The Cosmic Citizen

This week we are featuring the planners of 'The Gathering at the Hood' - Sept 17-20th.  This inaugural event is organized by a newly formed group, the Urantian Communities of the Pacific Northwest (UCPNW). Ninety people will gather in the intimate, natural beauty of Mt Hood, Oregon. The event theme is 'Getting to Know You.'  Barb Maier, Nancy Votrain and Pamela Chaddock will share their personal spiritual journeys and give the details of this 4-day gathering. The goal of the UCPNW is to develop a new model of cooperation and cohesion and to demonstrate "unity without uniformity" to inspire service in the Pacific Northwest. Nancy Votrain is a longtime active student of the Urantia Book, a member of Corvallis, Oregon’s 39 year old study group, and a founding member of the Oregondonters. She was instrumental in organizing two regional conferences in Oregon and she developed and conducted the first stand alone youth program for the Triennial Conference in 1996. Currently, Nancy serves as co-chair for the Urantia Communities of the Pacific Northwest “Gathering at Mt. Hood.” Pamela Chaddock is a long-term dedicated student of the Urantia Papers.  She also is a member of The Urantia Book Fellowship, representing their Outreach and Interfaith Committees in building bridges between followers of the Revelation and Progressive Christians, whom she deems are expressing the emerging Religion OF Jesus. Barbara Maier is a co-chair of the Gathering at the Hood.  She is the President of The Fellowship's Northern Light Society of Alaska, serves on their International Committee and administers the 2x2=MORE project, which sponsors young adults to travel on global service missions sharing the Urantia teachings.  She is devoted to combining her love of the UB teachings with her love of people, travel, outreach and service.

An Investigation into The New Testament Bible Paul and the Epistles #1 From 3 perspectives * The Biblical worldview * The Academic/Scholastic * The Urantia Book The Apostle Paul, in his efforts to bring the teachings of Jesus to the favorable notice of certain groups in his day, wrote many letters of instruction and admonition. Other teachers of Jesus' gospel did likewise, but none of them realized that some of these writings would subsequently be brought together by those who would set them forth as the embodiment of the teachings of Jesus. And so, while so-called Christianity does contain more of the Master's gospel than any other religion, it does also contain much that Jesus did not teach. Email:  [email protected] On facebook: Godss GumshoeTwitter: @godsgumshoe  YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/godsgumshoe?feature=mhee

This is a Reprise episode.  The gang are off on UB business this week….sooooo This week we'll explore the most precious gifts giving to humanity by Jesus with a reading of two amazing sections from the Urantia Book, Paper 100: Section 7 - The Acme of Religious Living and Paper 171: Section 7 - As Jesus Passed By. Here is a preview: Jesus spread good cheer everywhere he went. He was full of grace and truth.Jesus really understood men; therefore could he manifest genuine sympathy and show sincere compassion.Jesus could help men so much because he loved them so sincerely. He truly loved each man, each woman, and each child.Jesus was never in a hurry. He had time to comfort his fellow men "as he passed by."When he smiled on a man, that mortal experienced increased capacity for solving his manifold problems.He frequently set out to help a person by asking for help.Great things happened not only because people had faith in Jesus, but also because Jesus had so much faith in them.It was literally true, "He went about doing good."He lived the truth, even as he taught it. He was the truthJesus was an unusually cheerful person... His constant word of exhortation was, "Be of good cheer."The Master was always generous. He never grew weary of saying, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Said he, "Freely you have received, freely give."Jesus was great because he was good, and yet he fraternized with the little children.Jesus was the perfectly unified human personality. And today, as in Galilee, he continues to unify mortal experience and to co-ordinate human endeavors Join us

