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Thee Quaker
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Quaker Media for the 21st Century
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Today’s Daily Quaker Message. Subscribe for free: DailyQuaker.com/subscribe
"[The friar] called for the irons to chain Sarah, because she spake so boldly to him: She bowed her head, and said to him, “Not only my feet, but my hands and my neck also for the Testimony of Jesus.” Katherine Evans, 1662 Quaker minister
January 14, 2026 at 5:06 PM
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This month our Quaker daily devotional is publishing a Quaker quote every day by and about early Quakers. Begin the new year with the beginnings of Quaker faith.

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January 14, 2026 at 5:04 PM
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Time for a story from Quaker history about immense bravery and nonviolent resistance: The Children's Meeting of 1663.

Click through the images to read it! (Thread 1/3)
In 1663, all the adults of Reading Meeting in England were imprisoned under the “Quaker Act,” which made it illegal to hold meeting for worship. Their children, suddenly on their own, remembered their parents’ instructions to hold meeting for worship no matter what happened. Though they were afraid, they were determined to follow through. Finding their meetinghouse locked, the Quaker children gathered instead in a nearby granary and settled into silent worship on bales of hay.
January 12, 2026 at 5:05 PM
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Today’s Daily Quaker Message. Subscribe for free: DailyQuaker.com/subscribe
"Three fundamental challenges remain that will shape the way a revived Society of Friends will look to the surrounding world: -Do we put God at the center of everything we do? -Do we model a radical faithful society that is in the world but not of the world? -Do we form faithful communities that worship together in love, trust, patience, joy, and humility? I believe that when we face up to these challenges, our lives and our communities will be marked by joy." Citation: Paul Buckley, 2018 Quaker historian and theologian
January 11, 2026 at 1:01 PM
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"How were our hearts melted as wax, and our souls poured out as water before the Lord, and our spirits as oil, frankincense and myrrh, offered up unto the Lord as sweet incense..."

Citation: John Burnyeat, 1691
January 10, 2026 at 1:01 PM
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"Say that one more time and I'll tell my big brother to come over here and hold you in the Light!"
January 9, 2026 at 5:03 PM
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"'When seized by the power, some Friends quaked, vocalized, or fell unconscious to the floor, while other Friends saw brilliant light, had visions, experienced healing…"

Citation: Scott Martin, 2001
January 7, 2026 at 5:04 PM
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Early Quakers avoided using names of days and months because many came from Norse or Roman gods or political figures. Instead, they used a plain-speech calendar:

January is "First Month."

Sunday is "First Day."

So today is Second Day, the 5th of First Month.
Image of a 1974 Quaker Oats tea towel calendar.
January 5, 2026 at 5:02 PM
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"Give over thine own willing, give over thy own running, give over thine own desiring to know or be anything and sink down to the seed which God sows in the heart..."

Citation: Isaac Penington, 1661
Early English Quaker
January 4, 2026 at 1:00 PM
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"The Light of Christ shines still for all men in the inmost of their souls, and in obedience to its influence lies hope…"

Citation: T. Edmund Harvey, 1905
Quaker social reformer and politician
January 3, 2026 at 1:00 PM
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Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2026!
January 1, 2026 at 5:01 PM
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"We are a people that follow after those things that make for peace, love and unity; it is our desire that others’ feet may walk in the same..."

Citation: Margaret Fell, 1660
Cofounder of the Religious Society of Friends
December 31, 2025 at 5:05 PM
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In December 1938, three American Quakers went to Gestapo headquarters to secure permission to help Jews leave Germany and provide humanitarian aid. When Nazi officers withdrew to deliberate, the Quakers held silent worship. Their request was granted, and hundreds of Jews emigrated to safety.
The Quakers who went to Gestapo headquarters
December 29, 2025 at 5:06 PM
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Today’s Daily Quaker Message. Subscribe for free: DailyQuaker.com/subscribe
"I hope you have had a season full of warmth and light in the northern hemisphere’s darkest month of the year. The holidays have the potential to bring joy, togetherness, and hope, but for some they may bring feelings of stress, loneliness, or grief. So however December was for you, for the New Year, I wish you rest. We spent the last month exploring the relationship between rest and spirituality. Each of us deserves rest, not because we’ve 'earned' it, or because we are preparing ourselves for productivity, but because we have divine light within us, inherent value. Setting aside regular quiet time for contemplation and centering, known as 'retirement', was an important devotional practice for early Friends that can still strengthen us today: a cleaning up of our spiritual living room in preparation for a more meaningful corporate experience at meeting for worship. That’s not to say that busy people have no time for retirement! There are small devotions that you can fold into your daily routine so that even scrubbing the floor becomes an act of prayer." Citation: Maeve Sutherland, 2025 Editor of the Daily Quaker Message
December 28, 2025 at 1:01 PM
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"Allowed my mind to be ruffled and soured by some cross occurrences this morning; which, however, I strove to suppress, and believe it was not discovered by others; but that did not satisfy me, not feeling that sweet peace which I prize above every other enjoyment. I retired awhile, and, centering down out of the cumbers and cares which had perplexed, was favoured to feel something of that healing virtue, which now, as formerly, heals every malady, and alone restores peace and tranquillity within our borders." Citation: Mary Waring, 1792 Early Quaker
December 27, 2025 at 1:00 PM
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It's probably less important that Christ was born, but more important that Christ is born in us. And that can happen at any time. It's not limited to any time of the year. Citation: Eileen Kinch, 2024 Clerk of the Tract Association of Friends
December 26, 2025 at 5:03 PM
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Peace and warmth from Maeve, Zack, Hannah, Ellie, Michael, and Jon 🕊

