The Bahá’í Faith Nice to be here My name is …. and I am a member of the Bahá’í community of ….. The Bahá’í Faith is the newest world religion Its purpose is to unite all the peoples of the world in one universal purpose, one common faith The Bahá’í Faith

The Báb Bahá’u’lláh (The Glory of God) Bahá’ís are followers of Bahá’u’lláh This is not a name but a title, and it means “The Glory of God” Bahá’u’lláh lived in Iran in the nineteenth century, but He was persecuted for His teachings and lived the last years of His life in the Holy Land (Israel) Bahá’ís believe that Bahá’u’lláh is the promised one that previous religions and traditions have looked forward to The Báb also taught in Iran, and He prepared people for the coming of Bahá’u’lláh

A pilgrimage to Haifa Last month, I went to Israel on a Bahá’í pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey to a place with special religious significance to the person making the journey You may know someone who has been on a pilgrimage; and you may have been yourself Bahá’ís go on pilgrimage to the town of Haifa in Israel, because it is near Akko, where Bahá’u’lláh lived for the last years of His life. He is buried there, and the Báb is buried in Haifa When you go on pilgrimage, you visit the holy places and you can pray there in silence

Service One of the things that was special about my visit was to observe the dedication of the people who work there All of the Bahá’í holy places are surrounded by beautiful gardens Many young Bahá’ís go to work in Haifa during their gap year – they call it a “Year of Service” and they work hard to make the holy places and gardens beautiful for the pilgrims and members of the public who visit Those of you who were here last term may remember that I talked to you about the virtues or talents that are inside all of us Service is one of those virtues, and I’d like to think about how the way we approach our work makes an impact on the people around us By showing a spirit of service, the workers in the Bahá’í gardens made our visit even more special

“Strive that your actions day by day may be beautiful prayers.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá ‘Abdu’l-Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah, said: “…….” He is saying that when we do our best to serve others, it is like an act of worship The young people on their Year of Service at the Baha’I World Centre are mostly doing low-skilled jobs: gardening, cleaning, working as security guards or showing visitors around I’d like to encourage you to think of this whenever you have an opportunity to be of service to someone else We can approach even the lowliest task with dignity, so that it can be like a beautiful prayer I’d like to finish with a prayer.

A Bahá’í prayer ‘Abdu’l-Bahá O Lord! Make us useful in this world; free us from the condition of self and desire. O Lord! Make us brethren in Thy love, and cause us to be loving toward all Thy children. Confirm us in service to the world of humanity so that we may become the servants of Thy servants, that we may love all Thy creatures and become compassionate to all Thy peple. O Lord, Thou art the Almighty. Thou art the Merciful. Thou art the Forgiver. Thou art the Omnipotent. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá [read the prayer SLOWLY] [after the prayer, click over to the last slide]

The Bahá’í Faith