LOCAL Houston | The City Guide JANUARY 2016 | Page 52

Q
...IS FOR QUAKERS

There are three distinct branches among the approximate 305,000 members of the Religious Society of
Friends (Quakers) worldwide. This community of seekers has no dogma or creed and do not believe that
meeting for worship should occur in any special place, but that “where two or three meet together in my
name, I am there among them.*” Nestled in the Houston Heights, the Live Oak Friends Meeting affirms that
there is of God in everyone, and welcomes all those in loving relationships. The meetings for worship began
in 1954 in the home of Walter and Myra Whitson, and over the years the meetings have been held in many
different locations around Houston including the old Jewish Community Center where the first Live Oak tree
was planted. The new meeting house began to take shape in the late 1990s when artist James Turrell (who
is also a Quaker) created the Skyspace installation that became the centerpiece. www.friendsofhouston.org
*(Revised English Bible, Matthew 18:20)

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L O C A L

| january 16

By Ida Sameri