Every Sunday 10 - 11AM
Members, friends, supporters and visitors to The Peace Abbey are invited to share one hour of meditation and prayer each Sunday morning in the Quaker room at the Conference Center. It is a time for those who have been involved in the work of peace and social justice to renew, connect and share the sense of peace that comes through gathered silence. Pacifists, and those striving to deepen their understanding of nonviolence and cruelty-free living are always welcome to join us for the Sunday Service. Our form of worship is conducted in the spirit and style of an unprogrammed Friends (Quaker) Meeting. Though inspired by the Friends, it differs from a traditional Quaker gathering in that after the first 15 minutes of silence, we recite Peace Seeds comprised of the twelve prayers for peace of the major faith traditions (Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Muslim, Sikh, Bahai, Shinto, Native African and American, Zoroastrian, Jewish and Christian). As a pacifist community, members of The Peace Abbey have, since 1986, shared silence with the special needs students that attend The Life Experience School. This practice of “sharing silence” is now being extended to the wider community of pacifists in the greater Boston/Cambridge area.
We hope you find your time with us centering, fulfilling and supportive to your desire to be in community with others who see themselves as pacifists -- perhaps in the spirit and tradition of the Buddha, Jesus, St. Francis, Gandhi, Dr. King, the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh or Dorothy Day. We come from various or no religious backgrounds, many life philosophies and walks of life. At heart, we share a common commitment to making our lives speak a certain truth about justice, equality, nonviolence, compassion and love.
When you come to the Pacifist Sunday Service, you will be greeted by one of the Stewards. This individual may be a staff person, a commissioned Chaplain, a volunteer, child or adult.
Quaker style benches, a gift from Wellesley College, face the middle of the room. In the center, there is a table with a candle, a bell and an hourglass that is turned once members are gathered to indicate when the hour is drawing to a close. You are welcome to sit wherever you'd like.
We do not have prepared addresses or sermons, nor do we subscribe to the notion that religious services need to be led. The responsibility for the gathering belongs to all. We sit in silence, which grows deeper as it progresses, seeking to open ourselves to the spirit of God, and to know one another in that which is eternal, universal and hopeful. The meditation is unguided in total silence. After approximately one hour, the gathering adjorns with the chiming of the grandfather clock followed by announcements. The National Registry for Conscientious Objection is made available for signing. Tea and refreshments are shared in the kitchen through the generosity of volunteers.
On the 2nd Sunday of each month, half way through the hour, attenders gather at the Peacemakers Table to pass the Assisi blessing bowl to wash and dry one another's hands.
Visitors are invited to tour the Abbey buildings and grounds and visit the animals in sanctuary. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to speak to one of the Stewards at the close of the gathering.
About the Abbey
ReplyDeleteI got the email about the Abbey’s financial situation on Friday evening, March 25. As it happened, I was at the Abbey early the next morning for a meeting. So, I stood on the porch and looked out over the grounds: Remembrance Hill and the Cabin, Emily, Gandhi, the Conference Center, etc. I had seen Gabriel in the field. As I took it in, I realized that this manifestation of our common dream, true peace on earth, symbolized for many of us what might be. Because we’re human—tactile, visual, auditory—we often get attached to the signs of things. But as Gautama Buddha said: “The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon.”
All the marvelous things that comprise the Peace Abbey are worth working to save, maintain and enhance. But they are not the real work of the Abbey. It is the heart work of the Abbey that in the end is all that counts. The refuge, the inspiration, the vision, the healing, the wholeness that the Peace Abbey has provided for countless thousands is the real work. That work is aided by all the signs about the Abbey’s environs, but it is not the work itself. And the work goes on regardless of any shift in the Abbey’s present physical reality.
Born from the love and work of the Life Experience School, the Abbey’s message—its song— is that all living beings are connected, and all spiritual insight is connected as well. We are part of one another. As such, we need to stand up for truth and justice and compassion; that is the only road to peace. No mortgage default can take away that understanding. We need to strive to hold on to this visible sign of our understanding, but we do not need to be afraid. No church is made of walls, nor is the Peace Abbey. This place which has been and is of such great comfort to me—where I feel at home—resides in my heart and always will.
Robert Dove McClellan
Lewis,
Thanks for sharing Robert's thoughts. My take is different. Unlike the finger pointing at the moon, the nexus of truths so powerfully embodied by all that the Peace Abbey represents are not something physical we could otherwise point to. The collective representation of so many aspects of peacemaking and manifest ahimsa are nowhere else visible in a single synergistic wholeness. The genius of the Peace Abbey is that it is not only the finger, but it IS the moon. It IS something we can see, touch, experience. The connections are all there, each facet reflecting and magnifying all the others. The whole is so much greater than any of its individually profound parts. The Peace Abbey is the fullest possible moon we would not otherwise see, in its most overwhelming fullness.
Dan Dick