Presented by Niánn Emerson Chase
In December 2005, President and Mrs. Bush came under much criticism from certain conservative Christians who were unhappy with the wording on the card sent from the White House. These critics complained that since the Bush’s are Christians and Christmas is a Christian holiday, they should have used the word Christmas on the card rather than holidays.
Many of us understand the political reasons for the White House wishing others happy holidays rather than a merry Christmas. This is a season that other religions enjoy their particular traditions as well, and the citizenry of the United States is comprised of people of many religions, nationalities, and subcultures. Regardless of religious and cultural leanings, most people in this country celebrate this season, for almost every aspect of society is permeated with utilizing the “holiday season” that starts around Thanksgiving and ends after New Year’s Day.
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Presented by Gabriel of Urantia & Niánn Emerson Chase
to members and guests of Global Community Communications Church at a World-Wide Sunday Service
Teaching by Niánn Emerson Chase
The Disease of Self1
The conclusion that individuals with spiritized (not necessarily religious) minds come to is that most problems in our world come from selfishness, on a personal level as well as on all societal levels. I realize that sounds too simple for a multi-layered, complex, highly technical dominant society, but sometimes, in order to get to the root of those numerous, overwhelming problems, going to the very basic foundation of what something is built upon is the beginning of moving towards real, deep problem-solving. Let’s face it, we live in a profit-motivated, selfish civilization that, frankly, strongly influences the rest of the world, and, in reality, controls most of what goes on in the world. Yes, yes, there are individuals, groups, organizations, and facets of government whose motives are less selfish and based more on service for the betterment of all of humankind, but they don’t seem to rule the world, not yet anyway. And of course there are businesses and corporations that contribute much to the well-being of individuals and civilization, and there are those who indeed use money as a tool for improving the lives of others. But, as long as laws are formed and implemented that protect people in “high places” of power from having to be morally and socially responsible, personal and societal corruption will just become more entrenched in the consciousness of most people, for selfishness (with all of its manifestations) will be the accepted norm.
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Presented by Gabriel of Urantia & Niánn Emerson Chase
to members and guests of Global Community Communications Church at a World-Wide Sunday Service
Teaching by Niánn Emerson Chase
Some Thoughts on Personal Responsibility
This morning, I didn’t want to get up. I wanted to crawl up in a little ball and try to go back to sleep. Sometimes, when those responsibilities come up we just want to pull the blanket over our heads, and that happened to me this morning, briefly, but then my sense of duty and love of my work plummeted me out of bed.
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The word responsibility, what does that mean? What are your responsibilities? I want you to think a moment about what you see your responsibilities are right now. Would anyone like to just share very briefly what they see their responsibility as being? [Niánn addressed this question to the group present at CosmoService, and the following are answers from members of Global Community Communications.]
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Presented by Gabriel of Urantia & Niánn Emerson Chase
to members and guests of Global Community Communications Church at a World-Wide Sunday Service
Teaching by Niánn Emerson Chase
When I started thinking about the topic of overcoming, I realized immediately that I could go in many directions on this. There’s so much that all of us human beings have to overcome in order to have a life of dignity, purpose, fulfillment, and happiness. In many places on the planet millions of people have much to overcome in order to merely stay alive; they don’t even consider the quality of their lives, just that they survive another hour or another day.
In considering my own overcoming processes throughout the years, I have come to the conclusion that the largest blockage to my peace of mind and enjoyment of life has been myself.
The Smeagol-Gollum Syndrome
For you who have watched the last couple of years the Lord of the Rings series of films, I’m sure, like me, you will remember for a long time the creature Gollum who was consumed with getting his “preciousssss” back. When the good and sincere hobbit, Frodo, met Gollum, he recognized something in him. Frodo recognized that at one time Gollum had been a more comely, kinder, lovable personality. In fact, Gollum belonged to a people similar to the gentle hobbits. What happened to Gollum? What circumstances and choices led to Gollum’s monstrous physical appearance and his pitifully devious and deadly ways?