The Acts of the Apostles: Paul as Missionary   From 3 perspectives   * The Biblical worldview * The Academic/Scholastic * The Urantia Book It was only natural that the cult of renunciation and humiliation should have paid attention to sexual gratification. The continence cult in later days it became the practice of "saints."  Many of the world's great religions have been adversely influenced by this ancient cult, but none more markedly than Christianity. The Apostle Paul was a devotee of this cult, and his personal views are reflected in the teachings which he fastened onto Christian theology.  Paul well knew that such teachings were not a part of Jesus' gospel, and his acknowledgment of this is illustrated by his statement, "I speak this by permission and not by commandment." But this cult led Paul to look down upon women. Furthermore, the involvement of a religion with the ancient continence cult leads directly to a war against marriage and the home, society's veritable foundation and the basic institution of human progress. And it is not to be wondered at that all such beliefs fostered the formation of celibate priesthoods in the many religions of various peoples  [email protected] www.godsgumshoe.org On facebook: Godss Gumshoe  YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/godsgumshoe?feature=mhee

An Investigation into The New Testament Bible   The Book of Acts From 3 perspectives * The Biblical worldview * The Academic/Scholastic * The Urantia Book ABOUT one o'clock, as the one hundred and twenty believers were engaged in prayer, they all became aware of a strange presence in the room. Peter stood up and declared that this must be the coming of the Spirit of Truth These men had been trained and instructed that the gospel which they should preach was the fatherhood of God and the sonship of man, but at just this moment of spiritual ecstasy and personal triumph, the best tidings, the greatest news, these men could think of was the fact of the risen Master.  Peter unwittingly led off in this mistake, and others followed after him on down to Paul, who created a new religion out of the new version of the good news. The gospel of the kingdom is: the fact of the fatherhood of God, coupled with the resultant truth of the sonship-brotherhood of men. Christianity, as it developed from that day, is: the fact of God as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, in association with the experience of believer-fellowship with the risen and glorified Christ. Email:  [email protected] On facebook: Godss GumshoeTwitter: @godsgumshoe  YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/godsgumshoe?feature=mhee

This week we'll be interviewing our good friend David Glass. David is a beloved poet, musician and a 40+ year student of The Urantia Book. He has agreed to share his personal journey of evolving devotion to Jesus. He hopes to share his childhood lessons on Jesus at Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist churches. “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name!” His spiritual alienation and darkish night of the soul. The discovery of Urantia Book and Jesus as a unified manifestation of the Father and the Son.  How he found Creator, Universe Sovereign and a human hero—Joshua ben Joseph. His hope for a cosmic cleansing and graduation on Salvington as  “a beloved son” there to become a future trail blazer to eternity. Perhaps the best way to typify David Glass’ four-decade involvement with the Urantia revelation is to characterize him as an ongoing, steady, occasionally impassioned, faith-sustained and truth-delighted pursuer of ever-heightening understanding of God and Reality.  David has a very early and direct response to music; having become proficient at piano and composition by age 10; vocal and operatic performances; composer for string orchestra in Jr High; honors graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy; honors graduate (valedictorian) of Eckerd College; and winner of a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship to pursue post-grad studies at Stony Brook. Somewhere in grad school, David, “had a surfeit of fiction—and needed some truth!”  Then began a cross-continental search for spiritual insight. In the summer of 1972, a good friend suggested the revelation and he abandoned nearly all pursuits to complete his first reading.  David is currently retired after years of private piano instruction and serves as President of the Urantia Society of North Texas.  He will present a workshop at SSS’15 on “Unbroken Communion with God.”

An Investigation into The New Testament Bible The Book of Acts:  Luke-Acts of the Apostles.  From 3 perspectives * The Biblical worldview * The Academic/Scholastic * The Urantia Book The Gospel by Luke. Luke, the physician of Antioch in Pisidia, was a gentile convert of Paul, and he wrote quite a different story of the Master's life. He began to follow Paul and learn of the life and teachings of Jesus in A.D. 47. Luke preserves much of the "grace of the Lord Jesus Christ" in his record as he gathered up these facts from Paul and others. Luke presents the Master as "the friend of publicans and sinners." He did not formulate his many notes into the Gospel until after Paul's death. Luke wrote in the year 82 in Achaia. He planned three books dealing with the history of Christ and Christianity but died in A.D. 90 just before he finished the second of these works, the "Acts of the Apostles." .As material for the compilation of his Gospel, Luke first depended upon the story of Jesus' life as Paul had related it to him. Luke's Gospel is, therefore, in some ways the Gospel according to Paul. Email:  [email protected] On facebook: Godss GumshoeTwitter: @godsgumshoe  YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/godsgumshoe?feature=mhee