All we want for Christmas is YOU, our audience! We’re looking forward to a 2026 full of new Quaker podcast episodes, daily Quaker quotes, and weekly Quaker videos. Blessings, Friends.
December 25, 2025 at 5:03 PM
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‘Tis the season to answer one of the Internet’s most burning questions…Do Quakers celebrate Christmas? We called up Friends from around the globe to find the answer(s), and you might be surprised at what they say.

quakerpodcast.com/do-quakers-c...
Do Quakers Celebrate Christmas?
quakerpodcast.com
December 23, 2025 at 5:03 PM
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Do Quakers celebrate Christmas? Today, the answer is mostly yes.

But early Quakers didn't. Early Quakers believed that each day is as holy as every other and considered holidays to be "contrivances of man" that distracted from true religion
A Christmas tree indoors, with presents underneath. The caption reads: Do Quakers Celebrate Christmas?
December 22, 2025 at 5:04 PM
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Today’s Daily Quaker Message. Subscribe for free: DailyQuaker.com/subscribe
The great spiritual traditions suggest that the relationship with God is cultivated like other relationships: as we turn our attention toward God we open the possibility of a fuller relationship. Entering into this relationship does not so much require a change in our behavior as a shift of attention... Some shifts of attention don't require any special time at all: 🕯️Walk more slowly (it has an amazingly calming effect) 🕯️Say thank you more often -- to your children, to sales clerks, to co-workers, to people cleaning the street 🕯️When you feel yourself getting tense, take a breath. Recite a line that reminds you of your spiritual retirement, e.g., "Guide me," or "This moment is sacred." 🕯️When someone is annoying you, say a version of the Buddhist loving kindness meditation: "May s/he be free from suffering, may s/he be filled with loving kindness, may s/he be at peace." 🕯️When you see something of beauty (a flower, a sunset, an act of kindness) say a silent "thank you." 🕯️Smile more often. Citation: Patricia McBee, 2003 Former Executive Director of Friends Center in Philadelphia
December 21, 2025 at 1:01 PM
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Our team got together for a retreat a few weeks ago, and we couldn't resist making a silly holiday video.

It'll be our little gift to you when it drops on Christmas Eve.

We needed a lot of takes because we were cracking each other up the whole time!
December 20, 2025 at 5:01 PM
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Today’s Daily Quaker Message. Subscribe for free: DailyQuaker.com/subscribe
"All the nobler instincts of our race are born in solitude and suckled by silence. This solitude need be no far away wilderness in Nature; this silence need be no Himalayan peak. You stop for a second as you cross your city square and glance at the belt of Orion. You lie awake for a while as you rest in your bed and listen to the storm; and behold! From a few simple elements belonging to that mystery which you have been brought up to call ‘Matter,’ there comes over you this reversion, this conversion, this transmutation of spirit. Thinking of your mood later, you will say to yourself: ‘I felt that while I was listening to the rain.’ Or you will say to yourself: ‘I felt that while I was out in the wind.’ Or you will say to your friend, ‘It was that walk at dusk when I got as far as the river that made me change my mind!’" Citation: John Cowper Powys, 1933 English novelist and philosopher
December 20, 2025 at 1:01 PM
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🎅 'Twas the night before Christmas — I mean, wait...
'Twas the night before a day, Equally holy as every other day, When all through the house... Not a Quaker was stirring, Not even Benjamin the meetinghouse mouse; Socks were hung by the chimney to dry, And St. Nicholas was not going to stop by; The children were nestled all snug in their beds; While visions of potluck casseroles Walked contemplatively in their heads.
December 19, 2025 at 5:07 PM
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You deserve rest. Not because you’ve “earned” it, or because you are preparing for productivity, but because you have divine light within you, inherent value.

This month our Quaker devotional is publishing a Quaker quote every day, encouraging you to rest and recharge.

dailyquaker.com/subscribe/
Watercolor painting of an Adirondack chair in a field under some leafy trees. The caption reads "Rest & Quaker Retirement."
December 17, 2025 at 5:07 PM
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Today’s Daily Quaker Message. Subscribe for free: DailyQuaker.com/subscribe
"The worst disservice we could do would be to commit the heresy of identifying the act of contemplation with a block of empty time or with the provision of an empty space, or to limit it to a certain peculiarly endowed class of persons, or in Greek fashion, to a social class that was drenched with leisure. Contemplation is, as we have insisted, standard equipment, and can never be completely identified with vacant spaces in life or with freedom from responsibility." Citation: Douglas Steere, 1975 American Quaker professor
December 17, 2025 at 1:02 PM