Prayer turned out to be an extremely broad issue; worship completely elusive. The preceding text is the result of an analysis of the general definitions contained in The Urantia Book; even earlier I wrote my view about the prayer itself. However, I still haven’t exhausted the topic.
Today it will be a bit more humane, in a sense supplementary, so I encourage you to read the previous study beforehand. Although the Papers rarely explain how to put her various teachings into practice, the story of Christ Michael proves that his life on Earth was simply such a practice. Although he lived in times so distant that they are abstract to us today, his attitude and teachings concerning prayer and worship remain universal and relevant. I will look at them in a moment.
Christ Michael
True religion is the act of an individual soul in its selfconscious relations with the Creator; organized religion is man’s attempt to socialize the worship of individual religionists.
143:7.2 (1616.4)
Worship — contemplation of the spiritual — must alternate with service, contact with material reality. Work should alternate with play; religion should be balanced by humor. Profound philosophy should be relieved by rhythmic poetry. The strain of living—the time tension of personality — should be relaxed by the restfulness of worship. The feelings of insecurity arising from the fear of personality isolation in the universe should be antidoted by the faith contemplation of the Father and by the attempted realization of the Supreme.
143:7.3 (1616.5)
Prayer is designed to make man less thinking but more realizing; it is not designed to increase knowledge but rather to expand insight.
143:7.4 (1616.6)
Worship is intended to anticipate the better life ahead and then to reflect these new spiritual significances back onto the life which now is. Prayer is spiritually sustaining, but worship is divinely creative.
143:7.5 (1616.7)
Worship is the technique of looking to the One for the inspiration of service to the many. Worship is the yardstick which measures the extent of the soul’s detachment from the material universe and its simultaneous and secure attachment to the spiritual realities of all creation.
143:7.6 (1616.8)
Prayer is self-reminding — sublime thinking; worship is selfforgetting — superthinking. Worship is effortless attention, true and ideal soul rest, a form of restful spiritual exertion.
143:7.7 (1616.9)
Worship is the act of a part identifying itself with the Whole; the finite with the Infinite; the son with the Father; time in the act of striking step with eternity. Worship is the act of the son’s personal communion with the divine Father, the assumption of refreshing, creative, fraternal, and romantic attitudes by the human soul-spirit.
143:7.8 (1616.10)
These Messages are a summary of one of the many teachings that Jesus gave to his disciples. And although the apostles from this particular one understood little, the universe did. And although we do not fully understand it either, future generations will understand it.
Today’s text is different from the rest. I decided that my possible interpretations of Jesus’ words in this case could do the reader more harm than good. Therefore, it will be rather a subjective compilation of some of the Master’s Messages and quotations which touch upon prayer and worship; at most with a commentary. Let the thoughts related to them result from your religion.
Ideal
Jesus lived a perfect life. It will be difficult for us to accept that such a life is not associated with power, fortune and fame (or even with family), but from a cosmic point of view it was so. In those circumstances, Jesus was the realization and personification of the one divine commandment: “Be you perfect, even as I am perfect”.
Prayer
The Urantia Book repeatedly mentions Jesus’ prayer practices. Also presents him as an authority when it comes to worship.
From an early age, Jesus departed from the established, solemn ways of communicating with God (which, by the way, worried his parents, especially his mother). He insisted on talking to him in the same way that he talks to Joseph. He politely said the prayer as he had been taught, but afterwards he still took the time to “talk a little with his Father in heaven”. His solitary trips to prayer-meditation also greatly troubled Maria; sometimes she even thought that the boy had lost his mind.
In his adult life, he devoted most of his prayers to his disciples; he prayed for himself extremely rarely. Yet, as the Book repeatedly points out, his greatest occupation was not with prayer but with worship — communion with his Paradise Father. The Urantia Book claims that man on earth places too much emphasis on material prayer, thus neglecting the more essential spiritual worship.
In teaching his apostles, Jesus suggested that they pray in solitude, either in nature or alone in their rooms. He himself very rarely practiced prayer in public. He taught that effective prayer cannot be selfish; that he must be faithful, sincere, intelligent, and submissive to God’s all-wise will; that in all this it should be personal and individual.
