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“Patience, Grasshopper.” Television viewers of a certain age will recall that sage advice — delivered often, in one form or another, to an eager young Shaolin priest on the ‘70s show “Kung Fu.” Build your capacity. Act, learn from your actions and act some more. Accompany others as you yourself are accompanied. Achieve coherence within [...]
Key points from “The Nature of Systematic Learning,” a panel discussion at the recent Rabbani Trust Conference in Orlando, Florida, with George Costant, Natasha Bruss and Kaveh Shahidi: George Costant, Social Action Desk of the National Spiritual Assembly Related to the need for systematic learning, ‘Abdu’l-Baha wrote: “Know that nothing which exists remains in a [...]
You’re taking a year off from college and trekking to sunny, tropical French Guiana in service to the Baha’i community for 10 months. Imagine the adventures. Photo Gallery Anisa Norris leads a children’s class at the Baha’i center in Acarouany village, French Guiana. Photo courtesy of Anisa and Jasmine Norris Click to enlarge and browse [...]
Going abroad to serve God and humanity. Building the capacity of young people. Helping strengthen a society by advancing the equality of women and men. Putting fresh academic training to work in the real world. All those opportunities came together for Astrid Kersten in fall 2012, when she used sabbatical leave from her college faculty [...]
Aminollah Jazab served humanity both as a physician and as a promoter of the Baha’i teachings in his native Iran, in the United States and in northern and central Africa. He passed away December 16, 2012, having lived since 1999 as a homefront pioneer for the Faith in Gold Canyon, Arizona. He was 84. A [...]
Photo Gallery Some members of a New York City junior youth group pose with groceries they collected. Photo courtesy of Lev Rickards Click to enlarge and browse a gallery of related photos. It’s easy to see why efforts by Baha’is to build community where they live revolve around the core activities of children’s classes, junior [...]
Photo Gallery Participants in the Summer Music Academy at Desert Rose Bahá’í Institute form a unity circle. Photo courtesy of Sarah Danielle Taraz Click to enlarge and browse a gallery of related photos. Many a community knows that if you fuel the capacity of young people, everyone benefits. Several examples have been spotlighted in The [...]
Wayne H. Steffes, 78, Hesperia, CA Wayne Steffes, son of one of the earliest American Indian Baha’is, was an active teacher of the Faith in his own right, also serving in a number of national-level capacities over the years. He passed away October 15, 2012. A letter of tribute from the National Spiritual Assembly of [...]
Ruth Marion Hansen was a pillar of the Faith in Nebraska’s capital for close to 40 decades, and advocated locally for racial unity as a crucial path to peace. She passed away October 1, 2012, after living the past two years in Madison, Wisconsin. She was 94. In a letter of condolence, the National Spiritual [...]
Waldo T. “Walt” Boyd served for seven years as manager of Geyserville Baha’i School in California, predecessor to Bosch Baha’i School. He was for many years a technical and fiction writer and radio hobbyist. He passed away September 15, 2012, in Santa Rosa, California. He was 94. A letter of tribute from the National Spiritual [...]
Janice Blumer enjoys being a “fly on the wall” as for one week each summer, youths from the Pacific Northwest “become living examples of unity in action.” Carmel Baha’i School, held on the shores of Oregon’s Fall Creek Reservoir, is planned and run primarily by young adult Baha’is. The result, says Blumer, is a “spiritually [...]
Jane Faily is living in her eighth decade. She says it doesn’t take a clinical psychologist — which she is — to know that “living in a materialistic society with rapidly changing communication technology is hell for older people.” In her own life Faily has noticed “what a depressing effect the negative stereotypes of aging, [...]
A summer project that fostered the core activities at a homeless shelter and other locations on Long Island, New York, was born of a desire by Baha’i institutions in the Northeast to engage in a process of learning how to mobilize youths. Photo Gallery Youths engage in core activities in Long Island, New York. Photo [...]
On a daily, and sometimes hourly, basis seekers from across the country call 800-22UNITE or visit the web (www.bahai.us) to ask questions, invite contact while they explore their spiritual search, or request information to be sent to them. Across the country, and within each region, there are regional-level “seeker response coordinators” and some cluster-level contacts [...]
Joyce Jackson is focused on filling the needs of Uganda’s national Baha’i community while she serves there as a pioneer. In her case, that service looks a little different from how Baha’is customarily have envisioned pioneering. Photo Gallery Baha’i pioneer holds a devotional gathering in Kampala, Uganda. Photo courtesy of Joyce Jackson Click to enlarge [...]
Julie Heath and her husband lived and served the Baha’i Faith in Central Asia as pioneers for two stretches of several years each, starting in 1999. Both times she was able to start children’s classes and junior youth groups, using capacities built through Ruhi Institute training. In one neighborhood she brought in a group of [...]
Greeta E. Knight Brown, 88, Ogden, Utah Greeta Brown was a scholar of ethnomusicology, conducting research among the Inupiaq people in Alaska, and a lifelong musician. She played a social activist role in battling for equal pay for women, and later directed the Women’s Resource Center in Anchorage. She passed away June 10, 2012. She [...]
Can listening save a life? Even listening just with your eyes, as in Candy Asman’s case? Asman, a Baha’i in New York City, once worked as a clinical nurse specialist at a major hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. That’s where she encountered a young man with a baffling condition masked by his inability to speak. [...]
“O Son of Dust! The wise are they that speak not unless they obtain a hearing, even as the cup-bearer, who proffereth not his cup till he findeth a seeker, and the lover who crieth not out from the depths of his heart until he gazeth upon the beauty of his beloved. Wherefore sow the [...]
Office of Education and Schools Youth service programs at the permanent national Baha’i schools have evolved considerably since they were established in 1984, and additional changes are anticipated in the coming year. In that light, and considering the current need for more youth volunteers, the Office of Education and Schools took a moment to reflect [...]
Being mugged is traumatic. But when Talibah Sun had a cherished necklace — a remembrance of her father — snatched from around her neck, her love for humanity overrode every other emotion. She gave chase, made noise and the police held a 16-year-old in connection with the theft. And as the young man who was [...]
Sure, some of the ingredients are savory on their own. But with company coming, better to mix them together and bake a cake. Meaningful conversations lead to devotional gatherings in Apple Valley, Minnesota. Photo by Eileen Johnson Click on photo to enlarge That’s what Baha’is in two Minnesota communities realized when faced with a multitude [...]
Photo Gallery Hendersonville, Tennessee Baha’i community engages in Ruhi Book 5 study circle. Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Price What did it take for the junior youth spiritual empowerment program to advance in Hendersonville, Tennessee? Nothing short of a reassessment of the roles people can play, says Elizabeth Price. Here’s how it happened: A junior youth [...]
Photo Gallery A junior youth camp gathers in Yerevan, Armenia. Photo courtesy of Haig Setrakian Click to enlarge and browse a gallery of related photos. When Haig Setrakian discovered the teachings of Baha’u’llah as a student in New York state, his first impulse was to look for connections with his roots — build a bridge [...]
Devotional gathering is bringing moms together in Lincoln, Nebraska. Photo courtesy of Katie Bodie Cervantes They’ve served actively. Now they’re married and diving into the “baby business.” How can young adult Baha’is find avenues of service that fit around parenthood? Billie Kay Bodie of Burchard, Nebraska, raised these concerns in consultation at the recent 104th [...]
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