An Evening of Conversation & Hope
An Evening of Authentic Dialogue and Hope
Join Palestinian peacebuilder Mohamad Jamous for a meaningful conversation about conflict, courage, reconciliation, and hope. Raised in Jericho and shaped by firsthand experiences of conflict, Mohamad chose a path of peace. For more than 15 years, he has brought Palestinians and Israelis, Muslims, Jews, and Christians together through interfaith dialogue, youth leadership, and grassroots peacebuilding. Come hear his inspiring story and explore what peacebuilding can look like in our world today.
Together we'll explore
• What it means to choose dialogue over division
• Building relationships across deep differences
• Why hope is still possible in one of the world's most difficult conflicts
• Investing in the next generation of peacebuilders
• What each of us can do to become builders of peace in our own communities
"Peace begins whenever people are willing to truly listen."
HOSTED BY: Unity Center for Spiritual Growth & Chaplaincy Institute of Maine
Speaker bio:
Mohamad Jamous is a Palestinian peacebuilder, community leader, and international speaker from Ramallah. For more than fifteen years, he has worked across Palestinian and Israeli communities in interfaith dialogue, youth leadership, peacebuilding, and grassroots community initiatives. He currently serves as Director of the Children of Abraham Project in Israel and Palestine and is a co-founder of Peace Pioneers Palestine. His work focuses on building relationships across conflict, strengthening Palestinian leadership, engaging religious communities, and creating spaces where difficult conversations can lead to understanding, responsibility, and action. Mohamad holds a Master’s degree in Political Science, specializing in International Law and Diplomacy.
Student-Led Interfaith Gathering
Restoring Our Spirits
Join us to restore our spirits in community, pausing our often busy, overwhelming, and chaotic lives to refill our cups for the unfolding journey. Join ChIME students, Dawn Alvarez and Thean Hart, as they offer grounding, guided ritual rest, and a reading and reflection to support renewal. This virtual event is open to the public.
Interfaith Gatherings are part of each student’s learning journey. Students co-create and co-facilitate gatherings that reflect the unique insights, interests and skills developed through their classes in Interfaith Celebration, Ritual, and Service. Monthly student-led gatherings are on Zoom or in-person. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information.
The Perennial Philosophy and the Pathways to Self-Realization
The Promises, Possibilities, and Possible Pitfalls: Putting Self-Realization into Practice
What can the Perennial Philosophy offer today’s spiritual seekers? Dana and Phil will explore its experience-based approach to spirituality, focusing on human consciousness and the possibilities—and potential pitfalls—of awakening and self-realization. Participants will consider pathways of spiritual development, the importance of finding practices suited to the individual, and ways to cultivate meaningful spiritual experiences and integrate them into daily life. The day will include discussion, shared meditation, and practical guidelines for developing a personal spiritual practice.
Music by Todd Glacy ~ Sacred Sound & Living
Lunch Included – Sliding Scale: $100, $125, $150. Partial scholarships are available - reach out for more information to admin@chimeofmaine.org
Living Water: Honoring Our Grief in Community
In a world destabilized by violence, isolation, and humanitarian and ecological crises, nearly everyone we meet is carrying grief for the world. Being open to our own pain and the suffering in the world is beautiful and difficult work. It can take a toll, especially when we feel we are carrying it alone.
Living Water brings together hospice volunteers and staff, interfaith ministry students, community activists, therapists, first responders, faith leaders, and others who seek nourishment and resources to honor and alchemize grief, joy, and a wild love for the world.
Come, be nourished and held by the Earth and in community and, ultimately, leave better resourced to continue supporting your communities.
Day-long Retreat: $30, $60, $90 (Lunch included)
We have a limited number of full scholarship tickets available. Please reach out to admin@chimeofmaine.org to request.
Schedule
9:30 - 10 Gathering and Settling In
10 - noon Opening Plenary
12 - 1:30 Lunch (Provided)
1:30 - 3:00 Breakout session
3:15 - 4:00 Closing Session
4:00 - 4:30 Departures
Morning Plenary
In our morning session, we will arrive, ground together, build relationships, and explore both dominant cultural messages about grief and frameworks and practices that restore grief to its life-giving role in society.
