1925 National Baha’i Convention

--Issue No. 3 March 1925:

By unanimous vote of the National Spiritual Assembly, the annual Convention will this year be held at Green Acre, Eliot, Maine, on July 6th, 7th and 8th.

Two circumstances combine to make the National Convention this year especially important, -- the fact that it is to be held in an environment so definitely blessed by ‘Abdu’l-Baha, so fully consecrated to a permanent service of the Baha’i ideals, and recently referred to in such significant words by the Guardian of the Cause; and secondly the fact that the date has been advanced from Ridvan to a period when it will be possible for a far greater number of the friends to be present throughout the sessions.

In a later News Letter will be given the essential details both as to the connection between Green Acre and the Baha’i Cause and concerning the arrangements which are available at Green Acre for the hospitality of delegates and friends during the Convention. The preliminary announcement is made at this time in order that all the believers, and especially those who live at a distance, may plan their summer vacations so as to include Green Acre for at least the period of July 6th, 7th and 8th. May we not all hope that the Convention of 1925 will be an impressive evidence of the power of the Baha’i Movement in this continent?

National Baha’i Fund – December 4, 1924 – January 22, 1925

--Issue No. 3 March 1925:

Maintained by voluntary contributions made, as directed by Shoghi Effendi, to the National Treasurer and expended under the supervision of the National Spiritual Assembly. Assemblies and individuals are requested to send regular monthly contributions to National Baha’i Fund, in care of Mrs. Florence Morton, 5 Wheeler Avenue, Worcester, Mass.

REPORT No. 6 -- FROM DECEMBER 4, 1924 TO JANUARY 22, 1925

Cash Received

1924

Dec. 4 -- Balance from Report No. 5: $1,195.71

Dec. 4 -- Add check of Dec. 2, 1924, to Terminal Hardware, which was cancelled and corrected: $400.00

Dec. 4 -- Contributions, December 4 to 31, 1924: $1,316.88

Dec. 4 -- Contributions, January 1 to 22, 1925: $4,721.55

Total: $7,634.14

Relief for the Baha’is at Nayriz, Persia

--Issue No. 3 March 1925:

On February 6, the National Spiritual Assembly received the following cablegram from Shoghi Effendi: “Flood destroyed 500 Baha’i homes in Nayriz. Grave disaster. May America contribute her share.” In response to this urgent appeal, the National Treasurer transmitted to Shoghi Effendi by cable within a few days, the sum of fifteen hundred dollars. Telegrams were immediately sent to the ten largest Assemblies asking them to make a special contribution to the National Fund by wire, if possible, in behalf of our Persian brothers and sisters. Up to February 22nd, nearly three thousand dollars had been received.

In addition to these telegrams, a letter was sent to the other local Assemblies in order that all the friends might share in the privilege of coming to the assistance of the homeless Baha’is.

As the result of this action we feel sure that several thousand dollars additional will be received by the National Fund, and the total amount which will eventually be placed at the disposition of Shoghi Effendi will not fail to be a clear evidence of the spirit of helpfulness and also the deep sense of gratitude to the Persian Baha’is that exists among the American friends. Believers not members of any local Assembly are invited to contribute according to their means to this special fund. Not less valuable than the amount of our material assistance will be this unified expression of instant and cordial sympathy between two countries whose spiritual connection is so significant in this new age. On February 14th the National Spiritual Assembly received from Shoghi Effendi this acknowledgment of our contribution: “Both transfers received. Deeply appreciative.”

Letter from the National Spiritual Assembly

--Issue No. 3 March 1925: 

To the Assemblies of the United States and Canada:

Dear Baha’i friends:

Many significant events are now taking place throughout the Baha’i world. We ask all the friends to give their special attention at the present moment to the details of the Nayriz disaster, to the announcement of the National Baha’i Congress and Convention of 1925, and to the recent appeal of Shoghi Effendi in behalf of the urgent need of the Temple, as given elsewhere in this News Letter.

If any sincere and well-informed servant of the Cause were to attempt to express the one fundamental subject to which the American believers should give their hearts and minds at this stage in the development of the Baha’i Movement, -- the one subject underlying every aspect of our individual and collective efforts of service -- the result would be unquestionably the advice that each and every believer forthwith acquaint himself with the letters of Shoghi Effendi.

