[tmtranscripts] "Merciful Ministry" (11-14-96.PGH)

[Gerdean]

DATE: November 14, 1996
LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
T/R: Gerdean TEXTUAL STUDY 
Urantia Paper 89: Sin, Sacrifice & Atonement

  1.. The Taboo
  2.. The Concept of Sin
  3.. Renunciation and Humiliation
  The continence cult 

  4.. Origins of Sacrifice
  5.. Sacrifices and Cannibalism
TEACHER SESSION
Merciful Ministry
Put Yourself in their TA's Shoes
Avail Yourself to Serve
Victim Mentality

TOMAS: Good evening, my friends.

Group: Good evening, Tomas.

TOMAS: How are you this evening?

Group: Wonderful. Great.

TOMAS: It pleases me as always to be with you and to share with you, from my vantage point, what I understand about those spiritual matters which will allow your active participation in life as you find it.

We have discussed many of the "fruits of the spirit" and you have taken this basket of fruit home with you and savored each fruit to the extent of your hunger. It has nourished you and, in time, you will again remember much of this spiritual nourishment. As you go about doing good in your lives, refer to them and add to them as you will, as you pass by, for such is the nature of this Teaching Mission: that, as you grow you also teach.

The Teaching Mission, you see, is not only about the invisible teachers; we have come to teach you to be teachers. And from savoring the recent series of lessons, as you have voiced, you have discovered ways and means to bridge communication gaps with your peers. In being able to share with them your emotional content, shrouded in and through the fruits of the spirit, you have been able to approach and catch people in their emotional realms and give them a boost into their own spirit realms. 

For always is this the case, that none of us sit on a throne or on a plat form, but always bring truth, beauty and goodness to the door of he or she who knocks, that they may open the door for Michael, and his Spirit of Truth to enter, that they might enjoy also their sonship daughtership with the living God. And so you must always give it away. You must never hold these truths to yourself for fear of hunger or scarcity. Spirit fruit is abundant. The more individuals draw upon the spirit for their own nurturance, the more we will have advanced into the realm of light and life. 

As we advance, as comrades, learning to trust each other in the spirit, learning to depend upon the spirit in each other as a viable reality that will help to reflect our own reality back to us, we have solidified and become whole as an organism, one which by its fruits will become so fragrant that others will be invited in their hearts to know what you know, to share what you share.

Kingdom-building thus becomes a focal point of our endeavors. Ever when you teach, remain the student. Ever as you learn, be willing to be a teacher. Keep truth alive, flowing. Do not allow your truth to crystallize into a mere social forum. The Living Water pours through all who open that conduit of the heart, to wash itself in the glory of knowing God. Therefore, whet the appetites of your associates by your charm of personality, by your forgiving tolerance, your confiding trust, your courageous loyalty, your unfailing goodness. 

Tonight I will speak with you regarding the fruit of merciful ministry. 

As you minister, as you pass by, your heart will be touched. You will feel compassion. As you hear with ears to hear, you will hear the cry of the lost, of the angry. As you see with eyes to see, you will see the confused, the forlorn, the sick. Remember that as apostles you are admonished to teach and preach the gospel and that when circumstances are such that you cannot teach or preach, you are to minister to the needs of your fellows. 

In ministering to the needs of your fellows, it is important to remember that ministry to them is what they perceive as their needs and not what you perceive; therefore, ask how you may serve. And this ministry is done through your mercy. Many times merciful ministry is unpleasant work. 

We have discussed "loving service" and I have indicated that loving service is that service which is done in love, and if it is not done in love, it is not a service. If service it is done out of a sense of obligation, it is not loving service, but may rather be merciful ministry, for merciful ministry is not glamorous work. It is reaching the needs of those to whom you cannot otherwise teach or preach. In merciful ministry you are up to your knees in mud; your sleeves are rolled up in effort on behalf of your brothers and sisters. 

Somewhere along the way there was an impression that the Women's Evangelical Corps would go and minister to the sick, and given the nature of the feminine, they have often been the given the role of caretaker, and the one who provides merciful ministry as a way of life. Henceforth, when you perform your cultural heritage's duty of midwifery or hospice, observe your merciful ministry, as it might add new light to this fruit of the spirit, for it is not the case that women alone are consigned to merciful ministry, nor are they to be expected to provide merciful ministry, for merciful ministry is a free will choice Of an individual who is moved by the spirit of God to serve, to help, to minister "as you pass by"; it is not a duty.

