Our Dear Sister, Meredith Tenney, has graduated to the Mansion Worlds. When I last spoke to Meredith in late August, she shared her plan to depart this world with grace & faith. Meredith had Parkinson's Disease and she chose her time and method of departure. I will miss her and her wise woman ways. She is walking on the shores of Mansonia. Bon voyage, dear one. See you soon enough. Lucretira Schanfarber

Dear Spiritual Colleagues and Friends;

How much I have enjoyed my sojourn with you! I write to bid you farewell, however I do not write with tears and sadness. On more advanced worlds, the Urantia Book describes the spirit permeating those gathered around someone departing as similar to a joyful gathering of friends and relatives assembling at a graduation exercise. We are told that it would be decidedly helpful if we could only learn to view natural death with some of the same cheerfulness and lightheartedness, and I invite you to join with me in viewing my transition that way and modeling a community in Light and Life.

I began having symptoms of Parkinson's several years ago but it wasn't until November of 2017 that the diagnosis was confirmed by a neurologist. Parkinson's is a disease with a devastating prognosis. It leads to severe tremor, motor instability, inability to perform simple activities of daily living, difficulty walking, difficulty talking and swallowing, and eventually delusions and hallucinations and dementia. Many people live for years suffering with Parkinson's. Unfortunately, there is no cure and no treatments that slow the progression of the disease, and my condition has been steadily deteriorating.

I have had a very satisfying life, and have long felt that the quality of life is more important than the quantity. It is my desire to go on trying to be of service to Father and my brothers and sisters, but I cannot do so if I become a debilitated, demented invalid. I believe I have Father's blessing to depart, and that is the best choice for myself and my loved ones. I have an appointment with the Eternal Spirit Foundation in Basel next week for an assisted voluntary death. In Switzerland, perhaps the most progressive country in these matters, it is legal to prescribe lethal medication for individuals with degenerative neurologic disease. The Swiss maintain that only patients themselves can say when enough is enough, and I agree.

I've had a great life and could not have asked for more supportive friends, more delightful children, or a more wonderful partner than Dave. I will miss them and all of you, however, my farewell is only for a while - a pause in an eternal friendship forged in our efforts to seek, find, and serve God together. I eagerly anticipate my next assignment and participating in the universe ascension scheme, and look forward to renewing our friendship in the agondonter sector of Jerusem:)

I  ask for prayers for my family, and am so grateful for your love and support.

Until we meet again, Meredith

Our beloved Mer passed on very peacefully early yesterday (Wednesday 16th, about 10 a.m. Swiss time), with good compassionate and spiritually sensitive care from the staff here at our Life Circle residence of the Eternal Spirit Foundation, (who ended the harm to her physical form's neurological functioning), with me by her side throughout. There were many good mutual expressions of love, shared memories, spiritual sharing, and mixed tears of joy and sadness before parting, but we are both strong and steady in our living faith of continuing life in eternity and future time together in some way. On her last morning Mer joked about not having a good full night's sleep (partly due to sending loving messages out to her family, etc.) --but that it didn't matter so much as she figured she'd have a good three days rest ahead of her! (((((((

It was a relief for me to feel the severity of her shaking or "trembling" and suffering end as she was "on the brink" of passing onward, inward, and upward. 

We both thank you so much for so many of your loving posts. We received a tremendously warmhearted outpouring of love from many in various circles of spiritual community and family that was a great source of joy for Mer (& I) as she was preparing for her next life adventure.

Mer fully intends (as you know) to keep sending her love and shining her light to us all.

At least at this point in time I am feeling at peace, reflectively watching the river of life flow by here on the banks of the Rhine, and feeling the support of many of our both seen and unseen friends.

With Love&light&life,

~Dave Tenney

This is such a powerful, moving and superb message of transition. I write this with tears in my eyes, for I do not yet even know you, but I hope to be introduced to you in due course. <3

Blessing and love to you and all of your family. Rise in Progress! <3

Love, Gary Tonge

Hi everyone,

I just got home this (Saturday 19th) evening after a long 6 hour flight during which I was very aware of it being the day after Mer's "3rd day of rest" (which she well-deserved after all of her service work here on Urantia!). So, as I myself was flying through the skies I was aware that Mer was now conscious of her own ascension, and I devoted a lot of time and attention to her, greeted Mer in my mind, attuned to her in spirit, gave her a big celebratory "congrats you made it!", had an inner "cosmic hug" with her & our Father, & Mother and a few others, and felt mightily emotionally moved for hours as I reflected on her, our wondrous life together, her loving nature, and her dedication to serving God & all her sisters & brothers in our universal family, human and celestial. I also was repetitively listening to some very passionate evocative music, and it just so happened that an infant right behind me was crying almost the entire trip, so the combination of it all led to my having mixed tears of joy & sadness streaming down my face over & over. I was the only one on board who actually thanked the quite exhausted and embarrassed parents afterwards(((((((: ( for their infant having facilitating my emotional release & grief).

