Bill Sharp generously shared these words with us at the Interfaith Convocation service, teaching us first a bit about Baha’is, and then sharing exerpts from texts with his thoughts.
Bahá’ís are followers of the nineteenth century Persian teacher Bahá’u’lláh who spent most of his life in exile and his last days in what is now northern Israel where the Bahá’í World Center is located. Today a terrace of gardens ascends Mount Carmel at the place he designated for the seat of a council that guides a virtual global Bahá’í congregation.
Tag: prayer
Litany of Common Action
At the close of our Interfaith Convocation service Bill Thwing, an ordained United Church of Christ pastor (and a certified Energy Auditor!) led us in the rousing litany printed here. A litany is a leader-congregation call and response common to many Christian services. You will also detect a nod to the fact that our kickoff was held in State College on a football weekend.
As we pause this week in Thanksgiving for all that we have, may this litany remind us that we ought not allow our own experience of bounty to come at the expense of another’s “enough.” We must respond to the bounty in our own lives by acting as faithful stewards of all we have been given, that we and our neighbors might be sustained. As Bill led us in September, we give thanks, and we ask for guidance…. We are Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light!
Thank you, Bill.
We give thanks, and ask for guidance.
We give thanks, and ask for guidance.
demonstrate to their communities and the world around them;…for their willingness to stand up, speak out, care, inspire, sacrifice, teach, enable, and learn in order to a be a force for good…For all these things we hold hands with one another and say:
We give thanks, and ask for guidance.
We are… Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light…Would you please say that with me?
We are… Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light. Again, please
We are…Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light! Again…
We Are Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light! Thank you
Shabbat and Shehechiyanu
Lynn Schlow opened our Friday evening PA-IPL Interfaith Convocation service with the Shabbat prayer, offering it in both Hebrew and English, and graciously explained the ritual.
On the Sabbath the celebrant (generally the woman of the house) lights at least two candles, representing the dual commandments to remember the sabbath and to keep it holy. After lighting, she waves her hands over the candles, welcoming in the sabbath. Then she covers her eyes, focusing more fully on the blessing, and so that she may also postpone the enjoyment of the fruits of the blessing (seeing the light) until after the blessing is recited.
She removes her hands from her eyes, and looks at the candles, completing the mitzvah of lighting the candles. You can hear the Hebrew words either sung or read here (unfortunately not in Lynn’s voice).
Later in the service Lynn shared her uncle’s love of the Shehechiyanu prayer, offered at any first (enjoying the first ripe blackberry of a summer, for example). The Shehechiyanu is a prayer thanking God for sustaining our lives that we might enjoy each of God’s blessings, and can be heard here.
What a beautiful and appropriate way to begin our first meeting of Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light. May we respond to the twin blessings of Earth and atmosphere by caring for them, that they may sustain others in the way they have sustained us.