What makes merciful ministry a fruit of the spirit is your heartfelt need to do something for the one who suffers, who has need. You who have your roots firmly implanted in the soil, who have life holding you up, who have your arms as branches reaching to the sky, to the Father, you who are giving forth these fruits of the spirit, look not with disdain at those small shrubs who have not yet flowered. Do not trample on those small saplings, but glory in the life to come for these young ones.

In your studies earlier this evening, you were repulsed by your ancestors of long ago and their practices. As you familiarize yourself with the Master (and his times), you wonder at the audacity of those who would jeer at Jesus and how he could state with forgiveness that they were not aware of the harm they did. Your world, my flock, is comprised mostly of those who jeer. They do not know the glory of God. Those are the ones we are here to salvage, to embrace, and to introduce to living love. These "filthy savages" are indwelt by God! and their Indwelling Spirit yearns to adjust the thinking of the mortal it indwells so that it, too, may attain the stature of a dignified faith son/daughter. You who raise your hands high with your many fruits have cause to celebrate, but look with merciful ministry on those who follow.

Dear ones, I embrace you this evening. I bask in your presence. Our interchange time is upon us. I am eager to hear from you.

Hunnah: Your words, for me, carry a prophetic quality. Am I right? Or is that just an impression?

TOMAS: I like to think you are correct because you are alive, you see, and as we live and breathe and grow in the spirit, the organism of the Evolving Supreme itself is activated and we are activated in it, and so your remark encourages me and is testimony to you all that we are succeeding in our mission of advancing the spirit on Urantia, for that call to serve which stirred within your heart is that which furthers all.

Yes, as you grow, as we grow, so it grows. It is alive, and as you take the ball and run with it, then we prepare and enable the next set of circumstances to come into being. If this were a dead theology, a mental machination, it would not provide you with that stirring power. As you are called to act, the spirit lives in you and will then act around you. As you know, "The act is ours, the consequences God's" and so we will act in accordance with His will for the unfoldment of His plan. 

I suspect that some of your sense is cumulative, for we have rather concluded a long series of subjects and soon we party. Soon we celebrate an anniversary and begin yet a new "routine" of growth. I had asked you some time ago to give thought as to what you individually or you as a community might consider being able to do in the next time frame, and perhaps my words this evening regarding merciful ministry have struck a chord in your personality as what you feel you might do or what you feel the group would benefit in doing.



I am not in a position you see, to tell you what to do. I cannot say, "Hunnah, go out here and turn left and walk four blocks" and so forth, you see, for that is your destiny. That is your adventure. But I will say that I am glad that you felt a stirring for there is much work to be done.

Hunnah: Thank you. 


TOMAS: Thank you, Hunnah.

Elizabeth: Today I heard a program that stirred me greatly. It was regarding this case of the young police officer who killed a man, and the program addressed the question, 'What can the churches do to give voice to their anguish over the whole situation?' -- Not that we think the verdict was incorrect, because there was no possible verdict that could be really right, in the sense that it cannot bring the young man back, and it has been difficult for the Afro-American community to live with this situation, but I thought the man who is running the radio station was so good because he was saying, "Can't we evidence our caring as a community? Can't we do something?"

And so, of course, I was thinking that merciful ministry would be to somehow let the Afro-American community know that many of us feel very sad about this happening, and nor that we wanted this young man to be put in prison, because there is probably nothing about this man that would have wanted to kill this Afro-American. I'm sure he certainly didn't want to kill him and it was some poor training or something, but it did seem to me that, my own family could give some money for a scholarship or something for some Afro-American, so that something good can come out of this terrible thing. But it is a good opportunity to think about merciful ministry, I think.

TOMAS: It is. It is a significant thing to consider in terms of merciful ministry, for your racial differences on Urantia are such that periodically, in different geographic areas, a certain tension develops. This is evolutionary and progressive and often tumultuous but it is also a wonderful opportunity to consider merciful ministry in these circumstances such as you recounted about your geographic racial situation and exemplified by that case in point.

Let me take you into an understanding of merciful ministry here, for I appreciate the worth of a scholarship. I acknowledge your ability to provide that kind of gift, and do not decry its value but I would like to take you all on a bit of an understanding venture if I might, having to do with the nature of the turmoil at hand in your city . if you are willing. 

Elizabeth: Yes.