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Repersonalization and the Opening Up of Memory Circuitry in the Upstepping of the Adjudication of the Case of the Bright and Morning Star versus Lucifer since 1989. The Absolute Necessity of the Beginning Establishment of the Cosmic Family to Usher in the First Stage of Light and Life on a Fallen World.
to members and guests of Global Community Communications Church at a World-Wide Sunday Service
Presented by Niánn Emerson Chase
I grew up on Native American reservations, so as a child I experienced wild open spaces of land and black evening skies unhindered by the lights of human civilization. I recall many nights looking up at the vastness of the star-studded heavens and experiencing fear and awe at the bigness and deepness of space. I felt very small and insignificant in the hugeness of what I sensed the heavens were and, at the same time, I felt lovingly enveloped by that same space.
My family and friends could not quite understand what I was feeling and thinking when I tried to express the depth of my emotions and thoughts when I looked into the night sky. It was as if they did not sense the immensity of space to the extent that I did, nor did they understand the paradox of my feelings about space—fear, awe, and being loved. By the time I was ten or eleven I was more at ease with my mixed emotions about space; thus I relaxed and wallowed in the beauty and wonder of the night skies, and did so without needing to share my thoughts and feelings with other humans, for I felt the presence of unseen family and friends and I felt “at home” with seeming solitude.
Often on long, sunny spring and fall days I would come home from school, have a snack, visit briefly with my cheerful and loving mother, and then leave to climb by myself the mesa behind our house. I would spend a couple of hours roaming the flat top, sometimes sitting on the edge of the east side, looking down on the village, observing the Apache children play outside while their mothers prepared supper over an open fire in their outdoor summer kitchens. As I heard the laughter of the children and smelled the smoke from the cooking fires, I would thank God for my own family and my own home that was filled with warmth, laughter, and safety. My love for my family enveloped the Apache families that I watched and heard from my perch on the mesa. I personally knew many of those families; many of the children were my classmates, and some were my close friends who sometimes explored the surrounding desert with me.
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Presented by Niánn Emerson Chase
to members and guests of Global Community Communications Church at a World-Wide Sunday Service
Last Sunday I had a conversation with a man and woman who have spent decades in the public school system, giving of their love, energy, and talents. As I conversed with them and listened to their expressions of disappointment, disenchantment, and exhaustion, I was reminded of my own experiences as a highly motivated teacher who gave my creativity and inspiration to the students I loved.
When I graduated from college and returned to the San Carlos Apache reservation to teach, I was full of enthusiasm, hope, and expectations. Like this couple I retained my idealism and optimism for many years, thinking that great changes could happen for my students as long as I inspired them with my great teaching and encouraged them with my genuine love for them. Like this couple I grew exhausted and frustrated.
A friend of mine who just retired after a thirty-year career as a history teacher recently expressed to me his extreme disappointment in the public school system. Though he enjoyed the interaction with his students and was considered one of the more outstanding teachers in the school, he chose to take early retirement because he could no longer work in a system that he believes has become corrupt and defunct.
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Presented by Niánn Emerson Chase
to members and guests of Global Community Communications Church at a World-Wide Sunday Service
The State of the Planet
This past Friday-Saturday the Coast to Coast radio program hosted by Art Bell focused on various prophecies that predict the end of most life on this earth. The people calling in especially talked about the predictions of a woman who had been a guest on the show earlier in the week. Though I did not hear her speak on the previous show and am unfamiliar with her writings and teachings, it is my understanding that she claims that in 2003 there will be some kind of catastrophe caused by what she calls “Planet X” which is headed towards our earth. According to her predictions, as a result of the close proximity of Planet X, most of life as we know it will be destroyed.
What stood out for me was that throughout the night, as I drifted in and out of sleep, the individuals that I did hear call in seemed to calmly accept this prophecy and indicated that humankind deserved to be wiped out, that the nature of humans was basically evil, that the terrible state of our planet was due to the bad choices of people throughout the history of humankind, that the evil done by human beings over thousands of years had culminated in the predicted destiny of doom for our world.
