This where I shall be for the next week, for the 10th International Baha’i Convention.

I’m not taking my laptop and I’m quite unlikely to have time to find a cybercafe and to post here while I’m away. I look forward to getting back to writing in early May. See you then!

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, International Convention, Haifa, blogging

So, this amazing Convention is in motion.

Having had a couple of days to pray in the Holy Shrines and visit some of the Holy Places, we are in the Haifa Convention Centre for the first day of the Convention iself. Around a thousand delegates from all over the world are casting their ballots in person. Almost two thousand ballots, from countries from Alaska to Zimbabwe, will be cast altogether.

This afternoon we go to Bahji to celebrate the Ninth Day of Ridvan.

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I’m struggling to digest this morning’s experiences at the International Baha’i Convention in Haifa.

We started with the reading of the Ridvan message to the Baha’is of the world from the Universal House of Justice. This is one of the

most powerful and direct messages I’ve heard. Of all the things that struck me, one was this:
Only if you perceive honour and nobility in every human being - this independent of wealth or poverty - will you be able to champion the cause of justice. And to the extent that administrative processes of your institutions are governed by principles of Baha’i consultation will the great masses of humanity be able to take refuge in the Baha’i community.

Sorry, out of battery.

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This morning, a thousand delegates from some 150 countries to the International Baha’i Convention in Haifa, Israel, stood in silence as sirens sounded outside the Convention Centre to honour Holocaust Memorial Day. After this powerfully solemn and moving period, a delegate from Benin, who had been speaking when the sirens sounded, ended his contribution with a song that the Baha’is in his cluster had written as a way of teaching basic facts about the Faith.

In a moment the whole Convention was singing. Wonderful!

We’ve heard some wonderfully inspiring stories from Baha’i communities in Kiribati, Samoa, Senegal, India, UK, and many other countries. The stories are of learning, success, struggle. Almost 17,000 people becoming Baha’is in one year in India. Increasing declarations of faith from 2 or 3 per year to 20 during the Fast last in Senegal.

I had intended yesterday to provide this link to the Baha’i World News story with the names of the newly elected members of the Universal House of Justice, but my iPod battery ran out.

Right now I’m sitting outside instead of being in the session, trying to digest a good lunch and a fascinating conversation with a Baha’i who is both a cosmologist and a scholar of the Writings in Persian and Arabic. We talked in great depth (on his side at least) about some of what the Writings say about science and religion and the nature of revelation as a rational and non-arbitrary process. No time or capacity to write about this now, though.

Technorati Tags: Bahai, Baha’i, Holocaust, Israel, International Convention, science, religion

Throughout International Convention, we have heard from delegates from every continent, from countries poor and rich. Any delegate who wishes to speak lines up at one of the microphones and takes his or her turn to speak to the theme of the consultation session or to say whatever is on their heart. One older lady, a delegate from one of the Pacific islands, spoke through a translator to bring the greetings of the Baha’is of her island to those gathered at the Convention.

The humbling and exciting thing for those of us from the wealthy countries is that much of the really useful learning comes from the Baha’i communities of the poorer countries. It is heartwarming to hear stories from Indonesia, Chad, Solomon Islands, Nicaragua, Zambia…

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I’m on my way home from International Baha’i Convention. I will blog some more reflections on the Convention (with some photos) in the next day or two.

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The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the UK near the Shrine of the Báb

The spot in the Most Great Prison where the Purest Branch, Mirza Mihdi, lay dying after falling through a skylight above.

Now that I am home, I am beginning to upload my pictures from the Tenth International Bahá’í Convention to Flickr. This will take a bit of time, but you can see them here.

I hope to write more tomorrow.

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Delegates from many nations to the International Bahá’í Convention went in groups to visit the prison cell that Bahá’u'lláh occupied in the barracks in Akka for two years, two months and five days from 31 August 1868. We crowded into the cell and sat in silence on the floor, on chairs and on the ledge just inside the windows to pray, to think, to contemplate.

This was the prison that Bahá’u'lláh named “The Most Great Prison”.

The Ancient Beauty bound with chains

After a short time, one of the delegates read the following passage from the Writings of Bahá’u'lláh, at the request of our guide:

The Ancient Beauty hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner within this most mighty Stronghold that the whole world may attain unto true liberty. He hath drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow that all the peoples of the earth may attain unto abiding joy, and be filled with gladness.

Impressions

When the reading had finished, I sat quietly and opened my senses to the cell and its particular atmosphere. I wrote these impressions in my notebook at the time:

Visitors from many nations sit, rapt, in this Prison cell which is filled with the scent of cedarwood.

A cool breeze blows in through the open window and we can hear the sussuration of sea, the sound of waves breaking on rocks and against the sea wall.

A dog barks and barks. A cock crows. Someone throws planks of wood.

Pacing, pacing

I think back to the first pilgrimage that Erica and I made, in 1970. In the cell, Erica felt restless and could not stop herself walking up and down. And now I thought of Bahá’u'lláh pacing and pacing up and down in that confined space.

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This is the official photograph of the Tenth International Bahá’í Convention, 26th April to 3rd May 2008.

I’m in there somewhere!

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In the House of ‘Abbúd, visitors move softly around and there’s a shush of socked feet sliding across the floor. Whispered conversations in front of pictures hanging on the walls. Pilgrims sit cross-legged on the floor of the wood-lined room where Bahá’u'lláh finished revealing the Kitáb-i-Aqdas in 1873 and contemplate the going out of the Law of God from this simple chamber.

Inside there’s peace. Outside the electronic voice of a child’s toy gun says, “Fire! Fire!” and emits the sound of shooting. Ironically, this is also the room where Bahá’u'lláh revealed the Fire Tablet.

Peace and prayers fill Bahá’u'lláh’s room in the House of ‘Abbúd. A car alarm sounds outside, but it is the power of peace that wins in this holy place.

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