Agape Online


Agape is the name of a congregation I became a member of (and I am not a joining kind) when I lived in Los Angeles. It was technically a church of Religious Science, but for the first 6 months I attended (and I am not the attending kind), all I knew was-- something good was happening there. Finally I asked someone, "Is this a religion?", and I was told it's called Science of Mind or Religious Science... which when I tell people immediately gets confused with Christian Science, which it is NOT. I hate to assign a title to it, as it's really more based on the simple, common principles that I find shared at the core of all religions, when stripped of their dogma. It focuses on One -- One Power, One Presence, One Intelligence or One Spirit -- and who we are as co-creators: how we are to use our lives, to grow, to express and manifest this omnipresence as me, here, in this little slip of time I have to work with.

Agape is more than a church, it's a community of all ages, races, backgrounds, and it reaches out to do things and touch people all over the world. It's growing at an amazing yet sane pace. The engine behind all of this is Reverend Michael Beckwith. I may write more about him in detail later, but though I moved from LA almost 11 years ago, he's still my Rev, and I am still a member of Agape. I sorely missed it when I moved to New York 11 years ago. While I made attempts to get an Agape "East" going with some other transplants like myself, our efforts didn't bear fruit. I had about 30 tapes of his sermons and several CD's of Rickie Byars-Beckwith's music (his now wife and Agape's long time musical director), but I was still missing someplace to connect with people and felt the gap left by my move wasn't going to be able to be bridged.

I attended some Unity services, when the religious science services in New York left me wanting. Now I've had to move to Houston where I knew virtually no one, and had the ability to take a sabbatical in which to develop, among other things, my spiritual side. I searched what I could find of Unitarian, Unity, Religious Science, and anything Interfaith but there is either a too-straight, too-Christian, or too wooden but earnest sense about those services that left me feeling sincerely wanting. While I was in the process of applying a few weeks late for a 2 year Interfaith program, I was just jonesing for connection to something -- and I signed on to the Agape website.

Somewhere in the recent past Rev. Beckwith developed a way to reach out to people like me all over the world. He does a weekly download to your computer or ipod of an hour long talk and once a month, actually does a live conference call worldwide. I can sign on, listen in, or ask questions, and get a download of it as well. There are also chat boards with like minded members, a newsletter and other things to reach out and bring Agape to me here. I got a little shot in the arm when I signed up (did I mention I'm not a signer upper?) and that's when I realized how much I have been nursing a chasm that is growing restless and HUNGRY. It's needing to be fed.

I'm working on it.