Supporting Prophetic Freedom
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Thank you for welcoming me into your Inbox each day! After 75 years of life, I’m honored and humbled to share the things I’ve learned—through study and experience—with you and over 280,000 people around the world. I love uncovering gems from my own Christian tradition, offering universal truths for our time. I’m grateful to hear when a Daily Meditation resonates so much with someone that they, too, want to share with a friend, family member, or study group!
As my health and age have slowed me down, I’m traveling less frequently and digital forms of communication are becoming more and more important. Your donations allow me to keep teaching from my home in New Mexico. It takes a team, and we couldn’t do it without your gifts. While it’s hard for me to imagine, we sent over 100 million Daily Meditation emails last year. That’s a lot to keep up with!
Twice a year we pause the Daily Meditations to ask for your support. Take a moment to read our Director Michael’s note below about how you can help. Tomorrow the Daily Meditations will continue exploring the “image and likeness” of God within all human bodies. Thank you for being part of this lovely limb of the Body of Christ!
Dear Friends,
We wouldn’t be here without you! Faithful readers and supporters like you are the reason we’re able to share the wisdom of the Christian contemplative tradition with so many people around the world. Father Richard’s words have a way of bringing us together, lowering our defensive boundaries, and helping us recognize the divine image in each other. How different our planet would be if religion focused on its foundational task: reconciliation and healing—or “re-ligamenting” (the root of the word “religion”), as Richard says!
That’s what the Center for Action and Contemplation is trying to do. Thankfully, we have the freedom to follow Jesus and the mystics in the way of radical incarnation, embodied contemplation, and prophetic action, regardless of the cost.
In fidelity to this path, the CAC is on the edge of the inside. We aren’t funded by “big money,” and we’re independent of any religious structures or denominations. Our work is supported by you and thousands of people, many of whom give $5, $10, or $25 at a time. The average donation is $52.17. This financial freedom allows Father Richard and our other faculty and staff to offer their transformative wisdom.
Truth, especially prophetic truth, can be hard for all of us to hear sometimes. Our hope is that together we can develop a contemplative stance that can lean into the places where we’ve grown too comfortable. As one of our CONSPIRE 2018 presenters, Brian McLaren, points out, “Comfort and power can become great enemies of true spirituality, which explains why we often say that the prophets come not only to comfort the afflicted, but also to afflict the comfortable.” We are so grateful to be in this sometimes uncomfortable community with you. We strongly believe that each person’s participation truly matters and impacts the whole.
I offer CAC’s prophetic voices my full support, and I hope you will do the same! If you are inspired (and, yes, challenged) by their teaching—in the Daily Meditations, online courses, events, or publications—please donate so we can continue sharing messages that convict and change.
If each person who opens these daily emails donated just a few dollars, it would cover the costs for our team and technology to produce and send Richard’s messages—and more! Donations also allow us to offer scholarships, improve our current programs and create new ones, and expand our reach.
Thank you for participating with us in re-ligamenting the Body of Christ, reconnecting the dots of a whole and benevolent universe.
Peace and Every Good,
Michael Poffenberger
Executive Director, Center for Action and Contemplation
P.S. Please consider making a contribution to the Center for Action and Contemplation (tax-deductible in the United States). We invite donations of any size! You can donate securely online at cac.org/dm-appeal or send a check (USD only) to CAC, PO Box 12464, Albuquerque, NM 87195. Learn more about charitable giving at cac.org/support-cac.