Since that day when, three years ago, we received the first communication from him whom ‘Abdu’l-Baha had left as His precious legacy to His friends and followers, the National Spiritual Assembly have spared no effort to place these general messages in the hands of each local Assembly. There can be no doubt but that the letters of Shoghi Effendi have become the strongest unifying influence around which the vital life of each Assembly has revolved. There can be no doubt but that the spiritual strength of each Assembly at the present time can be estimated entirely by the degree to which its members have acquainted themselves with these letters and attempted to found their Baha’i activities upon the exhortations, the advices, the suggestions, and the decisions given us by the Guardian of the Cause.

Quotes from the Writings

--Issue No. 3 March 1925:

That the Cause of God should, in the days to come, witness many a challenging hour and pass through critical stages, in preparation for the glories of its promised ascendency in the new world has been time and again, undeniably affirmed by our departed Master, and is abundantly proved to us all by its heroic past and turbulent history. And yet, if it is the lot of the chosen ones of God, the people of Baha, to face adversity and suffer tribulation before achieving ultimate victory, are we to believe that whatever befalls us is divinely ordained, and in no wise the result of our faint-heartedness and negligence?

- Shoghi Effendii

News of the Cause

--Issue No. 2 January 1925:

The friends will be delighted to learn of the arrival in this country of Monsieur and Madame Dreyfus-Barney from Paris, their plans including a visit of several months in California with Mrs. Dreyfus-Barney’s mother. The world-wide Baha’i experience of Mons. and Madame Dreyfus-Barney, their intimate knowledge of the history and teachings of the Cause, and their unique proficiency in the Persian language, bring to the American believers a mental and spiritual reinforcement that will assist us greatly in our effort to promote the international solidarity of the Cause.

The following cablegram was received on New Year’s Day by Roy C. Wilhelm: “Convention grateful for America’s cooperation and visitors. Greetings.” signed, Bhargava, Bombay, India. The reference to visitors from America refers to the party of Mrs. Cook who left New York for Haifa and the Orient in October.

At the present moment when every believer should strive with all his power to promote confidence and goodwill among all the races, it is most important to keep in touch with the Baha’i friends in other countries, through subscriptions to the foreign Baha’i magazines. Sonne der Wahrheit, the organ of the German Baha’is, is published at 35 Hoelderlinstrasse, Stuttgart, Germany; yearly subscription, 7.20 Gold marks. The Herald of the East, the Indian organ for the promulgation of the Baha’i Teachings, is published by Professor Pritam Singh, M.A., College of Commerce, Cawnpore, India, and subscriptions are payable to N.R. Vakil, Esq., Havadia Chakla, Surat, India, $2.00 a year, post free. The Dawn, the Baha’i organ of Burma, is a monthly journal published at Rangoon, subscription $2.00 a year, post free, communications to be addressed to Syed Mustafa Roumie, No. 2 B, 41st Street, Rangoon, Burma.

Work of National Committees

--Issue No. 2 January 1925:

Hooper Harris, 157 West 103rd Street, New York City, has been appointed Chairman of the Teaching Committee for the North-Eastern States’ region, and is engaged upon plans to unite the local Assemblies of this region in a more concentrated effort to carry out the advices which Abdu’l Baha gave these Assemblies in the Tablets of the Divine Plan. Will the Assemblies throughout the North-Eastern States enter into communication with him?

The January number of the Baha’i Magazine will be devoted to the subject of education, and the friends are urged to place copies of this number in the hands of teachers and others particularly interested in the spiritual significance of education. In a recent letter addressed to the editors of the Baha’i Magazine, Shoghi Effendi says: “I am quite pleased to note a decided improvement in the general aspect of the Star of the West. The liberal policy you have adopted is wise, sound, and extremely helpful. ... I wish you the highest success in your endeavors.”

Members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada

--Issue No. 2 January 1925:

Mountfort Mills: Chairman

Horace Holley: Secretary

Florence Morton: Treasurer

Alfred E. Lunt: Acting Chairman and Assistant Treasurer

Elizabeth Greenleaf

May Maxwell

Agnes S. Parsons

Siegfried Schopflocher

Roy C. Wilhelm

Office of the Secretary

169 Christopher Street

New York City

Office of the Treasurer

5 Wheeler Avenue

Worcester, Mass.

Special Notice

--Issue No. 2 January 1925:

Copies of the Tablets and Testament will be distributed among recognized believers, in accordance with the latest instruction of Shoghi Effendi, as soon as possible. Each local Spiritual Assembly should at once send a list of names and addresses of those entitled to a copy among their assembly; and isolated believers should apply to the chairman of their regional Teaching Committee.

