World AWAKE, Inc.

The Chaplaincy Institute of Maine

The Chaplaincy Institute of Maine (ChIME) is a two-to-three year interfaith program for students seeking to deepen their spiritual growth and practice and/or seeking ordination as interfaith ministers. There are two options for study: In our Traditional Program, weekly classes meet face-to-face in Portland, Maine. In our Blended Learning Program, weekly classes meet synchronously via Zoom. Each student is a member of a class cohort that meets once each week beginning in mid-September and ending in late May. All students from both programs meet together in person once a month for weekend workshops. Nearly 175 ChIME graduates are serving institutions and communities in New England and in ten other states and Canada.

The first year of the ChIME curriculum focuses on personal growth and clarity of call; the second year’s focus is on deepening one’s spiritual journey through skill building and an internship. 150 hours of volunteer service is required during the first academic year and 150 hours of an internship is required during the second academic year. Knowledge and experience of the world’s major faith traditions are woven into the program throughout the two years. Students engage in the exploration of the arts and creativity as an expression of the divine throughout the program.

Through participation in weekly classes, weekend workshops, and community-wide events, students are invited into a Beloved Community of interfaith-oriented individuals. Each student is encouraged to identify a mentor and is also assigned a ChIME graduate as a Spiritual Companion. Graduates reflect that peer interactions in the weekly small discussion/integration circles provide some of the most valuable support of all.

ChIME’s mission is to educate and ordain interfaith leaders who serve with integrity, spiritual presence, and prophetic voice. ChIME will not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, marital status, beliefs, age, national origin, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability. ChIME is a non-profit, Interfaith seminary governed by a Board of Trustees.

The school was founded in 2002 by Rev. Jacob Watson, D. Min, and by Abbess Patricia Ellen, a graduate of The New Seminary in New York. ChIME faculty are from a wide variety of disciplines. Please see our website https://www.chimeofmaine.org for more information. There you can subscribe to our monthly eNewsletter or, for weekly updates, please “Like” our FB page: https://www.facebook.com/chimeofmaine/

By “Miracles” we mean the teaching of A Course in Miracles, a set of 3 books scribed by Dr. Helen Schucman between 1965-1972. A Course in Miracles is a self-study program of spiritual psychology which helps us undo our guilt through forgiveness.

By “Mysticism” we mean the idea that personal communication or union with the divine can be achieved through experience, intuition, and/or revelation rather than “just” through rational thought. We enjoy comparing the insights of the mystics (past and present) with the teaching of A Course in Miracles thus, enabling us to understand the universal truth of these principles. We'll be introducing you to at least one mystic (sometimes more than one) in each issue.

Metaphysics The prefix “Meta” means beyond, higher, after or transcending. Physics is that which deals with the “physical” world. Metaphysics, therefore, refers to those laws or principles which go beyond the physical delimitations of time and space and concerns itself with a “higher” order of laws or if you will, God’s laws.

No mind is thoroughly well organized that is deficient in a sense of humor.
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

A higher or “lighter” perspective enables us to see the absurdity of the ego and it’s world and brings us to happiness, enjoyment and laughter.

Morning Star Center for Spiritual Living is an open, non-denominational spiritual community. We provide opportunities for spiritual growth and development through a spiritual forum and feature a different speaker each Sunday.

Due to the coronavirus situation, we have suspended our face-to-face meetings and are providing an exciting virtual service every Sunday at 10:00 on Zoom. The virtual method has allowed us to have speakers from all over the world.

The Abbey of HOPE (Hands of Peace Extended) is an interfaith cooperation circle with a mission to gather people of diverse faiths, beliefs and spiritualities to promote dialogue, encourage cooperation, and facilitate compassionate action.

The Abbey of Hope was envisioned by Rev. Lori Whittemore after she attended Bangor Theologically Seminary and the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine (ChIME). The first gathering of the Abbey took place on September 13, 2014. Out of 25 folks who attended, a leadership circle of nine people worked for three months to put together the framework for the organization. By winter of 2015, the initial board had incorporated and received 501(c)3 status.

Website: http://www.abbeyofhope.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abbeyofhope/

The Tree of Life Interfaith Temple, Inc., is a non-denominational church, formed as a nonprofit corporation in the State of New Hampshire in September of 2009 and received 501(c)(3) status under the Internal Revenue Code in June of 2010. The three-fold purpose for the formation of the church is to provide a place of worship, to offer educational and experiential programs and to ordain and oversee interfaith ministers as graduated from The Tree of Life Interfaith Seminary. We are a community of ordinary people forging the extra-ordinary mission to create a place where we may practice truly seeing the Divine within all peoples of all religions.

Our Founder

The Reverend Doctor Stephanie Rutt serves as the Presiding Minister of the Tree of Life Interfaith Temple, a non-denominational church she founded in 2009. She is the director of the Tree of Life School for Sacred Living and creator of the Tree of Life Interfaith Seminary, a two-year program, focused on the integration of prayer, meditation and spiritual practices from the world’s major faith traditions. The twenty-six module core curriculum, The Path of Crow: Journey to Your Inner Treasure, invites seminarians on the ultimate treasure hunt to discover their divine purpose and to offer their unique gifts in service to the greater good. An optional third year offers the Spiritual Mentoring Certificate Program which trains seminarians, as well as health care professionals, in cultivating pastoral mentoring skills.

Website: https://www.tolinterfaithtemple.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TreeofLifeInterfaithTemple/