February
10, 2000
Dear
Friends,
During
the last seven months, the Dallas Bahá’í community has received numerous
inquiries concerning its newly formed devotional meetings. The Assembly has therefore authorized the creation
and dissemination of this document in order to share our experiences, and
assist other communities in “the holding of regular meetings for worship open
to all…”
With
Loving Bahá’í Greetings,
The
Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Dallas, Texas
REGULAR
MEETINGS FOR WORSHIP OPEN TO ALL
In
the Four Year Plan message, the Universal House of Justice calls on the Bahá’ís
to practice “the collective worship of God.
Hence it is essential to the spiritual life of the community that the
friends hold regular devotional meetings in local Bahá’í centers, where
available, or elsewhere, including the homes of the believers.” Again, in their
message of December 28, 1999 the House of Justice encourages “loving
association among the friends in every locality, by worship as a community” and
“the holding of regular meetings for worship open to all…” and states that this
represents a further step in the implementation of the law of the
Mashriqu’l-Adkar.
Below
is an account of the initiation of this wonderful process of regular “community
worship” in Dallas, Texas, which began in the summer of 1999. It is not meant
to serve as a how-to manual for Bahá’í Devotions. Dallas itself is only at the
beginning of learning how to worship as a community, and each community must
asses the needs and resources of its locality/region in forming a devotional
pattern. The purpose, rather, is to share our experiences and insights as food
for thought for our sister communities.
In
May 1999, the Local Spiritual Assembly of Dallas decided that its adult
deepenings – centering around a different speaker each week – were no longer
meeting the needs of its community of several hundred. The Assembly decided to end the one-hour
adult deepenings, and replace them with devotional meetings to run simultaneous
to children’s classes. It appointed one individual to spearhead the effort,
gave some general guidelines concerning its desire that there should be music
and that the writings should consist primarily of Bahá’í scripture, and that
this individual could build a “team” to assist with these devotions. The Assembly further made attendance at
Sunday Devotions one of its three primary goals - along with training institutes
and firesides – for the final year of the Four Year Plan.
A
simple pattern has developed in Dallas, which, while still evolving, has
offered a reasonably successful structure to meet the needs of the Dallas
community. This pattern evolved, as
with all progress made in the Faith, through the interplay of crisis and
victory. Further, this pattern was not
conceived and institutionalized during a few sessions of consultation – rather
it is continually being refined based on an ongoing process of action,
reflection on our experience and the Writings, and consultation.
·
Unity
in Diversity
“The
dearest wish of this servant of Thy Threshold is to behold the friends of East
and West in close embrace…”(`Abdu'l-Baha:
Bahá’í Prayers (US edition), page 159).
“ …
gather together these two races, black and white, into one Assembly, and put
such love into their hearts that they shall not only unite but even
intermarry.”(`Abdu'l-Baha: Bahá’í World
Faith*, page 359).
Unity
in Diversity, the “watchword” of the Bahá’í Faith, is the organizing principle
of our devotions. Dallas is a large community composed mostly of Persians and
White Americans, with a number of African American believers, and a dotting of
Latinos, and other ethnicities. What
the community is slowly learning is that for each element of devotion there are
different cultural perspectives: some groups find dim lighting and candles
spiritually uplifting and some find it depressing, some feel worship of God
should be quiet and reverent and some lively and spirit-filled (with clapping
and audience response), some want to stand, clap, and sing, while others feel
noticeably awkward with singing during worship.
In
Dallas, the Assembly and the community have committed to building devotions
which truly represent all its members: Persian chanting, prayers in Spanish and
other languages, gospel and guitar, quiet reverence and spirit-filled gestures,
are all becoming increasingly welcome at the Dallas Bahá’í Center. Special attention,
moreover, is paid to the sensitivities of our minority groups: “If any
discrimination is at all to be tolerated, it should be a discrimination not
against, but rather in favor of the minority, be it racial or otherwise”
(Shoghi Effendi: The Advent of Divine Justice, page 35). In order to make Bahá’ís and guests more
comfortable with these differences, the M.C. briefly explains that “unity in
diversity” is the hallmark of the Bahá’í community and Bahá’í devotions. “You
should see things that feel very comfortable and familiar to you, and some that
are new and different” she might say. “If there is nothing that represents your
spiritual background, please let us know so that it can be incorporated into
future devotions.”
This
commitment to unity in diversity has produced a steady increase in overall
attendance, and an especially noticeable increase in attendance among
African-Americans and Persians. On a
recent Sunday, for example, there were approximately 70 “flowers” in the
“garden” of our devotions, with at least 12 people of African descent including
three first time visitors, and 30 Iranians. In addition, there were more than
30 children and teachers in children’s classes, including 6 black
children/teachers – almost 20% African-American. The Assembly was overjoyed!
·
The
Arts
Again
in the Four Year Plan, the House of Justice stated, “In all their efforts to
achieve the aim of the Four Year Plan, the friends are asked to give greater
attention to the use of the arts…” At
different points throughout our devotions, we have music: either we sing
together, we listen to live music, or we listen to a tape/CD. The Assembly has
underwritten the cost of buying several new CDs, and there are at least 10
people in the greater Dallas area who come and perform on various Sundays. We
try to schedule artists well in advance, and several artists have standing
dates (e.g. the first Sunday of each month). Moreover, both program
coordinators can and do sing. Again, the underlying principle is unity in
diversity – we have Persian, Chorale, Gospel, and other music. At present, the hope is only that the music
will set a more spiritual atmosphere – there is no requirement that it relate
to the theme for the month.
·
The
Word of God
The
devotions for each month center on a theme such as Race Unity, Love, or Life
After Death, and are comprised mostly of the Bahá’í writings and prayers, with
an occasional passage from the Bible. Programs are printed in advance with all
the writings on them …. Normally, we read 8 to 10 shorter passages of perhaps 3
to 4 sentences from the writings. Then, in place of a speaker, at the end of
our program, we read one of the talks given by `Abdu’l-Baha in the West. Shorter passages were chosen primarily
because of the short attention span of most Americans. While we have not been
able to develop enough resources to have readers picked before Sunday morning,
efforts are made to ensure the gender and racial diversity of readers.
·
A
Welcoming, Loving Environment
Like
several other large communities in Texas, Dallas has faced difficulty creating
a welcoming environment at the Center.
Two simple tools have proved quite effective in building a stronger
sense of community: (1) greeters and (2) nametags. Normally, two people are
assigned to greet people as they arrive, give them name tags, programs, etc.
They encourage all guests to sign our guest book, and make an attempt to
introduce newcomers to others. Nametags have helped the friends learn one
another’s names, removing a sizable barrier to building community among a large
number of people.
·
A
Master of Ceremonies (M.C.)
An
M.C. helps guide the program, and serves two functions. First, the M.C. helps
the program to flow more smoothly, by helping to queue the music & readers
(e.g. “Next Mr. … will read a prayer in Spanish.”). Second, the M.C. subtly
introduces concepts, such as unity in diversity, and explains things which may
not be understood by guests (such as “Alláh-u-Abhá is a greeting often used by
Bahá’ís which refers to the Glory of God.”).
·
Prayer
Prayer
without action is futile – so is action without prayer. Successful devotions
need advanced preparation – preparing programs, scheduling musicians, greeters,
and MC, etc. They also require prayer
for their success, particularly by those preparing the event. Without preparatory prayer, the quality of
the devotions will suffer. This should
come as no surprise, as community worship is after all a spiritual process and
a gift from God dependent upon His acceptance.
·
Orientation
Toward Visitors & Teaching
We
are not, of course, attempting to “copy the churches” in having collective
worship – rather we are responding to the call of Bahá’u’lláh and His
Institutions. However, “the holding of regular meetings for worship open to
all…” has helped the teaching work: guests can see the diversity and spirit of
the Bahá’í community, the Bahá’ís have an event to which they feel comfortable
bringing their friends, a new sense of excitement has developed in the Bahá’í
community, and the surrounding community now sees a center parking lot packed
with cars each Sunday morning.
Because
there have been several non-Bahá’ís at almost every devotional meeting over the
last seven months, we are trying to design programs that will not only appeal
to our diverse Bahá’í community, but to newcomers. The M.C. also makes a
special effort to avoid jargon and explain concepts which someone new to the
faith would not understand. This
“seeker-friendly” atmosphere further encourages the Bahá’ís to invite their
friends.
·
Limited
Administrative Overhead
The
devotions began with one coordinator, who met with the Assembly on one occasion
for guidance. Several months ago a second coordinator was approved. Virtually
all tasks have been organized by email and phone. This absence of excessive
committee meetings has freed these friends to do the work of organizing and
refining the devotions.
·
Consistency
& Systematization
Much
effort has been committed to creating a framework that can produce reasonably
consistent devotions. There are certainly moments where the devotions take on a
special quality, and are truly superb (this often correlates with much prayer
preceding the devotions). There are also occasional moments of disorganization
and technical difficulties. For the most part, however, our devotions have been
consistently good, and have had a spirit of joy and reverence. This consistency has resulted from building
a “modular” system – modular because the devotions consist of several
independent parts: the programs have no dates, names, or song titles, and thus
can be reused, and the scheduling of musicians, greeters, and M.C.s can occur
well in advance. When things are left to the last minute, the devotions suffer.
It is
hoped that in the future, a web site (perhaps with a URL like
www.bahaidevotions.org) can be created to serve as a resource to our sister
Bahá’í communities. It could host a collection of devotional programs, and
eventually programs for Feast and Holy Days, song books, and a section for
further sharing of community experiences, MP3s to share Bahá’í music, etc.…
·
Food
The
offering of food and refreshments are coordinated through one person, who
schedules volunteer contributors for each week. Providing lunch for 100 plus
who are attending devotions and children’s classes, is no small task. However,
much community has been built over plates of spaghetti and Persian rice.
ESSENTIAL
TO THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY
There
are, of course, numerous models of collective worship which Bahá’í communities
should explore and refine based on the needs, resources, and cultures of the
Bahá’í community and overall population of their locality or region. Nashville,
Tennessee, for example, has had wonderful success with monthly “Unity Feasts”
held for their greater metro area (these devotions were, in part, the
inspiration for the collective worship in Dallas). Whatever pattern of
community devotion evolves in your area, however, one thing is clear: “the
holding of regular meetings for worship open to all” is “essential to the
spiritual life of the community,” and must begin “in local Bahá’í centers,
where available, or elsewhere, including the homes of the believers.” There can
be no turning back.