Archive for April, 2009

Tonight – Rocky, our newest Baha’i, with dear Markal, who proceeded him into the Baha’i community by just a few months. These two men have been close friends for the past 18 years.

Rocky said he had told the friends gathered Tuesday night that he was going to have to think about signing the Baha’i registration form they gave him. Tonight at our devotional he said he believed in Baha’u'llah and there was no reason to wait any longer.

I raced upstairs to get a registration form but discovered I was out, so I went online and printed one off from a link on the sidebar of teaching.bahai.us. Rocky didn’t have to wait until he got home.

So we have a new Baha’i in Cluster 19, Markal’s dear friend. Rocky is an ordained Pentacostal minister. He is so humble, has great stories, and, along with Markal, performs marvelous service in the larger community. Our Baha’i community is richly blessed to now be able to work side by side with him in building the Kingdom. “Thy Will be done of earth as it is in heaven.”

Bonita beginning our round of prayers.

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Peggy beseeching God. -gw

 The Internet allows little bloggers to be heard, too, like the artists of a Baha’i-inspired collective described below.-gw

What is the Little man protest?

The little man protest is a artwork idea created by http://www.worldartcollective.org/

The internet allows for the free expression of uncensored, unofficial, views, opinions, political, social dialogue and interaction. The internet has proved to be a useful tool for artists seeking an audience outside conventional art-world settings. This is what interests me a medium of art that cannot be controlled but is free and accessible for a large population of the world to view at a click of a mouse. I have always been interested about the power of social communication technology within the internet and watching it evolve. Now on line social programs such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, YouTube and Flickr are rapidly growing like a living organism and millions upon millions are constantly signing up to join these trends of modern age popular culture. Artists have the chance to exploit and tap into this popular culture phenomenon within their creative practices and reach out to new audiences and like minded people through cyber space.

I created a website http://http://www.worldartcollective.org/. This is my platform where I created awareness about the issue of human rights violations, injustice, persecution and social change through contemporary art.

This development, the use of the internet to not only communicate information about the Baha’i Faith, but to register as a Baha’i,  is surely a key to the amazing finish that is ahead of us as Baha’is move towards conclusion of the Five Year Plan.  Click over to bahai.teaching.us for stories.

We know the journey is long, and NOT always easy. Becoming a Baha’i is really a process, not a destination. But it all starts with the first step. Belief in Baha’u'llah can happen in an instant. It’s personal, between the believer and his Lord. Registration can now be instantaneous, too. -gw

Technology, Twitter, lead to online declaration

An exciting milestone was reached on April 13, 2009. That’s the day that On-Line Declaration and Registration system (OLDR) was turned on. It is now possible for an individual to declare their belief in Bahá’u’lláh online! This opportunity is available at the public Web site http://www.bahai.us, by visiting the home page, scrolling down to the left and clicking on the “I want to be a Bahá’í” button.

Within hours of this launch, a declaration had arrived electronically. As of today, about a dozen individuals have declared their belief online.

Key to the OLDR is the immediate follow-up by the national Seeker Response system’s Regional Specialists. When someone declares online, the Regional Specialists are immediately informed. They can then follow up with the new declarant, affirming their belief by sharing Anna’s presentation over the phone, and then informing the relevant Area Teaching Committee, Cluster Institute Coordinator, and Local Spiritual Assembly of the new declaration. This new development opens many doors for the Bahá’ís to welcome more and more people into the Cause. . . .

http://teaching.bahai.us/2009/04/technology-twitter-lead-to-online.html

Another Newark airplane shot on Baha’i Views. This time it is metaphorical. The Baha’i community of Newark NJ is taking off, having gone from C to A status over the course of one short runway. Now it’s taking off and is rising to cruising altitude for sustained teaching growth. It’s all on teaching.bahai.us. -gw

Newark enters the A stage at full speed

The friends in Newark, NJ (A, yes that’s right, they advanced from *C to A in just a few short months) have been teaching up a storm! They have been reaching out to their contacts with both sensitivity and courage, as well as to those individuals who have reached out to the Bahá’ís via the public Web sites or the 1-800-22-UNITE phone line.

http://teaching.bahai.us/2009/04/newark-enters-a-stage-at-full-speed.html

Photo: “Newark Airport,” Uploaded on April 25, 2009 by Baha’i Views / Flitzy Phoebie on flickr, Creative Commons licensed

