Transcription
Thank you. Is everybody happy this morning? Are you happy that the school's over? No. I tell you something, this is the ninth summer school I've visited now in the last close to three months, and every summer school reminds me of life because it always ends. And, and you know, some of the summer schools that I've been at, I thought they would never end at the beginning. And this is sometimes happens to things. You think something will never end, and then suddenly the end is there. And so I thank summer schools because they remind us that there's a purpose, like there's a purpose in life, and that sooner or later it's going to end. And I hope that we have achieved our purpose. And really, the only thing that I hope we've achieved this school is the desire to do something, the desire to act on what we've learned here at the school.
This morning, somebody mentioned me over the breakfast table. I'm not going to mention any names, but his initials are Ford Bowers. And he said, he said to me, "I don't agree with everything you said in your talks." And I said, "I would much prefer it if you disagreed with 99% of what I said and did one thing, then if you agreed with a hundred percent of what I said and did nothing." [Applause] And so I'm not sure which option Ford Bowers is going to take, but this is what it's all about. And this is what Shoghi Effendi always wanted to know at the end of any conference. If people sent to Shoghi Effendi a report that we had a wonderful conference, we had a great time, everything was so splendid, he would write back and say, "Yes, but what were the results? What were the results? Who was going pioneering? Who was going travel teaching? Who was doing things that were part of the plan at that time?" And so this is also what we have to say to ourselves. Did we enjoy this school? Maybe we did. I certainly did. But did it have any results? What were the results?
And next year, when we come to that, we saw some beautiful photos there, didn't we? What the committee didn't tell you is that those photos were taken during the 10-year crusade. I'm not sure if there's been any renovation since, but they were lovely photographs. And so I'm so excited that the school will be there next year because we move on to bigger and better things. And now, speaking of moving on to bigger and better things, we have the sixth attribute of Abdu'l-Bahá that we've been talking about. And so far, who can remind me of what are the first five qualities of Abdu'l-Bahá that we looked at? What is the first one? Joy and radiance. Okay, let's try that now. Let's all be joyful and radiant. Let's put our face wreathed in smiles. Okay, that's good. Now we're joyful and radiant.
The second quality was seeing only the good in others, which means we're seeing God. How many of you have seen some good in other people this week? How many of you have seen some good in the committee at the summer school here? Okay. And the third quality we looked at, I believe it was forgiveness. How many of you forgive the summer school committee? Okay, that's the true sign of love. Okay. The fourth quality we looked at was unity. How do you feel? Do you feel united? We read that Baháʼu'lláh said He wants you to knit your souls together. Have any of you done any knitting this weekend? Any, any spiritual soul knitting this weekend? And then yesterday, we looked at how Abdu'l-Bahá taught the Faith. And is there anyone here that feels they can now teach the Faith with a new method, a renewed energy towards teaching, in a way that Abdu'l-Bahá did? Yes.
So what can possibly be the sixth quality of Abdu'l-Bahá that I selected to finish this conference, perhaps the last conference ever to be held in this beautiful room? What did I choose? You say service. Who says service? Didn't you say that every single day? Persistence. Okay. Service. Does anyone have any other? Help the poor. What? That's the kind of part of service, isn't it? You're just kind of cheating. Okay. What else? Action. Well, everything is action. Every one of them has action. But yes, I could have picked that. Yes. Any others? Love. I think that everything is love. To any others? The Covenant. How could I not pick the Covenant? No, I didn't pick that. Okay. Yes. Faith in God. Whoa. Maybe I should have picked that one. Detachment. Okay. You see how hard this was for me to do this? Because every one of these deserves at least an hour, at least a day, at least a year. There's no way that we can do this. When Abdu'l-Bahá was the incarnation of every Baháʼí virtue, but I had to select one. And the one I chose, I'll give you a clue. What is the Master's name? Servant of Bahá. You know that during Baháʼu'lláh's lifetime, Baháʼu'lláh called Him the Master, or He had other terms for Him, like "Siyyid-i-Aʻlá," which means "Mystery of God," and many other Shoghi Effendi lists, I'm twenty or thirty different beautiful titles that Baháʼu'lláh bestowed on Abdu'l-Bahá. But when He took over the Cause, when His father passed away, He selected for Himself the name Abdu'l-Bahá, the name servant. He chose that out of all the names. He said, "That is my name. That is my glory. That is the only thing I want to be called." So how could I not use service? How could I not speak of service? So yes, you're absolutely right. You've been trying every day for six lectures to get it. And in fact, it has to be the first quality. But because it's so wondrous, I chose to leave it to the end. So let's today talk about service.
