Thee Quaker
LightNews LightNews
banner
theequaker.bsky.social
Thee Quaker
@theequaker.bsky.social
550 followers 30 following 420 posts
Quaker Media for the 21st Century
Posts Replies Media Videos
theequaker.bsky.social
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
theequaker.bsky.social
Today’s Daily Quaker Message. Subscribe for free: DailyQuaker.com/subscribe

"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
theequaker.bsky.social
Today’s Daily Quaker Message. Subscribe for free: DailyQuaker.com/subscribe

"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
theequaker.bsky.social
Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2026!
January 1, 2026 at 5:01 PM
theequaker.bsky.social
Today’s Daily Quaker Message. Subscribe for free: DailyQuaker.com/subscribe

"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
theequaker.bsky.social
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
theequaker.bsky.social
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
theequaker.bsky.social
Today’s Daily Quaker Message. Subscribe for free: DailyQuaker.com/subscribe
"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
theequaker.bsky.social
Today’s Daily Quaker Message. Subscribe for free: DailyQuaker.com/subscribe
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
theequaker.bsky.social
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
theequaker.bsky.social
‘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
theequaker.bsky.social
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
theequaker.bsky.social
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
theequaker.bsky.social
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
theequaker.bsky.social
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
theequaker.bsky.social
🎅 '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
theequaker.bsky.social
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
theequaker.bsky.social
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
theequaker.bsky.social
🎄 Looking for the perfect gift for the Thee Quaker Podcast fan in your life? How about a book by one of the guests in Season 3? 🎁📖

Check out our gift guide in the thread!
December 15, 2025 at 5:04 PM
theequaker.bsky.social
Today’s Daily Quaker Message. Subscribe for free: DailyQuaker.com/subscribe
"Turn therefore inwards, and all that is within you will demonstrate to you the presence and power of God in your soul, and make you find and feel it with the same certainty as you find and feel your own thoughts. And what is best of all, by thus doing, you will never be without a living sense of the immediate guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, always equal to your dependence upon it…" Citation: William Law, 1760 Church of England priest and non-juror
December 14, 2025 at 1:01 PM
theequaker.bsky.social
Today’s Daily Quaker Message. Subscribe for free: DailyQuaker.com/subscribe
"In Him sit down, who is above the subtle foxes in their holes, and the fowls of the air in their nests; I say, sit down in Christ, who hath no place among them to lay his head; He is your rest. So in him is my love to you all." Citation: George Fox, 1682 Cofounder of the Religious Society of Friends
December 13, 2025 at 1:01 PM
theequaker.bsky.social
Indulge a little this season. 😉
Image of the tiny Christmas tree from the movie A Charlie Brown Christmas. Text reads: Okay, so I'm not saying Christmas is holier than any other day, and I'm not saying we need to put up a bunch of big, ostentatious decorations, but what I AM saying is that I don't think George Fox would judge if we got this teeny, tiny, little Charlie Brown tree... Image of exasperated-looking George Fox. In a speech bubble, he says, "Alright, alright. But, like, reeeeal small."
December 12, 2025 at 5:03 PM
theequaker.bsky.social
Today’s Daily Quaker Message. Subscribe for free: DailyQuaker.com/subscribe
"At what time soever thou wilt, it is in thy power to retire into thyself, and to be at rest: for a man cannot retire any whither to be more at rest, and freer from all business, than into his own soul. Afford then thyself this retiring continually, and thereby refresh and renew thyself." Citation: William Penn, 1682 Early Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania
December 10, 2025 at 5:04 PM
theequaker.bsky.social
Zachary Moon was raised in a Quaker Meeting full of anti-war protesters. Then he felt God calling him to join the military as a chaplain. In the following months and years he had to wrestle with that leading and the response of his family and community.

quakerpodcast.com/a-quaker-pac...
A Quaker Pacifist Joins the Military
quakerpodcast.com
December 9, 2025 at 5:03 PM
theequaker.bsky.social
From Warwickshire Quarterly Meeting’s records:

“[We] had our shops broaken and our goods spoyled and our selves in danger to be slaine and having durt & stones throwne at us in our owne shops for working and opening our shops upon that idolliysed day which the World calles Cristmasse day 1660.”
"The Quakers who were attacked at Christmas." Image of a broken window and old quill and ink writing.
December 8, 2025 at 5:03 PM