Although he did not forbid his followers to repeat the established, formal prayers, the apostles soon noticed that he did not approve of this form of contact with God. However, believers expected (which has not changed to this day) that spiritual guides would not teach them how to pray, but specific, simple prayers to recite. On one occasion, in response to such requests, Jesus answered his disciples as follows:
“John indeed taught you a simple form of prayer: ‘O Father, cleanse us from sin, show us your glory, reveal your love, and let your spirit sanctify our hearts forevermore, Amen!’ He taught this prayer that you might have something to teach the multitude. He did not intend that you should use such a set and formal petition as the expression of your own souls in prayer.
144:2.1 (1618.5)
Prayer is entirely a personal and spontaneous expression of the attitude of the soul toward the spirit; prayer should be the communion of sonship and the expression of fellowship. Prayer, when indited by the spirit, leads to co-operative spiritual progress. The ideal prayer is a form of spiritual communion which leads to intelligent worship. True praying is the sincere attitude of reaching heavenward for the attainment of your ideals.
144:2.2 (1618.6)
Prayer is the breath of the soul and should lead you to be persistent in your attempt to ascertain the Father’s will. If any one of you has a neighbor, and you go to him at midnight and say: ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine on a journey has come to see me, and I have nothing to set before him’; and if your neighbor answers, ‘Trouble me not, for the door is now shut and the children and I are in bed; therefore I cannot rise and give you bread,’ you will persist, explaining that your friend hungers, and that you have no food to offer him. I say to you, though your neighbor will not rise and give you bread because he is your friend, yet because of your importunity he will get up and give you as many loaves as you need. If, then, persistence will win favors even from mortal man, how much more will your persistence in the spirit win the bread of life for you from the willing hands of the Father in heaven. Again I say to you: Ask and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. For every one who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door of salvation will be opened.
144:2.3 (1619.1)
Which of you, who is a father, if his son asks unwisely, would hesitate to give in accordance with parental wisdom rather than in the terms of the son’s faulty petition? If the child needs a loaf, will you give him a stone just because he unwisely asks for it? If your son needs a fish, will you give him a watersnake just because it may chance to come up in the net with the fish and the child foolishly asks for the serpent? If you, then, being mortal and finite, know how to answer prayer and give good and appropriate gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the spirit and many additional blessings to those who ask him? Men ought always to pray and not become discouraged.
144:2.4 (1619.2)
Let me tell you the story of a certain judge who lived in a wicked city. This judge feared not God nor had respect for man. Now there was a needy widow in that city who came repeatedly to this unjust judge, saying, ‘Protect me from my adversary.’ For some time he would not give ear to her, but presently he said to himself: ‘Though I fear not God nor have regard for man, yet because this widow ceases not to trouble me, I will vindicate her lest she wear me out by her continual coming.’ These stories I tell you to encourage you to persist in praying and not to intimate that your petitions will change the just and righteous Father above. Your persistence, however, is not to win favor with God but to change your earth attitude and to enlarge your soul’s capacity for spirit receptivity.
144:2.5 (1619.3)
But when you pray, you exercise so little faith. Genuine faith will remove mountains of material difficulty which may chance to lie in the path of soul expansion and spiritual progress”.
144:2.6 (1619.4)
The Lord’s Prayer
The students were not satisfied with such an answer. Since all the great religious teachers of that time composed prayers for their disciples, the apostles also needed one. They wanted Jesus to give them an example of prayer that they could later teach. So he told them the following words:
Our Father who is in heaven.
144:3.3 (1620.1)
Hallowed be your name.
144:3.4 (1620.2)
Your kingdom come; your will be done
144:3.5 (1620.3)
On earth as it is in heaven.
144:3.6 (1620.4)
Give us this day our bread for tomorrow;
144:3.7 (1620.5)
Refresh our souls with the water of life.
144:3.8 (1620.6)
And forgive us every one our debts
144:3.9 (1620.7)
As we also have forgiven our debtors.
144:3.10 (1620.8)
Save us in temptation, deliver us from evil,
144:3.11 (1620.9)
And increasingly make us perfect like yourself.
144:3.12 (1620.10)
The “Our Father” – a prayer that probably everyone in Poland has heard, Jesus composed at the age of only 15; and it happened by accident.