Facilitator bio: Emma Thomas Mitchell is a mother, spouse, progressive Christian pastor, circle keeper, and lover of the world with a former elementary school teacher’s love for color and play. Her work interweaves personal and collective transformation, embodiment, song, rites of passage, and apprenticeship to the natural world, and has led her to positions in school. Emma currently serves as the Associate Pastor at South Freeport Church and runs an earth-based spiritual accompaniment practice based in Wabanaki territory in midcoast Maine. Her ideal Sabbath includes curling up with coffee and a good book, a barefoot walk in the woods, joining others in dance and song, and cuddles with her toddler, husband, and pup.
Afternoon Breakout Sessions
Click + to read about each topic and presenter. You will be asked to choose your top two during registration.
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It is difficult to talk about grief, and it can even be more difficult to write through grief. In this workshop, we'll explore different poets writing about grief. We'll explore how grief is related to our mental health and generate an initial draft of poetry. No experience necessary. Bring an open mind and your preferred writing tools.
Facilitator Bio: Maya Williams (ey/they/she) is a religious Black multiracial nonbinary suicide survivor who served as Portland, Maine's seventh poet laureate for a 2021-2024 term. Maya's full length poetry collections were finalists for a New England Book Award and a Maine Literary Award. Maya's poetry chapbooks won prizes from Garden Party Collective and The Headlight Review. Follow eir work at mayawilliamspoet.com and Instagram emmdubb16.
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In this workshop we will create paper altars that fold up into an envelope and can be hung on the wall. We will embellish these “book altars” with a variety of gold and hand printed papers. The content of this workshop will explore the ideas of leaning in, gathering, holding and giving back – the alchemy of grief through creative expression. No artistic experience necessary. All materials will be provided.
Facilitator Bio: Rev. Sarah Shepley is an Artist and Interfaith minister who supports clients in the field of family ancestral healing. She has had a lifelong apprenticeship with grief and loves engaging her creativity in service of healing and transformation. Grief and gratitude share a bond and creative expression is the bridge weaving them together. sarahshepley.com
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Music, sound, and song can be powerful tools as we navigate, and accompany others in navigating grief and death. In this experiential workshop, participants will be taught simple, repeatable songs designed to resource us through life's transitions, space will be made to consider the role music and song could play in your own care & accompaniment work, and we will close with a sound & song bath in which participants can rest, be held, and drop into your own embodiment. No singing experience necessary. Participants should bring a water bottle and a yoga mat / blanket / pillow to lay on.
Facilitator Bio: Jordan Mudd is a community songwriter, songleader, grief tender, and ritualist based in Boston, MA, where he stewards the Boston-Area Singing Circles community, cycles of seasonal rituals, and runs a private practice of vocal coaching & grief accompaniment. His original songs, designed to be taught & sung in groups, are tools to connect us with our bodies, community, spirit, and land. His approach to grief & death is influenced by the Dagara lineage of grief ritual, the Celtic tradition of keening, and the legacy of his hospice chaplain grandfather Ron Mudd.
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In a container of gratitude that expands the heart and enhances capacity to hold our individual and collective pain, we will enter into somatic practices, (be more fully in our bodies), that ground and open us to the myriad of emotions inside grief. We will journey from grief towards joy through biodanza (the use of movement and music, restorative play, rest, and collective care) and close with time to share and harvest together. This workshop is invitational, providing freedom of agency and choice at all times, no experience is needed. We will invite barefoot, with socks or indoor soft shoes only. Bring a water bottle, blanket or large towel, yoga mat if you have one and beautiful you!
Facilitator Bio: elena elizabeth hendrick is a transformational facilitator of personal and collective learning, healing, and ritual experiences. Her accompaniment embodies a practice of presence and deep listening, co-creating space with participants that gives way for trust, curiosity, courage, and new awareness. elena believes that grief tending happens most fully in community, and leads the way to aliveness, liberation and joy. elena also brings years of leadership and practice in the communal work of creating cultures of peace.