And when we talk about service, oh, by the way, I just want to show you. Every time I give a talk, there's always a picture of Abdu'l-Bahá. You see, because this is what Abdu'l-Bahá said. He said, "Whenever you're about to speak, first see my face." So now, in the iPad era, you don't have to use your imagination. So I'm looking at Abdu'l-Bahá's face, and we ask Abdu'l-Bahá to be with us here as we talk about service, which is the very name that He chose for Himself.
There are many different groups of people that Abdu'l-Bahá seemed to have a particular affection for, particular tenderness and love that Abdu'l-Bahá had for certain groups of people. Some of these groups were: one, the poor. He had particular tenderness, affection, and love for the poor. Another group were the sick. And another group were the lowly or the downtrodden, those who have been laid low or have suffered in life. Another group were the unhappy, people that were not happy. Abdu'l-Bahá showed a particular affinity, love, and affection for. And yet another group that Abdu'l-Bahá longed to serve was a very special group. It was the Baháʼís. Abdu'l-Bahá longed to serve the Baháʼís. And there are other people as well. But I want to look at some of these groups of people and how Abdu'l-Bahá behaved towards them.
Let's begin with the sick. First of all, do any of you know anybody that may get sick in the future? You know, you didn't know anybody that may get sick? You have neighbors or friends that may get sick and so on? Well, let's just think about these people as we read what Abdu'l-Bahá did. It says here, and this is in the book "Vignettes from the Life of Abdu'l-Bahá," said, "Abdu'l-Bahá's kind heart went out to those who were ill. If He could alleviate pain or discomfort, He always said about to do it." We are told that one old couple who were ill in bed for a month had 20 visits from the Master during that time. In Akka, 20 visits to one old couple during a single month. Abdu'l-Bahá visited. Now I want to ask you a question here. Let's just take a count. How many of you have visited one old couple, or even any old person, 20 times in a month? Raise your hand. And nobody who's a nurse or a doctor or something like that? Okay. Okay. Okay. So that's great. So I saw two hands go up in the room. In many of the places, no hands went up. So then I want to ask the rest of you that didn't raise your hand, how many of you are busier than Abdu'l-Bahá? Okay, I can't see any hands. And I think about Shoghi Effendi said, Abdu'l-Bahá's stupendous burdens were so great. He was dispatching 90 letters a day sometimes in Akka. I can't, if you spent five minutes on a letter, how long does that work out? By the math, there's a lot of time. And He was protecting the Cause from the Covenant breakers. He was receiving pilgrims. He was doing everything. And yet, for some reason, He considered it important to visit one elderly couple who was ill 20 times in a month. Surely it had to have been important. A lot of us think, "Oh, we've got important work to do this and that." And so, if we have time, maybe we'll do this. To Abdu'l-Bahá, apparently, this was important.
It goes on to say, "He daily sent a servant to inquire about the welfare of the ill. And as there was no hospital in Akka, He paid a doctor a regular salary to look after the poor. The doctor was instructed not to tell who provided the service." When a poor and crippled woman was shunned on contracting the measles, the Master immediately engaged a woman to care for her, took a room, and put His own bedding into it. He called the doctor, sent food and everything she needed. He went to see that she had every attention. And when she died in peace and comfort, He arranged her simple funeral and paid all the charges. So you see, Abdu'l-Bahá had a special affection for the sick.
