Feast cross-pollination
As to the Nineteen Day Feast, it rejoiceth mind and heart. If this feast be held in the proper fashion, the friends will, once in nineteen days, find themselves spiritually restored, and endued with a power that is not of this world.
(Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 91)
Last night Justin invited me to go with her and the girls to the 19th Day Feast at the Falls Church Baha’i community in order to encourage the friends to share ideas for direct teaching in preparation for the Cluster Reflection meeting this coming Saturday. The Falls Church community could not be more different than the Arlington one. While Arlington is in flux constantly with a number of people moving in and out pretty much throughout the year, Falls Church has Baha’is who have been living there for more than 30 years, and have been doing community outreach for years. Talk about the patience and persistence it takes to establish the presence they have.
Something else unique that Falls Church has is the presence of the Baha’i interns at the Tahirih Justice Center, the young Baha’is who come from all over the world each year to volunteer at the Center. They are usually hosted by Baha’i families in Falls Church and provide wonderful services beyond their work on justice for women and girls. Emma, one of those interns, was so wonderful with the girls last night: her play with them enabled a very productive consultation among the rest of us present at the Feast. To me, this presence of visiting Baha’is is another example of Baha’i cross-pollination. We all can be so refreshingly different yet so the same in recognizing that the same core activities — devotional gatherings, children classes, study circles — animate community life throughout the world.
It was a humbling reminder for me that we all strive to serve the Faith in our own way, in the unique capacity God had given us, and that one should never assume to know better than others. We all could learn from each other so much. I know that cluster reflection meetings are one of the venues for exchanging ideas outside of a community “box” but last night’s experience reminded me how enlightening it is to visit, from time to time, another community and see how they do things. Try it, and you might be pleasantly surprised!
