Meet the Quakers of Sandy Spring, Maryland

Friend:

I love everything about being a part of this community. I walked into Sandy Spring Meeting and saw kindred spirits everywhere. People were Christian and Jewish and Buddhist and agnostics, and we all sat together. I learned that you just surrender, go inside and go deep, and then you go out into the world and make a difference. 

We very quickly felt at home here. One of the first things an elder said to us when we brought our kids in was that we don’t indoctrinate and we let them come to their own conclusions, which we really loved and valued. 

Even if you don’t believe in God or if you believe in a totally different ideal, you’ll be accepted. You’ll be welcomed. You’ll be more than welcome.

As a seeker, I’ve been looking for truth, and I wanted to come to the meetinghouse and find out what it was all about. I learned about the Quaker values and said, that’s me. I believe in peace. I believe in simplicity, in community. That’s the way I want to walk in life, so that’s what brought me back. I feel safe. 

This meeting goes back to the arrival of Quakers here, and we are grateful to have inherited this legacy. When it comes to Quaker meeting, we’re ready to enter into a reflective silence with others in the community, ready to share if moved, for an insight or a truth. 

We practice a kind of worship called expectant waiting worship. We develop a relationship with the God of our understanding with the loving support of those gathered around us, and any one of us can be a minister.

 The messages I heard today were like everybody knew what I was thinking and saying things I needed to hear. That really nourishes me for the things I go out and do the rest of the week.

I feel held. This community connects me with everybody’s joys and sorrows. 

The first ten minutes is always fidgety, and then after that is when I really feel the spirit moving among us. There’s something beautiful about knowing that everyone in a group is trying to reach that same center. It’s a calmness I don’t get any other time of the week.

We really wanted a place where people would encourage our children to be their best selves, but simultaneously say, we love you the way you are. That’s really what we found here. 

There are a lot of fun activities and people are very friendly. 

You know your kids are being taken care of, loved, and nurtured just as if you were there. It’s just as if they have another set of grandparents.

It’s also one of the spaces where I feel safe every week. There are adults who make me feel seen and heard and have made me more confident in who I am as a person, to come here and be accepted and taken seriously every Sunday. 

At the end, we shake hands and greet each other, and then we go over to the Lyceum and have a simple meal, this warm space where everyone’s excited to talk. Almost every week there’s somebody new sitting at the table with me.

This place is a solid foundation of social connection going back in my own personal history, but also an opportunity to meet and get to know new people. This is an anti-aging strategy — a mental health strategy. 

Coming here, I feel like my heart and my soul come free. I’m with people who believe in taking care of our earth and giving respect to every single person. When we do our work to try to make society better, we also need a place where we can come and find joy.October’s our big Halloween party where we invite the entire community. There are graveyard tours of the historic meeting, potion bars, pumpkin carving. It’s a gift to the community and a gift to ourselves. 

No matter what life gives me — death, divorce, illness — I can always come here. I was married here. I’ll be scattered in the memorial garden here when I’m 100. I’m almost 80 now.It’s pure joy to be in community, to listen to people, to serve with people, and to love people and be loved. 

It feels like home. When I need something, I can ask, and usually somebody is there. Nobody’s in charge — we’re in charge together. 

You really should come because you can connect with the Lord in your own time, in your own way, in your own space, in your own mind. People share their joy with you. They share their smiles with you. They share their stories with you. It’s what we need. It’s the food I need for the rest of the week.