Do you yearn to spend some quiet time in meditation?  Now Awakening Together is offering meditations twice each day, at 8 AM and 10 AM Eastern  in the Sanctuary.  Join us this Wednesday morning fat 8 AM for a Loving Consciousness/Sufi meditation hosted By Regina Dawn Akers.  Then at 10 AM Eastern join Veronica Gabrielle for a live Holy Spirit Channeled Meditation.  Each day we will feature different teachers leading our daily meditations.  We are still looking for hosts for several of these meditations, so if you feel so inclined, please contact Lyn Johnson at [email protected].

Check the schedule here

The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has
Formally Recognized Awakening Together as a Church.

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!

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:

• People are interested in an improved Sanctuary calendar that lets them know more about what is happening when including what audio will be played when.
• People are interested in more guest speakers.
• People want teachings for all levels on the spiritual path.
• People are interested in more ‘qualified’ teachers; people who are trained/certified in what they are teaching, have true clarity ahead of the listener, authors/scribes sharing from their own books, etc.
• People are interested in getting clear teachers from other traditions into the Sanctuary including from the spiritual traditions taught in MPP & more
• People are generally interested in more audios, study groups, teachings etc that are from truth teachings other than ACIM; more like MPP.
• Overall there was enthusiasm for more purposeful interactivity.
• Reducing the hours that the Sanctuary is open (quality over quantity) made sense to the group & to our Board Members. (e.g., Maybe Sanctuary is Closed two afternoons a week or during certain hours; Maybe Sanctuary is closed at night or only Open all night long on some nights, esp. weekends)
• Evening is more ‘prime time’ than daytime, so it is good to focus key programs in the evening. However, there was good interest in daytime and weekends too. Very little middle of the night interest.

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!

Join us in the Sanctuary at 10:15am ET with Reverend Jacquelyn Eckert.
 
Her topic today is “From Seeking to Abiding.”

It seems that the way in which many of us go about the spiritual journey mirrors the way we have learned to achieve in the world. The advice of the masters suggests this approach should be abandoned. Jacquelyn’s talk will be a contemplation of the teaching that one should follow one’s true desire without grasping for enlightenment as a goal to be achieved.

Tom Conway will give the reading: Chapter 19, “Where the Mind Cannot Go,” from The Diamond in your Pocket, by Gangaji.