The Solent story
Dearly loved Friends,
The Bahá’í Council for England is delighted to share below a story of perseverance from Solent, a first milestone cluster, for our Naw-Rúz reflections and plans.
At the time of the vernal equinox in the material world a wonderful vibrant energy and new life-quickening is observed everywhere in the vegetable kingdom; the animal and human kingdoms are resuscitated and move forward with a new impulse.
-Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace-
With abiding love,
Marco Milone,
Secretary
Some years ago, there was very little activity happening in the cluster of Solent.
One day, however, a Bahá’í family living in the city of Southampton decided to open their home to provide a space for the members of the community to gather periodically and engage in collective prayer alongside other activities.
Over time, this home turned into a regular meeting point where friends from all over the community could engage in discussions that would deepen their understanding of the framework of the Plan, the institute process and consolidate learning on how to conduct activities and build capacity for service.
Gradually, a small children’s class emerged from these activities, and as the existing members of the community felt more comfortable, they began to invite their friends – one even went on to declare his faith in Bahá’u’lláh!
Two years later, these gatherings have become regular events, and every Friday there are activities at the family’s home which are attended by a diverse group of friends from the community.
Sometime later and in consultation with the Auxiliary Board member, the members of the community decided that they could now take all that they had learned from these regular spaces for study, action and reflection back to their home communities, to see how they too could become protagonists of the community building process in their own localities.
Various efforts across the cluster began to bear fruits! A Bahá’í university student was asked to join the Southampton Council of Faith committee which created the opportunity for members of the Bahá’í community to go into local schools and present the Faith through talks and workshops to children and youth. These were very well received!
Spiritual forces continued to be felt and released and through the committee, the Bahá’ís were able to present the Faith in a short talk to a group of 70 to 80 participants of diverse religious backgrounds. Among the many who expressed interest in the principles of the Faith was a retired GP who shared that she had learned about the Bahá’í Faith some years before and now her heart had been rekindled and lit again!
Another confirmation came when two university students who, having researched the Lotus temple prior to their trip to India, contacted the local Bahá’ís to learn more about the Faith. The confirmations continued to flow as these two same students also happened to be studying the same course (medicine) as a Bahá’í university student. They are now attending a Book 1 study circle together with the retired GP mentioned above together with some older Persian friends including an elderly Bahá’í who is redoing the book! A regular, fortnightly pattern of activity has also emerged – a devotional gathering takes place in the university students’ home with some ten regular participants who read and reflect on selected quotes and prayers from the Writings. Some of the attendees are now seeing themselves as protagonists (“a true sense of unity and common calling …” 29th December2015) and have started inviting their friends.
Whilst it has taken a few years, (from those early regular gatherings in the home of a Bahá’í family in Southampton) for the community building activities to gain momentum in Solent, and despite crisis and victory, and lulls in activity, the friends now remain committed to a mode of learning, continuously reflecting on what it means for all to shoulder responsibility for the spiritual and material development of their community and contributing in a variety of ways with more friends taking part in a range of community activities.
Solent is learning to be increasingly courageous in its teaching efforts!
“These capacities are visible not only in the elevated discussions that increasingly characterize interactions within the community, but in the ongoing conversations that reach well beyond—not least between the Bahá’í youth and their peers…. Through exchanges of this kind, consciousness of spiritual forces is raised,apparent dichotomies yield to unexpected insights, a sense of unity and common calling is fortified, confidence that a better world can be created is strengthened, and a commitment to action becomes manifest.
Such distinctive conversations gradually attract ever- larger numbers to take part in a range of community activities. Themes of faith and certitude surface naturally, prompted by the receptivity and experiences of those involved. What is clear, then, is that as the institute process in a cluster gains momentum, the act of teaching comes to assume greater prominence in the lives of the friends.” -29th December 2015-
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