And so when He came to the United States on June 17, 1912, He gave a talk in New York City to the Baháʼís. And I want to read you some of that. He says, "We should all visit the sick." And as soon as I read that, I thought, "Oh, this is interesting. We should all visit the sick." Who does that exclude in this room? Who is not in the group of all? I always thought that maybe this was an optional thing. You know, when you go to school, there's some subjects that are mandatory that every child has to take. What is it? Math or, or something like that, or English. And then there's other subjects that are elective, there for certain people that have the inclination to do it, like say, music or art or, or something of that nature. And Abdu'l-Bahá just takes visiting the sick out of this optional category and puts it into the mandatory category for all of us. He says, "We should all visit the sick when they are in sorrow and suffering. It is a real help and benefit to have a friend come. Happiness is a great healer to those who are ill." In the East, it is the custom to call upon the patient often and meet him individually. The people in the East show the utmost kindness and compassion to the sick and suffering. This has greater effect than the remedy itself. The visiting and giving happiness to the sick has greater effect than the remedy. Has anyone here a doctor? Doctor, I'm sorry to tell you this. I'm sorry to tell you this, but Abdu'l-Bahá says that we who are not doctors, by visiting the sick with love and compassion, turn has greater effect than the remedy itself. I'm sorry. But of course, if you do both, I suppose it's even better. Now, Abdu'l-Bahá says, "You must always have this thought of love and affection when you visit the ailing and the afflicted." So you always have this thought. Now, it seems to me that this is a fairly easy thing to do because there's plenty of people that are ill all the time. So this is not a hard task. Many, some of the other things we've talked about, they're not so easy. But like say, teaching the Faith, you may not be able to find someone to teach. But how many of you have any trouble finding someone who's sick? There's nobody. Your neighbors are sick. And anytime they're sick, Abdu'l-Bahá wants you to visit them.
Let's look at another group of people that Abdu'l-Bahá had particular love, tender love, tender affection for, and this was the poor. I'll tell you an interesting story. When Abdu'l-Bahá was in New York, He came home one evening and He was laughing really hard as He came into the apartment where He was staying. And He was laughing, but He was doing this because He didn't have any pants on. And He walked in without any pants, and He thought it was really funny. And so He was laughing. And what had happened was, as He was walking home along Riverside Drive, He came across a man who was so poor that his pants were in tatters. And He said, "Come behind the bushes." And He went behind the bushes, and He took His pants off and He gave them to the man. And I'm thinking, "What is this man thinking?" I would love to talk to this man. That he's in New York City, and some Persian man takes it behind the bushes, takes off his pants and gives it to him. I think this is so, I would just love to see the look on that man's face as Abdu'l-Bahá did this. Now I want to ask you a question. How many of you, let's take a count here, how many of you have taken your pants off and given it to a poor person out on the street? You haven't. Okay. Well, fortunately, Abdu'l-Bahá had what they call in Akka, a very long robe that covers. So He was able to get home. So I think we all better start wearing long robes so that in case we do see someone that needs some pants, we also be in a position to be able to give them. But you see, Abdu'l-Bahá couldn't walk past that man without taking His pants off and giving them to him. He couldn't even walk past one poor man when He saw that. And it's such an interesting story.
Now I want to read you an interesting story too. When Abdu'l-Bahá was in New York also, He asked Julia Thompson and Edward Getzinger to take some money. And He handed them each a thousand franc note and said, "Take this to the bank and convert it into quarters." So I looked on the internet and it said a thousand francs was worth about $200. So if you convert to quarters, it's 800 quarters. So He gave one to each of them, so it's like 1600 quarters. And then He said, "I am in love with the poor." And the next day, He took these bags of quarters and He went down to the Bowery Mission in New York, where the poor people are housed and sheltered and fed. And He had them all go into an auditorium, and He spoke to them. I want to read you some of what He said. He said, "Tonight, I am very happy, for I have come here to meet my friends. I consider you my relatives, my companions. I am your comrade. When Jesus Christ appeared, it was the poor who first accepted Him, not the rich. You are His comrades, for He was poor, not rich. This earthly happiness does not depend upon wealth." When Baháʼu'lláh was in Baghdad, He left all He had and went alone from the city, living two years among the poor. They were His comrades. He chose for one of His names the title "the Poor One" and often in His writings refers to Himself as "Darvish," which means in Persian, "poor." And of this title, He was very proud. He admonished all that we must be the servants of the poor, helpers of the poor, remember the sorrows of the poor, associate with them, for thereby we may inherit the kingdom of heaven. Associate with the poor. I always thought if I wanted to inherit something, I should associate with the rich. That's what I would have thought. If I want to inherit lots of things, I should consult with the rich. And He says, "No, with the poor, and thereby you'll inherit the kingdom of heaven." And He talked like this for some time longer. You can read the entire talk. But He finished with these words. He said, "And in conclusion, I ask you to accept Abdu'l-Bahá as your servant." And then, before they could leave, He went to the back of the hall and stood where everyone left, and as they came out, He greeted each one and hugged every one of them individually. And then, as He hugged them, He slipped them a few of these quarters. I looked on the internet, a quarter in 1912 is worth about $15. And I worked out the math, how many quarters He had, and it seems He probably gave an average of three to each person. So that's something of the equivalent of $45. So let's take a count here. How many of you have gone and given $45 to 400 people anytime in your life? Let's take a count. And where'd Abdu'l-Bahá get this money? And what power brought Him to do it?
