A universal assembly for true discernment
Please take the Quick 10 Question Survey that will be delivered to your inbox on Monday, December 28. If you don’t find it in your inbox, check your Spam or Junk folder to see if it went there.
When you take the survey, you help us decide what new programs to offer in the Awakening Together Sanctuary. You will also have the opportunity to tell us what times are best for you.
The email will provide a link to the survey. It will be most helpful if you complete the survey by Monday, January 4.
Awakening Together applied for church status under IRS Code 170(b)(1)(a)(i) on December 15, 2014.
In July 2015, we received a letter from the IRS stating that a physical place of worship is required in order for an organization to be classified as a church under the IRS Code. However, this letter was not a final decision. It was a Request for Information. Awakening Together was provided with the opportunity to show that we are a church based on United States law and legal precedent.
Several people participated in creating our response to the IRS, including several members who wrote letters stating that Awakening Together is your church of choice.
On December 15, 2015, the IRS agreed with you by awarding Awakening Together with formal church status.
Thank you to everyone who helped in this process. That includes everyone who currently serves & previously served on our Member Board of Trustees and Board of Directors as well as every member who took the time to write a letter to the IRS on behalf of our application for church status. We appreciate your commitment to our church family!
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Regina Dawn Akers
I have heard you
And I have heard you say that
I don’t trust you.
But the truth is that
You don’t trust yourself.
You ask where I am
But I am with you.
Just trust that I am not separate from you.
I am part of you
And have always been here.
Just be…
Don’t think so much
And you will realize that
I am with and part of you.
I have just been waiting
For you to believe in me.
When you let go of the things
You hold onto,
You will find me.
For I am not
The past
Or the future.
I exist in the moment.
Click the link below to read the minutes from this meeting.
(To learn more about the Member Board of Trustees, click here.)
I don’t know what is best for my life. So how could I know what’s best for anyone else’s?
I’ve had this train of thought for a few weeks now. And I’m really happy to have it because it allows me to love my family no matter what. I’m not in charge of anybody, nor am I the advisor or the judge; I am doing the best that I can and I appreciate that the people around me are doing what they can too.
I’m really not here to pass judgement or make calls. In fact, I think I’m a little arrogant. So, with my own flaws on the plate, I don’t feel like criticizing anybody else. I’m pretty happy to just love my family because they support me and love me. They have to figure out their life just like I have to figure out mine.
On a contrasting note, when I am a teacher I assume the position of life role model. All I can say about this irony, this being the role model while not being perfect, is that I do the best I can.
Sometimes I’m not the best teacher, friend, or person (or co-worker, student, or employee), but I am what I am and these are the lemons that life gives me, and so I make lemonade. Perhaps I follow my gut, or my brain, whichever one I find more convincing, because these are the mediums that I have. But whichever medium I use to manage my life, it never works perfectly every time.
I guess what I’m trying to say is this: If you’re somebody who is not doing perfect right now, then I hear you, and I see you, and I’m in the same boat with you.
Love.
David is a 19-year old Sophomore at Oklahoma State University, a student teacher and an Awakening Together Ordained Minister.
Liz Cronkhite has been a student of A Course in Miracles since 1984, and a trained life-coach since 2000. She began one-on-one mentoring of Course students from around the world in 2006. Below is her path to becoming a spiritual mentor:
Liz was born at the end of 1963. Growing up, she had no religious or spiritual training. but as a teenager felt a Presence in herself, Which she called on in times of stress. She called this Presence her “inner Therapist”. Despite this experience, she considered herself an atheist at the time, since this Loving Presence bore no resemblance to the fearful God of the world.
In 1984, at the age of 20, Liz was introduced to A Course in Miracles. It was immediately familiar to her, even though the ideas seemed radical and mind blowing. She felt as though a part of her had written it, and that the Course was her whole purpose for being in the world. She knew that one day she was going to do something with the Course beyond studying and practicing it. Even so, she struggled with it for a long time, and eventually put it aside for a few years.
Soon after becoming a student of the Course, Liz experienced the Holy relationship, in which she saw Christ in another, and recognized her Self. This, and other similar experiences, showed her what the Course teaches about Truth and illusion: Only God is True; everything else is illusion. This experience shattered her world, and she mourned the loss of her illusions for a long time before gradually reaching acceptance of this Truth, and trusting the Holy Spirit’s Voice as her own True Voice.
From 1999-2001 Liz studied life-coaching. At this time she also returned to studying the Course after a few years away from it. It was then that she accepted her spiritual experiences, and this led to her full understanding of the Course. She knew it was time to teach other students of the Course.