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During this session you will be invited to lean into relationship with the elements, to connect with the heart beat of the living, breathing, natural world. Let’s remember and explore together the spirit and capacity of the natural world to help us carry and metabolize the weight of our grief. Where will you plant your grief seeds? Weather permitting, we will spend this session outdoors, beginning and ending our time gathered around a fire in conversation and connection. In addition to simple guided mindfulness and meditation practices (no experience necessary), there will be an invitation with prompts to explore the land and sense into the elementals that nourish and support us. Bring warm outer layers and a warm blanket or thick towel for sitting on, in case the seating is chilly or damp. Everyone will be encouraged to listen to the needs of their own bodies and you will always have freedom of choice.
Facilitator Bio: Ananda Kaymen (she/her) is a gardener, maker, teacher and mindfulness coach who guides groups and individuals in reclaiming their attention and nourishing themselves through mindfulness practices, meditation, engaging with the natural world and making beautiful and useful things with their hands. She believes wholeheartedly in the alchemical powers of listening and meeting "what is" with curiosity and compassion. She holds an MA in Counseling Psychology with a specialization in Somatics, and is a Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness Certified Practitioner. oneredpine.com
With generous support provided by:
Student-Led Interfaith Gathering
Interfaith Gatherings are part of each student’s learning journey. Students co-create and co-facilitate gatherings that reflect the unique insights, interests and skills developed through their classes in Interfaith Celebration, Ritual, and Service. Monthly student-led gatherings are on Zoom or in-person. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information.
An All-Embracing Vision
There doesn’t seem to be anything that humanity needs more right now than a healing vision to bring the human family back together. Let’s explore that vision.
Part 1: The Way of Wholeness: Stages of the Mystic Journey focuses on the process, or journey, to remember who we really are by drawing on the wisdom and guidance of an ageless pattern found within mythology, mysticism, rites of passage, and psychology to discover how humanity is united in a common quest.
This course is drawn from Robert Atkinson’s award-winning book, A New Story of Wholeness: An Experiential Guide for Connecting the Human Family (2022) and is recommended reading prior to or during the course.
Bio: Robert Atkinson, PhD, is a four-time Nautilus Award-Winning author, educator, and developmental psychologist whose work bridges storytelling, transformation, and the evolution of consciousness with a unitive vision. His latest book, The Way of Unity: Essential Principles and Preconditions for Peace (2025) offers a framework and study guide for putting into action the unitive wisdom underpinning our collective evolution. He is the author of A New Story of Wholeness (2022), Our Moment of Choice (co-editor, 2020), Year of Living Deeply: A Memoir of 1969 (2019), The Story of Our Time (2017), The Gift of Stories (1995), and six other books. He is director of StoryCommons, founder of One Planet Peace Forum, and member of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle. www.robertatkinson.net
SAVE THE DATE: April 11, 2027 (separate registration coming soon!)
Part 2: The Way of Unity: Finding Joy, Living in Peace focuses on the practice of maintaining a vision of wholeness and interconnectedness by building strong, vibrant communities right where we are through the application of world-embracing principles, strategies, and tools that bring about unity.
This course is drawn from Robert Atkinson’s award-winning book, The Way of Unity: Essential Principles and Preconditions for Peace (2025) and is recommended reading prior to or during the course.
Student-Led Interfaith Gathering
Interfaith Gatherings are part of each student’s learning journey. Students co-create and co-facilitate gatherings that reflect the unique insights, interests and skills developed through their classes in Interfaith Celebration, Ritual, and Service. Monthly student-led gatherings are on Zoom or in-person. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information.
Student-Led Interfaith Gathering
Interfaith Gatherings are part of each student’s learning journey. Students co-create and co-facilitate gatherings that reflect the unique insights, interests and skills developed through their classes in Interfaith Celebration, Ritual, and Service. Monthly student-led gatherings are on Zoom or in-person. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information.
Student-Led Interfaith Gathering
Interfaith Gatherings are part of each student’s learning journey. Students co-create and co-facilitate gatherings that reflect the unique insights, interests and skills developed through their classes in Interfaith Celebration, Ritual, and Service. Monthly student-led gatherings are on Zoom or in-person. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information.
Student-Led Interfaith Gathering
Interfaith Gatherings are part of each student’s learning journey. Students co-create and co-facilitate gatherings that reflect the unique insights, interests and skills developed through their classes in Interfaith Celebration, Ritual, and Service. Monthly student-led gatherings are on Zoom or in-person. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information.