Four women and five men. In their 30′s, 40′s, 50′s, and 60′s.  Caucasian, native, and Persian. All personality types. Sometimes they’re radiant and sometimes grouchy. More than 100 cumulative years of experience on Baha’i Spiritual Assemblies.  Six Ruhi tutors. All nine have partaken of the sequence of courses. Children’s class teachers. Devotional meeting holders. Youth animators. Door-to-door teachers.  Both single and married. Some married with children. Believers. Servants. The newly elected Tacoma Spiritual Assembly. -gw

The twelve days of Ridvan are underway for Baha’is, as the following blog entry and tweets on Twitter make note. My wife and I had the privilege of cicumambulating the Shrine of Baha’u'llah during the commemoration at Bahji on the first day of Ridvan. -gw

We’re looking forward to meeting more Vietnamese friends at the Baha’i holy day celebration on Friday — part of the Festival of Ridvan, a celebration of the inauguration of the Baha’i Faith in Baghdad in 1863. The day after the Ridvan celebration, Vietnamese from all over the country will converge on Da Nang for their National Convention, when the National Spiritual Assembly is elected in secret ballot by local delegates.

http://www.jeunestreet.com/2009/04/29/vietnam-first-impressions/

 BahaiUS: Happy 9th Day of Ridvan – photo of worshipers leaving the Baha’i Temple after 5:15 p.m. devotions tonight: http://twitpic.com/48zli about 4 hours ago from TweetDeck · Reply · View Tweet

 padachi: In honour of Ridvan “O My friend, listen with heart and soul to the songs of the spirit, and treasure them as thine own eyes.” about 5 hours ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

 alfredopotatoe: Join the Baha’i Campus Association for our 9th Day of Ridvan Celebration – tonight at 8:15 pm at the U of M Law School (Mondale Hall) about 6 hours ago from EventBox · Reply · View Tweet

 janesaun: Is going to celebrate the 9th day of Ridvan, the day Baha’u'llah’s family arrived in the garden and he shared His Mission with them. about 7 hours ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

 vug8worlds: Getting ready to go the Ridvan Holy day program. about 7 hours ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

freakyhippo: So glad the pol essay is done with, had a nice couple of days recovering : ) happy ridvan!about 9 hours ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

 maritzafigueroa: Celebrating the 9th day of Ridvan! about 9 hours ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

 eternalflex: Wishing our fellow Baha’is all around the globe, a brilliant, blissful, joyous 9th day of Ridvan! Cheers from www.colourherdiamonds.com about 9 hours ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

 jaromematthew: Happy 9th day of Ridvan festival to all the Baha’is out there! about 10 hours ago from txt · Reply · View Tweet

 ktaborn: Day off of work for 9th Day of Ridvan. Using time off to rethink some thnigs and try out new thnigs. Opened the windows to let in the wind about 10 hours ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

 dakster9: Taking a day off to celebrate the 9th day of Ridvan. Hoping to recover from last night’s insomnia! about 11 hours ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

 dgcombs: What a beautiful 9th Day of Ridvan! Visit to http://www.noahs-ark.org with Baha’i Children scheduled. about 17 hours ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

 AlysO: April 29 – Baha’i – ninth day of Ridvan – all work is suspended. http://info.bahai.org/ about 17 hours ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

 jbarnabasl: Today is the 9th day of the #Bahai festival of Ridvan. It is one of the 3 holy days during the 12 days. So, I’m at home refraining fm work! about 22 hours ago from Nambu · Reply · View Tweet

Consider. A week ago I was watching a Romanian TV channel in our guesthouse in Israel about parliamentarians in Seoul, Korea, engaged in a fistfight. This news, although mildly disturbing, is information that tells us something useful.  A lot of the content on TV does not, however.

Does satellite TV bring the world closer? Of course. But the content of so many of the 100s of  channels available to us is so stuck in the past. -gw

The call of Bahá’u’lláh is primarily directed against all forms of provincialism, all insularities and prejudices. If long-cherished ideals and time-honored institutions, if certain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote the welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to the needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and relegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines.