Well, this is so remarkable. If this so happens that a reporter from the New York Post, who had never met Abdu'l-Bahá, knew nothing of the Faith before that, came and witnessed this scene, and she wrote an article. You can, it's published on the internet. She wrote an article that this was the most remarkable thing she had ever seen. That this man comes from Persia, a prisoner to America, not to ask for money, but to give us money. It's so shocked her that this would be the case, if someone would come and be giving us Americans money when He Himself is a prisoner all His life. She finished her article by saying, "This was the breeze of God," because it was so unusual to her. But it wasn't unusual to Abdu'l-Bahá, because He had been doing this every single day of His life in Akka. Every day. Every Friday He went to the mosque and He did this scene. This was nothing unusual to Abdu'l-Bahá.
I want to ask you a question. What do you think is the greatest deed that man can do in the sight of God? I mean, how many deeds are there that are good that you can do in the sight of God? Ten, fifteen, twenty, a hundred, a thousand, a million? There's a lot of deeds, right? Of all the things you can do before God, what deed is the greatest? Who wants to take a guess? Love one another. Teach the Cause. Service. Okay. Let me read you Abdu'l-Bahá. He says, "No deed of man is greater before God than helping the poor." That's pretty strong words, isn't it? Let's read the whole talk. Let's read the whole thing. He's speaking to the Baháʼís. He says, "What could be better before God than thinking of the poor? For the poor are beloved by our Heavenly Father. When His Holiness Christ came upon the earth, those who believed in Him and followed Him were the poor and lowly, showing the poor were near to God. The poor are especially beloved of God. Their lives are full of difficulties, their trials continual, their hopes are in God alone. Therefore, you must assist the poor as much as possible, even by sacrifice of yourself. No deed of man is greater before God than helping the poor. Spiritual conditions are not dependent upon the possession of worldly treasures or the absence of them. When physically destitute, spiritual thoughts are more likely. Poverty is a stimulus toward God. Each one of you must have great consideration for the poor and render them assistance. Organize in an effort to help them and prevent the increase of poverty." Those are powerful words, aren't they? That Abdu'l-Bahá said. And this was one of the great examples that Abdu'l-Bahá had, the way in which He longed to serve the poor and the sick.
But it wasn't easy for the Baháʼís to learn this lesson. And it was a hard lesson for many of us to learn, and maybe still is today. Someone who had difficulty or great pain in learning this lesson was Lua Getzinger. Lua Getzinger learned this lesson the hard way. When she went to Akka on pilgrimage, she was so delighted that Abdu'l-Bahá asked her to do something for Him. Says that when she was in Akka, Abdu'l-Bahá said to her that He was too busy to call on a friend of His who was very poor and sick. Abdu'l-Bahá must have loved this guy. He was poor and sick, you know. Can you believe that this guy, he had it made without Abdu'l-Bahá? So He says, it says, Abdu'l-Bahá didn't have enough time, so He asked Lua if she could go in His place. He said to her, "Take food to the sick man and care for him as He had been doing." Lua felt so proud that Abdu'l-Bahá had trusted her with some of His own work. And so she immediately went to the man's house, but she returned immediately in a state of excitement. "Master," she said, "you sent me to a very terrible place. I almost fainted from the awful smell, the dirty rooms, the degrading condition of that man in his house. I left quickly before I could catch some terrible disease." Sadly and sternly, Abdu'l-Bahá gazed at her. If she wanted to serve God, He told her, she would have to serve her fellow man, because in every person, she should see the image and likeness of God. Then He told her to go back to the man's house. If the house was dirty, she should clean it. If the man was dirty, she should bathe him. If he was hungry, she should feed him. He told her not to come back until all this was done. Abdu'l-Bahá has done these things many times for this man, and she should be able to do them once. This is how Abdu'l-Bahá taught to serve.