National Baha’i Fund

--Issue No. 2 January 1925:

Maintained by voluntary contributions made, as directed by Shoghi Effendi, to the National Treasurer and expended under the supervision of the National Spiritual Assembly. Assemblies and individuals are requested to send regular monthly contributions to National Baha’i Fund, in care of Mrs. Florence Morton, 5 Wheeler Avenue, Worcester, Mass.

REPORT No. 5 -- FROM OCTOBER 16, 1924, TO DECEMBER 4, 1924.

Cash Received

Oct. 16 -- Balance per Report No. 4: $$4,071.07

Oct. 31 -- Collections, Oct. 16-31: $201.25

Nov. 29 -- Collections in November: $763.59

Dec. 4 -- Collections in December to date: $42.00

----------------------

Total: $5,077.91

Baha’i Publishing Committee Announce Change of Address

--Issue No. 2 January 1925:

In ordering books and in all correspondence with the Baha’i Publishing Committee, will the friends hereafter address their letters: --

Baha’i Publishing Committee

P.O. Box 348, Grand Central Station

New York City

The Publishing Committee is very glad to announce that Mrs. A.B. Romer is now in full charge of the Publishing Office, and her devoted interest in the work and thorough business training will enable the Committee to extend greatly the field of their service. 

Message from the National Spiritual Assembly

--Issue No. 2 January 1925:

To the Assemblies of the United States and Canada

Dear Baha’i Friends:

We who, in however humble a capacity, consider ourselves members of the Baha’i Movement, have voluntarily associated our lives with a power which, though invisible to eyes and imperceptible to hands, offers itself inexhaustibly to the inmost heart. Wherever this power truly penetrates, in that life there can no longer be loneliness or discouragement, aimlessness or bewilderment, suspicion or fear. With the faintest awareness that such a power exists, there is born a serene faith that what this power wills, so it shall be.

But to that power first of all we bring a human stubbornness to make it fulfill our own personal ambitions and satisfy our individual desires. It is at that point where the heart first realizes that it must serve the power to retain it, and give up ambition in order to become part of a universal accomplishment, that so many people turn from the path of religion and relapse into the routine life of the world. For us all the supreme moment has surely come to bring forth some fruit of all these years of association with the Cause in individual and also group action which will make the power of the Cause perceptible to the world.

A Special Period of Supplication and Prayer: February 19th -- March 9th, 1925

--Issue No. 2 January 1925:

The time has come when all the believers are given the privilege of uniting spiritually to pray and supplicate as one heart, one mind and one soul in behalf of the beloved Guardian of the Cause, in order that new and broader channels may be created through which his unique devotion to the Cause may flow outward ever stronger and more effectively through all parts of the Baha’i world. 

Therefore the members of the National Spiritual Assembly request the friends throughout the United States and Canada to set apart the period of nineteen days beginning February 19th as a time consecrated to daily supplication and prayer, individually and collectively invoking Divine guidance and favor that the hopes of the Guardian of the Cause may be fulfilled.

These hopes are that nine Baha’i helpers may be gathered together at Haifa to assist Shoghi Effendi in the details of his work, especially the translation of the Creative Word. After the period of prayer, any believer who feels the call to this Service may lay his or her name and qualifications before Shoghi Effendi for him to consider. The friends will understand that these nine helpers are desired for specific, temporary services, and are not to be regarded in the light of those nine souls who, in the fulness of time, will be permanently associated with the Guardian of the Cause. It is suggested that the friends unite, during the nineteen days, in the use of Shoghi Effendi’s favorite prayer: --

Message from Shoghi Effendi

--Issue No. 2 January 1925: 

To my dear friends and fellow-workers, the members of the American National Spiritual Assembly c/o the Secretary, Mr. Horace Holley,

New York City, U.S.A.

My Friends and Fellow-Workers:-

The letters which our able and devoted friend, Mr. Horace Holley, has addressed in your behalf to the Greatest Holy Leaf and myself have all been received, and, together with their enclosures, read with the closest attention. It is indeed highly gratifying to observe that notwithstanding the strain and stress of the critical period through which our beloved Cause is passing, the elected representatives of the friends in America have, with unflinching faith, undaunted courage, and conspicuous ability, persevered in their task and fulfilled their arduous duties.

