Thought for the Week: Patterns and examples

Ian Kirk-Smith reflects on the Quaker way

by Ian Kirk-Smith 2nd October 2015

Visitors to a Quaker Meeting house are often struck by the simplicity and plainness of the interior. Many are not used to this in a place of worship.

They look in vain for visual stimulus and storytelling. There are no images in stained glass, or carved in stone, or painted on canvas or wall, or crafted in wood. There are no words to be seen. No outward form. There is no altar for ritual and ceremony, no pulpit, no prayer book to recite from, and generally no hymnbook from which to praise in song. There is no minister or priest to guide. Indeed, where in this austere simplicity is the subject of most images, words and hymns – Christ?