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About the TempleThe 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 engage in community charitable activities 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. The Board of Directors are:
What We BelieveWe believe that God is expressed as the body of all creation, the heart of each faith tradition and the infinite Soul of each person. When this is recognized, we begin to see ourselves in all beings and all beings in our self. We can begin the practice of loving saint and sinner the same as we look beyond the external conditions to the internal, infinite, truth of each being. No one need be outside the bounds of our love. No one. We can now begin to truly love our neighbor as our self.
We believe that it is through the practice of meditative prayer that we awaken to our Divinity and come to know God. Mother Teresa said that when we pray we talk to God and when we meditate we listen to God. Meditative prayer is not an intellectual experience but rather a quieting of the mind which allows for a humble opening of the heart. In such moments of quiet opening, we experience our deepest desire to be one with our Creator and to become instruments for a greater good.
We believe that each person, being a spark of the Divine flame, has a unique part to play in the Divine Plan. Though it may appear that some play a more visible or far reaching role, in truth, no one's role is more valuable to the whole than another's. Each of us was created to be holy and to offer our unique gifts in service to our fellow brothers and sisters.
We believe that we are here to serve those in need with joy and thanksgiving. Because we strive to see ourselves in all beings and all beings in our self, we naturally feel the suffering of our sisters and brothers as our own regardless of religion, race, creed or nationality. And, we naturally rejoice in the Divinity of others as our own. So, as we serve our neighbor, we serve God.
We believe that the role of suffering in human experience is to awaken our humanity, bring us to a deeper threshold of compassion for our self and others and to bring us closer to our Divine creator. While we may not always be able to control what happens to us or around us, we do have control over how we respond. In turning away from victimhood, we open to receive the gifts inherent in all experience. We embrace the lotus flower as a universal symbol of spirituality as it teaches us that we grow, as the lotus, out of the muck. We, in fact, blossom, not in spite of, but rather, because of.
About the Minister — The Reverend Stephanie RuttRev. Stephanie Rutt is an interfaith minister ordained in 2005 by the New Seminary for Interfaith Studies in New York City. She is founder of the Tree of Life Interfaith Temple and serves as Presiding Minister. She is also the founder and creator of the Tree of Life Interfaith Seminary and the Tree of Life School for Sacred Living, LLC, formally the Tree of Life Yoga Studio. In addition to being certified in the Kripalu and Kundalini yoga traditions, Rev. Rutt is the creator of numerous year long spiritual study courses including Rise Up! The Bhagavad Gita: Job Description for a Spiritual Warrior, Living Our Purpose: The Heart of Spiritual Practice, The Lord's Prayer and Beatitudes in Aramaic and the Sanskrit Mantra Course. She is the author of An Ordinary Life Transformed: Lessons for Everyone from the Bhagavad Gita, published by Hobblebush Books in 2006 and author of The Path of Crow: Journey to Your Inner Treasure, curriculum for The Tree of Life Interfaith Seminary. In addition, in 2012, Rev. Rutt released The Interfaith Worship Manual and Living the Prayer of Jesus: A Study of the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic through Tree of Life Publishing. Rev. Rutt is a member of A World Alliance of Interfaith Clergy, the Interfaith Alliance and the North American Interfaith Network (NAIN). Rev. Rutt holds a Master of Arts in Psychology, Guidance and Counseling and in the early 90s worked as a mental health counselor at Milford Regional Counseling Services and taught for many years in the behavioral science at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester. Today, she offers spiritual mentoring, focusing on daily spiritual practice as a means to understand and transform the challenges of human experience. As a way of extending service to the community at large, Rev. Rutt founded the Gifts of Grace Foundation which created quilts for local foster care children from 2005 through 2009 and she served as Convener of the Souhegan Valley Interfaith Council from 2004 through 2006 during which she sponsored the To Hear How Others Pray series. Rev. Rutt is currently focused on introducing the Seminary program to as many people as possible. She is available to travel to your location, offering The Tree of Life Interfaith Seminary program to those interested worldwide. Please call 603-546-2320 or email amyb@treeoflifenh.com for more information. Worship ServicesPresiding Minister, Rev. Stephanie Rutt, will officiate on the third Sunday of each month from September 2012 through June of 2013 except where indicated below. Services are held from 11 - 12 noon. Please check back in late August for a complete listing of additional ministers and seminarians who will also be offering services. We welcome you!
Sunday, September 16th - Rev. Stephanie Rutt, Presiding Minister
Community ServiceCommunity service is a priority for the Temple. We are establishing 'A Gift from the Light" program to support local areas in need in our community. If you are in need, or would like to offer volunteerism or contributions, please contact Rev. Stephanie Rutt. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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