Rev. Gloria Nye stood at the front of the room with her eyes closed while a captive audience waited with baited breath for her next words. “I’m getting another message, they don’t want to let me go,” she said.

Nye said she is acting as a medium between the living and the dead, receiving messages from the spirit world. “Has anybody here ever been on ‘Romper Room?’ I’m getting a message…something about the TV show, ‘Romper Room.'”

A woman sitting in the middle of the crowd raises her hand tentatively, in partial disbelief. “I was on Romper Room,” she said.

The crowd collectively exhales, also in partial disbelief, and leans in closer.

Nye explained that the spirit was once jealous of this woman, but now in death, the spirit realizes the woman deserved all the good she ever received. “They’re laughing about it now, because you’ve earned it,” said Nye, “just say thank you.”

The woman in the crowd wipes tears from her eyes.

This is the Inner Light Spiritualist Church on Route 1 in Scarborough where spirits communicate through people and touch heals physical and emotional pains and traumas.

Spiritualist teachings are rooted in Christianity. But, like the teachings of the Swedenborgian Church in Portland, Spiritualists don’t believe Jesus died on the cross to redeem people of their sins, also called vicarious atonement.

Instead, said Nye, Spiritualists believe Jesus was the greatest of the prophets, intended to inspire people to lead the spiritual life we are all meant for. “Jesus came to show us our gifts…all these things and more, can you do,” said Nye.

The healing touch

Healing through touch is one of the gifts that Jesus demonstrated all humans are capable of, said Nye. Healing touch chair sessions are a part of every service at the Inner Light Spiritualist Church.

Church member Dori Boyden is one of three healers who use touch to help church members. Boyden has practiced healing touch for years and first began practicing Reiki, a Japanese healing touch technique, in the mid 1990s. Boyden believes that energy transferred through touch is a tool that can heal any malady, including headaches, backaches and emotional stress.

Boyden doesn’t attempt to explain it scientifically. “I go on blind faith, I just know it works,” she said.

Joe Toppi of Auburn, who recently began attending the Spiritualist church, has sat in Boyden’s chair.

Toppi said though he was skeptical, he hoped healing touch could help cure his addictions. Addicted to chewing tobacco, Toppi said he’d tried unsuccessfully to quit since he began about three years ago. The day after he left, he stopped chewing. That was two months ago. “To me, that’s a miracle,” he said.

‘ There’s no doubt of spirit communication’

Spiritualists believe that healing touch and mediumship are not miracles, but in accordance with natural law. Every person has the capacity to tap into these inherent powers, said Nye.

Scarborough resident Kay Marchisio believes she has received messages from the spirit world through a human medium. Marchisio said spirits communicate through people. Marchisio received her first spirit message from Nye.

At that point, Marchisio had just begun attending the spiritualist church and was skeptical. Nye drew closer to Marchisio claiming she was drawn to that side of the room. Next, she said she saw a golden, lit letter “K.”

Marchisio faltered, she glanced around the room. “Alright, my name’s Kay,” she admitted.

What Nye told her next made her a believer. Nye saw a woman with bleeding in the back of her brain. The relationship Marchisio had with this woman was troubled, said Nye. It was Marchisio’s responsibility to repair it.

Marchisio identified this woman as her sister Diane, who had a brain aneurism 13 years before. Her sister died on the operating table twice before doctors saved her. It was true, she said, her relationship with her sister needed work.

“In my mind, there’s no doubt of spirit communication,” said Boyden, who also works as a beginner medium, taking classes with Nye.

Spirits are all around us, guiding us in our daily decisions, in the form of intuition, Marchisio said. “They’re here. Whether we want to listen or not is our choice,” she said.

Church member Cory Bailey from Standish believes that spirits are here to help us make the right decisions and they can do that through mediumship.

Sue Giacollo of Saco visited the church for her first time this past Sunday and received a message she didn’t entirely understand. The medium in training mentioned cold feet and a grandfather. Giacollo said she didn’t know her grandfather and couldn’t surmise a meaning from that. Cold feet could be connected to her relationship, she said. Giacollo is struggling to decide whether she’ll wait around for her boyfriend, who will be in jail for nine months.

Another message intended for a different audience member connected with Giacollo instead. Bailey said sometimes this happens, especially with more generic messages like follow your heart. These are inspirational messages and affirmations that apply to people across the board. In these cases, Bailey said, “it is intended for you also,” it resonates because “you need to hear it too.”

For more information on the Spiritualist faith, visit www.innerlightchurch.com.

Healers in training from left to right Lachell Moon, Dori Boyden and Chris Owens use healing touch on from left to right Katie Jordan, Venesa Hauer and Amber Swett during the healing chairs poriton of the Inner Light Spiritualist Church service Sunday morning.