[ggc-urantialist] Re: [socadmin] FIFTH EPOCHAL POWER HOUR looks at Holiday straddle
- From: "Dawn Hart" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "dawnhartk@xxxxxxxxx" for DMARC)
- To: "dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 13:13:51 -0800
Amen! Well said, David.
We are indeed lucky. Distorted or not, most people know the true meaning of
Christmas all around the world despite the retail spin that greedy men have
attached to it.
I was particularly moved by recent reports about how all Christmas celebrations
and parties are to be cancelled in Africa due to the potential risk of
spreading Ebola.
They have so many celebrations there that they have to have to sanction a shut
down!
As horrible and sad as this Ebola crisis is hearing about the large numbers of
parties and celebrations typically held there made me smile. Michael is alive
and well all around Urantia.
We who know his rightful birthday have the pleasure and honor of celebrating it
twice. At least most people celebrate it once on our very troubled world.
May we all give thanks for this!
Warm regards,
Dawn
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 15, 2014, at 5:39 AM, "David Kantor" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
(Redacted sender "dkantor606@xxxxxxxxx" for DMARC) wrote:
> Stephen, as always I appreciate your thoughts and reflections.
>
> This past weekend I went to a choral concert of traditional Christmas music
> at one of Denver's largest cathedrals. It was absolutely beautiful. The
> place was packed. People were dressed in their Christmas best and in a
> wonderful mood. I found myself reflecting on the fact that here, 2,000 years
> later, the bestowal is being celebrated big-time. In a way, much of the
> world comes to a standstill at this time of the year and in spite of the very
> (from a Urantian perspective) limited understanding of what actually
> transpired, the fact remains that the commemoration of Michael's bestowal is
> a major planetary event which in addition to wrapping paper, ribbons, and
> fruit cakes, calls forth some of the human best in music, drama, spiritual
> reflection, the widespread practice of stringing lights to illuminate winter
> skies, and much more. I find that charming.
>
> I continue to appreciate the comment in The Urantia Book about religion
> having to do with finding new meanings in facts already well-known to
> mankind. The world is celebrating the fact of the bestowal. It is up to the
> Spirit of Truth--hopefully augmented by evangelists of the fifth epochal
> revelation--to work on the task of elevating the meanings.
>
> So let us celebrate the fact that the bestowal is still so widely remembered
> and honor it however we see fit in our own families and social circles. A
> Merry Christmas to all!
>
> David
>
>
>
> From: Stephen Zendt <szendt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: UB Soc-Admin (new) <socadmin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
> "ggc-urantialist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ggc-urantialist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2014 6:40 PM
> Subject: [socadmin] FIFTH EPOCHAL POWER HOUR looks at Holiday straddle
>
> Power Hour looks at Holiday straddle
> Sunday, December 14, 2014
>
> Dear Urantia Book students and friends,
> It's not just this year, it's not even this December Holiday Season. And yet
> . . .
>
> It's a sort of mental dissonance that I note in my personal religious life.
> It has to do with knowledge that I possess, only because I have read the
> Urantia Papers.
> For instance, Joshua ben Joseph's actual birth date, or the realization that
> Jesus of Nazareth did not walk on water, nor did he do a number of things
> that are attributed to him in the four Gospel narratives.
> Yet our Judeo-Christian culture is steeped in "stories of Jesus". Stories
> that apparently have no basis in fact, if you take the Fifth Epochal
> Revelation at face value.
>
> Yet, we know that water became fine wine at Cana, and thousands of hungry
> mortals were fed on a few loaves and some fish.
>
> The entire theological teaching that Jesus' death on the cross was
> foreordained by the need to have an atonement for the "sins of the world"
> makes my heart ache. It so profoundly misunderstands the very Universal
> Father whom Jesus came to reveal to mortals as a God of LOVE.
>
> So, I am pondering at Christmastime, when "Baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem",
> that shepherds were not involved in Jesus', Mary's, and Joseph's
> manger-scene. Yet angels were fully aware and present. But this was in the
> late Summertime, not mid-winter.
>
> So many of my childhood myths needed to be updated by my exposure to the
> Urantia Papers.
>
> I was raised on shepherds and lambs, and choirs of singing angels. Every
> Christmas Eve our family would read the story in the Gospel of Luke. We had a
> crèche with shepherds, sheep, and a cow. We attended performances of Messiah,
> and participated in children's pageants at church.
> There was also Santa Claus, who did impossible things for good, well-behaved
> children.
>
> Now, all those memories are tucked away, mostly because they have little
> actual association with real events in the Master's life on our world.
>
> Our Holidays are full of deadlines, purchases of gifts, preparations of food,
> hospitality and parties to attend. The cheerful mood is infectious at the
> best of times. The decorations and twinkle-twinkle shed rays of hope and
> promise.
>
> Do you find yourself straddling the Holidays knowing what you know, holding
> your faith uplifted?
> Do you find yourself longing for peace and quiet, calm and poise, moments
> away from hustle-bustle?
> I have no answers for the straddle. It is how things are, these days.
>
> So, to you and your loved ones, your co-workers, and your town or city, may
> the Spirit of Truth aid in our understanding of our times.
>
> Here's to a very merry time of the year.
> I wish you celebration and good cheer!
>
> Stephen Zendt, Walnut Creek, CA
>
>
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