SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

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From THE URANTIA BOOK

Part III, 103, 4 

 

Spiritual Communion

 

 The characteristic difference between a social occasion and a

 religious gathering is that in contrast with the secular the

 religious is pervaded by the atmosphere of communion. In this

 way human association generates a feeling of fellowship with

 the divine, and this is the beginning of group worship.

 Partaking of a common meal was the earliest type of social

 communion, and so did early religions provide that some

 portion of the ceremonial sacrifice should be eaten by the

 worshipers. Even in Christianity the Lord’s Supper retains

 this mode of communion. The atmosphere of the communion

 provides a refreshing and comforting period of truce in the

 conflict of the self-seeking ego with the altruistic urge of the

 indwelling spirit Monitor. And this is the prelude to true

 worship — the practice of the presence of God which

 eventuates in the emergence of the brotherhood of man.

 

 When primitive man felt that his communion with God had

 been interrupted, he resorted to sacrifice of some kind in an

 effort to make atonement, to restore friendly relationship. The

 hunger and thirst for righteousness leads to the discovery of

 truth, and truth augments ideals, and this creates new

 problems for the individual religionists, for our ideals tend to

 grow by geometrical progression, while our ability to live up to

 them is enhanced only by arithmetical progression.

 

 The sense of guilt (not the consciousness of sin) comes either

 from interrupted spiritual communion or from the lowering of

 one’s moral ideals. Deliverance from such a predicament can

 only come through the realization that one’s highest moral 

ideals are not necessarily synonymous with the will of God.

 Man cannot hope to live up to his highest ideals, but he can be

 true to his purpose of finding God and becoming more and

 more like him.

 

 Jesus swept away all of the ceremonials of sacrifice and

 atonement. He destroyed the basis of all this fictitious guilt and

 sense of isolation in the universe by declaring that man is a

 child of God; the creature-Creator relationship was placed on

 a child-parent basis. God becomes a loving Father to his

 mortal sons and daughters. All ceremonials not a legitimate

 part of such an intimate family relationship are forever

 abrogated.

 

 God the Father deals with man his child on the basis, not of

 actual virtue or worthiness, but in recognition of the child’s

 motivation — the creature purpose and intent. The

 relationship is one of parent-child association and is actuated

 by divine love.
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THE FATHER AND HIS KINGDOM

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Christ had a difficult time trying to

explain the concept of 'The Father in Heaven'

to the apostles - changing the idea of a

stern and wrathful deity, to a loving

and merciful creator.

It's Day 27 of THE LENTEN SERIES:

http://www.maninthemaze.com/thelentenseries/thefatherhiskingdom.html

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THE UNIVERSAL FATHER

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The Universal Father is the God of all creation,

the First Source and Center of all things and beings.

First think of God as a creator, then as a controller,

and lastly as an infinite upholder.

The truth about the Universal Father had begun

to dawn upon mankind when the prophet said:

"You, God, are alone; there is none beside you.

You have created the heaven and the heaven of heavens,

with all their hosts; you preserve and control them.

By the Sons of God were the universes made.

The Creator covers himself with light as with a

garment and stretches out the heavens as a curtain."

Only the concept of the Universal Father - one God

in the place of many gods - enabled mortal man

to comprehend the Father as divine creator

and infinite controller.

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The myriads of planetary systems were all made

to be eventually inhabited by many different types of

intelligent creatures, beings who could know God,

receive the divine affection, and love him in return.

The universe of universes is the work of God

and the dwelling place of his diverse creatures.

"God created the heavens and formed the earth;

he established the universe and created this world

not in vain; he formed it

to be inhabited."

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The enlightened worlds all recognize and worship

the Universal Father, the eternal maker and

infinite upholder of all creation. The will creatures

of universe upon universe have embarked upon the

long, long Paradise journey, the fascinating struggle

of the eternal adventure of attaining God the Father.

The transcendent goal of the children of time is

to find the eternal God, to comprehend the divine

nature, to recognize the Universal Father.

God-knowing creatures have only one supreme

ambition, just one consuming desire, and that is

to become, as they are in their spheres,

like him as he is in his Paradise perfection of

personality and in his universal sphere of

righteous supremacy. From the Universal Father

who inhabits eternity there has gone forth the

supreme mandate, "Be you perfect, even

as I am perfect." In love and mercy the

messengers of Paradise have carried this divine

exhortation down through the ages and out

through the universes, even to such lowly

animal-origin creatures as the

human races of Urantia.

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From THE URANTIA BOOK

Part I, Paper 1