I am once again back
at the Hidden Valley Campground near Jamestown, NY after an enjoyable
experience at the Study Group Symposium in Madison, Wisconsin. The symposium was held at Edgewood College,
which has a beautiful campus and between the proceedings I was able to explore
the grounds a bit. There was good energy
throughout the meetings and it was an invigorating experience; everyone
benefited from the proceedings. My own
presentation was the last afternoon plenary and I was quite nervous beforehand,
more on that below; however it went well and everyone had good things to say about
it. Let’s get started.
Since the symposium
was for study group leaders, the theme for the quotations in this posting is Leaders.
Religion
does need new leaders, spiritual men and women who will dare to depend solely
on Jesus and his incomparable teachings. If Christianity persists in neglecting
its spiritual mission while it continues to busy itself with social and
material problems, the spiritual renaissance must await the coming of these new
teachers of Jesus’ religion who will be exclusively devoted to the spiritual
regeneration of men. And then will these spirit-born souls quickly supply the
leadership and inspiration requisite for the social, moral, economic, and
political reorganization of the world. The
Urantia Book (2082.9) (195:9.4)
Yellow Iris near Lake Wingra
Betty Lou and I
decided to fly into Milwaukee, rent a car and drive to Madison a day early so
she could work on the symposium and I could work on my presentation. I also agreed to pick up Margaret and her
husband since they would be arriving about the same time; I had never met her
before so all I had to go on was to look for two people with a lot of luggage. I arrived at the airport before the others,
secured the rental and hung out at the baggage claim area. I soon had no trouble finding Margaret and
Jake but not Betty Lou. Sometime after
her flight arrived and all the luggage had been collected I finally got a call
from her; she had been waiting only a few feet away but somehow we had not
noticed each other, perhaps it was a case of the blind looking for the blind. Having gathered everyone together we found
our way to the symposium site, which was about an hour’s drive away and only
got lost briefly while attempting to find our way onto the campus.
It is always a joy to
attend these meetings since we meet friends and form new friendships. I talked with people from Peru, Quebec,
Indonesia and elsewhere. These casual
conversations with Urantia Book students from all over are an important aspect
of these meetings and emphasize the truth that we are indeed all brothers and
sisters.
One afternoon I went
for a walk with a camera to survey the surroundings; there was a boardwalk
along the nearby lake. Apparently some
red winged blackbirds had a nest with young near it because they were most
upset when I walked past. The yellow
iris was growing right next to the boardwalk.
Back at the dorm, we walked past a bed of red peonies every time we went
to and from our rooms.
Red Peony near dorm
The symposium was
designed for Urantia Book study group leaders and was well attended; there were
about eighty attendees from several countries.
After registration on Wednesday, sessions were held each morning and
afternoon for three days as well as half a day on Sunday. For each session there was a plenary
presentation after which we were divided into breakout groups for discussions. It would be difficult to describe these sessions
so there is a link below to the presentations, my presentation was Saturday
afternoon so it is listed on the second page.
Most start with a video followed by an introduction and the
presentation. There were also several
other videos including one on the Publication Mandate, a slide show of study
groups around the world and beautiful inspirational videos that had stunning pictures
of our beautiful planet.
Saturday evening
there was a piano concert by Bob Solone; he gave a memorable and entertaining
performance even though the electric piano he used was not worthy of his
talents, for some reason a better one could not be obtained. This was the second time I have heard him
perform and both were enjoyable; his performance at the Kansas City conference
last year was a highlight of the entire meeting. Sunday morning, after a final plenary presentation
there was a moving closing ceremony in the chapel where we were empowered to
return to our study groups: “You are the
light of the world and the salt of the earth.”
Giving the presentation, photo by
James Woodward
While preparing my presentation
in the weeks before the symposium, over and over David kept telling me it was
not long enough, that it had to be at least forty minutes long, the first
version was about fifteen. Those of you
who know me know that even five minutes is a long speech for me, but
forty? After weeks of struggling I
finally got it up to nearly forty minutes.
But then, the night before it was to be given David said never mind, it
has to be less than thirty minutes.
Thanks a bunch! So David, Betty
Lou and I were up past midnight chopping of ten minutes off the presentation. My final copy looks as if it were the subject
of an attack by a mad pen wielding fanatic.
The next morning
before the first plenary they called on three people, including me, to come to
the front of the hall and describe their experiences using the study group
portal. This was a total surprise to me
and as I stood in front while the others were relating their experiences I was
shaking all over. I did have positive
experiences to share with the group but I thought that my nervousness would be
noticeable. Afterword I told David and
he said it was not apparent to him and he was looking for signs of my
nervousness. This brought me an insight
on the way to my presentation: that it is OK to be nervous being in front of a
room full of people, that is natural; but it is not OK to be nervous because
you are nervous, allowing your fears to feed on themselves. That may not make much sense, but it did help
me. In addition to this, before the
presentation two different people gave me similar advice: just before speaking
look over the audience and say a silent prayer for them.
Anyway, it seemed to
go well.
Presentation Audience, photo by
James Woodward
There were two
screens in the front of the auditorium; pictures of various study groups I have
visited were displayed on one while occasionally there were quotations on the
other.
The title of the
presentation was “On the Road for Study Groups.” In it Betty Lou was a Recorder Seraphim,
Monepitia, as well as a reporter for the Jerusem Broadcast service; the
presentation was a dialog between us about my experiences with study groups;
she was to take the information back to Jerusem for universe broadcast. The format was appreciated and well received.
When I get on the
road again visiting study groups I am prepared to give the presentation if
requested; naturally I will need an assistant to play the part of an angel.
The final two slides
summarized my study group observations, which are that they should:
Have an effective leader who
maintains control
Stay on topic and involve everyone
Have a social period before or after
the meeting
Have a prayer or worship segment
Where to start reading depends on
group
Live the teachings in order to
attract new readers
Allocate some time to discuss the
transformation from belief to true faith
Have a buddy system for new readers
Prepare questions and discussion
points in advance
Register on Study Group Portal
Engage in community service projects
Conduct regional mini conferences
Announce the paper beforehand,
assigning each section to one person for discussion
Fight reading-groupism
By reading-groupism I mean the
practice of merely reading the words without feeling and without seeking the
deeper meaning of the message; in the presentation I said these groups act as
if they were reading a grocery list.
Betty Lou and Doug, photo by Maurice
Migneault
While
religion is exclusively a personal spiritual experience — knowing God as a
Father — the corollary of this experience — knowing man as a brother — entails
the adjustment of the self to other selves, and that involves the social or
group aspect of religious life. Religion is first an inner or personal
adjustment, and then it becomes a matter of social service or group adjustment.
The fact of man’s gregariousness perforce determines that religious groups will
come into existence. What happens to these religious groups depends very much
on intelligent leadership.
The Urantia Book (1090.10) (99:5.1)
All blog photographs by
Doug Cable unless otherwise noted.