Jesus, young and not yet fully aware of his divinity, taking after his father’s death, responsibility for his younger relatives, wanted to teach them how to express themselves individually in prayer – just as he himself did. However, they were unable to grasp the idea. They listened to it, but after some time they always returned to the common, previously remembered prayers-poems. Seeing this, he wanted to encourage the brothers and sisters to express their personal prayers by suggesting some exemplary phrases. Soon it was found that they were all using the same prayer, mostly made up of these suggested scriptures. This is how the we know was created.
Later, as an adult, Jesus also showed his apostles several other prayers. They served as demonstrations of the issues being discussed, which is why he forbade their further transmission. He did not disclose that many of them were from other inhabited planets of the grand universe.
Word of God
The disciples repeatedly asked Jesus questions about both prayer and worship. In The Urantia Book, these teachings, together with his personal attitude toward these issues, are summarized as follows:
The earnest and longing repetition of any petition, when such a prayer is the sincere expression of a child of God and is uttered in faith, no matter how ill-advised or impossible of direct answer, never fails to expand the soul’s capacity for spiritual receptivity.
144:4.2 (1621.1)
In all praying, remember that sonship is a gift. No child has aught to do with earning the status of son or daughter. The earth child comes into being by the will of its parents. Even so, the child of God comes into grace and the new life of the spirit by the will of the Father in heaven. Therefore must the kingdom of heaven — divine sonship — be received as by a little child. You earn righteousness — progressive character development — but you receive sonship by grace and through faith.
144:4.3 (1621.2)
Prayer led Jesus up to the supercommunion of his soul with the Supreme Rulers of the universe of universes. Prayer will lead the mortals of earth up to the communion of true worship. The soul’s spiritual capacity for receptivity determines the quantity of heavenly blessings which can be personally appropriated and consciously realized as an answer to prayer.
144:4.4 (1621.3)
Prayer and its associated worship is a technique of detachment from the daily routine of life, from the monotonous grind of material existence. It is an avenue of approach to spiritualized selfrealization and individuality of intellectual and religious attainment.
144:4.5 (1621.4)
Prayer is an antidote for harmful introspection. At least, prayer as the Master taught it is such a beneficent ministry to the soul. Jesus consistently employed the beneficial influence of praying for one’s fellows. The Master usually prayed in the plural, not in the singular. Only in the great crises of his earth life did Jesus ever pray for himself.
144:4.6 (1621.5)
Prayer is the breath of the spirit life in the midst of the material civilization of the races of mankind. Worship is salvation for the pleasure-seeking generations of mortals.
144:4.7 (1621.6)
As prayer may be likened to recharging the spiritual batteries of the soul, so worship may be compared to the act of tuning in the soul to catch the universe broadcasts of the infinite spirit of the Universal Father.
144:4.8 (1621.7)
Prayer is the sincere and longing look of the child to its spirit Father; it is a psychologic process of exchanging the human will for the divine will. Prayer is a part of the divine plan for making over that which is into that which ought to be.
144:4.9 (1621.8)
One of the reasons why Peter, James, and John, who so often accompanied Jesus on his long night vigils, never heard Jesus pray, was because their Master so rarely uttered his prayers as spoken words. Practically all of Jesus’ praying was done in the spirit and in the heart — silently.
144:4.10 (1621.9)
1. The conscious and persistent regard for iniquity in the heart of man gradually destroys the prayer connection of the human soul with the spirit circuits of communication between man and his Maker. Naturally God hears the petition of his child, but when the human heart deliberately and persistently harbors the concepts of iniquity, there gradually ensues the loss of personal communion between the earth child and his heavenly Father.
146:2.2 (1638.2)
2. That prayer which is inconsistent with the known and established laws of God is an abomination to the Paradise Deities. If man will not listen to the Gods as they speak to their creation in the laws of spirit, mind, and matter, the very act of such deliberate and conscious disdain by the creature turns the ears of spirit personalities away from hearing the personal petitions of such lawless and disobedient mortals. Jesus quoted to his apostles from the Prophet Zechariah: “But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts. Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear”. And then Jesus quoted the proverb of the wise man who said: “He who turns away his ear from the divine law, even his prayer shall be an abomination”.