TOMAS: I am going to ask you to what some would consider the impossible, but what, in the Course in Miracles, is "the way." I will ask you each, in the privacy of your own heart and soul, to embrace yourself as a black person. Embrace your Thought Adjuster inside you, given that which you have been given in this society: your heritage, your pride, your fundamental nobility, your language, and your gifts as a son or daughter of God. You have children; you love your children like any man or woman loves his or her child. You feel those same feelings. Your Thought Adjuster cries out to be seen and known, through its personality expression, as Thought Adjusters do in everyone they indwell.

And ask yourself what has this City allowed these Thought Adjusters to do? It has allowed them to play ball; it has allowed them to dance and sing. But they have not been allowed to maintain their dignity, to find work, become part of your world, or intermingle with you racially. They have been kept separate. And I sit here, as the Thought Adjuster of a black person in Pittsburgh the same as a Thought Adjuster would sit here inside the mind and soul of any mortal of Urantia today and say, "I love you, my child. I crave your love for me. I want for you your freedom and your happiness. I want for you to know the joys of life. I want for you to sing the music of the heavenly choir and to sing to your children as well."

That people are racially different is only a part of their unique, colorful character, their cultural contribution. Inside, in God, we are all one. We are equal. And as religionists, that is the only consideration that there is, that we love one another. There are no differences between us.

And so the Mayor and others have taken the problem to the churches, understanding that civilly speaking the civil arena is the wrong place to take the issue, not because there cannot be justice or that there cannot be equity, but that there cannot be life at all until we all embrace each other in the spirit, and as we embrace each other in the spirit, we will walk arm in arm. We will cease to fear one another, for we will not see each other as different, but the same. We are all children of God, our Father.

When you encounter people, experiment by allowing yourself a moment to embrace that person in your soul and say, "I am that person" or "That man is my son. That woman is my mother" in the highest possible sense of the word. Bring with it all your nobility of thought and sincerity of feeling as a God-knowing faith son or daughter, and embrace that individual as you embrace yourself. Cease to look upon others as different from yourself. Cease and desist to say "they" and "we" as a separation, for we are one in the family of God.

"This is idealistic," you might say, but I tell you it is the only way. It is the only way. It is truly the kingdom builders that will change the face of Urantia. It is your merciful ministry of seeing your brothers and sisters in need and standing by them and helping them in their powerlessness to bring them up to the dignity of faith son status.

I appreciate your experiencing that which you allowed to experience. It is difficult, I realize, to put yourself into another man's shoes, or see through God's eyes, for even thought you have advanced far beyond the realms you studied this evening .

Hunnah: Thank you,

TOMAS: . you still have rather brutal practices that are socially acceptable, and it truly is time for these brutalities to desist. The challenge may seem overwhelming, but it is not. We are growing. You are growing. The circuits are open. Much spirit help is forthcoming, activated, and those of you who are willing to walk the second mile can do great works. Now is the time. 

Have I addressed the concern, Elizabeth? 

Elizabeth: Yes, you have. Thank you very much for your insight. I'll like reading it, and am looking forward to reading it, because that always is a second good chance to think about your words and to try to . 

Hunnah: My impression is that we won't have to go looking for things to do, that they will find us. I had a friend one time who said if you just hold to that which is with you and do it the best you can, and if someone is out there in need they will touch your life as your assignment. If you do that which you feel is right, nine times out of ten you don't think about it, you just do what needs to be done. 

We are do-gooders and we are project minded, and sometimes we get obsessed with staying in a particular situation and I don't think that's always necessary. Would you like to comment?

TOMAS: Yes, I have a couple of comments. I want to ask you first, however, when you say, "We are do-gooders; we are project-minded," what do you mean by that?

Hunnah: That's a whole almost another subject. Seeing people as being different instead of seeing people, as you pointed out, as having a Thought Adjuster who has brought them to you. It could be for material, possessions, it, could be for direction, it could be for spiritual food -- and then you honor that Thought Adjuster and you shift that person, you go on to something else. 

We have a lot of things going on in our society to keep people in a mental state of self-pity, lacking in self worth. Now, helping people in their resourcefulness-- 

There is something else. But it's too late. Yes, let me get rid of it, because it's-- it has to do-- something to do with someone addressing him or herself as an alcoholic. I have heard this for just so long, and it is so deeply ingrained in our consciousness and I have trouble watching them not let go of this. 

TOMAS: Let me offer you this. You have seen newsreels of the Holocaust, have you not?
Hunnah: Yes.

