DEAR FRIENDS,
Warmest love and greetings from the Bahá’í
Council for Scotland.
Another lively, exciting and happy summer school was held in
Aberdeen at the end of July around the theme of Peace. One of the
many activities on this theme was an interfaith prayer evening. In
the course of the evening, members of several major faiths either
spoke or read from their Holy Scriptures about Peace. This was
followed by a very interesting play about colours of the rainbow.
The speakers who represented the major world faiths performed the
play which showed the unity of vision and purpose between the
faiths. The children, junior youth and youth had their own exciting
programme, and with many interesting late night discussion
sessions.
Earlier in the summer many youngsters from the islands of Lewis and
Harris were treated to a camp organised by the islands’
Bahá’í club for children and youth with funding
from the local council and the Bahá’í Council
for Scotland. This has now become an established community event
and a marvellous service to the local children, for some of whom it
is the only opportunity for a summer holiday.
At the end of June the Council had its first ever offshore meeting
on the beautiful Isle of Lewis, off the west coast of Scotland.
This provided a wonderful opportunity to meet with a strong and
committed island community, consult on some of the issues pertinent
to these steadfast friends who have special bounties and challenges
of living on these special islands. This brief island odyssey was
greatly enhanced the following day when the Council met and
consulted with the friends on the splendid island of Skye.
The Council is delighted to know that all the Scottish island
communities have provisional plans for celebration of the Islands
Jubilee in July/August 2003; visitors would be welcome throughout
the year. If you would like more information about the Jubilee
plans please contact Sandi Humphrey, the travel teaching
co-ordinator, at
sandi@solas.freeserve.co.uk.
By now most areas in Scotland have had their first cluster meeting
and some are planning their second gathering. This is an exciting
development in the community and many are using innovative means to
enrich the cluster meeting and make it an inspiring experience for
everyone present. This can be done through the use of the arts,
music, drama and involvement of the children, youth and the wider
community. A wonderful opportunity for experimentation, with
diverse and creative outcomes.
On the external affairs front, the
Letter to World Religious
Leaders, has been presented to several religious leaders and
has received positive response from every one of them. The Council
representatives met with the Moderator of the Church of Scotland in
his office at the General Assembly in Edinburgh. During the
40-minute long meeting, the moderator began to read from the
statement and at one stage in the discussion he began to quote from
it. He also asked many deep and substantial questions about the
Faith. Similarly the Primus of the Episcopalian Church (equivalent
of the Anglican Church in England) received the statement very
cordially and spoke with feeling about the importance of developing
a deeper inter-religious dialogue.
The Council continues its consultation on the three core
activities, and how they can become open to all, and as such,
“portals for entry by troops”. In particular the
Council is grateful to the Training Institute for Scotland for
planning and organising regular training sessions for the sequence
of courses and especially for the involvement of a greater number
of youths and adults in recent training courses.
With warmest love,
Bahá’í Council for Scotland