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Presented by Gabriel of Urantia and Niánn Emerson Chase
to members and guests of Global Community Communications Church at a World-Wide Sunday Service
Teaching by Niánn Emerson Chase
In April 2002 many of us enjoyed an inspiring slide show with music, photos, and poetry that focused mainly on the beauty of nature. There were four parts—the first a series of pictures of persons and landscape accompanied by a song that praised the presence of God seen and experienced in so many places in life. The second vignette was composed of photos of Yosemite Park with classical music that enhanced our appreciation of the beauty of divine pattern that can be seen in natural settings as well as heard in the notes of music created by one of nature’s products—human beings. Framing the scenes and music were the words of the great naturalist and environmentalist, John Muir, who with his words painted pictures of the natural world which a blind person could have seen in his or her mind’s eye while we with sight saw it on the screen. The third section was a result of the “9/11″ tragedy and was a plea in music, photos of people in love and in war, and verbal expression for peaceful avenues in solving the problems of terrorism rather than the violent methods presently being used. The fourth was more personal, with photos of the red rocks of Sedona, works of art found at Cathedral Rock Lodge done by Global Community Communications’s CosmoArtists, and pictures of some of the community members. These local scenes on screen were accompanied by the live flute playing of our own Jeru and a poem read that was written by another of our family, Tarenta. The poem spoke of: love for God; a relationship with Him as a divine Father; joyful appreciation for life and destiny He has given us human beings; and the desire to continually grow in compassion and stewardship for all of life, especially other human beings.
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Presented by Niánn Emerson Chase
to members and guests of Global Community Communications Church at a World-Wide Sunday Service
The first thing I want you to do is turn to the person sitting next to you so you’ll be facing them. Take both of the hands of the person you are facing; look into each other’s eyes, and each take a turn sharing with the other what you love about him/her that reflects an aspect of God’s personality. [Some time passes as this activity is done.] Now I want each one of you just to think silently for a couple of seconds. How did that experience make you feel? How did you feel as a the receiver? How did you feel as the giver?
What you all just experienced was a form of communion. What does communion mean? According to the tenth edition of Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary communion means:
mutual participation; the act or instance of sharing; intimate fellowship or rapport. A Christian sacrament in which consecrated bread and wine are consumed as symbols for the realization of a spiritual union between Christ and the communicant.
Derivatives of communion are commune, which means “to communicate intimately;” communicate means “to share, to transmit information, thought or feeling, so that it is satisfactorily received or understood. To open into each other; to connect.” And community means “a unified body of individuals; a body of individuals having something in common. A fellowship.”
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Presented by Niánn Emerson Chase
to members and guests of Global Community Communications Church at a World-Wide Sunday Service
Throughout my life I have observed bright and gifted individuals never really manifest much of their potential because they are afraid. I’ve seen people literally fold up into little psychological balls because of their fear. What do they fear? They fear many things: failure, rejection, abandonment, loneliness, ridicule, being wrong, being ostracized, losing their identity, growing old, and dying. Some fear the uncertainty of the unknown or any kind of major change in their lives; they want everything to stay very much the same. The URANTIA Book has much to say about fear, but I want to briefly focus on two fearful people whom Jesus encountered.
Fortune, the Young Man Who Was Afraid
Jesus was twenty-nine years old at the time and had not yet gone into His public ministry. He had spent a couple of years traveling with a father and seventeen-year-old son from India—Gonod and Ganid. This particular day Jesus and young Ganid were walking in some mountains in Crete when they met up with a troubled youth named Fortune who was seeking the solitude of the hills. Fortune was probably near Ganid’s age and was a loner, having difficulty socializing with other people. Words used to describe this teen-ager are: “downcast,” “fearful,” having a sense of “helplessness and inferiority,” experiencing “discouragement” and “despair.” Read the rest of this entry »