Reviving the world and regenerating its peoples

Reviving the world – regenerating its peoples

Bahá’u'lláh says this:

The Day Star of Truth that shineth in its meridian splendor beareth Us witness! They who are the people of God have no ambition except to revive the world, to ennoble its life, and regenerate its peoples. Truthfulness and good-will have, at all times, marked their relations with all men. Their outward conduct is but a reflection of their inward life, and their inward life a mirror of their outward conduct. No veil hideth or obscureth the verities on which their Faith is established. Before the eyes of all men these verities have been laid bare, and can be unmistakably recognized. Their very acts attest the truth of these words. [Gleanings CXXVI]

The energy of Convention

To sit in a large hall with over a thousand delegates and others from all sorts of backgrounds from all over the world, to hear these people express their love for God, their experiences in sharing Bahá’u'lláh’s healing message with all and sundry, to take part in a global election – conducted in an atmosphere of prayer – was to feel an extraordinary energy.

I was sitting on the edge of my bed reading this quotation from Gleanings the other morning when it struck me that this was exactly what International Convention was about. What I heard and what I experienced and what I felt at Convention showed clearly the truth of the quotation.

And it showed just how alive the Bahá’í community is right now. At International Convention ten years ago, we all wanted to lecture each other about how things should be done. Some Bahá’í communities, some National Spiritual Assemblies (naming no names) clearly felt they had it cracked. This time, though, pretty much every contribution at the microphone made it clear that we are all learning together. We are learning from each other.

In a word, the mood was collegial.

Institutions

The newly elected Universal House of Justice

And the Bahá’í institutions are alive and learning all sorts of lessons. Administration for its own sake or for the sake of control (as if!) is long dead. This is what the Universal House of Justice has written in this year’s most powerful Ridván message to the Bahá’ís of the world:

Institutions, from the national to the local level, see with ever greater clarity how to create conditions conducive to the expression of the spiritual energies of a growing number of believers in pursuit of a common goal. The community is serving more and more as that environment in which individual effort and collective action, mediated by the institute, can complement each other in order to achieve progress. The vibrancy it manifests and the unity of purpose that animates its endeavours are drawing into its swelling ranks those from every walk of life eager to dedicate their time and energies to the welfare of humanity.

The Bahá’í community – in all its endeavours – has moved a long way from where it was ten years ago. We are all clearly treading the same path. We speak a shared language about the processes of growth. We are part of a single narrative of development and systematic learning – despite the huge diversity of circumstances we live and work in. Some struggle with war, others with poverty, many of us with “forces of oppression, whether generated from the depths of religious prejudice or the pinnacles of rampant materialism”.

Whoever we are and wherever we live, we are in the business of removing oppression, particularly the grievous oppression that prevents souls from knowing where to turn in their search for truth and from whom to seek the knowledge of God.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Baha’u'llah, Bahaullah, International Convention, regeneration, oppression, God

Related posts:

1. Who learns from whom?
2. Returning home
3. International Convention is under way
4. International Bahá’í Convention – official photo
5. A song from Benin

Tagged as: Baha'i, Baha'u'llah, God, International Convention, oppression, regeneration