Anyway, I just wanted to remind everyone that our marvelous Meredith Hartt ("Merry heart") Tenney (as I sometimes called her) has now ascended, and to share my story with my friends & brothers and sisters in spirit.

Love to the One and love to all,

~Dave Tenney

Dear Dave,

May our Divine Parents hold you and bless you as you move forward with your life.  I know you are busy as you finalize all of Meredith's papers, etc.  It sometimes takes a while.  Be patient with your tears and grief through it all.  You are a person of great strength and courage.  I know you, be brave my brother.  

During these times, pull yourself back, again and again into the Center of all Things.  I see you as a living testimony of your stability of staying Centered.  That will help you so much as the storms of emotion arise.  You are a beautiful person.  Stand tall.  

In Love, Sharon Porter

Dear Meredith,

Your courageous decision and your sharing it with your colleagues and friends is an incredible blessing to each of us.  We do not have many mentors in this next stage of our mortal progression and even though many of us have been reading about and developing a vision of the mansion worlds and what lies before and at that awakening. I have no experience with what you are planning next week.  I absolutely applaud your choice!  I am imprinting it and your expression.  How sweet to know you will be totally taken care of by your angels.

I will pray for your family.  For them it may be the hardest.

Until next time

Warmly, Sara Blackstock

Wow Meredith!  I've been thinking about and feeling your remarkable email all day long today!  I have never received a communication even remotely like it!  So clear, so generously sharing, and so full of such peace in knowing your way forward! Thank you, Mer!! ...  for graciously and beautifully sharing this profound decision with all of us, your spiritual family!

I am so moved! ... by your courage and the depth of your faith in the struggle with the Parkinsons, and in coming to such a  whole-hearted resolve to move forward across that great and mysterious threshold, which lies out ahead for all of us.I can't help it... your sharing this with us so vividly brings to mind this gorgeous passage -- on translation in the eras of Light and Life -- from our beloved revelation:

55:2.5 (623.5) … And what a beautiful occasion when mortals thus forgather to witness the ascension of their loved ones in spiritual flames, and what a contrast to those earlier ages … The scenes of weeping and wailing characteristic of earlier epochs of human evolution are now replaced by ecstatic joy and the sublimest enthusiasm as these God-knowing mortals bid their loved ones a transient farewell as they are removed from their material associations by the spiritual fires of consuming grandeur and ascending glory. On worlds settled in light and life, “funerals” are occasions of supreme joy, profound satisfaction, and inexpressible hope.

55:2.6 (623.6) The souls of these progressing mortals are increasingly filled with faith, hope, and assurance. The spirit permeating those gathered around the translation shrine resembles that of the joyful friends and relatives who might assemble at a graduating exercise for one of their group, or who might come together to witness the conferring of some great honor upon one of their number.

We honor you, sweet sister, we LOVE you!  And with all of our hearts, we wish you God-speed in your forward journey! 

I can't wait to visit with you again on high!!

Tremendous love...Marvin Gawryn

Greetings Meredith:

An amazing end to an amazing life! Your smile and gracious spirit permeated and enriched every gathering you attended. Everyone is a better person for having known you. You lived the teachings you believed in, and tin so doing you set a wonderful example for the rest of us. I sense your angels and spirit family beaming at the prospect of soon meeting you and your TA lovingly waiting for you with open arms. WELL DONE!!! Go now in peace sister Meredith. We will miss you, but your beautiful spirit presence is forever with us.

Your brother, Michael Painter

Meredith, you are an inspiration! The clarity you are bringing to this transition is a profound testament to your living faith, and points the way for all of us -- as you say -- toward Light and Life. You are setting a precedent for our community to aspire to going forward. WOW, what a gift.

I'll always remember you playing Jesus' baby sister Ruth in the musical reading we did at the New England Society up at the Angel House. Your voice was like a bell as you read her lines, and I believe you have a faith like hers too -- loyal, strong, and unwavering, even in the face of life's greatest trials, and unto death.

You have graced our lives here, as you will on Mansonia and beyond. May the transition be peaceful. To Dave, Alanna, and your family, our prayers are with you.

Godspeed, sister Meredith! I love you!

