My Dear Friends...

Here's a TV "heads up" -- something, perhaps, to program into your TiVo...

A press release from the CBS Television Network says that IN GOD'S NAME, a CBS primetime special produced in association with the acclaimed French filmmakers Jules and Gedeon Naudet, will explore the complex questions of our time through the intimate thoughts and beliefs of 12 of the world's most influential spiritual leaders.

These diverse and powerful voices offer provocative, compelling and enlightening perspectives on a myriad of issues in our post-9/11 world, including the rise of terrorism, fanaticism, intolerance and war.

The two-hour special will be broadcast Sunday, Dec. 23 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

The 12 leaders featured in this special, in alphabetical order, are:

Alexei II, Patriarch of Moscow and head of the Russian Orthodox Church

Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi), a Hindu spiritual leader

Pope Benedict XVI, head of the Roman Catholic Church

The Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists

Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, a prominent Shi'ite Muslim leader

Bishop Mark Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and President of the Lutheran World Federation

Michihisa Kitashirakawa, Jingu Daiguji (High Priest) of the Shinto Grand Shrine of Ise

Yona Metzger, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel

Dr. Frank Page, President of the Southern Baptist Convention

Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, Sheikh of Al-Azhar and a prominent Sunni Muslim leader

Joginder Singh Vedanti, Jathedar of the Akal Takht, the Sikhs' highest authority

Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Church of England

For more information on the program you may wish to link to...HERE

I am personally excited and inspired by the fact that this program has been produced, and look forward with great anticipation to hearing what these remarkable spiritual leaders have to say -- even as, at the same time, I am a bit disappointed that not one voice from the New Spirituality movement was included in this program. I am not surprised, of course, just disappointed.

It is not surprising, because the world's presently in-place institutions (among them, the media) have a deep investment in the status quo. And the "status quo" has it that, when it comes to matters of God, only the world's major religions and oldest spiritual traditions are to be consulted -- and only one woman is to be among them.

I am betting that none of these spiritual leaders -- with the possible exception of Amma, the only female -- will dare to utter anything close to the New Gospel given to us in Conversations with God. This New Gospel is a 15-word message from the Divine which no spiritual leader, no political leader, and no business leader will ever be able to deliver from any pulpit, podium, or lectern in the world. Not in a church, not in a mosque, not in a synagogue, not at either of the major political party conventions in the U.S. this coming year, not at any international business conference. Nowhere may these 15 words be spoken as the official position of anyone in power at all...

Here is the New Gospel according to Conversations with God:

We are all one.
Ours is not a
better way,
ours is merely
another way.

The Pope cannot say this. The Archbishop of Canterbury cannot say this. The world's most respected Imam cannot say this. The Chief Rabbi cannot say this. The leader of major political parties cannot say this. No one may dare say this. Yet it is a spiritual message that would change the world.

NEXT WEEK: Why no one can say this.

This is the very best time of year at the Foundation.  Last week hundreds of hours were spent preparing and sending out our Christmas fundraising letter.  While it's a lot of work to do this large a mailing, there's always a lot of excitement and fun in the process too.  Kate and Michelle did the lion's share of the work, and by the end of the week all the letters were in the mail and off to the four corners of the earth.  This is the only mailing we do all year because the internet has made touching all of you in your homes so much more affordable and expedient, but the Christmas letter is a tradition from the earliest days of Conversations with God.  It is my sincerest hope that all of you will find a way to contribute to all that we do to bring more of Conversations with God into the world.  We need you and appreciate all of you so very much.

We also have a new or rather, an improved program, that we'll be launching in the next couple of weeks.  Because travel has become so costly and such a hassle, over the last couple of years we've experienced a significant decline in the number of people who come to our retreats and events.  In the past these events and our education program were what kept us solvent, but now we have to stay current and try to do what we can to continue to bring the messages of Conversations with God into the world in ways that will reach the broadest audiences, while being cognizant of our reader's wants and needs.

In accordance with this philosophy, in December we are bringing you a new state-of-the-art, subscription-based newsletter program which has evolved through many transitions over many years into what we're about to present to you.  This will be a full color, online magazine with video clips, audio clips, coupons and special offers for our retreats, events and online store, and will include special articles by Neale and others that can't be found anywhere else.

