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In case you missed this week's
Sunday Celebration:
Spiritual Healing and Personal Transformation
Simply We are Here for Love
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Welcome to Agape East
Rev. Victoria Thomas
Spiritual Director
Welcome to the Agape East Spiritual Center! We are a modern Omni-faith-based community, a community committed to personal transformation, spiritual growth and conscious awakening to a life lived on purpose, by Grace. We embrace all religions, all spiritual paths, and all of humanity regardless of orientation, perspective, affiliation, and identity. All are welcome here.
No matter where you consider yourself on the spiritual journey, know that it is a Spirit of courage that chooses to be alive, walking a path of awakening consciousness at this time in human history on the planet. I bow to you and welcome you to a home of heart and soul.
We practice an awareness of the presence of God, the Absolute Love-Intelligence that creates everything out of Itself. We know that everyone is at one with this Power and Presence and as a community, we seek to be an environment for individuals to wake up to this spiritual truth. We seek right seeing, a knowing beyond the five senses that in back of appearances and circumstance there is unity, justice, wholeness, giving-ness, and love seeking to unfold as a world that works for everyone.
We activate spiritual practice rooted in self-love through meditation, affirmative prayer, sacred study,fellowship, tithing, and sacred service. We support each other in fellowship, love, compassion, and patience. This entails individual inner work of spiritual healing and personal transformation as well as the outer work of generosity, service to our communities, and taking a stand for social justice and racial equality.
We hope you will come back again and again so that we can know and love you as we all anchor the
transforming power of Unconditional Love together in our community, individual lives, our families and the world! Please browse our classes, events and regular weekly offerings and join us. Right where you are the Light and Love of Truth prevails and unfolds your very life!
Welcome to Agape East.
In Love and Light,
Rev. Victoria Thomas
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Monthly Themes
Retreat to Higher Ground
When stormy weather hits, I like to close the blinds, turn off devices, and make tea. Something about the messiness and chaos outside, gives me permission to prepare for comfort, restoration, reflection, turning within, and retreat. Who knows what insights one can find in 30 minutes of journaling, or reading, or meditation?
When we stop our selves to take time to pull away from the world, from the five senses, from our identification with thoughts and feelings, we are getting up into the higher ground of our consciousness, our awareness of Self. Let’s not wait for stormy weather, literally and metaphorically! Let’s give ourselves permission each day to do this courtship with the Divine, this nurturing of the soul. Sometimes we need 20 minutes, sometimes five days or maybe two weeks, and when we emerge, we stand triumphant, aligned with our own eternal nature. Just a little effort toward this alignment brings Grace.
In Love and Light,
Rev. Victoria
Integrity
When we misbehaved, my 5th grade teacher used to make us write, “Freedom is the responsibility to do what is right, not the right to do as you please.” Since then, I have always equated my own true freedom with integrity. Man’s laws are usually flawed, changeable interpretations, bias, the list goes on because humans do not always do what is right. Regardless, we are still responsible for our own integrity, even if others fail.
In spiritual adulthood, I learned that when we have true freedom, we have choice in how we look at the world, how we integrate insights and setbacks, how we feel about anything, how we align our lives with Natural Law, growth, expansion, generosity, and love. These are choices that can never be taken away by any “supreme court.” So, I remind myself of what I know: Divine Law does not change. God is always in integrity with Itself. God, Spirit, Creator, Universal Presence, whatever you want to call It, does not wax or wane, ebb or flow, give or take. It does not contradict Itself, hurt Itself, withhold from Itself, or limit Itself, ever, in any way. Remembering this gives wind to the sails of my own transcendence over the world of effects and helps me to be in the world, but not of it.
In Love and Light,
Rev. Victoria
Illumination
This month as we enjoy the summer and all that life offers, let us welcome the Illumination of Love into our hearts and minds. We become illumined and we illuminate our surroundings as we bring into the light of our Christ- Consciousness, all that would contradict the Truth. Christ means Light. There is only First Causation, God. This Power does not contradict Itself. It is Absolute and we are wholly one with It.
The entire Cosmos is working to express more of Itself through you, its own creation, as a blissful, healthy, abundant life! This is the Light of Truth. So, no matter what story is playing out in the mind, in our collective human narrative, in your environments, the Love that God is, is seeking Its demonstration through your Consciousness. It does mean we have to ignore the default mode thinking and emotional patterns that rear their heads from time to time, like the patterns of lack, living small, false beliefs of unworthiness, fear of insecurity.
As we bracket all our reactions and responses to life’s contradictions of this Truth and bring circumstances, situations, events, opinions, fears, and worries into the Love of our hearts and the Light of our Christ mind, we are lifted in Illumination for all. We become the Light on the hill. This is what our cities, nations, and our planet needs.
