My New Position as Chaplain

Dear Friends,

 

A great deal has changed in my personal and professional life over the past few months, and I would like to share two important announcements with you.

 

The first was difficult for me to hear, and even harder to accept. The movie is over. It’s not going to happen. I had to sit with that truth for a while before I could share it with others. It was a dream, and letting go of it has involved some quiet grieving.

 

The very next day, I received 'jobs available' emails from Indeed.com and LinkedIn in my inbox. I had signed up for job alerts seven years earlier, after my TV show ended, but I never checked them; I just deleted them for five years. Yet that day, something prompted me. I opened both emails. At the very top of both, targeted to my skill set, was a job listing from the State of Maine Department of Corrections: Chaplain at the Maine State Prison, our state’s only maximum-security facility.

 

Strangely enough, just after my TV show ended years ago, after 15 years of broadcasting, a friend of mine, who was then the head of Maine’s Department of Domestic Abuse, reached out and encouraged me to apply for that very same role. At the time, I wasn’t ready. Not Church had not been born. Mystic Tea Salon was still unimagined. I was still grieving, recovering, and seeking.

 

But this time, when I clicked the listing, I followed the trail to the Maine Model of Corrections—a humane, compassionate, and civil approach to incarceration inspired by the Swedish prison system. As I read, something stirred in my heart. I felt a calling.

 

Within two hours, I wrote a résumé and cover letter, reviewed them both with Grammarly, and sent them out.

 

After two interviews, a prison tour, and a background check, I was offered the position, and I accepted.

 

There have been times in my life when doors unexpectedly opened, and I walked through them, feeling that Spirit had made a way forward. This is one of those moments.

 

I’ll continue participating with you at Mystic Tea Salon as long as I can, but I’m permanently stepping back from leadership and won't attend for a month or more after August 3rd. However, I will return. It is now up to the community. I trust this community will maintain its special spirit, with new voices, new ideas, and the same heart in an evolving form.

 

Our Tuesday meditation series on the Yoga Sutras will continue with the insightful guidance of Dr. Kendall Gilligan, whose deep understanding of the Sutras is evident. The Monday and Wednesday meditation groups will wrap up. In all these gatherings, I’ve aimed to provide the spiritual tools and practices that have shaped my journey, and I’ve sought to help you deepen your own.

 

I’ll keep my YouTube channel available as a resource for anyone interested in visiting or revisiting the teachings. My office hours are closed after August 3rd, 2025, until October, when I’ll continue meeting with my counseling clients one Sunday afternoon a month, a couple of evenings a week, and during my hour-long commute home a couple of late afternoons a week. 

 

With my wife’s recent retirement, our shared plan was to rely somewhat on the film. When that dream faded, I knew I needed to step up financially. Your support, gifts, encouragement, and contributions have sustained me over these years. You made the Not Church experiment possible. A significant part of your generosity was used to maintain everything—technology, platforms, applications, and systems—and allowed me to perform at my best.

 

You have been the backbone of this experiment. Thank you from my heart.

 

The chaplaincy is a full-time role—40 hours a week—with a two-hour daily commute. For over twenty years, I’ve worked from home, on my land, on my schedule. My life is about to undergo a significant change. I’ll be working inside the prison walls, adjusting to a new structure and rhythm. I ask for your prayers, encouragement, and blessings as I start this new chapter, on September 8, 2025.

Office hours/private sessions with me begin with new hours and offers in October. Please click here. 

Mystic Chai Salon Community. Check it out.

 

Some of you have been walking with me for decades. Others have joined more recently. Whether you’ve been here for a lifetime or just a little while, I appreciate you bringing your genuine self into this sacred experiment we call Not Church. 

 

In August, I’ll be taking a vacation. I’ll also attend the IANDS conference and retreat. During August, I kindly ask that, at your discretion, you cancel your Patreon and PayPal subscriptions.

 

With deep gratitude and love,

Peter