“We, verily, have made music as a ladder for your souls, a means whereby they may be lifted up unto the realm on high; make it not, therefore, as wings to self and passion.”

Dear friends!

And who hath a better religion than he who resigneth himself to God, who doth what is good, and followeth the faith of Abraham in all sincerity?

(The Qur’an, Sura 4 – Women)

The essence of religion is to testify unto that which the Lord hath revealed, and follow that which He hath ordained in His mighty Book… The essence of faith is fewness of words and abundance of deeds; he whose words exceed his deeds, know verily his death is better than his life.
(Baha’u'llah, Tablets of Baha’u'llah, p. 155)

What nurtures your soul? What makes your heart tender? Prayer, music, fellowship, tea poured in peace, banana bread baked with love and shared with a smile? Whatever the answer might be, sharing songs and prayers with friends gets us all closer to the Creator and recharges us for the days ahead.In anticipation of World Religion Day, I invite you and your loves ones to a Prayer Station dedicated to the theme of “Religion and Faith “ on Thursday, January 12th at 7:30 pm.

I am glad to see a girl making this statement. And I hope the boys — and men — will be equal partners in protecting the rights of girls, the future educators of next generations, for it actually takes both girls and boys to make a peaceful world.

Work ye for the guidance of the women in that land, teach the young girls and the children, so that the mothers may educate their little ones from their earliest days, thoroughly train them, rear them to have a goodly character and good morals, guide them to all the virtues of humankind, prevent the development of any behaviour that would be worthy of blame, and foster them in the embrace of Bahá’í education. Thus shall these tender infants be nurtured at the breast of the knowledge of God and His love. Thus shall they grow and flourish, and be taught righteousness and the dignity of humankind, resolution and the will to strive and to endure. Thus shall they learn perseverance in all things, the will to advance, high mindedness and high resolve, chastity and purity of life. Thus shall they be enabled to carry to a successful conclusion whatsoever they undertake.

Let the mothers consider that whatever concerneth the education of children is of the first importance. Let them put forth every effort in this regard, for when the bough is green and tender it will grow in whatever way ye train it. Therefore it is incumbent upon the mothers to rear their little ones even as a gardener tendeth his young plants. Let them strive by day and by night to establish within their children faith and certitude, the fear of God, the love of the Beloved of the worlds, and all good qualities and traits. Whensoever a mother seeth that her child hath done well, let her praise and applaud him and cheer his heart; and if the slightest undesirable trait should manifest itself, let her counsel the child and punish him, and use means based on reason, even a slight verbal chastisement should this be necessary. It is not, however, permissible to strike a child, or vilify him, for the child’s character will be totally perverted if he be subjected to blows or verbal abuse.

(“Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá”, sec. 95, pp. 124-25)

O ye who believe! fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam (submission).
And hold fast, all together, by the rope which Allah (stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves; and remember with gratitude Allah’s favor on you; for ye were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His grace, ye became brethren; and ye were on the brink of the pit of fire, and He saved you from it. Thus doth Allah make his signs clear to you: that ye may be guided.
Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong; they are the ones to attain felicity.
(Islam, Quran, Surih 3, 102 – 104)

Know verily that the essence of justice and the source thereof are both embodied in the ordinances prescribed by Him Who is the Manifestation of the Self of God amongst men, if ye be of them that recognize this truth. He doth verily incarnate the highest, the infallible standard of justice unto all creation. Were His law to be such as to strike terror into the hearts of all that are in heaven and on earth, that law is naught but manifest justice. The fears and agitation which the revelation of this law provokes in men’s hearts should indeed be likened to the cries of the suckling babe weaned from his mother’s milk, if ye be of them that perceive. Were men to discover the motivating purpose of God’s Revelation, they would assuredly cast away their fears, and, with hearts filled with gratitude, rejoice with exceeding gladness.
(Baha’i Faith, Baha’u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, p. 175)

Dear friends!

What nurtures your soul? What makes your heart tender? Prayer, music, fellowship, tea poured in peace, banana bread baked with love and shared with a smile? Whatever the answer might be, sharing songs and prayers with friends gets us all closer to the Creator and recharges us for days ahead.

I invite you and your loves ones to a Prayer Station dedicated to the theme of “Gratitude” on Thursday, December 15th at 7:30 pm.

