On Sunday, January 18 the Bahá’ís of Omagh celebrated World Religion Day for the twenty-first consecutive year. This time—as is usually the case—World Religion Day was held in Omagh’s Library and was well-supported by an estimated 80, comprising local people and Bahá’ís from around the Province.
The programme was introduced by Omagh Bahá’í Group’s Chairman, Rustam Jamshídi. It included prayers and readings from the Bahá’í scriptures that focused on the theme of hope”. Mahín and Les Gornall from Magherafelt delivered the readings; the NI Bahá’í Youth Dance Group “Cipher” performed four dances and, unaccompanied, Jacqueline Hunter from Omagh sang “The Bridge of Hope” – recorded by the cross-community ‘Omagh Youth Choir’, that was formed in 1998 from local secondary schools after the ‘Omagh Bomb’ and of which she was formerly a member. Councillor Allan Rainey, Chairman of Omagh District Council and his wife, Margaret were present and at the close, Mr Rainey gave a short talk. The event concluded with refreshments.
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As a footnote: since submitting my report of World Religion Day, I chanced to phone one of those who attended, a retired teacher whose specialty was drama. She told me how much she had enjoyed the performance of “Cipher”—the choreography itself and also the expression, co-ordination and precision of the dancers. She especially appreciated the fact that both genders were involved and (she must have spoken to some of the group) she was impressed with the dancers as “people”! Well done “Cipher” and thank you for your ambassadorial rôle, too!
Over the past two years many deepenings have happened in the Londonderry Bahá’í Centre, with a variety of speakers lending their wisdom to all attendees but few as exciting as our latest guest, Mrs Lesley Taherzadeh. With thirty present it (from seven communities on both sides of the Border) was an evening to remember. The deepening on The Universal House of Justice continued the local series on the history of the Bahá’í Faith from Bahá’u’lláh to present day.
In the informative evening Mrs Taherzadeh spoke on a wide range of topics relating to the Universal House of Justice, from its importance and its authority to its responsibility for the well-being of the Faith, We had the satisfaction of knowing her own experience of life at the World Centre had contributed to her insights. She also laid out the pains of the “martyrdom” suffered by the members of the Universal House of Justice as they surrender all to serve their Faith. A healthy discussion continued even as the night wore on, as the kitchen prepared for one of the largest crowds the centre had seen. At the end of the evening all left either inspired or with a new respect for the Supreme Body and its members.
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To have a member of the International Teaching Centre from Haifa, Councillor Shahriar Razavi, visiting the Charles Dunning cluster was historic in itself. The importance of the visit was explained in an earlier session when they met with the Bahá’í Councils, Spiritual Assemblies, National Spiritual Assembly members, Board Members, Training Institute and Assistants earlier in the day and then with all the community in the evening session. All over the world the friends are engaged in the Five Year Plan and the primary goal is to establish the three core activities of study circles, devotionals and children’s classes open to all. The priority clusters have been highlighted as the communities to show the lead in this journey.
Whilst the Charles Dunning Cluster are moving in the right direction the Councillors have given clear guidance of where we need to be and within what time frame. We need as many of the friends to be involved in study circles and a target of 30 people to push through the sequence of seven books with an aim of finishing them by the end of the summer. The Training Institute will accommodate our needs for tutors and suitable times. All we need are the friends to rise to the challenge. We need YOU! Already 28 of the 55 adults in the cluster have completed Book 1 in the Ruhi series. We would like to invite the others to be part
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Mrs Lesley Taherzadeh gave an inspiring and much appreciated deepening on The Báb on 22 January. There was a great atmosphere with—very appropriate –nineteen people attending.
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