An Abiding Faith

The hymn “Rock of Ages” resonates powerfully through the sparsely furnished room where men sit on one side and women on the other.

No religious symbols are visible. The walls are plain and the glass in the windows is wavy with age.

It’s Sunday at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, where a handful of Shakers carry on their religious tradition as they have for more than 200 years in the United States.

“There are some things about a day at Shaker Village that never change,” said Sister Frances Carr, 70.

But many things have changed since the religion’s heyday, when it counted 5,000 followers , and dozens lived in the community’s imposing six-story house at Sabbathday Lake.

Now there are only seven followers, all in Maine. The Shakers are a utopian Christian sect whose members pool their resources to put community before self. They swear off sex and the pursuit of material goods, which they say interfere with the worship of God.

They are also pacifists who believe in worshiping God through work, and every day they perform physical labor that ranges from tending the farm’s herd of 50 sheep to preparing the community’s main meal at noon.

“Our motto is, ‘Hands to work, hearts to God,’ ” Sister Frances said during a break from the daily rhythm of work and prayer.

The Shakers settled in 1783 at Sabbathday Lake, one of 19 Shaker communities across the country at one time or another.

Sister Frances’ family followed local custom by sending her to live with the Shakers when she was 10 because they could no longer care for her.

Back then, the Shaker house was bustling and followers worked nearly 2,000 acres in Maine.

Today, the village is home to just three men and three women. The seventh is in a nearby nursing home. Much of the Shakers’ land in the rolling hills has been leased to lumberjacks, farmers and local residents.

The Shakers no longer take in children, but they still reach out to potential members through the mail. That’s how Brother Arnold Hadd, 41, found the community. As a teenager in western Massachusetts in the 1970s, he wrote to the Shakers with questions about their customs and theology. He was invited to Sabbathday Lake for a visit. He joined in 1977.

The Shaker farm is a curious blend of old and new. The most recent building dates from 1910, and many of the rooms are furnished with antiques handed down through generations.

Unlike the Amish with whom they’re often confused, the Shakers do not shun the modern world. In fact, they maintain a page on the World Wide Web.

“We were the first in town to have an automobile,” Brother Arnold told a reporter.

In other ways, they are happily out of step with fast-paced modern America.

“Self-denial is not the most popular thing in the world,” Brother Arnold said. “We don’t really expect or have a lot of luxury.”

The Shakers made a splash in 1996 when they joined a professional singing ensemble and made a compact disc of Shaker songs.

It’s been pretty quiet since then. The Sabbathday Lake Shakers might have faded away had they not broken in 1965 with the only other remaining Shaker community, in Canterbury, N.H., over a decision to admit no more new members. The last of the Canter-bury Shakers died in 1992.

Sister Frances said the Sabbathday Lake Shakers never agreed with the decision to bar new members. In fact, the youngest Shaker, a 33-year-old Irishman, arrived at Sabbathday Lake 2 1/2 years ago.

Life at Sabbathday Village moves at a slower pace during Maine’s long winters. Summer brings the herb farm and waves of tourists.

Many may expect something exotic, said Mary Ellen W. Hern, executive director of the Shaker Museum and Library in Old Chatham, N.Y. “But in reality, they’re not unlike the religious orders of nuns and brothers that much of America grew up with.”

Most visitors know about Shaker-style furniture. Original pieces of the plain, rugged furniture often sell for thousands of dollars on the world market.

But the Shakers no longer make furniture. And although they maintain a large collection of antiques at Sabbathday Lake, they seldom use them.