Liz led a study group in Las Vegas for two-and-a-half years, and in 2006 she began to mentor students of the Course one-on one over the phone. Her purpose is to make the path of spiritual awakening easier for other serious students of the Course.
Liz lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with her wife, Courtney, and their lovable mutts.
Liz’s website: ACIMmentor.com
Liz’s books: 4 Habits for Inner Peace and The Message of A Course in Miracles: A Translation of the Text in Plain Language.
Contributing to the River
Rev. Regina Dawn Akers peacefully and joyously examined mental and emotional habits of attack that we may not usually recognize as attack, while also helping us see how we can transcend all habits of attack.
Stephan Mead read “The End of Terrorism” by Jeff Foster.
Lyn Johnson served as Sanctuary Administrator
First, this mind believed it was a self in a process toward the goal of peace. Then one day it had an experience while meditating that Truth is right here. It was the Holy Instant and It was breathtaking. This mind realized that in meditation, and in everything else, it always reached for Truth. And in that reaching it over-reached Truth and missed It because Truth is right here. It was like when the self looks for the mustard in the refrigerator but does not see it because the mustard is right in front of it and the self is looking past it to find it.
And then the awareness of the immediate Presence of Truth was gone. Each day in meditation this mind tried to be present and experience the Truth again but could not. It could remember the experience but not conjure it. How long did this go on? Months? Years? Then it happened again and this mind would think, “This is it. This is all I need to experience. This is all I need to remember. Stop reaching. It’s here now.” And then…It couldn’t make it happen again. More months, maybe years, before this mind had the experience again. But then, over a long, long time, it began to happen more often. And this mind began to take the awareness that “Truth is here now” into the unfolding of each day. “It’s here,” it would remind itself throughout the day and it would just be with It. If this mind couldn’t experience Truth it still reminded itself that Truth is here. This mind does not need to experience Truth for Truth to be.
Over a long time this mind re-trained itself to stop reaching, to stop thinking in terms of a goal, to just stop and be present to Truth. If this mind reached for peace it missed peace because peace is here. If this mind set up peace as a goal it would obtain in the future it put distance between itself and peace because peace is here now. And, over that long time, all that reaching and goal-setting diminished until it finally ceased. The Truth is here now and so is this mind. This mind no longer has anything for which to reach.
But there is still something in this mind that is in a process and that still seems to be learning. This mind has come to understand that actually time was over for it many, many years ago when it first allowed Truth into its awareness. Since then all it has been doing is accepting this fact. And now that it has accepted it, it can see that the self and its story was only ever an effect. Originally the self’s life in the world was an expression (effect) of the idea of not-Truth. Then, when this mind allowed Truth into its awareness, the story of the self became an expression (effect) of the-undoing-of-the-idea-of-not-Truth. And that part of the story is still going on. But this mind is learning to no longer confuse itself with the story. The unfolding story of the self is just an idea in its mind that it observes while it rests in the present in peace.
Last Sunday night we held a feedback forum in the Awakening Together Sanctuary. The purpose of the forum was to discover what types of programs and study groups members would like to see offered in the Sanctuary. There were around 25 people in the Sanctuary for the meeting and at least one active participant on the radio. There was lots of interactivity in the meeting, mostly typed on the Sanctuary message board. People were engaged and sharing actively.
Participants response to Awakening Together’s Purpose & Core Values:
Regina started the meeting by going over Awakening Together’s Purpose and Core Values. Everyone present seemed to be in agreement with the purpose and values based on their written comments. They indicated they want a Sanctuary that is focused on purpose, supportive, respectful and offers teachings from different spiritual traditions, yet all pointing towards one truth.
Who was at the meeting?
There were around 25 people in the Sanctuary for the meeting. About 5 people reported that they typically do not come into the Sanctuary, but they came for this remodel forum. They also come for our Weekly Gatherings. Only about 2 – 3 people present said they are able to spend most of their time in the Sanctuary. Everyone else comes into the Sanctuary for that which interests them. Most of the people present were from the USA, and all four US time zones were heavily represented. One attendee was from Russia. There weren’t any other international members present.
Themes from the forum discussion:
Read the Full Notes From the Meeting
The notes provide more specific information from the forum discussion.
Listen to the Forum Audio
The first 24 minutes (presentation of the purpose & core values) has been edited out,
which focuses the audio on the interactive portion of the meeting.
We are grateful for the enthusiastic feedback we received during this meeting. All of the information provided will be considered by a sub-committee along with inner Guidance. We will share as we begin to make changes based on this feedback. If you have additional feedback to share after reading the full notes above, Contact Us. We are excited to hear from you!