We read selections of the Holy Writings and Prayers from different faith traditions on the theme of “Gratitude”. Feel free to bring your own books of prayer or inspirational poetry. There will be also uplifting and soul-refreshing music followed by tea and sweets. Prayers will be offered for anyone in need, so if you can’t join us and would like to request prayers please contact me.

Like her Canadian prairie home, Munirih Sparrow’s sound is acoustically uncluttered and softly joyous; her groove is strong and soulful. You’ll be moved by her voice and story. Sparrow weaves Baha’i prayers and originally written songs resulting in an intimate performance exploring the interplay of spirituality and art. The performance is intuitive and genuine, leaving you with the feeling that you’ve just made a new friend.

Dear friends!

What nurtures your soul? What makes your heart tender? Prayer, music, fellowship, tea poured in peace, banana bread baked with love and shared with a smile? Whatever the answer might be, sharing songs and prayers with friends gets us all closer to the Creator and recharges us for the days ahead.

This Friday, December 9th, lease join me at 7:30 pm for a fabulous house concert with Munirih Sparrow and a fitting conclusion to the Musical Prayer Station in 2011!

What: Musical Prayer Station – house concert with Munirih Sparrow
When: Friday, December 9th at 7:30 pm

Please let me know if you can come so I can plan the refreshments — or if you have any prayer requests

You don’t want to miss this! And make sure to invite your friends too — they will be grateful as well!

Tonight’s Prayer Station brought together four men from four different countries — Ethiopia, Turkmenistan, USA and Bulgaria. Hillary brought his guitar so the recorded music was replaced by live songs. The readings on the topic of the Advent stayed, and so did the prayers: from the promised prayer for Mr. Ian Semple, to the healing prayers requested for the daughter of a Kenyan friend, to prayers for the infant grandson of an Israeli friend who contacted me through this blog, to prayers for my loved ones. the banana bread was a hit and thankfully I baked two loaves, so one will be for my colleagues tomorrow.

May peace be with you all! And may your soul rejoices as you meet the Blessed Beauty, dear Mr. Semple!

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
(Christianity, Holy Bible, John, 16:12-13)

These are the appointed days which ye have been yearningly awaiting in the past — the days of the advent of divine justice. Render ye thanks unto God, O ye concourse of believers.
(Baha’i Faith, The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 161)

Dear friends!

What nurtures your soul? What makes your heart tender? Prayer, music, fellowship, tea poured in peace, banana bread baked with loved and shared with a smile? Whatever the answer might be, sharing songs and prayers with friends gets us all closer to the Creator and recharges us for days ahead.

I invite you and your loves ones to a Prayer Station dedicated to the theme of “Advent” on Thursday, December 1st at 7:30 pm.

We read selections of the Holy Writings and Prayers from different faith traditions on the theme of “Advent”. Feel free to bring your own books of prayer or inspirational poetry. There will be also uplifting and soul-refreshing music followed by tea and sweets. Prayers will be offered for anyone in need, so if you can’t join us and would like to request prayers please contact me.

In this day, to thank God for His bounties consisteth in possessing a radiant heart, and a soul open to the promptings of the spirit. This is the essence of thanksgiving.
(Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 179)

The boys enthusiasm for the piano was so endearing as they played Mozart and Bach, and their mom’s elegant performance of Mozart’s Variations was mesmerizing. We did have of course freshly baked banana bread with ice cream but we also shared some sweet prayers and meditations.

Sadly, nobody from the invited neighbors joined us, though someone made an anonymous call at around 7 pm and I suspect it was to check whether I am a male or a female. We live in peculiar, insulated, isolated times. In my apartment building there are many young ladies so I fully understand their apprehension to an unknown male inviting them for a house concert, yet I wish they were able to join us for we all had a wonderful time.

Oh, well, there is always next time. And indeed, the next Musical Prayer Station is coming up on December 9th, when the Canadian singer-songwriter Munirih Sparrow is coming to perform. Until then, let’s be grateful for live music and spiritual food!

A few weeks ago, a friend posted on Facebook a short message which lead me to the FotoWeekDC exhibition — a remarkable display of journalistic photography — which was followed by an equally fascinating presentation by PechaKucha presentation. Among the ten presenters two particularly intrigued me because of their attempt to build bridges among neighbors and enable community building on a very organic, local level. One of them, Spacious, particularly inspired me with its idea of inspiring and enabling unusual friendship, very much like the idea of the befriended stranger.

To make the long story short, I am going to try to invite my neighbors to the house concert of classical music which I will host on Friday. Let’s see what happens!