Love, Angie Thurston

Meredith

Your faith is profound, and your spiritual fragrance incredibly sweet.  I will always treasure the wonderful handwritten note you gave me years ago, graciously written to encourage and help develop my recognition of our Mother Spirit.

Thank you so much for your wonderful and very touching goodbye message.  I so look forward to your greeting when I awake in the resurrection hall.

Sincerely, your fellow Agondonter

Bruce Wenger

Dear Friends,

Meredith's last message to us is encouraging, inspiring, and as gracious and loving as she ALWAYS is. I will certainly miss her broad smile and gentle demeanor.  The impending departure of this precious and dedicated soul feels surrealistic at this point. What a year 2020 has been!

In addition to this, I need to also let you know that long-time Hawaii study group leader and devoted Urantian, Le'Ruth Tyau graduated last week. Le'Ruth was a devoted member of LDS and a faithful believer and teacher of The Urantia Book. You can see Le'Ruth's wonderful offerings if you search YouTube for UrantianArtist. Like Mer, she lived an amazing and devoted life.

Also, another Grand Urantian Brother, Dennis Nicomede, from Temple, CA, graduated last week.

Three more beloved laborers in the harvest have moved on to the growing Urantia Corps on Mansonia. I wonder what our precious big brothers and sisters have planned for us up there. I guess we'll all find out sooner than we think.

Love...Paula Thompson

Thanks to everyone for their wonderful words of encouragement and support - both Dave and I have been so uplifted!

Blessed by your prayers, I look forward to an eternal adventure with joy. I am not faint, I will not falter, and I have no fear!

With much love and appreciation for our Urantia family,

Meredith Tenney

Dearest, Beloved Sister Meredith,

It is with tears in my eyes that I read your heart-wrenching message below, to which I feel moved and inspired to answer back with all the Love I feel for you, as I’ve always told you ever since I first met you.

I read an article about The Eternal Spirit Foundation saying ‘An assisted dying organization in Switzerland has been attacked for warning its clients not to discuss their suicidal intentions with their own GPs.’

Whether it is the choice of using softer words like ‘end-of-life assistance’, or ‘assisted dying’, or ‘right-to-die’, the truth is that it is a suicide, described as the act of ‘taking one’s life’ voluntarily and intentionally.

You wrote: We are told that it would be decidedly helpful if we could only learn to view natural death with some of the same cheerfulness and lightheartedness… they write ‘natural’ death, not ‘suicidal’ death.

Q: What about Jesus who could have chosen to end His Life when the burden and pain became beyond unbearable, but rather who prayed and left it at the Will of the Father to decide the time of His death.

The article describes the Eternal Spirit Clinic in Switzerland being run by Swiss GP, Dr. Erika Preisig, and her partner Marcus Luthi from their home near Basel.

As an important step in becoming a doctor, all medical students must take the Hippocratic Oath, and one of the promises within that oath is “First, do no harm”.

Since God is the beginning and the end of all life, Jesus showed us the Way as to how to keep the Faith, especially when life’s tribulations keep pounding on us.

I have been to Heaven twice: one time while being hospitalized from poisoning and the other time from a Visitation of Jesus in my bedroom on December 14, 1990.

He allowed me to experience the Majesty and Magnificence of God’s Creation as revealed in the UB Revelation, months before receiving It as a gift later on for IC’93.

Even though you’ve seen me full of enthusiasm all these years, I have been suffering tremendously for many years, and with the Grace of God, I continue my mission.

After having lived those divinely blessed experiences, I could have chosen to end all that suffering to go back to that indescribable Heavenly Kingdom that is awaiting us.

Parkinson is a CNS disease and with all the great strides that are being made in medicine, there are treatments available that can bring hope even in the darkest of times.

I’ve seen people making great strides with more and more of these challenging diseases and getting previously unthought-of results just a few years or even months ago.

From my own health experience, I can say that with prayer, faith and knowledge, it is literally true that ‘’With God all things are possible’’. ALL THINGS MEREDITH! Truly!

All that you describe in your message is right Meredith, except in due time when our hour comes as a natural death, according to the Will of the Father, and not our own.

Since God is the One who starts our life-meter, He is also the One to stop our meter when He Wills so; not when we decide to, especially when we feel like ending it all.

I command you that your message is a lofty one, but I felt moved inside of me to send you this message that I send with all the Love that I can find in my heart and soul.

"But even then, much which is impossible to man is not beyond the reach of the Father in heaven; rather should we recognize that with God all things are possible’’

I love you, dearest sister!