TOMAS: And you have heard its victims and its survivors aver that we must never forget what happened so that it may never happen again. This is the purpose of such a recitation as "I am an alcoholic." It is an acknowledgement of not forgetting where you came from. Perhaps this is why you found the Paper this evening so distasteful. Indeed, in your history, in your DNA, you were a cannibal -- and it is most undignified to acknowledge that your ancestry includes such barbarousness.

It is not a matter of shame from having been in such a place, but an acknowledgement of an historic epoch that had a profound impact on the development of the individual. It is better for a person to say, "I am an alcoholic" than to not have the courage to acknowledge the problem at all, for that [denial] is a far more devastating state of mind, and one that might cause even more concern and destruction, if you see what I mean.

Hunnah: Well, I still see it as being tethered by a kind of fear, any particular fear. I will. 

TOMAS: You have contributed a lot to this stew Hunnah. Unfortunately, as is often the case, your vegetables are diced so finely and mingled so thoroughly, it is hard to garner the taste of a carrot from celery. I would have made more of your soup, but I could not get a handle on it.

Hunnah: So much for my cooking. (Group laughter)

Elizabeth: Well, Tomas, do you think that -- We're coming up on our anniversary, and I think we're feeling real happy about having read that deeply and talking about the spiritual things that we talk about. And we're going to be at a party. And I'm just wondering if you would like to comment on that in the quiet in this room because it will be such a different atmosphere when we're celebrating, and so we're thinking of a lot of different things, everybody around this table. 

I'm thinking that I'm very grateful for the Teaching Mission, and I'm very grateful for the reading we've done, and for the persons we have been able to maintain. I've heard of other study groups that have done well, and others that haven't been able to keep it together, and I would be interested in your comments.

TOMAS: Yes, Elizabeth. I would only like to comment that the gospel is not the Teaching Mission. And I realize that it is a powerful vehicle toward accelerating spirit reality on Urantia, and it is our supreme pleasure to serve as Teachers and to see you activated as students who are also teachers. It pleases us greatly to see your spirit lights come on and shine brightly. But I am not in understanding of why the atmosphere around this celebratory table would be so different.

Elizabeth: Well, it's quiet here, and when you have a party, it tends to have its intermittent moments. 

TOMAS: As does this group. (Group laughter) Let me get back to Hunnah and her merciful ministry. It may be true, yes, that as you go about doing good, it is not necessary to go out of your way to seek realms in which to help. It is often true that they will come to you. But by the same token, you must avail yourself, for you mortals get very caught up in your maze of life, your habitual, paths of endeavor, your -- as you say -- "programs." And it is difficult then for a timid soul to venture into your arena. It is also easy for you (not you personally, Hunnah, but you collectively) to become so enthused or busy in your program, that you find it a pleasant prison and thus you bar yourself off from the distraction of someone who is needy.

And so it depends a great deal upon your mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health as to whether or not you will be brought into contact with those you would serve, you see. It is not their job to come looking for you. Nor is it your job to go looking for them, this is true. It is made possible by each seeking the other. Opposites often attract. Often it happens that way that each may learn, and so you must always remain the student, for even as you seek to serve, you are often taught in the process. And so it is the attitude that matters -- the attitude of a love-saturated soul, and that, my dear, is between you and your Thought Adjuster.

Hunnah: Most of us here at this table have experienced that serendipity experience of happening to show up at a particular place to meet someone who had a particular need and -- it's sort of like two together, the believer tries to assist. And we were talking about serving mankind in general, were we not?

TOMAS: Yes, ma'am. Are we not?

Hunnah: Absolutely. You have branched out.

TOMAS: I assume you have also. (Group laughter)

Hunnah: It works that way, every day.
Leah: I think the gist of what I hear is when is it inappropriate to assist?



Hunnah: I don't want to be like he pointed out tonight. I don't, want to be, you know. This may not mean anything to you, but it means a lot to me. And being appropriate is so important. Timely and appropriate. And I don't mean to come off as (being) without compassion! But I want to be where I'm supposed to be and not where society thinks I'm supposed to be.

TOMAS: Let me add, then, that appropriate is as appropriate does. Who is determining what is appropriate? Are you assigning that to your social mores or to your divine path? 

Hunnah: For myself, it's my own path. 
TOMAS: Yes.

Hunnah: And we have lots of things going on in our society which have not patched up, with this bottomless pit of woe, out in the world of people who are [indistinguishable].