The splendid contribution you have made to the efforts of your fellow-workers in England in connection with the Conference on the Living Religions within the British Empire, we all heartily appreciate and regard as a fresh evidence of the growing power and solidarity of the Cause of God. Both in the admirable paper which you arranged to be drafted and prepared, and in the person of your devout, trusted and talented President, who performed his duty with absolute fidelity and high distinction, you have rendered the Cause of Baha’u’llah a fresh and distinguished service. May the results achieved lend a fresh impetus to the onward march of the Cause in the West.

From the Writings

--Issue No. 2 January 1925:

In the Name of the Lord!

O Lord, my God, my Haven in my distress! My Shield and my Shelter in my woes! My Asylum and Refuge in time of need and in my loneliness my Companion! In my anguish my Solace, and in my solitude a loving Friend. The Remover of the pangs of my sorrows and the Pardoner of my sins!

Wholly to Thee do I turn, fervently imploring Thee with all my heart, my mind and my tongue, to shield me from all that runs counter to Thy will, in this, the cycle of Thy divine unity, and to cleanse me from all defilement that will hinder me from seeking, stainless and unsullied, the shade of the Tree of Thy grace.

Have mercy, O Lord, on the feeble, make whole the sick, and quench the burning thirst.

Gladden the bosom wherein the fire of Thy love doth smolder and set it aglow with the flame of Thy celestial love and spirit.

Robe the Tabernacle of Divine Unity with the vesture of holiness and set on my head the crown of Thy favor.

Members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada

--Issue No. 1 December 1924:

Mountfort Mills: Chairman

Horace Holley: Secretary

Florence Morton: Treasurer

Alfred E. Lunt: Assistant Treasurer

Elizabeth Greenleaf

May Maxwell

Agnes S. Parsons

Siegfried Schopflocher

Roy C. Wilhelm

Office of the Secretary

169 Christopher Street

New York City

Office of the Treasurer

5 Wheeler Avenue

Worcester, Mass.

News of the Cause

--Issue No. 1 December 1924:

Space does not permit in this number of the News Letter to give an adequate survey of the many important meetings that have been held during the past few months.

On September 26th, 27th and 28th, under the chairmanship of Mrs. Cooper, the Teaching Committee of the Western States Region held its second annual Baha’i Conference and Congress, at the California Club, San Francisco. The sessions of the Conference were attended by delegates from twenty-one Assemblies, including Honolulu and British Columbia. It was the Western States Region which first inaugurated this ideal method of linking together the local Assemblies for consultation in response to Abdu’l-Baha’s advices in the Tablets of the Divine Plan. No other method can overcome the inherent difficulties presented by the size of this country and Canada, and as time goes on we can confidently expect that such regional conventions will assume a significance second only to that of the National Convention itself. The public meetings presented the teachings to many interested people, the addresses being delivered by Willard P. Hatch, Howard MacNutt, George Latimer, and the Baha’i Juniors under the direction of Mrs. Kathryn Frankland.

On October 17th and 18th, the Teaching Committee of the Central States held a Convention in the Foundation Hall of the Temple at Wilmette, preceded by a feast given by the Chicago Assembly in the studio of Mr. and Mrs. Bourgeois.

Work of the National Committees

--Issue No. 1 December 1924:

For many years past, the Archives Committee has been collecting original copies of Tablets and other irreplaceable documents and souvenirs of the Cause, and keeping them properly safeguarded in bank vaults at Chicago.

All the beautiful messages from Abdu’l Baha made accessible to us through the three printed volumes of Tablets were originally collected by the Archives Committee. Had this work not been done, the publication of those three volumes could never have been accomplished.

It will be remembered that Volume Three of the Tablets appeared in 1915, while many of Abdu’l Baha’s most important communications to individuals and groups in this country were received between 1915 and 1921, a period which gave us the Tablets of the Divine Plan and likewise Abdu’l Baha’s final messages of exhortation and of love.

To make possible in the near future a fourth and final volume of authoritative Tablets, it is most essential that all believers and Assemblies possessing original Tablets shall as soon as possible entrust them (accompanied by the original signed translation, if possible) to the Archives Committee. Otherwise, within the lapse of a few years, as the recipients inevitably pass away, many priceless Tablets will be lost to the Cause, and the task of collecting the other Tablets will be increased a hundredfold.

