O people! Consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship. Thus hath the day-star of His sanction and authority shone forth above the horizon of the decree of God, the Lord of the worlds.
(Baha’u'llah, Tablets of Baha’u'llah, p. 21)

I just received the list of the participants in this year’s Interfaith Dinner Dialogue which I will co-host on Sunday. It includes: Baha’i, Follower of Jesus, Non-denominational Christian, Nature-based (Wicca), Protestant, Jewish, Islamic. What is missing is Zoroastrian, Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist! Last year’s dialogue was wonderful and resulted in many unexpected new friendships! May the new friendship gained this year be as rewarding!

Yesterday I got a pleasant surprise when the apartment building’s manager — a very sweet young woman from Yemen who grew up in Germany — sent me an email that she would like to come to the Prayer Station. I was so overjoyed! In case you wonder why, and to put things in perspective, she’s been on my weekly invitation list since… June 2008. And even though on many occasions she had asked me to pray for her, it was the first time that she decided to join me…

When she arrived, she asked me if I knew why she came this time after all these invitations — I had no idea but she explained…

The previous week, she had contacted me to remind me that I need to clear up my apartment for carpet replacement. I had totally missed the message during my recent trip to Bulgaria so I had to take last Monday’s afternoon off from work to be able to move all the stuff to the balcony, kitchen and restroom — the only places not covered with carpeting. Then on Tuesday morning she called me to tell me that a mistake had been made and that in fact my carpet is not old enough and it will not be replaced. My reply was… “Oh, OK, no problem”. She felt badly about the mistake and offered to have the carpet cleaned to which I gratefully agreed.

So, yesterday she explained to me that she  was so surprised that I did not get mad at her as she was anticipating, that she decided to come to the prayer meeting to find out what makes me who I am. I hope this is not a post to brag about how calm I can be, so in full honesty I don’t know if I would have gotten mad on another more regular day but that day in particular I was most certainly very impacted by the passing of Joe Pagano which, putting everything else in perspective, had reminded me how fragile and precious life is,  and by the beginning of the Fast.

One way or another, she came to join the prayer meeting and a group of  five other souls — four Baha’is and a young woman of Catholic background — and we all had great time reading and praying for the equality of women and men.

I am so grateful for this confirmation, this glimpse into the power of the positive impact we all can have on each other, for the reminder that we all are indeed rippling waves of one sea, passing energy into the universe and onto each other…

O Lord! Cause our souls to depend upon the signs of Thy Oneness, our hearts to be dilated with the bounties of Thy Singleness, so that we may become united as are ripples on a waving sea; become harmonized as are the rays which shine forth from a brilliant light; so that our thoughts, opinions and feelings become as one reality from which the spirit of accord may be diffused throughout all regions.

Verily Thou art the Beneficent, the Bestower! Verily Thou art the Giver, the Mighty, the Loving, the Merciful!

(Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu’l-Baha v1, p. 3)

This morning however, I got Jim Sterne’s newsletter, Sterne Measures, and read in horror the following:

So Long Joe, You Will Be Missed

Last month, we lost Joe Pagano, a vibrant member of our community. Joe was the digital media project coordinator
in the Office of Strategic Initiatives at the Library of Congress where he led the Library’s Web site analytics
program. He worked in web metrics for the last eight years, was co-chair of the Web Manager’s Advisory Council Web
Metrics Task Group and was very active in the Web Analytics Association. Rest well, Joe.

31. O SON OF BEING!
Bring thyself to account each day ere thou art summoned to a reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall come upon thee and thou shalt be called to give account for thy deeds.

(Baha’u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

These days the world seems stuck. And badly needs unstucking…

In Iran, the 7 Baha’i leaders are stuck in a jail, falsely accused of crimes they never committed and we all fear for their lives. Please pray for them!

I will not even comment on the insanity of the battle in which I am stuck in my attempts to be a father…

All of this while Washington, DC, is stuck under record amounts of snow.

This morning on my way to pick my baby sitter, my car got stuck on her street as I was driving back towards the cleared road. It took me an hour and a half trying so many different ways to get unstuck. I pushed, I pulled, I tried forward, I tried backward. A nice lady let me borrow her shovel on three occasions, each attempt getting me closer to the goal but never actually enabling me to be free. What a metaphor for my life these past years! The harder I was trying, the deeper I was getting into the snow. At some point I asked for help from some Pakistani men. They came and tried to help to no avail. Then I decided to walk to the store to buy some sand (the idea of buying sand sounds insane to me but on a snowy day you do not have much choice). They did not carry sand but they had cat litter crystals so I tried that — again, to no avail. Finally I asked a group of young men from Nicaragua to help me and after a good wait during which they uncovered somebody else’s car, they came to my rescue and off I went…

So, I’ve been thinking to myself about the connection between stuckness and unstuckness, freedom and detachment.

