SHERBORN - There was a calm and familial atmosphere as people of all ages filtered into the Peace Abbey coffeehouse Saturday night to hear Woodwork, a local ensemble, play from its new album, "Woodwork at the Peace Abbey." The Peace Abbey, a multifaith retreat in the heart of Sherborn, promotes peace and social justice through nonviolence and direct action.

Woodwork is virtually the Abbey’s house band, performing twice annually. Saturday was its fourth overall.

The five members of the band, Dick Scobie, Brett Frechette, Denis Pearne, Dan Dick and Christopher Rowan, were each proficient in a variety of folk and Celtic instruments, including the guitar, harmonica, banjo, harp and flute.

They played to a full house, with proceeds going toward the Peace Abbey.

Their repertoire was diverse, but a theme of peace was woven into most songs, ranging from original pieces written entirely from verses from the Tao Te Ching to modified spirituals, Celtic ballads and covers of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie and Dave Carter, many of which appear on the new CD.

Highlights included a bagpipe entrance for one song and an original song by Dan Dick, who takes inspiration from bluegrass and gospel but "likes his theological views a little broader than that."

Abbey anthem

The song, "Truth Has Many Tongues," seemed a sort of Peace Abbey anthem, paying homage to all the different religions and gurus through history, while concentrating on the guidance each has to offer.

The performance finished strong with a Denis Pearne original, "We Ain’t No One to Talk," criticizing the Bush administration’s foreign policy and drawing laughs from the audience. The audience often joined in the chorus.

Tellingly, it is not just a peaceful message through music that Woodwork conveys. Scobie, a member of the band, was also one of the first recipients of the Peace Abbey’s Courage of Conscience Award, for his work in bringing Congress members to Central America.

"We brought over 30 Congress members there to show them the impact of U.S. foreign policy on the region, with the objective to show that negotiated peace is better policy than war policy," Scobie said before the show.

Past recipients include Mother Teresa, Howard Zinn, Sting and most recently, Cindy Sheehan, many of whom have visited the Peace Abbey to receive their award.

Much of the audience are just as thankful to the Peace Abbey for offering an alternative place for social and spiritual contemplation, as for providing musical entertainment. Kendra Kiraithe, a member of the audience, traveled from Framingham with her son to see the concert.

While not a member of the Peace Abbey, she visits quite frequently.

"It’s great because it’s open during the week, so you can have quiet, meditative moments anytime, and there is a good library of spiritual things to read," Kiraithe said.

Changes you

Dick, another member of the band and a Peace Chaplain of the Abbey, revealed during the performance, "Whenever I come here I leave a changed person, and there aren’t that many places I can say that about."

He has been a volunteer for about five years..

"I feel spiritually, culturally and intellectually in tune here; and I see music as an outgrowth of this, a form of ministry to promote peace and justice," Dick said.

And the entire ambiance of the Peace Abbey bespeaks its peaceful mission. Their multifaith chapel glows warmly with firelight and candles, filled with pictures and sacred texts representing religions from all over the world.

The statues that decorate the Abbey’s land are also just as representative of the diversity of dedication to peace. A bronzed Ghandi stands only yards from the Sacred Cow Animal Rights memorial of Emily the Cow, who escaped from the slaughterhouse.

She "persuaded people to think about a lot of things in their lives," said Lewis Randa, director of the Peace Abbey.

During intermission a man thanked Randa and the Abbey for much-needed moments of meditation that the Ghandi statue provided him in a time of need.

The most recent addition to the Peace Abbey is the granite memorial for conscientious objectors on the Conscientious Objectors Hill of Remembrance.

They won’t go

It is home to the cremated remains of conscientious objectors, those who refused to participate in military action, such as Dave Dellinger, member of the Chicago 7 and avid antiwar pacifist, and Pat Farren, longtime editor of Peacework Magazine.

"We’ve seen administrations, one after the next, use the military to to transform the world; conscientious objectors and pacifists seek to do it differently," Randa said. "They give us hope."

And it is this sort of message that resonates throughout the Abbey just as it does through Woodwork’s music; partly because much of the new album was recorded live within its very walls and its members are active in their mission for peace. Their songs look to the future while recognizing the eternality of their struggle.

As one of the members of the band introduced a song condemning war and violence, many of their songs convey a similar sentiment, "They tragically never go out of date."

In the meantime, there is passionate music and the Peace Abbey, open to all, seven days a week.