Message from the Bahá'í Council


Dear Friends, At a recent meeting, the Bahá'í Council for Northern Ireland had an opportunity to reflect on the purpose of the Northern Ireland Bahá'í Newsletter, CommuNIqué, as the community's organ to express its efforts and achievements in the advancement of the Cause in this region. It is a means to share stories of local efforts to build vibrant communities focused on the betterment of the world, and at the same time, a way to feel connected with our fellow community members striving to do the same.

The Council plans, as far as possible to have a brief newsletter to be circulated on an approximately three monthly basis with information concentrated on the activities of our community. To this end, we continue to encourage all members of the regional community, in each corner, to forward stories and pictures to the Council for possible publishing in future editions.

With love, The Bahá'í Council for Northern Ireland

CommuNIquéNewsletter for the Bahá'í Community in Northern Ireland

Izzat 169 BE/September 2012

Bahá'í Council for Northern Ireland

bahaicouncil-ni.org.uk Email: bcni@bahai.org.uk

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Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United Kingdom

We recently began a process to expand the Junior Youth group in Belfast. There were only two JY who had been previously attending. After the spiritual charge of summer school we returned to our community determined to find more youth. On the Sunday evening after the final day of summer school, a number of us said prayers together and decided to go out into our local neighbourhood. In teams of two we approached some houses. The first house that one of the teams approached became the catalyst for what was a quite remarkable change in

fortunes for the Youth group. The father of this particular JY was enthusiastic about his daughter being part of the group. This 14year old JY also brought her two cousins along who became part of the group.

Feeling encouraged, and a little braver from the clear confirmations we had received, we then approached the local community centre.  Once again, we found the coordinator of youth activities at the centre to be very receptive to the programme. We arranged a time when we could introduce the programme to the JY of the community centre. Six weeks on, we have a vibrant youth group held in the community centre itself. We can also see the first glimmerings of possibility for children’s classes through our contact with the families of the JY. In light of these developments, we began to witness the true value of the statement that just one activity may “serve as a stimulus to growth”. (Universal House of Justice, 28 December 2010).

JA

Junior youth in the community

Recently in Omagh

A community event, entitled “Our Shared Future” was held in Omagh’s ‘Strule Arts Centre’ on several evenings in March.  Community Groups were invited to participate and the Baha’is of Omagh were invited on foot of ‘the Association of Bahá’í Women’ to participate, choosing the theme “Equality of Men and Women”.  To a ‘full house’, Bahia and Adib Ma’ani performed the dance depicting equality and Catherine Meehan and Vída Lake performed a dialogue entitled “Two Women”.

The 4th of June, the day that the Olympic Torch came to Omagh, the Bahá’ís were again invited to participate and Harry Coyle and Malcolm Lake

were early in position on High Street, in the town centre, to welcome the torch.  Thoughtfully, to each community group, the Council had offered to pay for a banner, so that the welcome—and the communities extending it—were well-displayed.

On each occasion, the community spirit was really tremendous and Omagh Bahá’í Community was very pleased to have been invited to take part.  The Bahá’í banner did make the front page of one of the local papers and there was a photograph of it on the web!

ML

Summer school in Lorne, Holywood

Mid-Summer arrived and it was that time of year again. Of course Wimbledon is set to be the biggest eve… wait, Wimbledon? Of course we’re not talking about tennis! I’m talking about The Northern Ireland Bahá’í Summer School of course! With July in full swing it was time for everyone to gather again at Lorne. Once again it was an international gathering with people attending from both North and South, and further afield.

Following on from last year the committee had quite a bar to clear and they did well, living up to expectations. The fantastic Wendi Momen took the plenary sessions, back by popular request, which speaks volumes about her talks and their popularity. The school also featured standalone talks from Kathleen Holmlund, Dan Wheatley, Chris Johnson and Collette Ma’ani.

But what is a Summer School without the courses? This is a ‘school’ after all! This year saw the introduction of the ‘day course’ for those unfortunate enough not able to make it the full week. Facilitated by Michael Barr and Dan Wheatley the course took a lively look at community-building. As this is the centenary of Abdu’l-Bahá’s journey to the West the majority of our courses were focusing on The Master. Jamie Anderson and the indefatigable Wendi Momen gave an insightful look into “Abdu'l-Bahá on Civilisation” while Edwin Graham and Sana Proudman then further built on the subject with “The Significance of the Master’s Travels to the West, 1911-1913”. Last but certainly not least the Nagle’s offered their now famous course on “Parenting: Foundation for Community Building” which was as always a massive hit.

The arts where alive at the school with singing, encaustic wax art, bead making and tai-chi to let your hair down in the afternoon. The evenings featured a mix of activities including the standalone talks, wonderful musical devotionals, and fun stuff such as quizzes, light-hearted fund-raising, and the traditional entertainment extravaganza on the last night. The late evening “Stories in the Sitting Room” sessions were a great way to wind down while still learning and enjoying the craic.

Finally I personally wanted to give a big thank you to everyone who was involved in making the Summer School this year what it always is, a fantastic week away and one massive red circle on my calendar every year,  the Committee, the speakers, everyone who gave of their time and effort, and of course everyone who came. Let’s just hope the weather sticks with us in 2013!

CP

Some 'youthful' Reflections on the Life of the Spirit

As this years summer was coming to an end, some youth and others from around the region gathered in Claudy to train in the first course of the Ruhi Institute sequence of courses. As well as making visits to study prayers with others, memorising prayers and putting daily life into perspective, they got creative!

Below are a small selection of the poems they wrote while reflecting!

The soul is a heavenly gem, That makes us cling onto the hem Of the power, of the unknown beauty. Though this force we cannot see, Beyond the material world it will be free. And although we are torn in all directions By this seemingly new age perfection. We must remember in this world, There is more than meets the eye.

A light

on the edge

of vision

out of reach

unfenced;

an aura felt

yet unknown.

Prayer is the ladder to the soul and the soul is true life,  we cannot understand,

But life is like this:

We know why we're here, we aren't tied to this idea  that there's some mysterious meaning of life

Hanging out around the corner, you won't find her if you look for her In the places people usually go

But we know, I know, I will tell you.

Life is like this;

We came about to know and love God, attain his presence, the essence of what life means is found in our soul, It's how we grow

Knowing that we need to love,  Everybody, everyone and love God, and serve and strive to perfect what you are,

For what's before and what's after is love.