On Sunday 28 May, the Omagh Bahá'í Community organised an event to which the children and their parents in the “Star of the West” cluster were invited. Eleven children from the community of interest came to the Lake household in Omagh where an afternoon with two arts workshops and a musical one had been planned.
The afternoon commenced with a short devotional of prayers and reading of the Writings by some of the children. They then divided into three groups: strawberries,melons, and bananas. Each group spent about 20 minutes at each workshop. In the workshops, the children were painting on acetate with glass paints, drawing designs on butterflies which carried the prayer ‘O God, guide me…’ and singing songs such as ‘We are drops…’
It was a real children’s event: we had sausages and burgers to eat, topped off with ice cream and jelly for dessert! The afternoon was enjoyed by all, taking some of us right back to the former days when we sang those songs at Bahá'í schools, all those years ago.
BL
Omagh
June was a particularly busy month for the Londonderry community…
On Friday 9 June Declan Devine became the latest speaker to offer his insights to the local community and beyond at a “Deepening in Derry” held in the Bahá'í Centre. He spoke about the Ridvan messages of the Universal House of Justice and about study circles. The evening was more than just enjoyable, it was packed with common sense by the speaker and others offering their views. We were reminded of the importance of each and every communication for the House, and moreover, we were reminded of the layers and layers of information that can be found in them. It was a tiring night but a satisfying one as we all left the building a little more enlightened to the meanings of the House’s letters on the Ruhi Institute.
CTP
On 27 June the first in what hopefully will be a series of Tranquillity Evenings was held in the (decorated for the occasion) Bahá'í Centre, with invited non-Bahá'ís joining local Bahá'ís for an evening of peaceful spiritual inspiration. Then on 28 June the spiritual theme was continued. The end-of-term presentation at the local children’s class was a Sacred Space at which the children (half of whom are not Bahá'ís) presented selections form the Writings, and Bahá'í songs, for an audience of parents and relatives.
On 29 June two representatives met, on behalf of the Spiritual Assembly, with Councillor Helen Quigley, the new Mayor of Derry. Lawrence McMinn and Mary Ward presented the Mayor with a book (“Visions of a New World Order”, whose stunning photographs have made it a natural successor to “Crown of Beauty” as the Bahá'í presentation-to-dignitaries resource) and had a discussion about the Faith and the activities of the local community. Although Councillor Quigley knows Bahá'ís this was an opportunity for a more focused discussion and very useful.
A new street map of Londonderry has been produced and is in all the shops. It is clear and informative and, most helpfully, includes many places of local importance. And, yes, the Bahá'í Centre in Clarendon Street is one of them.
ISP
In Derry the Bahá'ís are—literally—on the map!
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