The World Order of Bahá’u'lláh, by Shoghi Effendi, p. 41

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Lembit Opik MP hosted the annual All Party Group for the Baha’i’s reception on the terrace of the House of Commons this evening, timed to coincide with the Baha’i festival of Ridvan. If the celebrations were somewhat subdued for many people present, it was because seven leading Baha’i figures who were arrested in Iran last year are still in prison. The faith, which is monotheistic and teaches that all religions come from God, was founded in the 19th Century in Iran, though its most famous contemporary religious centre is in Haifa, Israel. It has suffered systematic persecution in Iran since shortly after the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Bill Rammell, Minister of State at the Foreign Office, gave a speech of welcome and there were written greetings from a  curious trinity: the Archbishop of Canterbury, David Cameron and Nick Clegg. In his capacity as Chairman of the All Party Group, Lembit quipped that he was too wicked to become a Baha’i himself. Wicked? Surely not, Lembit. Just naughty.

http://jonathanfryer.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/lembit-opik-ridvan-and-the-bahai/

An elected representative becoming a Baha’i would be a first. But I can imagine it happening. I can also imagine what would happen next. -gw

Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lembit_%C3%96pik

My buddy Charles is dancing. -gw

DANCING WITH THE KING of KINGS

April 14, 2009 by Charles King

Sometimes

I have truly

suffered.

But, through

thy grace

I am still

with you Lord.

 

Often times

I am surely

   happy,

benefit of 

thy grace 

beseeched to be

with you Lord.

 

All times,

I am burily

   secured, 

in the bossom 

of thy grace.

Ever confident 

with you Lord.

-Charles King

http://blackoaktree.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/dancing-with-the-king-of-kings/

Photo:  Uploaded on September 26, 2006 by Jungle_Boy on flickr, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Some swear by the power of prayer; others reject it as magical thinking. For Baha’is, prayer is the glue that cements their loving communion with God.

The core of religious faith, the Baha’i writings say, “is that mystic feeling which unites man with God.” Done in the right spirit, prayer does that.

“In the highest prayer,” says Abdu’l-Baha, “men pray only for the love of God, not because they fear Him or hell, or hope for bounty or heaven . . . The spiritual man finds no delight in anything save in commemoration of God.” …

In the Baha’i Faith, service to humanity is considered a form of worship. As Abdu’l-Baha says, “. . . all effort and exertion put forth by man from the fullness of his heart is worship, if it is prompted by the highest motives and the will to do service to humanity.”

Prayers are just one aspect of Baha’i life. Indeed, the writings caution that “too many acts of piety in the daytime and night season make you vainglorious.”

But also consider this quote of Abdu’l-Baha: “When I am sad, I always pray.”

http://www.bahai.us/prayer-the-pinnacle-of-faith

Flying back from Tel Aviv after our Baha’i pilgrimage, it was not hard to conclude that those passengers around us were Jewish. The yarmulkes worn by the men were not hard to miss. Nor were the little prayer books and religious texts in Hebrew.

I was stuck by the vigilant attention paid by one son to his parents who were flying. They were not able to sit together, so he went back and forth repeatedly to be sure they were OK.

Kindness is kindness. Showing love and respect for one’s parents is surely called for by every religion. I felt a sense of oneness with these believers around me. We all pray to the same God. We are all students of the same Book of God with its many chapters. -gw

In spiritual terminology, piety is a virtue. While different people may understand its meaning differently, it is generally used to refer either to religious devotion or to spirituality, or often, a combination of both. A common element in most conceptions of piety is humility.

Etymology

The word piety comes from the Latin word pietas, the noun form of the adjective pius (which means “devout” or “good”). Pietas in traditional Latin usage expressed a complex, highly valued Roman virtue; a man with pietas respected his responsibilities to other people, gods and entities (such as the state), and understood his place in society with respect to others.

Piety in modern English usage can refer to a way to win the favor or forgiveness of God, According to some, this type of piety does not necessarily require the spiritual piety, while others refrain from distinguishing the two.

It is also used by others to refer only to external signs that result from the spiritual aspect of piety. That is, according to some, if one is “truly” pious (in the spiritual sense), the natural and inevitable result of it will be religious piety. By this definition, then, piety can be either genuine, in that it springs from spiritual piety, or false, in that it is an attempt to exhibit the signs of piety for their own sake, or for some other reason, (such as propitiation or public esteem).

In Catholicism and Anglicanism, piety is one of the Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Piety can be demonstrated by position or state of mind, such as prayer the most famous Piety hand position is Christian Joining of Hands and Muslims bowing down to prayer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piety

Photo: Uploaded on April 28, 2009 by Baha’i Views / Flitzy Phoebie on flickr, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic