Bicentenary of the Birth of Baha'u'llah celebration

January 02, 2018

Bicentenary of the Birth of Baha'u'llah celebration

hi there! so back in October, Bahai's all over the world celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Baha'u'llah. it was a very big deal for us! but really quickly, Baha'u'llah is the founder of the Baha'i Faith, and Bahai's believe that he is the most recent in a succession of divine messenger sent by God to guide and educate humanity. and Baha'u'llah didn't come to just start a new religion. He came to spread His teachings to unify mankind. i wrote a little summary of the whole thing on Facebook, i'll just post it here:

Why care about this celebration if you are not a Baha’i?

Because the world is in travail and it is getting worse day by day.

Aren’t you sickened by the needless suffering of so many people around the globe?

There is so much disunity in the world. And it’s causing us to be veiled from any viable solution.

Clearly humanity is searching, reaching out, and many of us are trying to come together to DO SOMETHING.

But it is exhausting. And we get soul weary and disheartened. Why is it so hard to fight for justice or equal rights or even something as simple as making sure that our fellow humans don’t die from starvation, when it seems like a no-brainer?

The followers of Baha’u’llah believe that these are spiritual maladies that require spiritually based solutions.

The prophet-founder of the Baha’i Faith, Baha’u’llah, laid out a framework for humanity based on the following tenets:

– the importance of both spiritual and material development

– the equality of men and women

– the underlying unity of humanity

– a common spiritual foundation of all the major world religions

– the harmony of science and religion

– the centrality of justice to all endeavors

– the importance of education for everyone

– the need for the abolition of all forms of prejudice

These concepts are universal, and I’m sure we can all agree, whether a Baha’i or a Christian or no religious affiliation, that the implementation of these concepts would prove vital to the progress of humanity.

So, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Baha’u’llah matters to you because Baha’is are working daily on putting His teachings into practice. And we are doing this in collaboration with anyone else that has these goals, too. Baha’is are at the forefront of social and economic development, both at the grassroots level as well as nationally and internationally.

And it’s working. Hearts are being transformed. Thought is being elevated. Thought changes action. Then the structure of reality changes around us.

We are working towards integration, to oppose the forces that are tearing this world down; custodians of the forces of love, unity, and peace.

Will you work alongside us?

Will you pray with us?

there are a million things i could write about right here about all this. but i wanted mainly to post about how our family celebrated this auspicious event and a little about how we are trying to do our part locally to help this cause along.

the weekend before the bicentenary we attended a children's play called the Wonder Lamp; it's a story representing progressive revelation. it was performed by children and junior youth and it was so wonderful! the theater was full of kids in the audience, and we were able to spend time with our friends from Seattle that we don't get to see very often and all of our kids played in the crispy fall leaves outside together while the parents chatted. it was the best.

next, our family hosted children's celebration the following weekend at our house. we had an interactive story about a dream that the father of Baha'u'llah had about him, a song with a felt board activity, and then we did an art activity. then one of the junior youth in the community taught the kids a song with hand movements, and then we socialized. it was a great time, and we were so excited to share the celebration with friends.

the following day my parents went with our family to another celebration in a neighboring community. the children, junior youth and youth in the community presented some songs and puppet show. they had also put together tri-fold presentation boards about the life of Baha'u'llah, his exiles and sufferings along with the victories and growth that His faith has experienced. it was very sweet, and uplifting. most of the kids involved are not Baha'i but participate in the children's classes, junior youth spiritual empowerment programs and youth groups. and it was very special to me that my parents joined us, too.

and actually, reading the letters and messages from dignitaries all over the world, seeing pictures and reading about all of the different celebrations across the globe, the number of people whose hearts were drawn closer to Baha'u'llah, makes me so joyful. even if an individual doesn't want to become a Baha'i, or doesn't believe in religion, or is from another faith, or whatever else, these teachings from Baha'u'llah are universal and are building a better civilization while the existing structures seem to be failing and crumbling. so none of those things matter, Baha'is collaborate with anyone who also wants to build a better world where unity of humankind is at the core and justice is the foundation. and (besides a small percentage of souls), who doesn't agree that the concepts that i listed above are beneficial to us all? regardless of religious affiliation or beliefs.

so, in the Baha'i faith, there are many endeavors at the international level all the way down to grassroots efforts to implement these concepts into community life. at any point hubs and i have been involved in teaching children's spiritual education classes, empowering junior youth to recognize their unique place in society and spiritual potentialities, accompanying youth in their plans to mentor the younger kids, and helping to train others in the Ruhi Institute Process and find their own way to offer service to humanity. currently we are tutoring one of those study circles and our children are attending children's classes. i had an ongoing toddler virtues class last year and am planning it again for this year. i am trying to accompany some youth in the community on their own path of service. this is in addition to various service projects and smaller acts of service that we try to fit into our lives as well as any independent study we do for our own progress. and i'm not saying all this to brag or anything like that, this is very humble service especially in comparison to what other people are doing in the world. but i wanted to list these activities so that people know what Baha'is do and how we implement these concepts into action. and also invite anyone else that wants to work with us to build a better world.

thanks for checking out this post and thanks to those of you who celebrated with us! i really appreciate your support and fellowship! my hope is that we can all collaborate together to build the foundation of a peaceful and unified community that celebrates our diversity and unique talents.