And when I read this, it made me think about who are important people and what is important work. You know, Lua was one of the most outstanding believers we had, perhaps the greatest. I mean, when Abdu'l-Bahá wanted to declare the Covenant, He chose her out of all the Baháʼís in the world to be the herald of the Covenant. She was one of the greatest Baháʼí teachers. He could have given her any task, and she could have achieved it. She could have spoken to prime ministers or kings or rulers. She was outstanding. And yet, this is the work He wanted her to spend time with. This is the work that He wanted her to spend time with. Why do you think He wanted that for her? Because I think He knew that she couldn't do any other work, important work, if she couldn't do this. If she couldn't learn to love and see God in all people, she couldn't do all that other important work that she was destined to do. It also makes me think about who are important people. You know, who are important people? Sometimes we think, "Oh, this person is important because they're rich or they're wealthy or they're in a high position and so on." We even have a term in English called VIPs, which stands for "Very Important Person." Even in Baháʼí meetings sometimes, I go to a meeting to say, "Well, these are our VIPs. Look after them very carefully." Well, Abdu'l-Bahá had His own set of VIPs. VIPs, to Abdu'l-Bahá, were the very important poor. Those were His important people. He had a different sense of priority as to what was important work and who are important people.
Now I want to read you a statement of Abdu'l-Bahá. It's a letter to a woman, and He's telling her how she should act as a Baháʼí. It's in "Star of the West." He writes to her and says, "To live the life, you must be the very kindest woman. You must be most pure. You must be absolutely truthful and live a perfectly moral life. Visit your neighbors when they are sick." They're not interesting. He's telling her what to do to be perfectly moral. And then the first example He says is, says, "Visit your neighbors when they are sick." How many of you have neighbors? Okay. So Abdu'l-Bahá's first example of how to live a moral life is to visit them when they're sick. "Visit your neighbors when they are sick. Offer your services to them. Try to show them that you are longing to serve them. Feed the poor. Divide what you have. Be content to remain where God has placed you." It's not interesting. "Be content to remain where God has placed you." In other words, everybody, wherever they are, God placed them there. Whatever circumstances you have in life, whatever has befallen you, even here and now in this room, God has placed you. And every moment of your life, whenever you're with a person, God placed you there. You must say to yourself, "There is nobody on this planet or in all of creation that's more important to me than this person that God has placed in front of me. I'm not looking at my watch. I'm not looking across the room to other people that are maybe more important. No, God has placed me here, and I must be content with it and serve Him in this circumstance, no matter what happens to me." "Be content to remain where God has placed you. Be faithful in your care to those to whom He has entrusted you." So He's basically saying that everyone that comes in our path, God is giving them to us and trusting us with their care. "Never waver in this. Show by your love you have something different so that all will see and will say, 'What has this person that I have not?' Show the world that in spite of the utmost suffering, poverty, sickness, you have something which gives you comfort, strength, and peace, that you are happy, serene, satisfied with all that is in your life. Then they too will want to possess what you possess and will need no further teaching after you tell them what it is."
I want to read you one other statement from Abdu'l-Bahá. He says, "Strive that your actions day by day may be beautiful prayers." Isn't that interesting? That there's other ways of praying apart from Him turning to God and speaking to Him. Actions, if they're done in the spirit of service, are also prayer. And He says, "Strive to make your actions prayers." So now you're praying much more during the day because your actions have been turned into prayers. "Strive that your actions day by day may be beautiful prayers. Turn towards God and seek always to do that which is right and noble." The reason He says that, in my opinion, is that when you're serving people, if you're seeing God in them, when you see God in someone, then you're praying again. Because a prayer is conversation with God. And now we can pray to God every time we serve a person because we're seeing God in them. And let's, let's read this because now He's going to list a whole bunch of people that we need to serve. And I want to count them. Let's just count them right now, okay? Because now He's going to give examples of how to do this. He says, "Enrich the poor." That's 1. "Raise the fallen." That's 2. "Comfort the sorrowful." 3. "Bring healing to the sick." "Reassure the fearful." "Rescue the oppressed." "Bring hope to the hopeless." "Shelter the destitute." There's 8 groups of people. Can anyone remember those? Let's look at them. First, the poor. Do any of you know or ever encounter the poor? That's one group. How does Abdu'l-Bahá say? "Enrich them." Two are the fallen. Do you know anybody in life that's fallen? Okay. Three, the sorrowful. Are there people that are sorrowful? There's lots of people that are sorrowful. And He says, "Comfort them." Bring healing to the sick. Reassure the fearful. How many of you know people that are fearful? The world is full of people that are fearful. He wants us to be reassuring to them. Rescue the oppressed. Bring hope to the hopeless. How many people are hopeless? Shelter the destitute. These are eight things. How many of you would like to do these eight things? We should memorize them. How important is this work? Abdu'l-Bahá says, right now, after He lists those eight things, He says, "This is the work of a true Baháʼí, and this is expected of him. If we strive to do all this, then we are true Baháʼís. But if we neglect it, we are not followers of the light, and we have no right to the name." Is that amazing? He lists these eight things, his group of people that He wants us to serve, and He says, "If we do these things, then we are true Baháʼís. But if we don't do them, we are not Baháʼís, then we have no right to the name." And I'm thinking, "Well, I hope that God, you know, maybe doesn't see this in me, because I don't feel now I have the right to the name." And then He continuously says, "God, who sees all hearts, knows how far our lives are in fulfillment of our words." I'm going to read that again. "God, who sees all hearts, knows how far our lives are in fulfillment of our words."
