In Chestnut Hill, a vibrant community of spiritual seekers adds music to its mysticism

SINCE ITS founding two years ago, the Center for Contemporary Mysticism (CfCM) at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill has aimed to stretch the boundaries of what's sacred.

Its members seek ways to "connect with things spiritual and mystical in the world when we might not be looking for it or even recognize it as such," says Joseph Irwin, the center's coordinator.

The group's eclectic events programming - including talks by visiting authors and mystics, and classes in mindfulness and meditation - is already attracting hundreds of patrons. Next weekend, the center adds folk and world music to the mix, with a Friday night concert and Saturday morning family music workshop by the duo Simple Gifts, based in Central Pennsylvania.

"The aim of CfCM is to just enhance human experience," Irwin says. "Music and arts are one of the ways that we have not tried yet, so now we will."

The CfCM was born at St. Paul's in January 2014 as a non-denominational respite for those looking to "connect to something beyond the everyday grind" and get away from what Irwin called the tediousness of life, the repetitiousness of political rhetoric and the mad rush of materialism.

The Tennessee native, an ordained United Church of Christ minister, had served as a parish pastor and church administrator for UCC in Pennsylvania for 30 years. "After retiring in 2011, I began pursuing my life-long interest in spirituality," he says.

In Chestnut Hill, he met some chatty conversationalists with whom he formed a "coffee-and-donuts" klatch where neighbors of varied religious and non-religious backgrounds met to shoot the breeze. On occasion, their "free-flowing conversation amongst retired or semi-retired people" turned mystical.

"Eventually, we started inviting people to speak to us," Irwin says. "We found that if we got a speaker with a spiritual or mystical background, we drew a big crowd beyond our immediate group."

Though many of its members were Jewish, the three people who formed CfCM as a member-supported, community-based group ("like PBS, only we won't bug you," laughs Irwin) were Episcopal (St. Paul's rector Rev. Cliff Cutler), Quaker (Ken Class), and UCC (Irwin).

"It's a safe and wonderful place for dialogue," says Class, who continues to identify as a Quaker and notes that the CfCM arose not out of religious dissatisfaction, but rather as an adjunct.

"There are many ways to find meaning in life whether through poetry, dance, yoga or philosophical readings," he says.

Early readings at the center by Irish author and mystic Lorna Byrne (Angels in My Hair) and best-selling author Eben Alexander (Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Near-Death Experience), along with classes in mindfulness and meditation, drew between 300 and 600 patrons.

"We just put events on Facebook and we were mobbed," Irwin says.

"Attendees were interested in the profound - not just regarding angels, space or out-of-body experiences, but the ways in which we can really help each other," he says.

Linda Littleton and Karen Hirshon of Simple Gifts say they sow deep seeds of spiritualism and mysticism in their music.

"It's as though the unknown and unknowable qualities of life come out through song," says Littleton, who is Jewish. (Hirshon was raised as a Methodist.)

Their repertoire encompasses a wide swath of world music, including Romanian, Finnish, Irish, Appalachian and Bulgarian.

They'll play a 7:30 p.m. show Feb. 19 and lead a 10 a.m. family music workshop Feb. 20, both at the St. Paul's parish hall, 22 E. Chestnut Hill Ave. Details are at contemporarymysticism.org.