Student-Led Interfaith Gathering
Interfaith Gatherings are part of each student’s learning journey. Students co-create and co-facilitate gatherings that reflect the unique insights, interests and skills developed through their classes in Interfaith Celebration, Ritual, and Service. Monthly student-led gatherings are on Zoom or in-person. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information.
Student-Led Interfaith Gathering
Interfaith Gatherings are part of ChIME students' learning journey, they are required to co-create and co-facilitate these gatherings. Some are online with Zoom and others are in person. Each gathering reflects the unique insights, interests, and skills they’ve developed through classes in Interfaith Celebration, Ritual, and Service, creating a rich and meaningful space for connection and reflection. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for detailed information.
Student-Led Interfaith Gathering
Interfaith Gatherings are part of each student’s learning journey. Students co-create and co-facilitate gatherings that reflect the unique insights, interests and skills developed through their classes in Interfaith Celebration, Ritual, and Service. Monthly student-led gatherings are on Zoom or in-person. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information.
Student-Led Interfaith Gathering
Interfaith Gatherings are part of each student’s learning journey. Students co-create and co-facilitate gatherings that reflect the unique insights, interests and skills developed through their classes in Interfaith Celebration, Ritual, and Service. Monthly student-led gatherings are on Zoom or in-person. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information.
Open House
With Lindy Gifford (ChIME ‘15)
An opportunity to ask staff, students, an alumni any questions about the ChIME experience.
Registration Required
On Zoom
Authentic Activism: Changing the World by Being Yourself
A half-day Meditation Retreat with Buddhist Meditation Teacher Cara Lai
Registration Required
On Zoom
Grief Without Borders
“A Vigil for Peaceful Protest and Direct Action”
with Leslie Manning (ChIME ‘21)
Registration Required
On Zoom
Rituals for Healing
A full-day transformative workshop with Yvette McDonnell to help you nurture the tender parts of your life, spirit, and soul.
Open to the Public; Registration Required
On Zoom
The Doctrine of Discovery from an Indigenous Perspective
Dwayne Tomah is a language keeper, director, and curator of the Sipayik Museum and teacher of the Passamaquoddy language and culture.
Tending Wildness Within & Without
Aram lives with his wife and daughter in a house that is shaded by a great big oak tree. He has a coaching practice that supports people to slow down and get clear on what they want, then take playful and purposeful steps toward living out their vision for a thriving life. He writes and teaches regularly about spiritual formation. And he serves part-time as the pastor of Edgecomb Community Church in Maine.
Aram is also a wilderness guide, taking people to places where encounters with wildness and experiences of formation flow together. He guides in the backcountry, in forests and canyons, along coasts and rivers. And he guides people to the metaphorical confluence of wildness and formation in houses of worship, classrooms, board rooms, and living rooms.
Aram is a Registered Maine Guide and Wilderness First Responder. He has a Master of Arts degree in Religious Studies from Chicago Theological Seminary. And he is a student of ontological coaching with the Academy for Coaching Excellence.
Tending New Ground Open House
This August, we invite you to step into ChIME’s new home as we “open the circle” together. Each gathering offers a unique way to explore our missions and our new space: from the joyful creativity of our Art Walk and Silent Auction, to the quiet warmth of our open houses where we tend new ground and plant seeds of belonging.
Whether you are a long-time friend or new to ChIME, come celebrate this unfolding chapter with us, where art, spirit, and community meet in love.
Tending New Ground Open House
This August, we invite you to step into ChIME’s new home as we “open the circle” together. Each gathering offers a unique way to explore our missions and our new space: from the joyful creativity of our Art Walk and Silent Auction, to the quiet warmth of our open houses where we tend new ground and plant seeds of belonging.
Whether you are a long-time friend or new to ChIME, come celebrate this unfolding chapter with us, where art, spirit, and community meet in love.
Rooted in Art, Growing in Community
This August, we invite you to step into ChIME’s new home as we “open the circle” together. Each gathering offers a unique way to explore our missions and our new space: from the joyful creativity of our Art Walk and Silent Auction, to the quiet warmth of our open houses where we tend new ground and plant seeds of belonging.
Whether you are a long-time friend or new to ChIME, come celebrate this unfolding chapter with us, where art, spirit, and community meet in love.
