banter
A PLACE FOR EVERYONE
In the tight-knit community of Brookmont in Bethesda, the church is the neighborhood gathering spot
LATE ON A CRISP Sunday afternoon in early November, the social hall at Brookmont Church slowly fills with neighbors for the annual St. Martin’s Lantern Walk. While the adults chat with one another, children use markers to decorate white paper bags that will soon be glowing with electric tea candles. In the large room on the ground floor, everyone gathers to hear Roxanne Schueller, the church’s celebrant, read a poem about the legend of the compassionate St. Martin. At the point when he gives half of his cloak to a beggar in need, Schueller dramatically rips her long red cape (held together by Velcro) in two. 58
“Compassion is that feeling of a flutter in your heart or a tear in your eye when you see something happen to somebody and you want to help,” she explains before the residents begin their procession through the neighborhood, which darkened early with the recent ending of daylight saving time. “The reason we take the lights all around Brookmont is we are thinking about bringing love, compassion and acts of kindness—all those good things—to our neighbors, our families and the world,” Schueller says. This kind of message is woven throughout events held at the community church in Brookmont, a tight-knit
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019 | BETHESDAMAGAZINE.COM
neighborhood of about 200 homes off MacArthur Boulevard, just above the C&O Canal and the Potomac River in Bethesda. The Brookmont Baptist Church was built in 1941 on Virginia Place at the corner of Broad Street. In the early 1980s, what remained of the congregation decided to close its doors due to dwindling participation. A Brookmont resident had the enterprising idea to revitalize the church as a congregation open to all faiths, including nonbelievers. So immediately after Brookmont Baptist Church closed, a new board was named, and the church began a new life structured as a
PHOTO BY LAURA CHASE DE FORMIGNY
BY CARALEE ADAMS