LEICESTER BAHÁ'ÍS CELEBRATE FIRST DAY OF RIDVÁN

At Quaker Meeting House, Queens Road, this afternoon, where local Bahá'ís are gathering to celebrate the First Day of Ridván.

Ridván is designated the most sacred period in the Bahá'í year (21 April to 2 May inclusive). The first, ninth and twelfth days are Holy Days on which work and study should be suspended. Bahá'í communities usually hold events to celebrate one or more of these days.

We hear a brief account of the life of Bahá'u'lláh (1817-92), founder of the Bahá'í Faith, concentrating on the twelve days he spent in the Najibiyyih Garden on the banks of the Tigris, before he left Baghdad after ten years in that city, moving on to Constantinople, the next stage in his 40-year exile. This is the period that is commemorated in the Festival of Ridván. It is particularly significant for Bahá'ís as it was during this time that Bahá'u'lláh revealed to his closest family and friends his station as the Manifestation of God in our time. The site of this declaration is known among Bahá'ís as the Garden of Ridván (Paradise).

We share devotional readings from the writings of Bahá'u'lláh, many on the significance of his historic declaration and of the importance of this period in the Bahá'í year. In these writings, Bahá'u'lláh often refers to himself symbolically as a nightingale, his stream of revelation compared to the bird's song. During this devotional section, a recording of the nightingale's song is played in the background. Strange that no one has thought to have done that at any Bahá'í devotional gathering I've attended over more than 30 years!

At the same time, the Leicester Lodge of the Theosophical Society is holding its regular monthly meeting in the Library of the Quaker Meeting House. There's a friendly historical association between Bahá'ís and the Theosophical Society. When 'Abdu'l-Bahá (1844-1921) visited western countries a hundred years ago, the Theosophical Society hosted many of his public talks and published them in its journals. The motto of the Theosophical Society - "There is no religion higher than truth" - is of obvious appeal to Bahá'ís. Our two groups mix in the kitchen that we're both using this afternoon. I chat with a few of their members and give one of them my card so that I can be kept informed of future activities.

As evidence of how the Bahá'í Faith embraces the many cultures from which its followers are drawn, after the devotional part of the meeting we have a go at some Scottish country dancing! Rarely have the Military Two-Step and the Gay Gordons been subjected to such indignities! But we have a good laugh trying - or at least, trying not to injure oursleves and each other!

One of the friends reminds me that Vera Long, the first person in Leicester to accept the Bahá'í Faith, passed away during this Ridván period 20 years ago. I knew Vera and her husband John during the time I lived in Oakham, from 1987. They moved to Oakham from Leicester in 1963, to become the first Bahá'ís there. John outlived Vera by a year. They both did an enormous amont for the Bahá'í Faith throughout the world and it's fitting that they be remembered here.

We're pleased to welcome Cllr Manjula Sood, former Lord Mayor of Leicester, current Asssistant City Mayor and chair of Leicester Council of Faiths as our special guest in this meeting. Manjula is in the photo above, with a few of the friends who came today (the rest were in the tranquil garden of the Quaker Meeting House, enjoying tea and sunshine).

ELECTION OF SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF BAHÁ'ÍS OF LEICESTER

This evening I'm taking part in the election of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Leicester. A local Spiritual Assembly is formed in every locality with nine or more registered Bahá'ís in good standing over the age of 21. All such Bahá'ís are eligible to vote for the local Spiritual Assembly and eligible for election to it, by plurality voting in a secret ballot. The election takes place on the first day of Ridván, the most sacred period in the Bahá'í year (21 April to 2 May inclusive). As the Bahá'í day begins at sunset, the election can be held any time between sunset on 20 April and sunset the next day. The election of the Spiritual Assembly and the celebration of the First Day of Ridván are usually observed separately, so as to distinguish the administrative and social nature of the two events.

The Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Leicester was established in 1957, incorporated in 1963 and has functioned continuously since then.

There are no priests or ministers in the Bahá'í Faith, no clergy of any kind. There are no sacramental duties to perform, so no need of anyone to perform them. There are no positions in the Bahá'í community akin to that of the Imam in the Muslim community or the Granthi in the Sikh. It's an incontrovertible principle of the Bahá'í system that power and authority reside not in individuals, but in the elected institutions. Those people elected as members of these institutions have no rank, power or authority as individuals. Although the media, government and so on may describe individuals such as the chairperson of the local or National Spiritual Assembly "Bahá'í leaders", as a parallel with what is to be found in other religious communities, this is incorrect. The institution is the leader, not any of the individuals who comprise its membership.

One of the clearest description of the duties and functions of the Spiritual Assembly is to be found in this extract from a letter written in 1972 by the Universal House of Justice (the central authority for the worldwide Bahá'í community) to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Bolivia. Although this letter is 40 years old, the guidance is just as relevant today. I've set this below in bullet points for ease of reading here.

