"The purpose of religion as revealed from the heaven of God's holy Will is to establish unity and concord amongst the peoples of the world; make it not the cause of dissension and strife." - Bahá'u'lláh
Baha'i devotions are beautiful to me for this reason - the Faith brings together people from so many different backgrounds - and there we are, all gathered in one room, not necessarily speaking the same language, but all there to love the same God.
It's always apparent that the spirit behind these gatherings is so sparkling, so alive.
Sometimes (more often than not, actually) things happen that bring tears to my eyes and leave me completely in awe of God's power and presence.
We gathered on Saturday to break fast and pray. One of the men present was the president of the Muslim Student Association at UMKC. He offered to chant a prayer in Arabic. We debated having him translate this prayer for us, but came to the conclusion that it wasn't necessary. We did not need to understand the exact words being said - the intention behind it would be clear, and that was the most important thing.
He chanted a Muslim prayer, and we read the next prayer in English from a Baha'i prayer book. As we finished the reading, he looked up.
"That was the same thing I just said. Almost verbatim."
We smiled, and exchanged looks of disbelief. Why disbelief, I'm not sure. The intention was there - and so we all understood, whether or not we spoke the same language.
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11 comments:
This is so AWESOME!
I'm really glad you shared this here, lovely friend. :-)
Ah, the BEAUTY of progressive revelation. Same God, same truths, new Divine Messenger, new solutions. I have said for years that Baha'is holding interfaith devotions everywhere is the largest synchronized grassroots movement for world peace ever undertaken. Uniting the world, one heart at a time - not just a slogan in this Faith of action. And I agree, where there is love and pure intent, little will be lost in translation.
How fantastic!
With your permission I would like to excerpt from this post on Baha'i Views and link.
It was beautiful and comforting somehow. I love our Saturday nights together!
Wow. God, that's cool. Proof that relgion really is one :)
-Juicebox
wow. this is so beautiful.
How cool! I was born into a Muslim family, but am now no religion lol ))
And I'm currently reading about Baha'i Faith, and it seems interesting! )))
Lots of questions, since it seems a bit complex, but the message seems quite nice ))
I'm so thankful that I got to be a part of this - and share it with all of you! Much love!
Samian - thanks for stopping by! If you ever have questions, or want to talk about the Faith, feel free to e-mail me. =)
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