I want to read you a statement from Baháʼu'lláh. It's a very interesting statement because Baháʼu'lláh refers to another group of people. This group of people He calls them the abased and the downtrodden. People who are abased, where people are downtrodden. There are such people everywhere in the world. And Baháʼu'lláh says, "This is what you need to do if you meet them." He says, "If you meet the abased or the downtrodden, turn not away disdainfully from them, for the King of Glory ever watches over them and surrounded them with such tenderness as none can fathom, except them that have suffered their wishes and desires to be merged in the will of your Lord, the Gracious, the All-Wise." So He says, "If you meet someone who is abased or downtrodden, do not turn away from them." He says, "Because God surrounded them with such tenderness that no one can fathom." Every time you see someone who is abased or downtrodden, you need to see God surrounding them with tenderness.
And then Baháʼu'lláh addresses the rich people of the earth with these words. He says, "O ye rich ones of the earth, flee not from the face of the poor that lieth in the dust. Nay, rather befriend him and suffer him to recount the tale of the woes which God's inscrutable decree hath caused him to be afflicted." This is a very interesting statement because Baháʼu'lláh is quite specific here. He says, "When you meet the poor, befriend them, and also ask him to recount to you what he has suffered in life." He's telling you a very specific thing. It's not a general thing, "Love the poor." He's saying, "Befriend the poor, and then ask them to tell you, to recount to you what he has experienced." And then Baháʼu'lláh says, "What will happen if you do that?" This is what's so interesting. If you do what He just told you to do, you befriend the poor and ask them to recount what they have suffered in their life, He says, "This is what will happen." He says, "By the righteousness of God, whilst you commune with him, the Concourse on High will be looking upon you, will be interceding for you, will be extolling your names and glorifying your action." And I'm thinking, "This is interesting. The Concourse on High decides to come and visit you when you're meeting with the poor, the abased and the downtrodden." For them, that's an important meeting. I would have thought when I'm going to proclaim to the President or the Prime Minister or some important person, that maybe then the Concourse on High will assist me. Apparently, that's not an important meeting to them. But when you're having a meeting with the abased and the downtrodden and the poor, and you ask them to recount what they have endured in their lives, suddenly the Concourse says, "Oh, that's a meeting I need to attend." That's the VIPs to the Concourse on High as well. That's what they want to see.