Like water on a lotus leaf, like a mustard seed on the point of a pin, he who is not stuck to the senses – that is what I
call a brahmin.
(Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha)

The Virtues cards I peruse each day give good insights and suggestions. The one on peacefulness suggests giving up the love of power for the power of love. A beautiful friend send me today this quote to reflect on as I was sharing about my difficulties:

The more difficulties one sees in the world the more perfect one becomes. The more you plough and dig the ground the more fertile it becomes. The more you cut the branches of a tree the higher and stronger it grows. The more you put the gold in the fire, the purer it becomes. The more you sharpen the steel by grinding …the better it cuts. Therefore, the more sorrows one sees the more perfect one becomes. That is why, in all times, the Prophets of God have had tribulations and difficulties to withstand. The more often the captain of a ship is in the tempest and difficult sailing the more greater his knowledge becomes. Therefore I am happy that you have had great tribulations and difficulties . . .

‘Abdu’l-Bahá

So, all these tests and tribulations are a good sign that God indeed loves me! Much to be grateful for! So, I decided to be grateful and I baked two banana breads this afternoon to take to the people who helped me in my attempts to unstuck my car from the snow. The Pakistani men were not at home but two shy yet kind ladies opened the door and while giving them the freshly baked banana bread, I told them of my gratitude for the help I received from strangers. The American lady who gave me a shovel was very kind as well and I gave her also a Baha’i prayer for peace — we both agreed that the world needs more helping strangers, shovels, banana bread and prayers

So, for every one who is stuck in this world, let’s give them a spiritual push. And a prayer:

Thou knowest full well, O my God, that tribulations have showered upon me from all directions and that no one can dispel or transmute them except Thee.  I know of a certainty, by virtue of my love for Thee, that Thou wilt never cause tribulations to befall any soul unless Thou desirest to exalt his station in Thy celestial Paradise and to buttress his heart in this earthly life with the bulwark of Thine all-compelling power, that it may not become inclined toward the vanities of this world.  Indeed Thou art well aware that under all conditions I would cherish the remembrance of Thee far more than the ownership of all that is in the heavens and on the earth.

Strengthen my heart, O my God, in Thine obedience and in Thy love, and grant that I may be clear of the entire company of Thine adversaries.  Verily, I swear by Thy glory that I yearn for naught besides Thyself, nor do I desire anything except Thy mercy, nor am I apprehensive of aught save Thy justice.  I beg Thee to forgive me as well as those whom Thou lovest, howsoever Thou pleasest.  Verily, Thou art the Almighty, the Bountiful.

Immensely exalted art Thou, O Lord of the heavens and earth, above the praise of all men, and may peace be upon Thy faithful servants and glory be unto God, the Lord of all the worlds.

The Báb

O ye close and dear friends of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá!
In the Orient scatter perfumes,
And shed splendours on the West.
Carry light unto the Bulgar,
And the Slav with life invest.
(Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 270)

It was so nourishing — and just fun — to share a Bulgarian dinner with these friends and reminisce about our similar paths, sharing the types of jokes you would get only if you had lived in that part of the world, in those days of human history. And then to share prayers and discuss the Baha’i Faith — with all the things we think we understand about it, and those that seem at least at first as insurmountable obstacles. And then to acknowledge humbly that we might not actually get it but hope that the heart would one day know:

O servant! Warn thou the servants of God not to reject that which they do not comprehend. Say, implore God to open to your hearts the portals of true understanding that ye may be apprised of that of which no one is apprised. Verily, He is the Giver, the Forgiving, the Compassionate.
(Baha’u'llah, Tablets of Baha’u'llah, p. 188)

Life is a journey and I could not have asked for a better “new beginning” of the next chapter of my life than spending an evening at the Prayer Station with new friends from the Old World.

Rid thou thyself of all attachments to aught except God, enrich thyself in God by dispensing with all else besides Him, and recite this prayer:

Say: God sufficeth all things above all things, and nothing in the heavens or in the earth or in whatever lieth between them but God, thy Lord, sufficeth. Verily, He is in Himself the Knower, the Sustainer, the Omnipotent.

