June 5, 2025
Simplicity Is a Protest Against Triviality
“The heart of Quaker ethics is summed up in the word ‘simplicity’. Simplicity is forgetfulness of self and remembrance of our humble status as waiting servants of God.
Outwardly, simplicity is shunning superfluities of dress, speech, behaviour, and possessions, which tend to obscure our vision of reality. Inwardly, simplicity is spiritual detachment from the things of this world as part of the effort to fulfil the first commandment: to love God with all of the heart and mind and strength.”
June 4, 2025
Show Forth that Inward Quietness of Spirit
“I believe that asceticism is in a very deep sense contrary to the real Quaker spirit, which desires in all things to abstain from any interference ‘in the will of man’ with Divine discipline and guidance, and which would, I believe, regard the idea of self-chosen exercises in mortification of the flesh with the same aversion as it entertains for pre-arranged forms of worship.”
June 3, 2025
Fashions Last for but a Season
“What is the reason your people tie a great bunch of ribbons behind on their heads, and another under their chin, and on each side of their faces, and on their foreheads? What good do these do you? And what good do these great broad cuffs do you that you wear? Are not these the things that lift up the pride in men and women, that they look upon themselves in their glasses to see whether they be fine? And who taught them to go mincing with their feet? And was not the Prophet moved of the Lord to go naked among Egyptians & the Ethiopians, Isa. 20. What is the pleasures of Egypt, and the pleasures of the world, which are but for a time?”
June 2, 2025
Live soberly in this present world
“Advised that all Friends, both old and young, keep out of the world’s corrupt language, manners, vain and needless things and fashions, in apparel, buildings, and furniture of houses, some of which are immodest, indecent, and unbecoming.”
June 1, 2025
The Inheritance of Life
“I have been traveling among Friends and writing for Friends for 40 years. I have done workshops and retreats, taught academic classes and short courses, written articles, books, and pamphlets. But preparing the material for this week may have been one of the hardest things I have produced for Friends.”
May 31, 2025
Let the Seed Breathe in You and Act in You
“Do you have the wisdom and the heart to repent of all the things that might obstruct your service? Do you have the heart to forgive even the unforgivable? Do you have what it takes to love the unloveable, to walk and talk with those you think are your enemies? Will you be able to see everyone as belonging to the community of God and not otherwise?”
May 30, 2025
Let the Seed Grow in You and Be in You
“Oh! love truth and its Testimony, whether its Witness be to you, or against you, love it, that into my Mother’s house you all may come, and into the Chamber of her that conceived me, where you may embrace, and be embraced of my dearly beloved one, Love is his Name, Love is his Nature, Love is his life.”
May 29, 2025
Sink Down to the Seed
“Dwell low in your minds, as it is only in the valley of humiliation that we can have fellowship with the Oppressed Seed.”
May 28, 2025
Give Over Desiring to Know or to Be Anything
“Small Treasure to a resigned Mind is sufficient. How happy is it to be content with a little, to live in Humility.”
May 27, 2025
Give Over your Running
“Of course, we are still human, still flawed, and if our meetings are to be beloved communities we must learn to accept others as they are, not as we want them to be—to accept the opportunity to bear one another’s burdens…. We are reminded that forgiveness is not about justice; it is about healing.”
May 26, 2025
Give Over your Willing
“Hope can arise from places undreamed of. Hope is the intersection of the dreams of ordinary people and the promise of something new that permeates our tradition. Hope can carry a person through fear, past the very real dangers of this world, in ways I don’t pretend to understand.”
May 25, 2025
Nonviolent Activism Is a Practical Way of Resisting Oppression
“We started the month looking at the historical context of the peace testimony in Quakerism, with writings from George Fox and Margaret Fell, which ran strongly against the militaristic culture of their day. We read that pacifism is not passive and that nonviolent resistance can be an effective, practical solution as much as a moral stance. We went on to read about the experience of conscientious objectors, both historically and in a case currently being litigated in court. We also read that some Friends feel a call to military service and what grappling with that looks like.”
May 24, 2025
Good News for Humans
Destruction hasn’t been your only story. / All living things beyond you that you’ve loved, / you’ve made love live in them: at the junction / of chocolate & cream-colored rings on the king / snake’s skin, in the morning sparkle of cows’ / dewy slobber all over the pasture, in the powerful / slice of a gator’s tail, in the 5 a.m. ruckus
May 23, 2025
Can Peace Be a Practical Solution?
“Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many Friends have struggled to make sense of their pacifism and the morality of their non-violent stance. Watching the horrors of the war unfold has led many Quakers to reflect on what it means to be a pacifist and, for some, to question whether Quakers should be pacifist at all. […]
In the case of Ukraine, opposing war in such a time does not mean staying neutral, allowing injustice to go unchallenged, or doing nothing. Instead, Friends seek ways to engage and fight injustice without killing another human being.”
May 22, 2025
Peace Is a Holy Imperative
“Quakers are not ‘for peace’ but rather know, in the deepest sense of the word, that peace is a holy imperative as part of a just society.”
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Reader Responses
Each week we post a new query for you to consider. We love reading your responses!
Please read the accompanying query and consider whether you might feel led to respond.
What spiritual gifts does simplicity bring?
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The Daily Quaker Message is a daily Quaker devotional email designed for an audience of Friends, seekers, and the spiritually curious. Each email has three parts: a query to ground you; a message to inspire you; and an invitation to participate in a spiritual exercise. Wherever you are in your journey, the Daily Quaker Message is your Friendly companion.