Schoodic Friends Meeting is an open and affirming faith community. All are welcome at Quaker meeting for worship, regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental ability, faith background, age or socio-economic status. We believe in God's inclusive love for all people. Quakers, also known as Friends, believe that there is that of God in every person, and that
we can know and experience God directly. Quakers gather in silent waiting worship, to listen together for the "still, small voice" of the Divine that speaks in the heart of every person. During silent worship, any person - man, woman, or child - may be moved to speak a message out of the silence. This is known as vocal ministry. After the message is spoken, silence resumes. A meeting for worship may include several messages, or may be entirely silent. After worship (which, at Schoodic Friends Meeting, lasts for 45 minutes), an appointed Friend breaks the silence by shaking hands. For the next 10 minutes or so, we are invited to share thoughts that occurred to us during meeting but that did not rise to the level of sharing during worship. Quakers have no creed or statement of belief. Each Friend seeks to be guided directly by the Divine, which Friends know by many names: God, the Seed, the Light Within, and the Inward Teacher, among others. Testimonies are our expression of the ways we experience the Divine in our daily lives. Our testimonies include simplicity, peace, integrity, and equality. For more information about Quakers, visit Friends General Conference at http://www.fgcquaker.org/ or New England Yearly Meeting at https://neym.org/ , wider Quaker bodies of which Schoodic Friends Meeting is a part.
