Using the Baha’i Feast as an opportunity to further reflect on Summer School materials
In this personal reflection, Lindi Pelkowitz shares how her small community in Western Australia studied components from the recent Baha’i Summer School program, allowing those who weren’t present at the camp to feel they were part of it while also presenting the opportunity to study, reflect and consult on elevated topics in a bid to spur on the community-building work.
A friend, feeling inspired after having attended the recent Western Australian Summer School, suggested that we share the following paragraph from the Universal House of Justice, which was studied at the summer school, at the start of the consultation portion of the Feast of Sultan (Sovereignty).
In every setting, there is pure joy in engaging other souls in meaningful and uplifting conversations that lead, whether quickly or gradually, to the stirring of spiritual susceptibilities. The brighter the flame kindled within the heart of the believer, the greater will be the force of attraction felt by those exposed to its warmth. And to a heart consumed with love for Baha’u’llah, what more fitting occupation can be imagined than to seek out kindred spirits, to encourage them as they enter the path of service to accompany them as they gain experience and-perhaps the greatest joy of all – to see souls become confirmed in their faith, arise independently, and assist others on the same journey. These are among the most cherished of all the moments that this transitory life affords.
The Universal House of Justice
This set the tone for one of the most beautiful consultations our community has had in the Feast. The friends mindfully shared stories of conversations (not details that identified content) that had touched hearts. A common characteristic of these conversations was that listening was an important component. The friends consulted on how they could accompany friends and one another by showing heartfelt love and listening to ideas, knowledge and experiences of others.
Another friend shared how one of the topics at Summer School was focused on the importance of creating mini safe havens in a world where many are feeling hopeless or angry. The consultation at the Feast reflected on how a conversation underpinned by concern for the well-being of others, an attitude of sacrifice when serving and deep listening, can provide a mini safe haven and engender feelings of hope.
Below is one of the paragraphs from the Western Australian Summer School program that mentions ‘haven’, taken from the Ridvan 2024 message of the Universal House of Justice:
Shoghi Effendi described clearly how a process of “progressive deterioration in human affairs” is occurring in parallel with another process, a process of integration, through which the “Ark of human salvation”, society’s “ultimate haven”, is being built up. We rejoice to see, in every country and region, true practitioners of peace occupied with building this haven.
The Universal House of Justice
We see in it every account of a heart being enkindled with the love of God, a family opening up its home to new friends, collaborators drawing on Baha’u’llah’s teachings to address a social problem, a community strengthening a culture of mutual support, a neighbourhood or village learning to initiate and sustain the actions necessary for its own spiritual and material progress, a locality being blessed with the emergence of a new Spiritual Assembly.
The Feast consultation included a spontaneous group reflection on the question “How can we make every interaction with other human beings a mini safe haven?”
Although we are a small group in the Midwest of Western Australia, we all left the Feast feeling optimistic and with the desire “to have conversation with others that are safe havens”.
The Baha’i Feast is a gathering held every 19 days at the start of the Baha’i month where Baha’is come together to pray, consult on the administrative affairs of the Faith, and share one another’s company.
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Lindi Pelkowitz
Lindi is a mum, grandmother, educator, and clinical supervisor of social work students on field placements. She and her husband Allan live in Geraldton, which is a lovely regional town 460km north of Perth. Both serve on the LSA.
Published in January, 2025, in Individual Initiatives > Reflections
Available online at: horizons.bahai.org.au/individual-initiatives/using-the-bahai-feast-as-an-opportunity-to-further-reflect-on-summer-school-materials/
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