O my God! O my God!
This, Thy servant, hath advanced toward Thee, is passionately wandering in the desert of Thy love, walking in the path of Thy service, anticipating Thy favors, hoping for Thy bounty, relying upon Thy Kingdom, and being exhilarated with the wine of Thy gift. O my God! Increase his fervor in Thy passion, his constancy in Thy praise and his ardor in Thy love. Verily, Thou art the Beneficent and endowed with great bounty! There is no God but Thee, the Forgiving, the Merciful!

– Abdul-Baha

Reform Bahai Faith
http://reformbahai.org

Glory be to Thee, my God and my Beloved! Thy Fire is burning in me, O my Lord, and I feel its glowing in every member of my weak body. Every organ of my temple declares Thy Power and Thy Might, and every member testifies that Thou art powerful over all things. By Thy Strength I feel strong to withstand all trials and all temptations. Make firm Thy Love in my heart, and then I can bear all the swords of the earth. Verily every hair of my head testifies: “Were it not for trials in Thy Path I should not have appreciated Thy Love.”

O my Lord, strengthen me to remain firm, to uphold the Hands of Thy Cause, and to serve Thee among Thy people. Thou art Loving! Thou art Bountiful!

– Baha’u’llah

Reform Bahai Faith
http://reformbahai.org

In Thy Name, the Sufficer, the Healer, the Fulfiller, the Loftiest, the Supreme, the Glory of the Glory!

I ask Thee by Thine Ancient Beauty, and I supplicate Thee by the Manifestation of Thy Greatest Majesty, and Thy Name, around which the Heavens of the Manifestations revolve, by which all sorrow will be turned into joy and all disease will be turned into health, and by which every sick, afflicted, unfortunate, and constrained one may be healed, to suffice to heal this weary sick-worn one of the seen and the unseen disease.

Verily Thou art the Powerful, the Conqueror, the Mighty, the Living, the Forgiver.

– Baha’u’llah

Reform Bahai Faith
http://reformbahai.org

O my God! Make Thy Beauty to be my food, and let Thy Presence be my drink. Let my trust be in Thy Will, and my deeds according to Thy Command. Let my service be acceptable to Thee, and my action a praise to Thee. Let my help come only from Thee, and ordain my Home to be Thy Mansion, boundless and holy.

Thou art the Precious, the Ever-present, the Loving! – Baha’u’llah

Reform Bahai Faith
http://reformbahai.org

O my God, let my destiny, which is written by Thy Greatest Pen, be to obtain the blessings of the worlds to come and of the present one. I hereby bear witness that in Thy Hands are the reins of all things and that Thou changest them according to Thy Will, and that there is no God but Thee, for Thou art the One, the Almighty, the Faithful.

Thou art the One Who changest by His command the dishonoured to the highest state of honour, the weak to be strong, the failing to have power, the confused to be in peace and the doubting to have strong faith.

There is no God but Thee, Who art the Dearest and the Most Generous. The heavens of Thy Mercy and the oceans of Thy Bounty are so vast that Thou hast never disappointed those who begged of Thee, nor refused those who willed to come to Thee.

Thou art the Most Powerful, the Almighty! – Baha’u’llah

Reform Bahai Faith
http://reformbahai.org

Glory be unto Thee, O God, for Thy Manifestation of Love to mankind. O Thou, Who art our Life and Light, guide Thy servants to Thy Way, and make them rich in Thee and free from all save Thee.

O God, teach them Thy Oneness, and give unto them a realisation of Thy Unity, that they may see no one save Thee. Thou art the Merciful and the Giver of Bounty.

O God, create in the hearts of Thy beloved the fire of Thy Love, that it may burn the thought of everything save Thee.

Reveal unto them, O God, Thy exalted Eternity, that Thou hast ever been and wilt ever be, and that there is no God save Thee. Verily in Thee will they find comfort and strength.  – Baha’u’llah

Reform Bahai Faith
http://reformbahai.org

I testify, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to adore Thee. I testify at this instant to my powerlessness and to Thy Power; to my weakness and to Thy Might; to my poverty and to Thy Riches. There is no God but Thee, the Protector, the Self-Subsistent! – Baha’u'llah

Reform Bahai Faith
http://reformbahai.org

Friends,

Announcing, the Reform Bahai Faith will participate in the

Your Spiritness Expo
May 5 to 6, 2012, 11:00am to 7:00pm
Pontiac Silverdome Fieldhouse
1200 Featherstone Rd
Pontiac, Michigan 48342

We participated in the Your Spiritness Expo in 1999 (then called the Holistic Expo http://reformbahai.org/Update.html#holisticexpo) and are looking forward to attending this one.