TOMAS: Leah, what were you saying?

Leah: Just that. Who decides what's appropriate? But I feel like I am always walking on eggs-- But if I could go back to another subject. Hunnah made the statement about the alcoholic. You know, Hunnah, that: it's important that a diabetic take insulin.

Hunnah: Uh, yes!

Leah: And if a person was diabetic and they made that statement to you, you would know at once. It's the same thing with an alcoholic, they can't have alcohol.

Hunnah: No, I understand the physical consideration. I was talking about the mental thing that keeps them in that space.

Leah: A diabetic takes insulin, and an alcoholic-- 
Hunnah: I don't think they should be compared. 
TOMAS: Perhaps--
Hunnah: I was talking about that they can't go any further because of that identity.
TOMAS: Consider--

Hunnah: . and that pain that they experienced.

Leah: Yes, I agree, because my own personal feeling is that if they are going to say, "I am," then they should say they are in the process of recovering. I do not like the "I am" statement.

Hunnah: I have a particular person .in mind and they--

TOMAS: Let me ask. Is either of you alcoholic?

Leah: I am a compulsive.

Hunnah: I have my own problems.

TOMAS: I ask you that because you discuss it with such authority.

Hunnah: Well, we live with people who have these obsessions and they affect other people, is what I am saying. The world can't revolve around them.

TOMAS: Nor does it.

Hunnah: No.

TOMAS: I am confused.

Hester: Well, alcohol is only one problem, and we're getting away from the avenue that was being opened . . .

TOMAS: What I see happening is that you have once again drawn a line between you and another individual and said, "They are different from me. I am different from them." And it has caused another separation.

Leah: Well, excuse me, Tomas, but you're the one who asked the question! No. I am not an alcoholic but I feel very strongly that you ...

Hunnah: Yes, and I did not mean to imply-- (He told us to talk to him like he was a relative!)

Loreenia: [Indistinguishable under the other two voices.] 

TOMAS: Just don't all talk at once!

Hunnah: All right. What I was simply pointing out is that there is a victim status where people get stuck. Whether they're black or aged or are alcoholic or have been abused, they seem to have-- It's like a club today . 

Loreenia: Which white woman ...

Hunnah: ... where they're regurgitating their past and .

TOMAS: I think I see now where you're coming from. I do believe I see your analogy and the picture, and I appreciate it. In fact, it could keep us busy for another year. Let me say that you are addressing deep psychic wounds that you are tired of because you are powerless to do anything about them and it seems "they are caught in a 'can't win' situation, and so let us go on with what we can do something about." In a way you are correct, for many will not survive the situation of the day. But many will. And it is in undying hope of those who will that we keep that faction of ministry open.

There are victims today. As I have said before, you are all victims of the Lucifer Rebellion and the Adamic Default, and these wounds go deep. As you put yourself in another's position, consider in sincere fairness what they have had to contend with and the anger that must be existent in the injustice of the situation. After all, had we not experienced the Adamic default and the Lucifer Rebellion, these situations would not be, and the victims are not responsible for the mess the world is in that they were born into. They are not to be blamed for their circumstances, nor are they expected to have sufficient courage and wisdom and dignity to rise above it.

It is a field of endeavor that is being approached, as you might say, Leah, "on eggs," for it is a delicate balance. It is artistry to work with a wounded soul. It is skilled ministry of a high order that goes in and lances the wounds of time and heals the soul. It is working with God that makes it possible. It is not work anyone must do if they do not feel qualified, equipped. As was said, count the cost and if it is too much, return to your homes. You will not be blamed; you will only miss the thrilling opportunity. 

You might not think of this as an opportunity, but it stirs you, my dear, it stirs some part of you. That part which is stirred lives in all normal-minded mortals. And regardless of their historicity, they are all entitled to know God and to know men as their brother, their brother and sister in the spirit, in the flesh.

Yes, this Teaching Mission is exciting. Vibrant and alive -- and challenging! -- but it does produce results. Not only do we have parties, we are breaking down walls right and left. We will soon incorporate the whole of mankind. We will place this emerald isle of a planet nobly in the universe where Michael smiles supreme. 

My little ones, it is time for me to close my remarks for the evening. We have had a true repast. A lot of good bones were chewed on, and the meat was truly succulent (group laughter). May I now bow out gracefully in humble appreciation of your presence. Farewell. 

Group: Thank you, Tomas. Farewell.
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