Regard not the all-sufficing power of God as an idle fancy. It is that genuine faith which thou cherishest for the Manifestation of God in every Dispensation. It is such faith which sufficeth above all the things that exist on the earth, whereas no created thing on earth besides faith would suffice thee. If thou art not a believer, the Tree of divine Truth would condemn thee to extinction. If thou art a believer, thy faith shall be sufficient for thee above all things that exist on earth, even though thou possess nothing.
(The Bab, Selections From the Writings of the Bab, p. 123.)

And last night the Prayer Station was so wonderful! Ghaneh joined me, Farah, Wil, Madeleine and Merrie. He spoke so eloquently and with such sincere love for Jesus Christ, explaining the spiritual meaning of the tests faced by those who two thousand years ago had a chance and responsibility to recognize the Son of God, just as we all today are being tested in our readiness to recognize His Return, that Merrie was in tears and shared that she had never been so touched and so enlightened by another person shedding light on the wisdom in God’s Holy Book, and that Ghaneh was the answer to her dream from two week ago. Ghaneh humbly replied that his hope is we all become worthy of such responsibility. Rejoiced as we all were in praising the Lord, dear Madeleine encouraged us all to keep in our hearts the hunger for God, for only God can satisfy the hunger of the soul:

I counsel you, in the end, not to overstep the bounds of God, nor to heed the ways and habits of men, for these can neither “fatten nor appease your hunger”. Fix, rather, your gaze upon the precepts of God. Whosoever desireth, let him accept this counsel as a path leading unto his Lord, and whosoever desireth, let him return to his own idle imaginings. My Lord, verily, is independent above all who are in the heavens and on the earth, and above all that they say and do.
(Baha’u'llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 237)

The God-conscious being is always unattached,
as the lotus in the water remains detached.

The God-conscious being is always unstained,
like the sun, which gives its comfort and warmth to all.

The God-conscious being looks upon all alike,
like the wind, which blows equally upon the king and the poor beggar.

The God-conscious being has a steady patience,
like the earth, which is dug up by one, and anointed with sandal paste by another.

(Sikhism, Shri Guru Granth Sahib, Section  7 – Raag Gauree)

Another prayer station, both unique yet usual. This time it was Max, Marite, Sohi and myself. We had another bean soup / banitza / banana bread dinner (what it is with the Bs?), followed by Holy Writings, prayers and the music of Leonor Dely, SKY and Paul Parrish, each singing their version of:

O SON OF MAN!
For everything there is a sign. The sign of love is fortitude under My decree and patience under My trials.
(Baha’u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words, #48)

Then came the time for Marite’s questions who during the dinner told us that she is getting ready to become a Baha’i but has some things on her mind that trouble her. Can she pray to both Jesus Christ and Baha’u'llah? Can she accept both? Can she consider Jesus as higher than Baha’u'llah since Jesus was from older times? Can she be a Baha’i and go to church? She certainly feels more embraced and at ease at Baha’i gatherings than at church although understandably she is being careful about her own roots and identity.

We all shared our thoughts, and experiences, and prayed some more, and even sang the song “Hoy Es El Dia” together. And we clarified that if and when Marite becomes a Baha’i, she would be part of the Arlington Baha’i community. Now is the time for more patience and more prayers, until the heart is calm and ready to embrace the peace of knowing that there is one God, one humanity and one religion.

But, O my brother, when a true seeker determineth to take the step of search in the path leading to the knowledge of the Ancient of Days, he must, before all else, cleanse and purify his heart, which is the seat of the revelation of the inner mysteries of God, from the obscuring dust of all acquired knowledge, and the allusions of the embodiments of satanic fancy. He must purge his breast, which is the sanctuary of the abiding love of the Beloved, of every defilement, and sanctify his soul from all that pertaineth to water and clay, from all shadowy and ephemeral attachments. He must so cleanse his heart that no remnant of either love or hate may linger therein, lest that love blindly incline him to error, or that hate repel him away from the truth. Even as thou dost witness in this day how most of the people, because of such love and hate, are bereft of the immortal Face, have strayed far from the Embodiments of the divine mysteries, and, shepherdless, are roaming through the wilderness of oblivion and error. That seeker must at all times put his trust in God, must renounce the peoples of the earth, detach himself from the world of dust, and cleave unto Him Who is the Lord of Lords. He must never seek to exalt himself above any one, must wash away from the tablet of his heart every trace of pride and vainglory, must cling unto patience and resignation, observe silence, and refrain from idle talk. For the tongue is a smouldering fire, and excess of speech a deadly poison. Material fire consumeth the body, whereas the fire of the tongue devoureth both heart and soul. The force of the former lasteth but for a time, whilst the effects of the latter endure a century.