In Love and Light,
Rev. Victoria
Play
This month at Agape East, we celebrate the art of play. What better time to find our inner joy and exuberance for life than this month of May, with the beauty of spring and Mother’s Day. When I was little, I would spend hours alone, and sometimes with friends, in my room and outside playing. I had Barbie dolls, plastic horses, rubber alligators, and an invisible snake named Snakey.
As adults, the responsibilities of school, jobs and family can dampen our innate urge to relax, joke, connect, create, fantasize, pretend, and play. Now is our time to cast off the judgements of surface mind and find a way to create the vibration of playing. We can make play with almost any task, like chores and cleaning, by a simple attitude adjustment, I feel. Art, gardening, dancing, singing, coloring books, writing, music, exercise, whatever you can find, find it and make it fun by simply affirming that it’s “play time.”
The vibration we live in when we play is the same as the vibration we live in when we pray, a high state of mind, a little fantasy and pretend, and a big daily spoonful of joy. I like to say that life is a prayer. This month, I say life is a play. Have fun!
In Love and Light,
Rev. Victoria
Innocence
As the beautiful baby birds and sweet flowers all come to life this spring, let us celebrate our true nature, Innocence. We all know the innocence of babies and trees and animals. Babies and little children reach and move toward what they want and what feels good. Blades of grass just turn their little bodies towards the sun, without ever questioning their deservedness.
The Good of God is available to all of life, regardless. This is the Grace that accompanies innocence, and it is your birthright, everyone’s birthright, regardless. How can we know and accept the Grace of this Truth for ourselves and for those whom we may view as undeserving? Is there a difference?
This month celebrates Easter, and the great Master Teacher Jesus the Christ demonstrated his instruction to forgive 70×7 when he forgave those that were torturing him to death, “Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
I believe that this muscle of living in Innocence must first be developed for ourselves before we can authentically forgive the unforgivable in this crazy world. The best place that I have found to start is with our daily living, our daily routines of self-care, diet, how we communicate and express, and our spiritual practices, even our attempts at forgiving 70×7. To set the high intention of higher choices for ourselves in every way, and then be gentle with ourselves as we make our attempts and changing old patterns in body and mind.
Tremendous self-love, self-compassion, self-appreciation, and self-care is the doorway to self-forgiveness, and self-forgiveness is the key to recognizing our own innate Innocence and this is the fuel in the power of forgiveness for others. When we know our own brilliance, beauty, worthiness, and purity, through the practice of innocence, then we become blameless and guiltless towards ourselves. We then begin to see WITH Innocence as we look out at wars, injustice, governments, and world leaders. This is what is being asked of us now, to see rightly, as the Master Teacher taught.
Sentience
Our theme this month celebrates our ability to feel! How wonderful it is to feel a cool breeze, to feel warm earth under our feet, the softness of a silky pillowcase, the warmth and weight of a beloved pet on our lap. How about the feeling of joy when you can wrap your arms around a beloved friend or family member, or the enthusiasm when you finally find that thing you love to do and you’re doing it, or the feeling of humble gratitude when you see the evidence of God‘s grace demonstrating Itself to you?
Part of being a human being is this great privilege of experiencing feelings and emotions. It’s what makes us Sentient beings, here to express compassion, understanding, generosity and greater knowing of a Presence of Love.
I believe it is our hearts that rule our Sentience and I believe that the bigger our hearts, the more we feel. There are many ways to grow our hearts and our abilities to feel. Meditation and spiritual study have certainly been helpful for me. Some people also experience the growth of their heart through trials, loss, betrayal, and trauma. Anybody who’s lost a loved one, even a pet, knows that grief swells this part of us, making us more in tune with how precious each relationship and each day that we have left are.
Sentience is both a privilege and a burden perhaps, but it is something that we can harness and use to better our own lives and the lives of others. Let’s use this month to explore the power of our Sentience. All of our feelings, whether they are labeled “good” or “bad,” are powerful, observable, changeable, and the key ingredient in mastering the art of manifestation.
In Love and Light,
Rev. Victoria
A sanctuary is a holy place. It is the inner chambers of a temple where the high altar is kept. Your body is a temple inside your Consciousness. Sanctuary is all safety and deep peace. It is the stillness and the silence at the center of our own being. It is that moment between the inhale and the exhale, that moment of no thought. Sanctuary is the distant call of the crows, and the lapping waves on a beach. It is the still small voice that is waiting for us to turn to, always available.
This month we are celebrating Sanctuary, that we are each a walking talking sanctuary for others, A place in consciousness where forgiveness, healing, and love emanate. Right where you are, where you stand is holy ground. If all around us is seeming confusion, division, or fear, we have within a holy place. Just by simply closing the eyes, taking a breath and turning to the Holy Spirit.
