My heart is full and yearning to share from the National Institutional Meeting held for three days in early April. Ours was one of 40 such gatherings being held around the globe. Over 500 servants from the 12 Regions of the United States, plus Alaska and Bermuda were present. We were blessed by the presence of National Spiritual Assembly members, Continental Counselors, two International Teaching Center members, and a few other special guests. Two plenary sessions were held each day before lunch, then 3 breakouts with the South Central regional group of about 40 participants – all focused on the 30 December, 2021 message and our experience so far that sheds light on it. Devotional programs, varied and stirring, were shared by participants from each region to open each morning for 30 minutes, and again to close each night.
The bounties flowed in copious abundance; I didn’t catch it all. But I’d like to share what touched my heart from my own perspective. The goal stated at the outset was to achieve spiritual clarity and unity of thought. This is needed with respect to the single aim of the Plan – to release the society building power of the Faith in ever greater measure. We will need a laser-like focus as we labor in an environment of increasing social disruption and disorder.
For clarity we can consider the agricultural analogy from the Tablets of the Divine Plan:
“Now you must become heavenly farmers and scatter pure seeds in the prepared soil. The harvest of every other seed is limited, but the bounty and the blessing of the seed of the divine teachings is unlimited. Throughout the coming centuries and cycles many harvests will be gathered. Consider the work of former generations. During the lifetime of Jesus Christ the believing, firm souls were few and numbered, but the heavenly blessings descended so plentifully that in a number of years countless souls entered beneath the shadow of the Gospel.”
Working with this analogy, we need more farmers to sow more and more land, and the greater skill these farmers have the more growth there will be in the different soils we find in our different neighborhoods and clusters. The work in a milestone 1 cluster might focus on a single expanding nucleus – a single fruit tree in a new orchard. At milestone 2 we might find a small grove, and at milestone 3 several such groves.
A statement was made that trials act like fertilizer to improve the soil. My first reaction was that trials seemed more like plows, breaking up the rocks and clods of clay. But plows are tools of the farmer – and we don’t use trials as tools. So this was something I was pondering during the course of the weekend.
Since we were a meeting of farmers, each with some level of skill, it should not have been surprising to find some of these skills reflected in the meeting itself. But several aspects were a surprise to me – a wonderful surprise.
I hadn’t thought of the relationship we have with our National Spiritual Assembly as related to skills, but the meeting showed otherwise. Even in mundane aspects such as COVID precautions it showed very clearly. Upon arrival we were told that the level of risk in Los Angeles was such that the use of masks would be optional. But at around 3 pm of the first day, we received an update – 1 among us had tested positive, so from now on masks would be required. Within minutes all were masked. It made me feel so protected! And the protection came from the relationship between each of us and the National Spiritual Assembly. Even though nothing was said, I am sure that the one who tested positive shared this with the Assembly immediately – just as fast as we all donned our masks when instructed. It’s a capacity that, in due time, can tame wars. All we lack is numbers.
Native and African Americans were at the forefront throughout. This was never the focus of the meeting, but never-the-less something celebrated continuously as we went along – during the devotional programs, during the singing, and during the consultations. A handful of newly-declared Baháʼís addressed the meeting, all youth attracted to the Faith in focus neighborhoods. All were so obviously and joyously the brothers and sisters of all of us.
Members of the National Spiritual Assembly, Continental Board of Counselors, and International Teaching Center sat in on our South Central breakout sessions. They would speak if we asked them something, but other than that they just listened. What a wonderful example of accompaniment!
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