On Shaping a Pattern of Life Distinguished For It's Devotional Character: In Tacoma

Thousands upon thousands of Bahá'ís, embracing the diversity of the entire human family, are engaged in certain core activities. These activities promote the systematic study of the Bahá’í Writings in small groups in order to build capacity for service. They respond to the inmost longing of every heart to commune with its Maker by carrying out acts of collective worship in diverse settings, uniting with others in prayer, awakening spiritual susceptibilities, and shaping a pattern of life distinguished for its devotional character.

http://www.bcca.org/ief/fl/bicccap.pdf



The rhythm of our Baha'i life -- a home-devotional Monday nights at Amanda's and Thursday night at Matt & Christy's -- rain or shine -- and any other devotionals we can slip in in the course of the week. -gw

On Baha'i-Inspired Post-Punk: Radiant Devices

My taste in music has evolved. I want Baha'i-inspired, yes, but I want something post-punk/industrial, too.  The solution -- Radiant Devices, coming out momentarily with a brand new album. Here is their 2011 EP while we wait. -gw

CHICAGO POETRY: "»radiant devices« take to the stage and, wow! They use found objects, including a satellite dish, a chain, a gas tank, a big piece of sheet metal and a thick spring as musical instruments to compliment their off the wall, punk-rock poetry performance art. When I think of Mojdeh performing her poetry into a bullhorn I think of a female Jello Biafra."

 http://radiantdevices.wix.com/official/page-1#!__page-1/page-5

On Every Hair of Our Heads: Proclaims the oneness of God and His creation

My homage to the variety of different hair styles, colors, textures that grace the heads of humans -- my "Ode to Hair" set on Flickr -- is approaching 3000 views. -gw

Glorified art Thou, O Lord my God! My tongue, both the tongue of my body and the tongue of my heart, my limbs and members, every pulsating vein within me, every hair of my head, all proclaim that Thou art God, and that there is none other God beside Thee. From everlasting Thou hast been immeasurably exalted above all similitudes and comparisons, and sanctified from whatsoever pertaineth to the creation Thou hast created and fashioned. From eternity Thou hast been alone, with none to share the majesty of Thy singleness, and hast remained far above the changes and chances to which all Thy creatures are subjected.

Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh

On Though Small in Numbers: The Force energizes your mission

The friends gather in Apartment 35 each morning and night. It is Mission Central for the expansion phase. -gw

Though small in numbers, and circumscribed as yet in your experiences, powers, and resources, yet the Force which energizes your mission is limitless in its range and incalculable in its potency.

The Advent of Divine Justice
by Shoghi Effendi

On Parents Who Are Supported and Valued By Society: They give rise to mentally healthy children

Here is a record in photos and videos of one recent Baha'i expansion phase in our cluster. -gw

The last nightof the...

18 photos | Edit

Book 2 studyclass withguest

17 photos | Edit

Prayers withtheNorthwest...

13 photos | Edit

Devotional atLister videos

10 videos | Edit

Friday nightdevotional at...

44 photos | Edit

Valentine's Day devotions

5 photos | Edit

Youthanimators, artnight

7 photos | Edit

Monday nightback at theranch

9 photos | Edit

Shadi and Helen play...

7 photos | Edit

Sacred space, a living room...

21 photos | Edit

Dinner &service atthe...

9 photos | Edit

Prayers at Matt &...

5 photos | Edit

Sundayafternoon forlunch,...

16 photos | Edit

1st Sundaymorning ofthe...

13 photos | Edit

The EastsideReflection...

149 photos | Edit

Growing ajunior youth...

21 photos | Edit

Wrapped up inhis work

7 photos | Edit

Crazy arm-inarm

18 photos | Edit

The heart ofthe Eastside...

81 photos | Edit

The EastsideReflection...

24 photos | Edit

Setting up forthe Eastside...

10 photos | Edit

Devotions atMatt &...

3 photos | Edit

Clusterreflectionmeeting...

30 photos | Edit

On Memories of Our Earthly Existence: How vast a panorama!

