Miami Friends Meeting 1185 Sunset Drive Coral Gable, FL 33143
Lauren H. (who we contacted) (305) 661-7374 Quakers Hours of Worship: Sundays at 10:30 AM Quakers are mentioned various times in history books and are a very important part of early American civilization and the beginnings of religion in the colonies. Because of this, my friends, and I decided to go to a Quaker meeting held in South Miami for our site visit. The meeting is formerly called "The Miami Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends" and began at roughly ten thirty in the morning. Even though Quakers are part of the Christian faith, they take an interesting look at religion that is different from any other religion. The site visit allowed my friends and me to enjoy the Quaker's divergent way of worshipping God and interesting outlook on religion. The Quaker meeting place is unlike any other usual religious meeting place. Usually when going to a religious event I go to a church, and this assumption led to my friends and me arriving late to the meeting. We got lost looking for a church or a religious looking center of worship, and unknowingly had passed right by the meeting place several times. When we found the meeting place we quickly realized where the Quakers held their meetings was not at a church, a synagogue, or center that screams this is for religious purposes; it was at a normal conference like a house. As we arrived, thinking we were going to interrupt some sort of service, a nice couple standing outside explained to us what usually happened in these Quaker meetings. She explained how they are usually quiet as everyone sits in silence and if someone feels moved by the Holy Spirit they speak. Walking into the service we were oddballs right off the bat, and not because we were Hispanics in a room full of mostly White Americans, but because we were dressed a bit differently than most. Looking around a good portion of the people there were wearing very casual clothing. The men wore khakis and the women wore jeans and a t-shirt, one woman even came in sweatpants and a tank top. Meanwhile, my friends and I were sitting there with very fancy attire because it is what we are use to wearing when going to church. We sat on chairs that are all facing one another in the form of a circle around the room. I soon realized that when the nice couple said that everyone sits in silence for an hour she literally meant everyone sits in silence for an hour with no priest in the middle leading this silence, with no framed picture of Jesus hanging around to stare at, with no object of sacred power, no images, and no sculptures. It was just you, your thoughts, and the silence. At first I thought it was pretty weird how no one was saying anything and everyone just sat there sort of motionless. Then, I started wondering what everyone was thinking about in this silence. Suddenly, I understood what it meant to sit there in silence. Sitting there in silence is more of a way to let one have a direct connection with God. It was silent, yet at the same time it was not. Everyone in that room was worshipping their god in their own way and forming a personal bond with him in their thoughts. It was a way of taking time out of the day to have a surreal connection with God without any interruptions. A couple minutes into the service as I was jumbled up in my thoughts like everyone else, a man broke the silence, meaning the Holy Spirit has enlightened him to talk. He talked about the possibility of there being more life in the universe besides us. He talked about how he believes that God is not stingy enough to have us worship him in a certain one way and have everyone in this universe stick to that one way of worshipping and believing in him. I was astonished, I have never heard words like that in a religious meeting. He then sat back down and the silence continued. I found myself