Local Spiritual Assemblies are at the present newly born institutions, struggling for the most part to establish themselves both in the Bahá'í community and in the world. They are as yet only embryos of the majestic institutions ordained by Bahá'u'lláh in His Writings.... What we find expounded in the writings of our Faith is the lofty station Local Spiritual Assemblies must attain in their gradual and at times painful development.... Among the more salient objectives to be attained by the Local Spiritual Assembly in its process of development to full maturity are to

• act as a loving shepherd to the Bahá'í flock,
• promote unity and concord among the friends,
• direct the teaching work,
• protect the Cause of God,
• arrange for Feasts, Anniversaries and regular meetings of the community,
• familiarize the Bahá'ís with its plans,
• invite the community to offer its recommendations,
• promote the welfare of youth and children,
• and participate, as circumstances permit, in humanitarian activities.

In its relationship to the individual believer, the Assembly should continuously invite and encourage him [or her]

• to study the Faith,
• to deliver its glorious message,
• to live in accordance with its teachings,
• to contribute freely and regularly to the Fund,
• to participate in community activities,
• and to seek refuge in the Assembly for advice and help, when needed.

In its own meetings it must endeavour to develop skill in the difficult but highly rewarding art of Bahá'í consultation, a process which will require great self-discipline on the part of all members and complete reliance on the power of Bahá'u'lláh. It should hold regular meetings and ensure that all its members are currently informed of the activities of the Assembly, that its Secretary carries out his [or her] duties, and its Treasurer holds and disburses the funds of the Faith to its satisfaction, keeping proper accounts and issuing receipts for all contributions.

At the meeting this evening, we read a few prayers before and after the election, as is customary. We remember our fellow Bahá'ís in Iran, suffering persecution for their beliefs, and our fellows closer to home who are ill or in need of comfort or support. In a little innovation, I read a prayer of Bahá'u'lláh off my iPhone on which I have an app featuring an extensive collection of Bahá'í prayers.

BAHÁ'Í NATIONAL CONVENTION

To East Midlands Conference Centre (photo above) at Nottingham University this afternoon, to drop in for a few hours at Bahá'í National Convention. Today is the Twelfth Day of Ridván, marking the end of the holiest festival period in the Bahá'í calendar. National Convention is always held during this period, not just for the Bahá'ís in the UK but for every national Bahá'í community all over the world.

When I worked for the Bahá'í Publishing Trust in Oakham (between 1987 and 2003), I attended this event every year, often as a delegate for the regional community: Rutland (as I lived in Oakham virtually all that time) combined variously with parts of Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. I remember conventions in Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Harrogate, Llandudno and Southport, among other places. I'd attended National Convention for several years before that, again, often as a delegate for Glasgow and its environs. I would also have attended other national Bahá'í events around the country, representing the Publishing Trust - maybe another two or three per year. After leaving the Bahá'í Publishing Trust in the spring of 2003, I thought I'd take some time away from these events, after fifteen years in suit and tie working in the bookshop. Amazing how time flies; this is the first national Bahá'í event I've done since 2002 (apart from a flying visit to a speak to a special interest group at a national Bahá'í conference held in Warwick University, January 2008).

The East Midlands Conference Centre is an excellent, modern, stylish facility, with the main meeting hall, food, space for exhibitions, displays and the ever-popular bookshop, rooms for children's activities and breakout meetings all under one roof, parking and overnight accommodation on site. I've visited here once before: 19 January, for the first in the series of Involvement Events with the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP). I didn't get to see much of the centre that day, though I remember it being very cold inside - not something you could say about it today.

These events always provide evidence of the Bahá'í welcoming - and enjoyment - of diversity. This time, activities for those who aren't delegates include the opportunity to have a go at playing in a gamelan orchestra of Indonesian drums and gongs!

I'm here with Clare, on her first visit to a Bahá'í event. There are around 700 Bahá'ís here in all. We're hardly through the door and have already met half a dozen or more old friends of mine, who greet us warmly: Dickie Fuscoe, Laili Cleasby, Wendi Momen, Shahram and Karin Firoozmand, Marlyn Thoburn, Shiva Nolan, Mahzad Mazloomian, Jackie Mehrabi. They and others offer hugs, kisses and exceptionally kind words of welcome. I get to talk to all of them about my work for the Council of Faiths, leave them with my card and samples of our leaflet on Leicester's Bahá'í community. Some of them ask if I could come out to their communities to give them advice on local inter-faith work.

Half an hour or so is spent in the main hall, before the session breaks up for dinner. Not having seen this for so many years, I'm impressed all over again by how courteous, reflective, good-humoured, positive, collaborative, considered - even stately - the process of Bahá'í consultation can be. I can't help but wish more of my friends and colleagues could see this for themselves, as it's such a distinctive model of discussion and decision-making. As well as consulting together on the main issues that affect the current condition and future progress of the UK Bahá'í community, the 95 delegates have the responsibility to elect the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the UK. Our local delegate is Minou Cortazzi, former Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths.

We don't stay very long (hardly more than three hours) and go back to Leicester before dinner. But it's enough to leave me with the sure and certain feeling that it's been good to reconnect after all this time.