146:2.3 (1638.3)
3. By opening the human end of the channel of the God-man communication, mortals make immediately available the ever-flowing stream of divine ministry to the creatures of the worlds. When man hears God’s spirit speak within the human heart, inherent in such an experience is the fact that God simultaneously hears that man’s prayer. Even the forgiveness of sin operates in this same unerring fashion. The Father in heaven has forgiven you even before you have thought to ask him, but such forgiveness is not available in your personal religious experience until such a time as you forgive your fellow men. God’s forgiveness in fact is not conditioned upon your forgiving your fellows, but in experience it is exactly so conditioned. And this fact of the synchrony of divine and human forgiveness was thus recognized and linked together in the prayer which Jesus taught the apostles.
146:2.4 (1638.4)
4. There is a basic law of justice in the universe which mercy is powerless to circumvent. The unselfish glories of Paradise are not possible of reception by a thoroughly selfish creature of the realms of time and space. Even the infinite love of God cannot force the salvation of eternal survival upon any mortal creature who does not choose to survive. Mercy has great latitude of bestowal, but, after all, there are mandates of justice which even love combined with mercy cannot effectively abrogate. Again Jesus quoted from the Hebrew scriptures: “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, And would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, And your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; When distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me”.
146:2.5 (1638.5)
5. They who would receive mercy must show mercy; judge not that you be not judged. With the spirit with which you judge others you also shall be judged. Mercy does not wholly abrogate universe fairness. In the end it will prove true: “Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, He also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard”. The sincerity of any prayer is the assurance of its being heard; the spiritual wisdom and universe consistency of any petition is the determiner of the time, manner, and degree of the answer. A wise father does not literally answer the foolish prayers of his ignorant and inexperienced children, albeit the children may derive much pleasure and real soul satisfaction from the making of such absurd petitions.
146:2.6 (1639.1)
6. When you have become wholly dedicated to the doing of the will of the Father in heaven, the answer to all your petitions will be forthcoming because your prayers will be in full accordance with the Father’s will, and the Father’s will is ever manifest throughout his vast universe. What the true son desires and the infinite Father wills IS. Such a prayer cannot remain unanswered, and no other sort of petition can possibly be fully answered.
146:2.7 (1639.2)
7. The cry of the righteous is the faith act of the child of God which opens the door of the Father’s storehouse of goodness, truth, and mercy, and these good gifts have long been in waiting for the son’s approach and personal appropriation. Prayer does not change the divine attitude toward man, but it does change man’s attitude toward the changeless Father. The motive of the prayer gives it right of way to the divine ear, not the social, economic, or outward religious status of the one who prays.
146:2.8 (1639.3)
8. Prayer may not be employed to avoid the delays of time or to transcend the handicaps of space. Prayer is not designed as a technique for aggrandizing self or for gaining unfair advantage over one’s fellows. A thoroughly selfish soul cannot pray in the true sense of the word. Said Jesus: “Delight thyself also in the LORD; And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart”. “Commit thy way unto the LORD; Trust also in him; And he shall bring it to pass”. “For the LORD heareth the poor, And despiseth not his prisoners”.
146:2.9 (1639.4)
9. “I have come forth from the Father; if, therefore, you are ever in doubt as to what you would ask of the Father, ask in my name, and I will present your petition in accordance with your real needs and desires and in accordance with my Father’s will”. Guard against the great danger of becoming self-centered in your prayers. Avoid praying much for yourself; pray more for the spiritual progress of your brethren. Avoid materialistic praying; pray in the spirit and for the abundance of the gifts of the spirit.
146:2.10 (1639.5)
10. When you pray for the sick and afflicted, do not expect that your petitions will take the place of loving and intelligent ministry to the necessities of these afflicted ones. Pray for the welfare of your families, friends, and fellows, but especially pray for those who curse you, and make loving petitions for those who persecute you. “But when to pray, I will not say. Only the spirit that dwells within you may move you to the utterance of those petitions which are expressive of your inner relationship with the Father of spirits”.
146:2.11 (1639.6)
11. Many resort to prayer only when in trouble. Such a practice is thoughtless and misleading. True, you do well to pray when harassed, but you should also be mindful to speak as a son to your Father even when all goes well with your soul. Let your real petitions always be in secret. Do not let men hear your personal prayers. Prayers of thanksgiving are appropriate for groups of worshipers, but the prayer of the soul is a personal matter. There is but one form of prayer which is appropriate for all God’s children, and that is: “Nevertheless, your will be done”.