Taráz took footage of our family on vacation last summer and turned it into something ethereal and moving. -gw

Dear friends! How vast a panorama these gemlike, these soul-searching divinely uttered pronouncements outspread before our eyes! What memories they evoke! How sublime the principles they inculcate! What hopes they engender! What apprehensions they excite! And yet how fragmentary must these above-quoted words, suited as they are to the immediate purpose of my theme, appear when compared with the torrential majesty which only the reading of the full text can disclose! He Who was God’s Vicar on earth, addressing, at the most critical moment when His Revelation was attaining its zenith, those who concentrated in their persons the splendor, the sovereignty, and the strength of earthly dominion, could certainly not subtract one jot or tittle from the weight and force which the presentation of so historic a Message demanded.

The Promised Day Is Come, by Shoghi Effendi

In Four Corners of the World: Communities on the frontiers of learning

HAIFA, Israel — A documentary film about the efforts of Baha'i communities in four locations around the world has been released on the World Wide Web. The film, titled Frontiers of Learning, explores processes of community development under way in thousands of localities worldwide by presenting four case studies from four continents: the northern part of the Bolivar region in Colombia; the city of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the city of Toronto, Canada; and the town of Bihar Sharif and surrounding areas in Bihar state, India. ... Frontiers of Learning was first shown earlier this week at the 11th International Baha'i Convention. It is available to download and view online here.

New film explores community-building throughout the world

The process portrayed in this film is being replicated in our community of Tacoma as well. -gw

On When a Garden Forms a Harmonious Whole: Thank the perfect gardener

A community garden is a ... community. A place to hang-out, share stories, drink in the sun, and nurture relationships. God knows there are plenty of metaphors to draw on in such a place to turn an ordinary conversation into a spiritual conversation. There are 556 separate references within the Baha'i primary literature to "garden." -gw

And when you pass by a garden wherein vegetable beds and plants, flowers and fragrant herbs are all combined so as to form a harmonious whole, this is an evidence that this plantation and this rose garden have been cultivated and arranged by the care of a perfect gardener, while when you see a garden in disorder, lacking arrangement and confused, this indicates that it has been deprived of the care of a skillful gardener, nay, rather, it is nothing but a mass of weeds. It has therefore been made evident that fellowship and harmony are indicative of the training by the real Educator, while separation and dispersion prove wildness and deprivation of Divine training.

Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith

On the First Canoe Paddle of the Year: Back to nature

Our first canoe paddle of this year came in May. Our first paddle of 2011 came in February. The difference? Ruhi Book 8. As much as Bonita loves the deep spiritual connections that she gets out in nature, she chose to spend Sundays from 9:30 to 1:30 studying the latest book in the Ruhi series with a dozen dear souls partaking of its spiritual sustenance. The study circle wrapped things up this month, having begun so many months ago in the depths of winter. Back to nature -gw

On Youth Sports For Combating Negative Social Forces: Plus four more ingredients

http://www.facebook.com/makepeacebuildcommunity

An empowered community CAN combat negative social forces, in the ways outlined on this poster above, and through what is illustrated photographically here below -- youth sports. -gw

On the Ice Cream Man Cometh: It has Rocky talking Coney Island

Shadi brings back cold treats


On a nice day grandma holds court from this spot at Ainsworth Court. On Sunday she had lots of company, as Robert and Robbie joined her on the second day of our intensive Baha'i expansion campaign. The ice cream truck had just come around. Shadi had just gone to get treats for everybody. That had Rocky talking about Coney Island. -gw

On an African-Canadian Connection: Remix Rushdy

Learned about this video on the Bahá'í-Inspired Music Listeners' Club page on Facebook...
Love the African track behind this Canadian rap. Below is the source of the track.- gw

On Two Transitions: Baby born and mom becomes a Baha'i

http://seanamandafamily.blogspot.com/


I've added many new sets and photos to the family blog about Sean and Amanda's engagement with the Baha'i community and their remarkable service in starting the core activities for community-building in the apartment complex in which they lived -- a junior youth group, a children's class, and a study circle. Amanda had her baby today, her third child. And she declared her faith in Baha'u'llah. -gw

A Baby Born Every Day: The primary role of the mother

Bonita with our newest grandchild, little Adaryn.