We’ll have a table and will be able to offer the public copies of The Universal Principles of the Reform Bahai Faith. http://reformbahai.org/Reform_Bahai_Press.html

Remember Abdul-Baha’s words: “I encourage everyone to engage in the service of the Kingdom. The foundation of this Cause is pure spiritual democracy and not a theocracy.” —Abdul-Baha.

Hope you can make!

Reform Bahai Faith
Rochester, MI 48308-1842 USA
http://www.ReformBahai.org

More than thirty-four people of all religious persuasions in attendance.

“To be a Bahai simply means to love all the world; to love humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal brotherhood.” –Abdul-Baha

“O people of the world, ye are all the fruit of one tree, and the leaves of one branch.” –Baha’u'llah

“Consort ye, O people, with the followers of all religions with joy and fragrance.” –Baha’u'llah

“‘Glory is not his who loves his native land; but glory is his who loves his kind.’ By these exalted Words He taught the birds of souls a new flight and effaced restriction and blind imitation from the Book.” –Abdul-Baha quoting Baha’u'llah

“The Bahai Movement is not an organization. You cannot organize the Bahai Movement. The Bahai Movement is the spirit of the age. It is the essence of all the highest ideals of this century. The Bahai Cause is an inclusive movement. The teachings of all religions and societies are found here.” –Abdul-Baha

“This movement is not an organization—it is the realization of a new spirit. The foundation of that spirit is the love of God; and its method, the love and service of mankind. Many who have never heard of this revelation teach its laws and spiritual truths.” –Abdul-Baha

“It is the wish of Abdul-Baha that the friends may establish general unity and not a particular meeting of unity. You must have great consideration for this fact, for during the past cycles though such events (founding of particular, i. e., exclusive unity meetings) were, in the beginning, a means for harmony, they became in the end the cause of trouble.” –Abdul-Baha

“There are no officers in this Cause. I do not and have not ‘Appointed’ anyone to perform any special service, but I encourage everyone to engage in the service of the Kingdom. The foundation of this Cause is pure spiritual democracy and not a theocracy.” –Abdul-Baha

“People think religion is confined in an edifice, to be worshiped at an altar. In reality it is an attitude toward divinity which is reflected through life.” –Abdul-Baha

“You can be a Bahai-Christian, a Bahai-Freemason, a Bahai-Jew, a Bahai-Muhammadan.” –Abdul-Baha

“These are effectual and sufficient proofs that the conscience of man is sacred and to be respected; and that liberty thereof produces widening of ideas, amendment of morals, improvement of conduct, disclosure of the secrets of creation, and manifestation of the hidden verities of the contingent world.” –Abdul-Baha

1893, “Treatise on Leadership,” Abdul-Baha. Separation of church and state.
1912, “Address Upon the Covenant,” Abdul-Baha. Facsimile at http://reformbahai.org/Covenant.html

Early Reform Bahais:

Ruth White, author of several books.
Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, Abdul-Baha’s secretary for eight years, author of several books.
Julia Chandler, Bahai from a prominent American family.
Jenabe Fazel Mazandarani, Bahai scholar on universal religion.
Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell, in 1929, a British Museum document expert, judges the will and testament of 1921 fraudulent.

Reform Bahai Faith
Rochester, MI 48308-1842 USA
http://www.ReformBahai.org

“The oneness of the world of humanity is a Teaching of Baha’u’llah, for Baha’u’llah addresses Himself to mankind, saying: ‘Ye are all the leaves of one tree and the drops of one ocean.’” -Abdul-Baha

The Reform Bahai Faith will hold a brief five to ten-minute introductory talk, followed by an ecumenical prayer meeting on Tuesday, March 27, 2012, from 7:00pm to 8:30pm, in downtown Rochester at the

American Legion Hall
234 Walnut Boulevard  (corner of 3rd Street and Walnut Boulevard)
Rochester, MI 48307

People of all persuasions and religions are invited to attend. Feel free to bring a prayer or religious reading from your own faith or tradition to share. If one desires suggestions for reading, The Global Testament of Faith, available online on the Reform Bahai website, has many interfaith readings one might also choose from and which convey the spirit of the occasion:http://reformbahai.org/Global_Testament_of_Faith.html

All are welcome! We’d love to meet and pray with you!

Reform Bahai Faith
http://www.ReformBahai.org