146:2.12 (1640.1)
12. All believers in this gospel should pray sincerely for the extension of the kingdom of heaven. Of all the prayers of the Hebrew scriptures he commented most approvingly on the petition of the Psalmist: “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; And uphold me with thy free spirit. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me”. Jesus commented at great length on the relation of prayer to careless and offending speech, quoting: “Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; Keep the door of my lips”. “The human tongue”, said Jesus, “is a member which few men can tame, but the spirit within can transform this unruly member into a kindly voice of tolerance and an inspiring minister of mercy”.
146:2.13 (1640.2)
13. Jesus taught that the prayer for divine guidance over the pathway of earthly life was next in importance to the petition for a knowledge of the Father’s will. In reality this means a prayer for divine wisdom. Jesus never taught that human knowledge and special skill could be gained by prayer. But he did teach that prayer is a factor in the enlargement of one’s capacity to receive the presence of the divine spirit. When Jesus taught his associates to pray in the spirit and in truth, he explained that he referred to praying sincerely and in accordance with one’s enlightenment, to praying wholeheartedly and intelligently, earnestly and steadfastly.
146:2.14(1640.3)
14. Jesus warned his followers against thinking that their prayers would be rendered more efficacious by ornate repetitions, eloquent phraseology, fasting, penance, or sacrifices. But he did exhort his believers to employ prayer as a means of leading up through thanksgiving to true worship. Jesus deplored that so little of the spirit of thanksgiving was to be found in the prayers and worship of his followers. He quoted from the Scriptures on this occasion, saying: “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, And to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, And thy faithfulness every night, Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; Upon the harp with a solemn sound. For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands”.
146:2.15 (1640.4)
15. And then Jesus said: “Be not constantly overanxious about your common needs. Be not apprehensive concerning the problems of your earthly existence, but in all these things by prayer and supplication, with the spirit of sincere thanksgiving, let your needs be spread out before your Father who is in heaven”. Then he quoted from the Scriptures: “I will praise the name of God with a song, And will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the LORD Better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs”.
146:2.16 (1640.5)
16. Jesus taught his followers that, when they had made their prayers to the Father, they should remain for a time in silent receptivity to afford the indwelling spirit the better opportunity to speak to the listening soul. The spirit of the Father speaks best to man when the human mind is in an attitude of true worship. We worship God by the aid of the Father’s indwelling spirit and by the illumination of the human mind through the ministry of truth. Worship, taught Jesus, makes one increasingly like the being who is worshiped. Worship is a transforming experience whereby the finite gradually approaches and ultimately attains the presence of the Infinite”.
146:2.17 (1641.1)
1. Prayer is an expression of the finite mind in an effort to approach the Infinite. The making of a prayer must, therefore, be limited by the knowledge, wisdom, and attributes of the finite; likewise must the answer be conditioned by the vision, aims, ideals, and prerogatives of the Infinite. There never can be observed an unbroken continuity of material phenomena between the making of a prayer and the reception of the full spiritual answer thereto.
168:4.4 (1848.4)
2. When a prayer is apparently unanswered, the delay often betokens a better answer, although one which is for some good reason greatly delayed. When Jesus said that Lazarus’s sickness was really not to the death, he had already been dead eleven hours. No sincere prayer is denied an answer except when the superior viewpoint of the spiritual world has devised a better answer, an answer which meets the petition of the spirit of man as contrasted with the prayer of the mere mind of man.
168:4.5 (1848.5)
3. The prayers of time, when indited by the spirit and expressed in faith, are often so vast and all-encompassing that they can be answered only in eternity; the finite petition is sometimes so fraught with the grasp of the Infinite that the answer must long be postponed to await the creation of adequate capacity for receptivity; the prayer of faith may be so all-embracing that the answer can be received only on Paradise.
168:4.6 (1848.6)
4. The answers to the prayer of the mortal mind are often of such a nature that they can be received and recognized only after that same praying mind has attained the immortal state. The prayer of the material being can many times be answered only when such an individual has progressed to the spirit level.