Report of Temple Division of the National Baha'i Fund & National Baha'i Fund

--Issue No. 1 December 1924:

From April 1, 1924 to October 16, 1924

CASH RECEIVED

April 1 -- Balance from W.H. Randall, Treasurer   $1,191.23

April 30 -- Contributions in April: $3,705.75

May 31 -- Contributions in May: $4,886.57

June 30 -- Contributions in June: $61.00

July 31 -- Contributions in July: $1,031.17

Aug. 31 -- Contributions in August: $402.92

Sept. 30 -- Contributions in September: $683.55

Oct. 16 -- Contributions to October to date: $205.03

Total received: $12,167. 22

CASH PAID

April 1 -- A.E. Lunt, Secretary: $75.00

April 1 -- L. Bourgeois, salary April, May and June: $750.00

April 10 -- Mrs. True, expenses: $200.00

April 12 -- Telegraphing Convention: $19.30

April 21 -- Paid on acct. Temple note: $2,500.00

April 21 -- Paid interest and stamps on same: $70.50

April 30 -- Discount on checks at bank: $8.59

May 2 -- A.E. Lunt, Secretary: $75.00

May 2 -- Telegrams at Convention: $16.13

May 5 -- Taxes on Temple property: $1,503.13

May 5 -- Paid on acct. Bourgeois Note: $2,000.00

May 12 -- Building material: $421.50

May 14 -- Check returned protested: $21.43

May 19 -- Mrs. True, expenses: $200.00

May 31 -- Exchange on checks: $1.18

June 17 -- Mrs. True, expenses: $200.00

July 1 -- L. Bourgeois salary, July, Aug. & Sept.: $750.00

Message from the National Spiritual Assembly

--Issue No. 1 December 1924: 

To the Assemblies of the United States and Canada

Dear Baha’i Friends:

In order to extend the purpose of the general letters issued by the National Assembly, and increase their usefulness as a means to completer understanding and more active unity among all the friends, it has been decided to publish them in printed form, amplifying the letter itself with details of Baha’i activities as brought to our attention by Assemblies and individual believers throughout the world.

With the assistance of local Spiritual Assemblies, a copy will be placed in the hands of every active believer. A quantity of this News Letter is being sent to each secretary on our records, and the secretaries are requested to distribute them to the believers in their Assemblies. As hitherto, the letters of the National Assembly will be sent to all isolated Baha’is; and we urgently request that the names of all believers not members of local Assemblies be sent to the National secretary at the above address. We believe also that it will be of interest to Assemblies outside of the United States and Canada to receive copies regularly.

The subject to which all the friends are urged to give their closest attention at the present time is that of the decisions arrived at by the National Assembly in consultation with the Temple Committee and the believers who met in the studio of Mr. Bourgeois on the Temple grounds, Wilmette, Illinois, Sunday, October 19th. The purpose of this special meeting of consultation was fully explained in our general letter No. 3 dated September 25th.

Message from Shoghi Effendi

--Issue No. 1 December 1924:

To my dearly-beloved brothers and sisters in 'Abdu’l-Baha: care of the American National Spiritual Assembly.

Dearest Friends:

The day is drawing near when, for the third time, we shall commemorate the world over the passing of our well-beloved 'Abdul-Baha. May we not pause for a moment, and gather our thoughts? How has it fared with us, His little band of followers, since that day? Whither are we now marching? What has been our achievement?

We have but to turn our eyes to the world without to realize the fierceness and the magnitude of the forces of darkness that are struggling with the dawning light of the Abha Revelation. Nations, though exhausted and disillusioned, have seemingly begun to cherish anew the spirit of revenge, of domination, and strife. Peoples, convulsed by economic upheavals, are slowly drifting into two great opposing camps with all their menace of social chaos, class hatreds, and world-wide ruin. Races, alienated more than ever before, are filled with mistrust, humiliation and fear, and seem to prepare themselves for a fresh and fateful encounter. Creeds and religions, caught in this whirlpool of conflict and passion, appear to gaze with impotence and despair at this spectacle of unceasing turmoil.

Quotes from the Writings

--Issue No. 1 December 1924:

O Son of Man!

Magnify My Cause, that I may make manifest unto thee the secret of My greatness and shine upon thee with everlasting Light.              

- Baha’u’llah

The time is indeed ripe for the manifold activities, wherein the servants and handmaids of Baha’u’llah are so devoutly and earnestly engaged, to be harmonized and conducted with unity, cooperation and efficiency, that the effect of such a combined and systematized effort, through which an All-Powerful Spirit is steadily pouring, may transcend every other achievement of the past, however glorious it has been, and may stand, now that, to the eyes of the outside world the glorious Person of the Master is no more, a convincing testimony of the potency of His everliving Spirit.

- Shoghi Effendi