And Baháʼu'lláh continues to say, "Blessed are the learned that pride not themselves in their attainments, and woe unto the righteous that mock not the sinful, but rather conceal their misdeeds so that their own shortcomings may remain veiled to men's eyes." And when I read this passage, and I think we've all read it many times, I didn't really realize how simple the message was from Baháʼu'lláh. Befriend the poor. Befriend the lowly and the downtrodden. Ask them to recount what they have endured in their days. It's a very simple thing. But a couple of weeks ago, not too long ago, I was in Los Angeles, and I had been helping my brother-in-law renovate a house that hadn't really been renovated or anything much done to it for about 50 years. Because his mother got ill and she moved out, and so they wanted to get it ready to sell. It took us almost six months to get the house ready because it, everything had to be, the roofs, the walls, the floors, everything had to be done. And as we were getting this old house renovated, we knew that out in the back was a trailer, you know what they call a caravan. And some parts are old, a big trailer, it slept four or five people, and it was very big, and had been back there for 40 years or more. And so we asked someone if they could get it out, and they said they'd have to tear it down, destruct it, and tow it away, and this would cost some $3,000. You know, it's a big thing. It had to be torn down. And as we were discussing that, some of the workmen, the painters, said, "Well, instead of paying money, why don't we give it to the friend of mine who was homeless? Why don't we give it to him?" And so we said to him, "Okay, we'll ask him to come over and see if he would like it." So the next day, they brought this man over. He was an African-American gentleman in his mid-50s, and he came to see it. And we went out the back, and I showed him. And at first, I may have been a little uncomfortable, but we took him to show the caravan. And I said, "What are you doing? Where you living?" He said, "I'm sleeping in my car." And I don't know exactly what I, I didn't know what to say. And I said, "Well," I said, "this thing is a lot more comfortable than your car, but it doesn't drive as fast." I didn't know what to say. He laughed so hard, and he had such a delightful smile and laugh. And then he started to talk to me and tell me about his life. And as he started to talk to me, I found he was remarkable. Any date, I say, "1950 or something?" He said, "Oh, that was the year that so-and-so did this, and so-and-so did that. And this man hit this many home runs." I mean, he was like the Rain Man. He had so, it was just remarkable. And I was so delighted to hear him and talk to him. In fact, it was probably one of the most moving conversations I ever had. And my brother-in-law, he's not a Baháʼí, but he was watching this. And later on that night, he said, "That was the most beautiful conversation I ever saw." And I realized that the house, I was right. That the Concourse on High decided finally that they have a meeting they can attend to. That I'm attending the Concourse on High, and this is such a simple thing. We pass these people every day in life, and we walk right past them. And the Concourse and I say, "Okay, I don't need to go and visit him." And here Baháʼu'lláh has told us all along that that's all you have to do. That God surrounds these people with such tenderness that none can fathom. And so I'm so grateful that accidentally, because of circumstances, this person came into my midst. I was forced to talk to him because of that. And yet, the opportunities are there for us every day.
This is what Abdu'l-Bahá wanted for us. He wanted us to see who were the true VIPs. You know, there's another group of people that I still haven't mentioned that we also want to serve that Abdu'l-Bahá wants to serve. What is that group of people? I mentioned at the beginning. Can you, remember? We have the poor, we have the sick, we have the lowly, we have the downtrodden, we have the unhappy. There's another group of people, though. Parents. Yes, we should serve our parents. In many cases, they are lowly and downtrodden and sick and poor anyway. Okay. Yes. They are the Baháʼís. The Baháʼís. You know, Abdu'l-Bahá constantly prayed not just to serve the Cause, but to serve the servants of the Cause. He says, "That I may serve Thy Cause and Thy servants." I know many Baháʼís they want to serve the Cause, but they don't want to serve the servants. "I'll serve the Baháʼí Faith all I can, but don't ask me to serve these people. Don't ask me to serve these people." Abdu'l-Bahá went so far as to say we should be ever willing to give our lives for the other Baháʼís, our Baháʼí friends. And when I read that, I said, "No, Abdu'l-Bahá, don't ask me to do that." Him, her, you want me to give my life? Fortunately, didn't say you have to do it. He said you have to be willing to do it. He said you have to be willing to do it. But this is the only way we can serve God is to serve His servants. Because Abdu'l-Bahá knew He was just one person. He only has 24 hours in a day. What can He do more than what He could do? Only that much. But if He could ignite service in every single Baháʼí, then He could magnify by a thousand, by a million, His service to the Cause. And this is really what Abdu'l-Bahá longed to do. He prayed to be able to serve God's servants. And if we can learn to be so loving and helpful and encouraging, and never discouraging, because what does encourage and discourage mean? Encourage means to give courage. This way, it comes from that word, "come," to the root, to give courage. Them, discourage means to take their courage away from them. And if we can learn to be this way, then we are serving the Cause infinitely more than anything we can do.
And I mentioned last year an interesting concept which Cooper Dunbar mentioned. He said that everybody manifests the attributes of God, because this is part of human nature. The human condition is that it has the ability to reflect the attributes of God. And one of the attributes of God is the unique one, the unique one. It's in the writings. And he said he thought for a while, "How can man, how can he represent that?" Because God is the only thing that's unique. And then he said, "But if you think about it, everybody is unique." In fact, in creation, we see uniqueness everywhere. You look at the trees outside, there's not a single leaf that's the same as any other leaf. If you look at a snowflake, there's not one snowflake that's the same as any other snowflake. In the dead of winter, go out and grab some snowflakes and look at each one in a microscope. Look at every single one, and every one is different to every other one. But each one is exquisitely beautiful. Isn't that amazing? And this is what people are like. We are all unique. And because of this, every one of us has a role to play in God's plan. God raised up each and every one of you, and each and every one of the Baháʼís in your community. He raised everyone up because they have a role to play. And if they don't play that role, and if you don't play your role, nobody else can, because you're unique. You're like a puzzle piece that fits in that spot in the puzzle. And if you do not put yourself in that spot in the puzzle, there's no other piece in all of creation to do that. And if we discourage anyone or prevent anyone from playing their role, the puzzle is incomplete. And if we encourage them to do so, then we are truly serving God's servants.