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 192)

This year, the celebration of the Birth of Baha’u'llah, the Prince of Peace, was made doubly meaningful for me because I was able to attend it with two new friends who expressed interest in joining me during the Monday Prayer Station. As Madeleine and Merrie live in DC, I wanted to introduce them to some of the friends there. I went to pick them up and even though it was dark and rainy I found their place rather easily as I used to live in their vicinity years ago when I first moved to DC. The celebration itself was outstanding: full of music, prayers, joy and fellowship. It was hosted by the Baha’i Black Men’s Gathering who ensured we all participated and sang along. I loved their rendition of Van Gilmer’s “I’m Going Back To The Father”. Then Katharine, Melissa and Sholeh sang angelically SKY’s “Sign of Love”, followed by an original composition based on quotations from the Ruhi books and closing with their version of “Say God Sufficeth”. The musical dessert were the delightful Vocal Motion Six from Namibia, whom last week I had a chance to bring to the International Fall Fest at Sofia’s school.

The seekers enjoyed themselves. Madeleine was delighted to discover others intrigued by the Glory of God and was very impressed to meet some 5th generation Baha’is and some new Baha’is and Baha’is of such impressive diversity all mingle in loving fellowship. On the way to the celebration and back I had a fascinating talk with Merrie trying to interpret a dream she had had following the prayer meeting on Monday, in which she had found a box which opened threefold and in which there was a photo of a man in imperial clothes from 19th century. I linked the dream to the Covenant of Baha’u'llah and His Tablets addressing the kings and rulers of the world and the promise for world peace.

Speaking of peace, I am going to the dialogue hosted by the Baha’i Chair of World Peace next Thursday, which is the reason I am shifting my Ruhi 3 class next week. Tonight’s class was a very delightful closing of a long and busy but also joyous day, with some very deep discussions on how the unconditional love of God can be the only tool for overcoming insecurity and selfishness in children and adults:

For every one of you his paramount duty is to choose for himself that on which no other may infringe and none usurp from him. Such a thing — and to this the Almighty is My witness — is the love of God, could ye but perceive it.
(Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 261)

Just as I invited my new friend from Sierra Leone to the Prayer Station, the kids started showing up, making me appreciate the opportunity to be next to them and admire their strength — little as they were — brave in their own way. And I prayed for them tonight, out of gratitude for the health of my little ones, and for healing for those who are not as lucky, and with gratitude for the real Comforter:

Glorified, immeasurably glorified art Thou, O my God, and my Beloved, and my Master, and my Desire! Shatter not the hopes of this lowly one to attain the shores of Thy glory, and deprive not this wretched creature of the immensities of Thy riches, and cast not away this suppliant from the doors of Thy grace, and Thy bounty, and Thy gifts. Have mercy, then, upon this poor and desolate soul who hath sought no friend but Thee, and no companion except Thee, and no comforter save Thee, and no beloved apart from Thee, nor cherished any desire but Thyself.
(Baha’u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u'llah, p. 335)

What a FANTASTIC  TOPIC  you have chosen.  We can ask to see God’s Glory and also ask to have that Glory inside of us.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t know yet if I am coming.     Madeleine

Then at noon Madeleine called me to tell me she is coming with a friend. When she and her friend Merrie arrived, as I introduced them to Wil, the third guest, the topic somehow went into the need of praying for our government.  Turns out Merrie had hosted the two inauguration prayer meetings during the Clinton administration. Then she started telling us the story of how she met Hillary Clinton at a church service and how she had hoped to approach President Bill Clinton but it was he who reached out to her to shake her hand to which she answered with “We pray for you, sir”. So, all of a sudden, the dream started making sense. At least some sense

We all had wonderful and uplifting time reading from the Holy Bible and from the Writings of Baha’u'llah and Abdu’l-Baha. We listened to beautiful music — “Intone” by Katharine Key, “Love is the Light” by SKY, and “Night Hath Succeedeth Day” by KC Porter. Then we shared prayers — for our children and for our government and for unity. And then Merrie treated us to a song she had learned in Jerusalem, a song called “The Realm of Glory”. Should have been with these words (it was not):

O SON OF MAN!
Thou art My dominion and My dominion perisheth not; wherefore fearest thou thy perishing? Thou art My light and My light shall never be extinguished; why dost thou dread extinction? Thou art My glory and My glory fadeth not; thou art My robe and My robe shall never be outworn. Abide then in thy love for Me, that thou mayest find Me in the realm of glory.
(Baha’u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words, #14)

And as the ladies were leaving, they asked me if they could join the celebration of the Birth of Baha’u'llah to be hosted by the Washington, DC Baha’i community. The Glory of God is indeed with us!