Rev. Tony Ponticello is CMC Minister #20. He was ordained on Oct. 17, 1997. He is Executive Minister of Community Miracles Center and serves on the CMC Board as President. He is the Master of Ceremonies for the CMC Sunday Gathering and teaches 2 other CMC classes.
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Many people appear to be looking for ways to escape from the challenges of life - as if life itself was a problem. Life is a gift, an enormous treasure, and a big work responsibility. There is a quote usually attributed to Abraham Lincoln, although he probably never said it, "Folks are about as happy as they have made their minds up to be." How true. Let's make up our minds to be happy this new year. What I know is we will never be happy if we are not fulfilling our function given us by Holy Spirit, and Holy Spirit doesn't give us the function of escaping physical life since physical life isn't a problem. Holy Spirit has big plans for us. He wants us to be leaders. "Let us together follow in this way that truth points out to us. And let us be the leaders of our many brothers who are seeking for the way but find it not." (WkBk.SpTp361.2) This is not escape. This is work responsibility accepted.
While every ACIM student will probably agree that the Course is all about healing, there are vast differences on whether the Miracles student believes that we COULD – or even SHOULD – expect this healing to manifest physically in our bodies, or in the bodies of others. Various teachers have dug proverbial trenches into the ground about this discussion with dogmatic proclamations. Where a student stands on this issue has defined many things about them: favorite Course authors, favorite ACIM organizations, and even which Course edition they study.
While I definitely have my own opinions about this (you all probably know what they are) I recognize that our community is broad, and we ALL are ACIM students regardless. There is a place for all ACIM students, and all approaches, in the "big tent" that is the Community Miracles Center. The seven, long term, ACIM students who make up the CMC Board of Directors do not all agree on this – yet we all agree in our love of the Course and in our dedication to the Community Miracles Center.
I am the coach of the CMC Healing Team and we DO celebrate and acknowledge when healing manifests in physical form. "WooHoo!" However all healing is worth celebrating and the psychological healing from fear to peace is always worth achieving, and always worth celebrating as well. In this holiday season of 2020 let us put our theological differences aside and acknowledge that we are all Miracles students and with cooperation we can accomplish so much more. "My own injunction, 'Do this in remembrance of me' is the request for cooperation from miracle workers." (OrEd.Tx.3.10)
(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #266, Dec. 16 2020)
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We are in the midst of the Jewish Festival of Lights - Chanukah. Sunday will be day 3 of the 8 day celebration. Chanukah is a wonderful holiday to mesh with the ACIM teaching. The story always relates the miracle of how after reclaiming the Temple the Temple's menorah lamp burned for 8 days even though there was only 1 days worth of fuel oil. Looking out at the world it can seem as if many peoples' - and perhaps our own - fuel oil is running low. The light can seem to be flickering. However our steady light can shine into the lamps of others and ignite their eternally burning flame illuminating and thus reclaiming their Temples. Hallelujah! "The power of one mind can shine into another, because all the lamps of God were lit by the same spark. It is everywhere, and it is eternal." (OrEd.Tx.9.91)
(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #265, Dec. 9 2020)
(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #265, Dec. 9 2020)
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Thanksgiving has always been a time to focus on gratitude, abundance, and joy. That begins a Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Holiday Season which also has a foundation in abundance and joy. This year (2020) we face challenges that we have not had before. Many usual abundant celebrations seem restricted, less, or fragmented ... that seems to speak of lack. Yet it is still the ACIM student's challenge to understand that perceptions of lack are "faulty" or broken. Abundance or wholeness is the only ground of being that is a reflection of eternal truth. "42. Wholeness is the perceptual content of miracles. It thus corrects or atones for the faulty perception of lack anywhere." (OrEd.Tx.1.61) Let's look at some practical ways to see wholeness and abundance in the midst of a holiday season challenging us with lack, loss, and fragmentation. Let's manifest abundance miracles instead.
(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #264, Dec. 3 2020)
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I realized recently that my main job, while functioning in my role as miracle teacher and healer, was to keep students trusting in the process, to keep them engaged. Some students drop out of dedication to the ACIM discipline at the exact moment when they should actually be increasing their engagement time and practice dedication. Some form of fear gets the better of them (literally). However we all have to be "... willing to follow the Holy Spirit through seeming terror .... You are severely tempted to abandon Him at the outside ring of fear, but He would lead you safely through and far beyond." (OrEd.Tx.18.87) There is a ring of fear or fire at the foundation of the world illusion. As we approach our center we have to pass through it. Keep trusting both your own path and instill that trust in the people you influence.
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Now that the 2020 presidential election is over (sort of) I feel that we are entering a new time of healing. Regardless of what our political views are, and who we wanted to win the election, it is the time for all of us Miracle Workers to rise above the current "battleground" and let the healing energy flow through the American society. It is actually easier to do than many realize because Holy Spirit is always providing the perspective from above the battleground. "The overlooking of the battleground is now your purpose." (OrEd.Tx.23.50)
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In the midst of abundant miracles this week (literally) I found myself strangely confronting thoughts of discouragement. On one level I knew this was my ego reacting to the miracles that were happening. ACIM tells us that the ego switches from suspiciousness to viciousness when it is severely challenged, and the discouragement was actually an indication that I was making fast spiritual progress. I was also comforted by this thought, "If the way seems long, let him be content. He has decided on the direction he will take. What more was asked of him?" (OrEd.Mn.22.2) I know which way to go, and I was heading in the right direction. That was all that was required. What a comfort it is to be able to declare this confidently. However the miracle was remembering that the healing is happening NOW and actually not in the future at all. "One source of perceived discouragement from which you suffer is your belief that this takes time, and that the results of the Holy Spirit's teaching are far in the future. This is not so." (OrEd.Tx15.2)
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ACIM talks a lot about insanity. The ego voice in our minds is COMPLETELY insane. Many still identify with it, and ACIM students still have to deal with it -- but hopefully with the help of the Holy Spirit, so we ARE making progress. ACIM tells us, "You are no longer wholly insane, nor no longer alone." (OrEd.Tx.17.73) (I aways laughs at his. Is this really a complement?) I will embrace this! Why should YOU come to the Sunday Gathering and listen to me, Rev. Tony? Because I am not longer WHOLLY insane! LOL!! Plus it's a great way to prove we are not alone. I have let go of loneliness and insanity and I challenge you to join me.
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This past Tuesday we had a milestone. It was a full 6 months, half a year, 26 weeks, of being under an emergency "Shelter-In-Place" order in the city and county of San Francisco. Our order started Tuesday March 17. Yet I felt something else happening. I felt the Pandemic healing on multiple fronts. More and more things are opening up. Gyms are now opened. Hair salons can now see customers inside. Professional sports is back. Our fine San Francisco Museums are scheduled to open next week. These are outer manifestations of what I am sensing intuitively with my connection to Holy Spirit. The fear is ratcheting down. "The only thing that is required for a healing is a lack of fear. The fearful are not healed and cannot heal." (OrEd.Tx.27.45) The pandemic is healing.
Rev. Tony Ponticello
Rev. Peter Graham
Deb Canja
Rev. Joanie Schaeffer-Goss
Rev. Kim Wilson
Rev. Paula Carpe
