President’s Message – June 2019
This summer, the European Continental Conference will be hosted by the Estonian Association in Tallinn. The theme of the conference is: “Sowing Seeds—Qualitative Internal and Quantitative External Growth” and the conference will focus on the relationship between the internal growth of the individual and our external growth in service.
In our local study group recently, we read about Jesus going to John for baptism. The Urantia Book explains that the people being baptized were not doing so as a sign that they are ready to enter into Faith, which is how we use the baptism ceremony today; rather, they were submitting to baptism on behalf of their people, hoping that if enough people submitted themselves to God’s will then the trials of their nation would end. It was in this spirit that Jesus submitted himself to baptism, as the Son of Man, as a representative of his people—all humanity and all mortals.
A reminder that the time for the 2nd European Urantia Conference that’s being held in Tallinn, Estonia, 11 – 14 July 2019 is almost upon us.
Sowing Seeds in Tallinn, Reaping Flowers in Vancouver
14 – 16 July, 2019
Being About the Father’s Business
Vancouver, Canada 15—19 July 2020
A Personal Outreach
The 18th Meeting of readers in Spain began on Thursday afternoon, April 25th at the Hotel Estival Torrequebrada, located just beside the Mediterranean Sea in the town of Benalmádena (Málaga, Spain). Forty-five attendees came from all over the country and also from abroad, including Germany, Finland, Israel, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Switzerland. Among our guests were Antonio Schefer, Urantia Association’s Conference Committee Chair, and Sebastian Nozzi, European Coordinator. Thank you all for coming!
I volunteered to assist in the Urantia Book booth at the last year’s Parliament of the World’s Religions which was held in Toronto on November 1-7, 2018. There were around 72 Urantia Book readers present at the event and many of us who volunteered were kept busy appreciating the multitude of smiling faces on the people who passed by, many of whom stopped at the booth to fraternize and investigate our book. The event was held in the huge Metro Toronto Convention Center, and we enjoyed the contact of so many open-minded thirsty souls. People are really thirsty for world peace!
Every year at the beginning of March, we hold a conference on a Sunday at the Intercontinental Hotel. The theme of our conference this year was “Science, Religion and Spirituality.” Presentations were held on a variety of topics from The Urantia Book as well as the application of the book’s teachings to our contemporary life.
On the 29th of March of this year Moussa Ndiaye, a long-time reader and a great teacher of The Urantia Book teachings, passed away. Moussa was the first president of the national Urantia Association of Senegal and over many years traveled to Europe, Canada, and the United States to attend conferences as well as to present a series of seminars based on The Urantia Book teachings. His goal was to help uplift spiritual consciousness in men and women of many faiths whether they were Urantia Book readers or not.