Rochester Baha'i Center

UNITY NIGHT IS BACK! Saturday, October 3, 7:00 pm (zoom) Featuring Eric Dozier Old Time Religion: Could It Be Time For A New One?... As we wade through the troubled waters of civil unrest,fires, hurricanes, a global pandemic, it becomes harder and harder to hear anything beyond the ringing of despair in our ears. Where is God in the midst of all this? Has God left us to find our way alone? Would we hear, if God spoke? Eric is a cultural activist, music educator, and singer-songwriter who uses music to engage communities in creative dialogue about racism. Through his insightful lyrical stylings, soulful melodies, interactive workshops and moving speeches, he continues to dedicate his musical, spiritual, and intellectual talents to welding the hearts and minds of a divided humanity into one loving fellowship. Message us for the zoom link! All are welcome!

Ms. Twig, a long-time employee of the Monroe County jail and reading advocate, is excited to receive another load of books from a Rochester Baha’i Junior Youth Empowerment group. The group’s on-going social action initiative, which supplies books to inmates in the downtown jail, is entitled One Book at a Time.

You can just sit and breathe and listen, or bring a prayer, spiritual song, or Holy writing of your choice to contribute. You are welcome!

You’re invited to a Virtual Concert with Eric Dozier! Saturday, August 29, 7:00 PM RSVP for zoom link... Eric Dozier is a Bahá'í, singer/songwriter, cultural activist, and music educator, using music to engage communities in creative dialogue about racism. Through his insightful lyrical stylings, soulful melodies, interactive workshops and moving speeches, he continues to dedicate his musical, spiritual, and intellectual talents to welding the hearts and minds of a divided humanity into one loving fellowship. Also check out Eric's talk: How the Power of Music Heals Racism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV3I5Bcqfc8

The attainment of any object is conditioned upon knowledge, volition and action. Unless these three conditions are forthcoming, there is no execution or accomplishment. In the erection of a house it is first necessary to know the ground, and design the house suitable for it; second, to obtain the means or funds necessary for the construction; third, actually to build it. Therefore, a power is needed to carry out and execute what is known and admitted to be the remedy for human conditions- namely, the unification of mankind. Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 157

A Baha’i Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment group from the city of Rochester identifies food insecurity as a community issue, consults on how to address it, contacts the Center for Youth and interviews the employee who runs the emergency food cupboard, plans the food drive, and collects the food. As a result, the youth are being drawn further into the life of society, evident by the questions overheard when this photo was taken: How will the youth in need know this food is available for them?, Can we collect food in more areas?, etc. Through this process of study, consultation, action, and reflection, the youth are building their capacities for service and seeing themselves in a new light.

The Baha’i Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment program is helping local youth to see the world through a spiritual lens and to take community action. If you are inclined, please pray for the youth, that they are given opportunities to build a better world and that they are confirmed in their positive contributions

Our Sunday devotional hour [10am-11am] remains a time for our collective prayers through unity and diversity, beseeching Almighty God’s favor for family, friends, our country and the world of humanity.all are welcome. Jesus said, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Please consider joining us in reception of our Lord. All of the major Baha’i Temples on every continent reflect nine sides in their architecture and are open... for prayer, chants and meditations to people of all Faiths, confirming the recognition of the, Oneness of Humanity, and the Ancient Cause of God. As such, readings from sourced holy books can be read and participants are encouraged do so in their indigenous language; this is the Baha’i way. Please feel free to extend this gift with friends and neighbors who are sheltering-in, bracing against this world pandemic, this opportunity to gather together in this time of spiritual reset by taking steps of loosening labels and striving for a world of amity. Please join us by sending us a message and we will send you the Zoom link.

#unity #bahai #bahaifaith #humanitygoals

Ultimately, the power to transform the world is effected by love, love originating from the relationship with the divine, love ablaze among members of a community, love extended without restriction to every human being. This divine love, ignited by the Word of God, is disseminated by enkindled souls through intimate conversations that create new susceptibilities in human hearts, open minds to moral persuasion, and loosen the hold of biased norms and social systems so that they can gradually take on a new form in keeping with the requirements of humanity’s age of maturity. - Universal House of Justice, July 22, 2020

A local youth group regularly collects and donates books to the inmates in the downtown jail. Prior to this project, the inmates received books when an employee was willing to bring one in for them or when a loved one mailed one in. Hearing this, the youth started this One Book at a Time project which aims to put a book in the hands of every human being wanting to read while incarcerated.