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The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States is one of several supporting sponsors, along with the Boston Globe and public television station WGBH, of the National Race Amity Conference which will be held May 18-19 at Wheelock College. The second annual conference opens with a Thursday evening welcome reception that features sponsor presentations [...]
I became a Baha’i on the Feast of ‘Izzat in 1973, 38 years ago. I grew up in a Jewish family in Newton, Mass., but my family was not devout. We celebrated Passover and Chanukah and my parents sent me to Hebrew School when I was little but, honestly, none of it connected with me. [...]
More than 200 talented voices from nine nations will sing beautiful sacred music at the 2012 Baha’i Choral Festival with two free public concerts on Sunday May 27th at Wilmette’s renowned Baha’i Temple. Rich harmonies and uplifting music will fill the 1,200-seat Baha’i House of Worship beginning at 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. that Sunday. [...]
In the blog State of Formation, Phillipe Copeland emphasizes the importance of engaging in interreligious dialogue and being attentive to including the intersections of faith and race into these conversations. “According to the Abrahamic traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Baha’i Faith, the universe itself was spoken into being. This offers a fitting metaphor for [...]
Photo Gallery Centenary devotional programs bring thousands to the Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois Click to enlarge and browse a gallery of related photos. Every seat filled. A hush in the air. That was the Auditorium of the Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, until the strains of “Ya Baha’u’l-Abha,” sung by [...]
Enjoy Illinois is doing a fan favorite sweepstakes! Beginning Monday, May 7th, you can vote for your favorite Illinois attractions for a chance to win an Illinois getaway and a $500 Shell Gift Card! The Baha’i House of Worship has been paired with the Adler Planetarium. Vote now at: https://www.facebook.com/EnjoyIllinois/app_263653463729978. The winner will be chosen [...]
By. Tracy Simmons as originally posted on SpokaneFAVS A Spokane Valley man joined Bahá’ís from across the country this weekend in Wilmette, Ill. to elect a new National Spiritual Assembly, discuss spiritual issues and celebrate Ridvan. Joseph F. Urlacher, the Bahá’í delegate for Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho, said the 104th Baha’i National Convention was [...]
Outreach in two areas flanking Phoenix, Arizona, has inspired residents who have their own struggles to work alongside Baha’is for change where they live. In Mesa in the East Valley cluster of Baha’i communities, the junior youth spiritual empowerment program for ages 11–14 has captured imaginations in neighborhoods. They have encountered many people who share [...]
The Dalton, Georgia, Baha’i community once was much larger and quite active in the greater society. The director of a new community center in the recession-devastated “Carpet Capital of the World” remembers. When Baha’is recently took a barrel of donated canned food items to the center, he spoke of attending events they had sponsored. Would [...]
Mavis Creager spent nearly 15 years in Japan teaching conversational English and making many connections to help Baha’i communities grow. She passed away January 18, 2012, at age 76. Her home of the past 18 years was La Crosse, Wisconsin, and she lived most of her life in that state. In a letter of condolence [...]
Elise Schreiber Lynelle traveled as a young woman to South America and Africa in service to the Baha’i Faith, and was honored twice as a Knight of Baha’u’llah for helping establish Baha’i communities in territories that are now part of Equatorial Guinea and São Tomé and Principe. She passed away on February 26, 2012, at [...]
Photo Gallery Historic gathering at the Chicago Theatre commemorates visit of ‘Abdu’l-Baha. Click to enlarge and browse a gallery of related photos. It was a look back at a pivotal point in development of the fledgling national Baha’i community of 1912. It was an assessment of where that community stands. And more: a glimpse at [...]
Read some recent articles from publications in the Chicago area about the Baha’i Faith, the Baha’i House of Worship and the centenary of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s visit to America: Wilmette Life: ‘Centenary events set for Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette’. 4/17/2012 Wilmette-Kenilworth Patch: ‘Baha’i House of Worship celebrates 100th anniversary‘. 4/20/2012 Chicago Sun-Times: ‘Celebration honors centennial of Baha’i [...]
Sandra Lynn Hutchison explains the significance of the Festival of Ridvan in this entry on In Culture Parent.
Delegates to the 104th Baha’i National Convention cast their ballots in a prayerful atmosphere today to elect the nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States. The individuals elected to serve on the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States are, listed according to the highest number of votes [...]
The Islamic call to prayer resonated from the balcony of the historic New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC — once regularly attended by Abraham Lincoln. The cry of “Allah-u-Akbar” affirmed the greatness of God. The piercing blast of the Jewish shofar — a ram’s horn blown with both reverence and conviction — reinforced [...]
A century ago ‘Abdu’l-Baha, son of the Founder of the Baha’i Faith, laid the cornerstone for the Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois. This Thursday the 104th U.S. Baha’i National Convention convenes in that holy place. Delegates will have two principal tasks: Prayerfully elect the nine members of the Baha’i Faith’s national governing body, [...]
Van Gilmer, Director of the Baha’i House of Worship Music Department and Choir, shares his musical journey to the Baha’i Faith in this feature article in Wilmette Life. Read the full article.
What makes the Festival of Ridvan, celebrated April 21 to May 2, the holiest of days for Baha’is? It commemorates the anniversary of Baha’u’llah’s declaration in 1863 that He was the Promised One of all earlier religions.
We hear in the Ridvan 2011 message of the Universal House of Justice: “To all without distinction — officials, scientists, workers, children, parents, exiles, activists, clerics, skeptics — ['Abdu'l-Baha] imparted love, wisdom, comfort, whatever the particular need.” We read in Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas: “Become ye a shelter and asylum to the fearful ones, be [...]
Relocating or traveling for service boils down to lending your skills and experiences to the development of those around you and the place you now call home. One couple no longer in the “résumé-building phase of life” is doing just that. Tony and Toni Goggans moved to tiny Florence, Colorado, from the Colorado Springs area [...]
Twenty-six years ago Baha’is in Tryon, North Carolina, took a stand when they helped organize a town-wide picnic to counter a Ku Klux Klan rally. The organization born as a result is thriving, and Baha’is are still front and center. Fifteen years ago a Baha’i mother assisting in a Lexington County, South Carolina, elementary school [...]
Life in Baltimore, Maryland, a city of row houses, centers on people’s front stoops. So when Baha’is began sharing the Faith’s teachings in the Collington Square neighborhood three years ago, all eyes were on them. They’d have to demonstrate to residents of one of the city’s poorest areas their love and sincerity. The catalyst, Tod [...]
Most people long for the opportunity to truly serve another. These three Baha’is are among those blessed to have discovered a need and been able to step in with love. Here they tell their stories — reminders that anywhere someone is sick, injured, addicted, or just lost in a new culture there is need. Karen [...]
That Baha’is strive to live the teachings of Baha’u’llah in the workplace as in other areas of daily life is no surprise. But how can that bring real transformation of individuals and institutions? Mainly in situations that require thought, consultation and often prayer about the fair thing to do, say business consultants Jason Combs and [...]
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