Subscribers will be invited to join us for free and/or fee-based teleclasses, online courses and whatever else  we can think of to add to an enhanced online virtual experience of CwG.  This program will be priced affordably and you can subscribe month to month, or in any increment that works for you.

At the same time we're launching our improved newsletter - in the name of total visibility we'll be putting less of our time and effort into the free weekly bulletin. It will become a very streamlined, shortened version of what we've been doing for many years.  It's our hope that most of you will opt to participate in the subscription-based, Changing Beliefs Enhanced Newsletter program - so that you will get the benefit of the very best we have to offer while also supporting the Foundation in the work it does for the world.  We believe this to be a wonderful win/win opportunity for everyone.

Note:  To cut down on any confusion, those who already subscribe to our Newsletter will be automatically included in this new program.

At the end of December we'll be doing our Annual Holiday Retreat, followed by our10 day intensive Life Change workshop. We've taken great strides to make both these programs more affordable for everyone and we'd love to meet all of you.

Please consider coming to see us for the Holidays!

This kind of love
it is an organic
thing.

I don't mean
pressing the small, pale
button of a seed
into the accepting earth
as if it is then some guarantee;
as if the young, slender body of a
thing should hold up
more than it's
own head, no

this kind of love -
it's footfall is quiet.
Like a camel's in the desert,
or the thick, white, silence of snow.

And it waits -
in the deep of the eyes,
until that moment it is finally seen.

And this kind of love,
it means standing tall in the bare wind,
even as the clouds disband
even as the warm sun finally claims you

yes,

even then.

Even Then - m. Claire
(Copyright 2007 - All Rights Reserved)

This was written by a Metro Denver Hospice Physician:

I was driving home from a meeting this evening about 5, stuck in traffic on Colorado Blvd., when the car started to choke and splutter and die.  I barely managed to coast, cursing, into a gas station, glad only that I would not be blocking traffic and would have a  somewhat warm spot to wait for the tow truck.   The engine wouldn't even turn over.   Before I could make the call, I saw a woman walking out of the Quickie Mart building, and it looked like she slipped on some ice and fell into a gas pump, so I got out to see if she was okay.

When I got there, it looked more like she had been overcome by sobs than that she had fallen; she was a young woman who looked really haggard with dark circles under her eyes.  She dropped something as I helped her up, and I picked it up to give it to her.  It was a nickel.

At that moment, everything came into focus for me: the crying woman, the ancient Suburban crammed full of stuff with 3 kids in the back (1 in a car seat), and the gas pump reading $4.95.

I asked her if she was okay and if she needed help, and she just kept saying  "I don't want my kids to see me crying,"  so we stood on the other side of the pump from her car.   She said she was driving to California and that things were very hard for her right now.   So I asked, "And you were praying?" That made her back away from me a little, but I assured her I was not a crazy person and said, "He heard you, and He sent me."

I took out my card and swiped it through the card reader on the pump so she could fill up her car completely, and while it was fueling, walked next door to McDonald's and bought 2 big bags of food, some gift certificates for more, and a big cup of coffee.  She gave the food to the kids in the car, who attacked it like wolves, and we stood by the pump eating fries and talking a little.

She told me her name, and that she lived in Kansas City. Her boyfriend left 2 months ago and she had not been able to make ends meet.  She knew she wouldn't have money to pay rent on Jan. 1, and in desperation, had finally called her parents, with whom she had not spoken in about 5 years.  They lived in California and said she could come live with them and try to get on her feet there.

So she packed up everything she owned in the car.  She told the kids they were going to California for Christmas, but not that they were going to live there.  I gave her my gloves, a little hug and said a quick prayer with her for safety on the road.  As I was walking over to my car, she said, "So, are you like an angel or something?"

This definitely made me cry.  I said, "Sweetie, at this time of year angels are really busy, so sometimes God uses regular people."

It was so incredible to be a part of someone else's miracle.  And of course, you guessed it. When I got in my car it started right away and got me home with no problem.  I'll put it in the shop tomorrow to check, but I suspect the mechanic won't find anything wrong.

Sometimes the angels fly close enough to you that you can hear the flutter of their wings...