In Love and Light,
Rev. Victoria
Awakening to Purpose
Here we are in January again! This month we are celebrating our own individual awakening to our divine and holy purpose for being in a body on this planet at this time in the evolution of humanity’s collective consciousness.
We are here to be in joy! We are here to experience balance, beauty, and creativity! We are here to love and be loved! We are here to experience and express prosperity and abundance! We are here to be the emissaries of a world that works for everyone. We celebrate and remember that the entire cosmos is working on our behalf. It’s a friendly universe. We turn within to a loving and infinite Presence that created us so that it could express more of Its Self through us!
That is very different from ideas of being born from original sin, struggle, and strife, living by the sweat of our brow, surviving in a thorny garden.
Deconstructing these old ideas and belief systems and thought patterns that may still operate subconsciously or unconsciously is part of the inner journey that we all get to walk together. As we support each other and love each other in this work, our inner Light shines brighter and brighter and those around us are lifted and begin to notice you as a testament of personal transformation. Now YOU are the Light of the world.
In Love and Light,
Rev. Victoria
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ABOUT AGAPE EAST
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Agape East Mission Statement
Agape East Spiritual Center is an inclusive virtual community based in Coastal Virginia dedicated to: recognizing, honoring and nurturing the dignity and uniqueness of all people by creating efforts to consciously, financially and actively support those who have been racially-marginalized or disadvantaged; social activism and legislation that seeks to equalize social imbalance; and transforming environmental conditions that have been impacted as a result of human interference or mistreatment of the planet.
Through devoted practice of universal spiritual principles embodied in the New-Thought-Ageless Wisdom teachings, we are agents of transformation individually, in our other communities and in our governmental institutions.
Our beloved community embraces all religions and serves within all aspects of society to reveal the underlying perfection and harmony of the Universe. We embrace the transformational and evolutionary impulse of the planet through our spiritual practice, sacred service and unconditional love.
mission
Agape East Purpose Statement
Our purpose, as an intentional spiritual community, is to be a living environment for individuals to realize that they are unique emanations of God, the Love-Intelligence governing the Universe. We embody an understanding of our oneness with God and we consciously practice this truth in our everyday lives. Through the New-Thought-Ageless Wisdom teachings and the energy of unconditional love, we are committed to individual transformation and being a beneficial presence on the planet. SIMPLY – WE ARE HERE FOR LOVE.
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Agape Principles
Absolute Goodness is the substance, the source and the supply of all existence. This aspect of Life is always in integrity with itself, which means that it cannot contradict its own laws, nature and relationship to its creation.
All Existence is the manifest form and activity of Spirit. This Presence is equally present in space, time places and in all persons, as well as beyond time, space and manifest creation. Ours is a holographic universe in which every part, that which is seen and unseen, is an emanation of the un-manifest whole.
Every person is made in the image and likeness of God and is capable of awakening to this realization and giving expression to the qualities of unconditional love, compassion, wisdom, bliss, peace and creativity.
Every individual has been given the power of free choice and is therefore self-responsible for their evolution, following a path suited to their individual state of evolving consciousness.
We live in a non-static, ever-evolving Universe, which is the source of our individual evolutionary impulse and capacity to expand into our fullest potential.
Agape Spiritual Practices
The following seven spiritual practices form the matrix of individual spiritual evolution. While there are many adjunct practices that assist in the expansion of consciousness, it is these seven that have proved themselves to accelerate spiritual awakening of practitioners of the world’s wisdom traditions.
In meditation practice the practitioner pays un-distractible attention to Reality. All meditation techniques share a common purpose: to awaken awareness, another word for self-realization. Meditation stills the mind, increases the capacity to intuitively receive the guidance of Spirit, and opens the heart’s desire to serve as a beneficial presence on the planet.
Affirmative prayer grounds the practitioner in a solid awareness of oneness with Spirit. The power of affirmative prayer sets in motion a process of healing false beliefs that prevents an individual from fully realizing their spiritual inheritance. Prayer is an intimate communion with the Spirit in the language of one’s own heart.
At every stage of growth and development on the spiritual path it is important to maintain a “beginner’s mind.” Remaining teachable acknowledges that spiritual truth is limitless, so there is always the opportunity to rise to a more profound level of understanding, wisdom and practice through spiritual study.
Committed participation in a spiritual community accelerates our spiritual evolution. When individuals gather together to meditate and pray, their united consciousness contributes to the spiritual progress of each individual. The community also offers the opportunity to cultivate patience, humility, compassion and selflessness. When we need encouragement on the path, the community is there to hold the high watch for us.
As we mature in our understanding of the law of circulation, it becomes obvious that the sharing of our financial resources, our talents and skills is at the heart of tithing. And, in grateful recognition of the teachings and teachers who have been and are our spiritual benefactors, we tithe to them to support the dissemination of their teaching and mission.