This week we'll be interviewing Angela Thurston, one of the brightest young millienial stars we know. Angie Thurston is at Harvard Divinity School to deepen spiritual community among millennials amidst increasing religious disaffiliation. A graduate of Brown University, Angie spent six years as a playwright and arts administrator in New York City. She now applies her creative energy to collaborations centered on fostering spiritual growth. America is changing: Millennials are less religiously affiliated than ever before. Churches are just one of many institutional casualties of the internet age in which young people are both more globally connected and more locally isolated than ever before. Against this bleak backdrop, a hopeful landscape is emerging. Millennials are flocking to a host of new organizations that deepen community in ways that are powerful, surprising, and perhaps even religious. After two years of noticing this happen, Angela has coauthored this report with Casper ter Kuile. The two are sharing their findings in order to start a conversation. They speak to three groups of people: Organizational leaders, organizational supporters and those interested in America’s changing religious landscape. They highlight ten organizations that illustrate what is happening. These organizations have a shared ethos. They map out their ancestry, sibling projects, and cousins in corporate America. They close the report with a few considerations for the organizations and others invested in their success, asking: Who are we serving? How are we leading? What about God? Hopefully these organizations will begin to see themselves as part of a broader cultural shift toward deeper community. By consciously coming together, they could form the DNA of a fruitful movement for personal spiritual growth and social transformation. We invite you to join us in considering how millennials are changing the way we gather.

An Investigation into The New Testament Bible The Story of Jesus  : THE ASCENSION OF JESUS From 3 perspectives * The Biblical world viiew * The Academic/Scholastic * The Urantia Book In paper 193:5.2. Jesus said to his Apostels, "I bade you tarry in Jerusalem until you were endowed with power from on high. I am now about to take leave of you; I am about to ascend to my Father, and soon, very soon, will we send into this world of my sojourn the Spirit of Truth; and when he has come, you shall begin the new proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom, first in Jerusalem and then to the uttermost parts of the world. Love men with the love wherewith I have loved you and serve your fellow mortals even as I have served you. By the spirit fruits of your lives impel souls to believe the truth that man is a son of God, and that all men are brethren. Remember all I have taught you and the life I have lived among you. My love overshadows you, my spirit will dwell with you, and my peace shall abide upon you. Farewell." Email:  [email protected] On facebook: Godss GumshoeTwitter: @godsgumshoe  YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/godsgumshoe?fe

Jesus asked his followers to dedicate their lives to the regeneration of all humankind, by living and proclaiming a new and higher way of life.  In our generation, The Urantia Book asks us to take up this same call. And it provides the guidance we need, in great detail, to begin to address this mission.  If we could develop a dynamic evolutionary movement, that powerfully conveyed the spiritual essence of the revelation, in a form that ministered to large numbers of people in varied cultures around the world, what might it look like? We talked about this on air with Marvin Gawryn recently. He's coming to Boulder, Colorado this Saturday May 2nd, to do a daylong seminar on this topic of socializing our religion. The hosts of the Cosmic Citizen, Paula, Christilyn and Andre, will be attending Marvin's seminar and so we are replaying this show to facilitate our participation. On this episode, we explored passages in the revelation that project the outlines of such a social spiritual movement, and together we imagined how we might move toward its realization. Marvin Gawryn has been a student of The Urantia Book for forty-seven years, leading study groups and serving in various capacities in the Urantia Book Fellowship for much of that time.  He is retired after thirty years in practice as a family therapist, and currently provides coaching and consulting services part time.  He and his wife Francyl live in Boulder City, Nevada, and have two grown daughters and their first grandchild. If you are interested in Marvin coming to your community to present a similar seminar, you can inquire with him at: [email protected].