When the right kind of contact is made with Urantia's mega-pool of leaders, many of them will gladly carry forward this awesome message we hold in trust. I know some of you and it's very plain your potential is beyond enormous. In fact, some of your potential is already a fact evidenced by your services past.
For free brochures (Selected Excerpts and A Description) or just to discuss this more, contact me. Please feel free to contact Mark or me if you want to talk seeding plans and methodology with a couple of old guys. Repping the Book is not that tough, once you've tried it a few times. Mike and others in your group have experience at it as well.
Mark wants to seed all Africa next, then Brazil. But seeding is needed in many areas and nations. Especially where a new translation has recently emerged, like Germany, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands and Lithuania. The Romanian, Greek and Estonian translations are on the horizon, then most important to Asia, the Chinese and Japanese will need your good services.
Fifty years ago North American readers began seeding and today the revelation is available to most libraries and bookstores, if not actually in place. And it's universally available on the web. The work is started and you are invited to join. If you need more info, encouragement or a quick tutorial on seeding, contact me. rewar@swbell.net
Some of you will have the opportunity to do the bulk of the beginning of the job of seeding by the time you are ready to "graduate" off this quarantined soul nursery. Then will these seeds germinate, set roots and one day bloom into light and life. We are all so very privileged to have a role in this beautiful unfolding, albeit early on.
Lotsa love,
Rick Warren
UAI Dissemination Committee
rewar@swbell.net
817-246-0882
6. According to new studies thinking "good" thoughts is healthy for you and therefore the planet. The authors use the words good and goodness judiciously, never off handed. Goodness makes an interesting study for the student of Spirit. Below are my reflections on this fascinating aspect of Deity. Your reflections are welcome here too.
Rick
What Is Good?
Goodness RevealedTo be and do good, goodness must first be recognized, understood and implemented. In their prodigious attempts to define goodness the authors relate it to other positive traits, values and ideals, like trust and love.
When a Mighty Messenger declares that, "love is the desire to do good to others", when he states: "To finite man truth, beauty, and goodness embrace the full revelation of divinity reality...", he is outlining goodness. But defining it well would take a volume the size of say...The Urantia Book! Living goodness to perfection will take an eternity or two.
We recognize goodness when we experience it in ourselves and see it in others, but what is it precisely? Maybe we can know it better through in its manifestations. Is honesty good? Is trustworthiness good? Is loyalty? Service? What about friendship, family and brotherhood? How does goodness relate to grace and greatness? How do mercy and goodness combine to express divine kindness? How does goodness relate to the inherent morality in humans? Are we pre-programmed to do good?
What is the relation of virtue to goodness? With respect to goodness, how should humans practice liberty and freewill? These questions only begin to focus light on the nature and meaning of real and total goodness. One day all ascenders will be past defining and practicing goodness, then we will seek to perfect it.
Once understanding goodness has been achieved, a whole universe of possibilities opens to the ascender. No longer is goodness relative to evil, but is full blown and begging for exploration. On nursery worlds goodness is contrasted with evil, but on high goodness reigns supreme all the time as it is God's nature and those who live in His kind shadow. Perfection of goodness, greatness and grace become the pilgrim's goals once the basics of goodness are mastered.
Jesus says that God is love, good and great, even more. He asserts that God's goodness is overwhelming to evil---where goodness is, evil finds no place. That goodness is powerful, at the same time, virtuous. That goodness finds new and always unique _expression in each and every creature. That God is the source and destiny of goodness and mercy. He is the Father and model of all that is good.
To define goodness is to define an aspect of God that encompasses the personal part of His nature. Goodness is always personal. An essential element of Spirit is personality, and goodness cannot exist outside the presence of persons. God is a person first and foremost, and the nature of his character and personality is goodness. It is inherent and absolute. Love and goodness are almost indistinguishable in God. God is love and goodness is the motivation of love.
Grace leads to goodness, goodness is the mother of graciousness, graciousness gives birth to greatness and genuine character. And greatness of character is the key to totality of personality expression. God is perfectly good and great, as we will be when we enter Paradise at the end of the universe training regime.
Goodness is defined anew for each creature. Its expressions and consequences redound to the good of the Supreme, us included. Understanding goodness in its entirety is impossible for humans, but experiencing and transmitting it are not. Even little children with little or no concept of goodness can be and do good. We have innate capacity to feel, create and emanate goodness. Human goodness may be imperfect in its expression, but it has the same eternal and lasting value as all other things real. Genuine reality is always good and goodness is always REAL.
To finite man truth, beauty, and goodness embrace the full revelation of divinity reality.
7. LINKS TO UAI WEBSITES:
Websites offering information, study and contact for all levels of our organization are abundant. Starting at the Local level is the Lone Star website where Study Groups are listed, newsletters are archived and many other items concerning LSUA, UAUS and UAI. Submit your items to one of the governing board members for inclusion on the site.
http://www.lonestarlight.com/announce/whatsnew.htm
These are LSUA Local Officers contacts:
President - Debra Guevara
debraathome@yahoo.comVice President - Betty Tarpley
cbt741@sbcglobal.netSecretary - Rick Guevara
rvguevara@yahoo.comTreasurer/Editor - David Jaggers
dsjaggers@txcyber.comCommunications/Editor - Rick Warren
rewar@swbell.netThis link below will take you to the National level where there are photos, UB inspired music and art reviews, and yet other germane info for readers:
http://www.urantiausa.org/index.htm
At the international level, you will find the Charter and Bylaws, UAI projects involving study and dissemination, event information, membership requirements, and many, many other items of interest to members.
Newsletters from other Associations around the planet can be found here:
http://www.urantia-uai.org/newsletters/index.html
Most of these sites have links to yet other sites associated with study and dissemination activities. To view all the Association's links, go to:
http://www.urantia-iua.org/contacts.html
If you would like to join UAI and participate in its mission to foster study and disseminate the teachings, there are several options for application on the UAI website's membership page:
http://www.urantia-uai.org/UAI_membership.html
If you want to know or show the sort of projects UAI is involved in, please go to the UAI Projects Page:
http://www.urantia-iua.org/projects.html
Editor, Rick Warren
rewar@swbell.net
LSUA Communications
817-246-0882
