Quakers give friendship a whole new meaning
Religion at Hopkins
Meetings for Worship at the Homewood Friends Meeting are held every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. and followed by an informal lunch.
The meeting is unprogrammed, meaning without a pastor. Occasionally, a more organized meeting is held for a holiday service.
The committee of ministry and worship is responsible for guiding the meetings, though they do not conduct the meetings.
The clerk of the meeting coordinates with smaller committees and is selected by discussion.
"It's a time of silence where you're reflecting on the people in your lives and the things that you're grateful for or even negatively affected [by], such as by a death or illness, and people will walk up to the altar and tell the congregation how they feel about what's been bothering them," Goldman-Petri said.
Goldman-Petri is part of the Free Quaker Meetinghouse in Philadelphia.
According to him, his direct ancestors gave food and blanket to troops that were stationed in Philadelphia.
The Society of Friends that his family was part of viewed the action as aiding the war effort and kicked them out of that Society of Friends, so his family formed their own meetinghouse.
He said that his personal impression of the Homewood Friends Meeting is that they are more liberal than many other Quaker churches.
"You have three types of people: You already know people on your side agree with you, it's only going to alienate the opposite side further and for the middle, you might influence them but you might also alienate them and it's not doing anyone good," he said.
Goldman-Petri said that the ideals of Quakerism have helped him daily.
"Quakerism puts more emphasis on moral guidelines, rather than your beliefs. It's really important in that you have strong convictions in your morals," he said.
The meeting is unprogrammed, meaning without a pastor. Occasionally, a more organized meeting is held for a holiday service.
The committee of ministry and worship is responsible for guiding the meetings, though they do not conduct the meetings.
The clerk of the meeting coordinates with smaller committees and is selected by discussion.
"It's a time of silence where you're reflecting on the people in your lives and the things that you're grateful for or even negatively affected [by], such as by a death or illness, and people will walk up to the altar and tell the congregation how they feel about what's been bothering them," Goldman-Petri said.
Goldman-Petri is part of the Free Quaker Meetinghouse in Philadelphia.
According to him, his direct ancestors gave food and blanket to troops that were stationed in Philadelphia.
The Society of Friends that his family was part of viewed the action as aiding the war effort and kicked them out of that Society of Friends, so his family formed their own meetinghouse.
He said that his personal impression of the Homewood Friends Meeting is that they are more liberal than many other Quaker churches.
"You have three types of people: You already know people on your side agree with you, it's only going to alienate the opposite side further and for the middle, you might influence them but you might also alienate them and it's not doing anyone good," he said.
Goldman-Petri said that the ideals of Quakerism have helped him daily.
"Quakerism puts more emphasis on moral guidelines, rather than your beliefs. It's really important in that you have strong convictions in your morals," he said.
Be the first to comment on this story