Diane Lebrecque

Dear Socadmin, 

I really feel that some of the responses to Meredith's choice, that she is contravening God's will in some way, are rooted in ancient superstitions that also found their way into Christianity probably from Greek tradition.

The Greeks believed in the Three Fates, Atropos was the oldest of the three, and she was known as the Inevitable. She was closely related to people’s death since it was Atropos who would choose the mechanism of death. It was her task to end the life of mortals by cutting their thread. It was believed that the Fates would appear within three days of someone’s birth to decide their fate. The three Moirai represented the cycle of life, essentially standing for Birth, Life, and Death. They would spin (Clotho), draw out (Lachesis) and cut (Atropos) the thread of Life.

Take for example the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust. Had God decided it was his will that these innocent ones have the thread of their lives severed? The thought repels me. God does not make such decisions. Yes there is a plan, a "career" for your life, but there is also the randomness of nature. As Elaine Pagels has pointed out (her book Why Religion?), if you are in the path of a volcanic eruption and your life ends that way, it has more to do with chaos theory, than with God making a plan for the end of your life.

Best wishes,

Dave Holt

Dear Meredith,

I wanted to take this opportunity to say goodbye for now and to thank-you for sharing this very personal decision with your larger spiritual community. I think it has stirred many of us to grapple with this topic, express empathy and support, but also to project what we would do given similar circumstances. I think it’s an important family conversation and I respect your decision.

One of the great gifts of this revelation is the expanded cosmic view of life after death and the many progressive incarnations from here to Paradise.  We are so blessed to have received this core comfort, however, as much as we take peace in knowing ... I’ve come to realize that the topic of death and how to process loss still remains very challenging for our community. The collective whole still has a long ways to go regarding this very subject of transition and coping with sudden loss, IMO. Although your impending transition is not sudden, it is yet another human loss within our extended family. Perhaps an entire conference devoted to transitioning would be welcomed. 

Meredith, we have never spent large quantities of time together (unlike your beautiful partner whom I spent two weeks with in Israel) yet I’ve always felt your spiritual presence and have observed how you’ve elevated the room with your sincere smile, your inner light, your graceful demeanor as well as great passion coming through your words. We have served in many TDA’s throughout the years and I will always recall your unique voice expressing a desire for unity, organization healing, and an openness for creative community going forward. I believe our Thought Controllers have delighted greatly in our association. Thank-you, sister, for a life well lived. 

I look forward to more time with Dave and for being in Alanna’s company once again (not sure if I’ve meet any of your other children) as we continue down that intrepid Urantia road. The YaYA’s and the Urantia Family Life Committee stands ready to be of service and support. For now - I can only imagine - your immediate calling is to trust in their safekeeping and in their angelic guidance. Once a mother, always a mother ;-)  I have no doubt you are solid with yours. 

Truthbook's Quote of the Day seemed appropriate to your situation:

In knowledge alone there can never be absolute certainty, 

only increasing probability of approximation; 

but the religious soul of spiritual illumination knows,

and knows now.  102:2.4

Peace & Love ~

Anthony Finstad, Bend, OR

Thank you, Dave Holt.

I don't buy into the Medieval Catholic concept that living a Christ-like life means suffering as did Jesus. I applaud Meredith's choice and would do likewise under similar circumstances.  In fact, when I received my cancer diagnosis one of the first things I did was to make sure I had the means to dispatch myself to M1 should the situation become unbearable.  

I believe it is not the Father's will that I suffer physically as my body and mind deteriorate--to a great extent due to the failure of the Adamic mission and the lack of wise genetic planning and management.  And I'll put in a good word here for making sure you have a living will so that your grieving family doesn't try to force you to stay alive past a point where there's no longer a reasonable probability for returning to a viable life. A physician can help you determine a point to specify. 

The fear of death and lack of knowledge about what comes next has made a real perversion out of the process, to say nothing of the significant transfer of wealth which can occur from families to the medical profession during the last few weeks and months of a life that is hopelessly being artificially maintained--how macabre!  I see no reason for overly emotional sentimentalism in this matter.  M1 awaits!  Productive life awaits!  And for many of us, family and friends await.  Why stay here and watch your body and mind slowly begin their transition to compost while you're still living in them?  

Well, it's a decision each person has to make for himself/herself. We'll all be out of here before we know it.

Ever onward!

David Kantor

Thank you, Dave, for sharing this experience so supportively with Mer, and so generously with all of us, in this part of our larger Urantian family.

You especially ... and your family as well ... will be in our hearts and prayers in the coming weeks and months, as you move forward past this incredibly significant transition. 

Such a life, on such a planet!

  Marvin Gawryn