168:4.7 (1848.7)
5. The prayer of a God-knowing person may be so distorted by ignorance and so deformed by superstition that the answer thereto would be highly undesirable. Then must the intervening spirit beings so translate such a prayer that, when the answer arrives, the petitioner wholly fails to recognize it as the answer to his prayer.
168:4.8 (1848.8)
6. All true prayers are addressed to spiritual beings, and all such petitions must be answered in spiritual terms, and all such answers must consist in spiritual realities. Spirit beings cannot bestow material answers to the spirit petitions of even material beings. Material beings can pray effectively only when they “pray in the spirit”.
168:4.9 (1848.9)
7. No prayer can hope for an answer unless it is born of the spirit and nurtured by faith. Your sincere faith implies that you have in advance virtually granted your prayer hearers the full right to answer your petitions in accordance with that supreme wisdom and that divine love which your faith depicts as always actuating those beings to whom you pray.
168:4.10 (1849.1)
8. The child is always within his rights when he presumes to petition the parent; and the parent is always within his parental obligations to the immature child when his superior wisdom dictates that the answer to the child’s prayer be delayed, modified, segregated, transcended, or postponed to another stage of spiritual ascension.
168:4.11 (1849.2)
9. Do not hesitate to pray the prayers of spirit longing; doubt not that you shall receive the answer to your petitions. These answers will be on deposit, awaiting your achievement of those future spiritual levels of actual cosmic attainment, on this world or on others, whereon it will become possible for you to recognize and appropriate the long-waiting answers to your earlier but ill-timed petitions.
168:4.12 (1849.3)
10. All genuine spirit-born petitions are certain of an answer. Ask and you shall receive. But you should remember that you are progressive creatures of time and space; therefore must you constantly reckon with the time-space factor in the experience of your personal reception of the full answers to your manifold prayers and petitions.
168:4.13 (1849.4)
Traditionally
The influences of earlier religious doctrines were so strong that many of Jesus’ disciples (including the apostles) never understood his message of prayer and worship. Despite their association with the Master, despite the unique personal experience He provided them, they were unable to resist the entrenched tendencies. While this has been the case in many areas, in just as many cases instead of aligning their own views with his teachings, they have preferred to distort those teachings to suit their own views. Most of the suggestions given to them regarding prayer and worship were misinterpreted after Jesus’ death; and so written in books. The faithful again began to treat prayer as a kind of magic (only this time in the name of Christ), expecting that thanks to it God would grant all their wishes.
We still refuse to accept that prayer is not a magic spell by which we will reach material, selfish goals. Priests, as then and now, still claim that only prayers composed, accepted and recited according to their rules have spiritual value; despite the facts to the contrary, despite the lack of any evidence for it, they still maintain that through prayer they are able to change – not only the intentions of the unchangeable God, but also the material reality. Prayer continues to be a tool for dividing us and them, between the chosen ones whom God wants to listen to and the rest whose faith is completely meaningless. And although we willingly hide behind his name, personal, sincere and spiritual prayer that Jesus taught is unfortunately still rare.
To the traveler from Britain he said: “My brother, I perceive you are seeking for truth, and I suggest that the spirit of the Father of all truth may chance to dwell within you. Did you ever sincerely endeavor to talk with the spirit of your own soul? Such a thing is indeed difficult and seldom yields consciousness of success; but every honest attempt of the material mind to communicate with its indwelling spirit meets with certain success, notwithstanding that the majority of all such magnificent human experiences must long remain as superconscious registrations in the souls of such God-knowing mortals”.
133:4.10 (1475.3)
Worship God
Rodan of Alexandria, a disciple of Jesus, in conversation with the apostles and other disciples, said, m.in, as follows:
But the greatest of all methods of problem solving I have learned from Jesus, your Master. I refer to that which he so consistently practices, and which he has so faithfully taught you, the isolation of worshipful meditation. In this habit of Jesus’ going off so frequently by himself to commune with the Father in heaven is to be found the technique, not only of gathering strength and wisdom for the ordinary conflicts of living, but also of appropriating the energy for the solution of the higher problems of a moral and spiritual nature. But even correct methods of solving problems will not compensate for inherent defects of personality or atone for the absence of the hunger and thirst for true righteousness.