Staying home sick today I get to find out what my wife really does during the day. "I always watch "A Baby Story" while I'm having breakfast, my wife told me, as the sounds of childbirth from the TV penetrated my ears. Gee, she eats breakfast every day -- that's a lot of babies, a lot of childbirth. -gw

The great importance attached to the mother’s role derives from the fact that she is the first educator of the child. Her attitude, her prayers, even what she eats and her physical condition have a great influence on the child when it is still in the womb. When the child is born, it is she who has been endowed by God with the milk which is the first food designed for it, and it is intended that, if possible, she should be with the baby to train and nurture it in its earliest days and months. This does not mean that the father does not also love, pray for, and care for his baby, but as he has the primary responsibility of providing for the family, his time to be with his child is usually limited, while the mother is usually closely associated with the baby during this intensely formative time when it is growing and developing faster than it ever will again during the whole of its life. As the child grows older and more independent, the relative nature of its relationship with its mother and father modifies and the father can play a greater role.

(23 August 1984 to two believers)

On In the Young People of the World: Lies a reservoir of capacity to transform society

"A strenuous and concerted effort" will change the world. Martha reflects on these words of the Universal House of Justice as it relates to youth at our Cluster Reflection Meeting. -gw

They may come from any one of a number of educational backgrounds with all the hope in their hearts that, through strenuous concerted effort, the world will change. Irrespective of particulars, they will, one and all, share in the desire to dedicate their time and energy, talents and abilities, to service to their communities. Many, when given the opportunity, will gladly dedicate a few years of their lives to the provision of spiritual education to the rising generations. In the young people of the world, then, lies a reservoir of capacity to transform society waiting to be tapped.

The Universal House of Justice,  12 December 2011, quoted also in a lovely blog comment here...

http://mindyummy.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/yes-i-want-to-teach-teenagers/#comment-70

On Learning to Run Long and Hard: Not just for horses

Pegah ends our Reflection Meeting with a Persian story. The gist is, some of us are called upon to learn to run long and hard. This is a story that has such applicability for all the various communities within which I live -- the Utya Tigers / Tacoma Invaders football-loving community, the Pierce County Baha'is and their friends raising up more spiritual neighborhoods on Tacoma's East and South sides, and the early childhood mental health professionals community on the Kitsap and Peninsulas. Members of these communities, each with its own particular set of goals, are being asked to "run long and hard" to make this world a better place. -gw

On Songs Sung in Tacoma: Can come from anywhere

Gwen teaches us a new song. -gw

On Broken Wing Bird: Fifth Dimension song

"Broken-Winged Bird" recording by The Fifth Dimension, solo by Billy Davis. It is not the exact prayer, but the concept lyric was inspired and written by Kelly McKinney, music and arrangement by Bob Alcivar.

Bob Alcivar posted to Bahá'í-Inspired Music Listeners' Club

The Fifth Dimension sang more than just Age of Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In. -gw

O God! O God! This is a broken-winged bird and his flight is very slow—assist him so that he may fly toward the apex of prosperity and salvation, wing his way with the utmost joy and happiness throughout the illimitable space, raise his melody in Thy Supreme Name in all the regions, exhilarate the ears with this call, and brighten the eyes by beholding the signs of guidance. 

O Lord! I am single, alone and lowly. For me there is no support save Thee, no helper except Thee and no sustainer beside Thee. Confirm me in Thy service, assist me with the cohorts of Thy angels, make me victorious in the promotion of Thy Word and suffer me to speak out Thy wisdom 189 amongst Thy creatures. Verily, Thou art the helper of the weak and the defender of the little ones, and verily Thou art the Powerful, the Mighty and the Unconstrained.

—‘Abdu’l-Bahá