160:1.10 (1774.2)
I am deeply impressed with the custom of Jesus in going apart by himself to engage in these seasons of solitary survey of the problems of living; to seek for new stores of wisdom and energy for meeting the manifold demands of social service; to quicken and deepen the supreme purpose of living by actually subjecting the total personality to the consciousness of contacting with divinity; to grasp for possession of new and better methods of adjusting oneself to the ever-changing situations of living existence; to effect those vital reconstructions and readjustments of one’s personal attitudes which are so essential to enhanced insight into everything worthwhile and real; and to do all of this with an eye single to the glory of God—to breathe in sincerity your Master’s favorite prayer, “Not my will, but yours, be done”.
160:1.11 (1774.3)
This worshipful practice of your Master brings that relaxation which renews the mind; that illumination which inspires the soul; that courage which enables one bravely to face one’s problems; that self understanding which obliterates debilitating fear; and that consciousness of union with divinity which equips man with the assurance that enables him to dare to be Godlike. The relaxation of worship, or spiritual communion as practiced by the Master, relieves tension, removes conflicts, and mightily augments the total resources of the personality. And all this philosophy, plus the gospel of the kingdom, constitutes the new religion as I understand it.
160:1.12 (1774.4)
During the discussion on the religious education of children, Jesus also drew attention to beauty in its broadest sense. To that beauty that has been and still is, an underestimated impulse to worship, especially for the youngest. And then was it confirmed that which Rodan had said: Jesus himself had so worshiped God, and therefore he taught the value of worshiping the Creator in the midst of his natural creation setting — alone in nature or under the inspiring starry sky. To worship God we do not need intermediaries or temples.
When it is not possible to worship God in the tabernacles of nature, men should do their best to provide houses of beauty, sanctuaries of appealing simplicity and artistic embellishment, so that the highest of human emotions may be aroused in association with the intellectual approach to spiritual communion with God. Truth, beauty, and holiness are powerful and effective aids to true worship. But spirit communion is not promoted by mere massive ornateness and overmuch embellishment with man’s elaborate and ostentatious art. Beauty is most religious when it is most simple and naturelike. How unfortunate that little children should have their first introduction to concepts of public worship in cold and barren rooms so devoid of the beauty appeal and so empty of all suggestion of good cheer and inspiring holiness! The child should be introduced to worship in nature’s outdoors and later accompany his parents to public houses of religious assembly which are at least as materially attractive and artistically beautiful as the home in which he is daily domiciled.
167:6.6 (1840.5)
The essence of prayer, as Jesus taught it, was: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done”. Because that’s what prayer is, according to The Urantia Book. It is a method of multi-dimensional adaptation of the praying man to the will of the Creator; never the method of distinguishing the chosen ones and their mundane, egocentric whims. Prayer is at the same time the vestibule for worship. And worship, though it is difficult to really define what it is in practice, “illuminates human destiny”; “is the supreme privilege and first duty of all created intelligences”.
Jesus brought to God, as a man of the realm, the greatest of all offerings: the consecration and dedication of his own will to the majestic service of doing the divine will. Jesus always and consistently interpreted religion wholly in terms of the Father’s will. When you study the career of the Master, as concerns prayer or any other feature of the religious life, look not so much for what he taught as for what he did. Jesus never prayed as a religious duty. To him prayer was a sincere expression of spiritual attitude, a declaration of soul loyalty, a recital of personal devotion, an expression of thanksgiving, an avoidance of emotional tension, a prevention of conflict, an exaltation of intellection, an ennoblement of desire, a vindication of moral decision, an enrichment of thought, an invigoration of higher inclinations, a consecration of impulse, a clarification of viewpoint, a declaration of faith, a transcendental surrender of will, a sublime assertion of confidence, a revelation of courage, the proclamation of discovery, a confession of supreme devotion, the validation of consecration, a technique for the adjustment of difficulties, and the mighty mobilization of the combined soul powers to withstand all human tendencies toward selfishness, evil, and sin. He lived just such a life of prayerful consecration to the doing of his Father’s will and ended his life triumphantly with just such a prayer. The secret of his unparalleled religious life was this consciousness of the presence of God; and he attained it by intelligent prayer and sincere worship—unbroken communion with God—and not by leadings, voices, visions, or extraordinary religious practices.
196:0.10 (2088.5)