And so this is the essential quality of Abdu'l-Bahá that I wanted to talk about. The fact that Abdu'l-Bahá longed to serve people, longed to serve mankind, longed to serve the poor, the sick, the destitute. Some of us think this is extracurricular Baháʼí work. This is something we do if we have enough time after our assembly meetings or our deepenings or a study or this or that or this or that. But it seems to me to Abdu'l-Bahá, it was an extracurricular. He felt it the essential work. Maybe the other stuff is more extracurricular. There is nothing that we can do that's more important. We may think that we have such important work to do, we're so busy. But to Abdu'l-Bahá, He had different priorities. And I believe that this is what we're called to do. We're called to have the attitude of service. Maybe if we just had this attitude, we wouldn't have to worry about teaching. We wouldn't have to worry about it. We wouldn't have to worry about anything, because this quality alone may be sufficient. Abdu'l-Bahá was knighted for this work. He was knighted not because He was a Baháʼí or the Tablets of the Covenant that He established. He was knighted because of the work He did amongst the poor in Palestine. You know, this is what drew attention to the world. And I believe that everyone in this room has been called upon by God to do this work. This is the work.
I'm going to read you a passage from Baháʼu'lláh. I think I'll finish with this. He says, "O Wayfarer in the path of God, take thou thy portion of the ocean of His grace and deprive not thyself of the things that lie hidden in its depths. Be thou of them that have partaken of its treasures. A dewdrop out of this ocean would, if shed upon all that are in heaven and earth, suffice to enrich them with the bounty of God, the Almighty, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. With the hands of renunciation draw forth from its life-giving waters and sprinkle therewith all created things, that they may be cleansed from all man-made limitations." So what is He saying? My mind is boggling. He says that there's an ocean of God's grace, and just a dewdrop out of that ocean, just a dewdrop, is sufficient for all the bounties. And then He says we need to take with our hands of renunciation some of that water and then sprinkle it. He says, "Sprinkle all created things with it." That's what we're doing. We're just little sprinklers. We take from the ocean of God's bounties what we get from it, and we sprinkle all creation. And I say, "How could it be that God has allowed me to be the sprinkler of His bounty? How did He allow me to do this?" And Baháʼu'lláh answers it. He continues. He says, "From amongst all mankind, He hath chosen you, and your eyes have been opened to the light of guidance, and your ears attuned to the music of the company above, and blessed by bounding grace, your hearts and souls have been born into new life." Thank you and praise God that the hand of infinite bestowal has set upon your heads this gem-studded crown, this crown whose lustrous jewels will forever flash and sparkle down the reaches of time. And I should say that was Abdu'l-Bahá. The earlier passage was from Baháʼu'lláh. But Abdu'l-Bahá says, "From amongst all mankind, He chose you, and your eyes have been opened." And He says that He's put on your head this gem-studded crown. I want everyone now to close their eyes and see a crown on their head. And I want you to see the gems, and I want you to see God putting that crown on your head. And He says, "This crown whose lustrous jewels will forever flash and sparkle down all the reaches of time." And then Abdu'l-Bahá says, "To thank Him for this, make He a mighty effort and choose for yourself a noble goal. Through the power of faith, obey II the teachings of God and let all your actions conform to His laws." And He talks like this and He gives many examples of what you need to do. And He concludes with these words. He says, "Thus may each one of you be even as a candle casting its light, the center of attraction wherever people come together, and from you, as from a bed of flowers, may sweet scents be shed."
So to me, it seems quite obvious. We are called upon by God to very special work, very special work, to become like Abdu'l-Bahá. The six things we do, six things we have discussed. And now this final quality of service, which in my opinion, it completely informs every one of the other five attributes of Abdu'l-Bahá. Without this characteristic, which is what Abdu'l-Bahá first wanted Lua Getzinger to get right, without this characteristic of service, attitude of service, I don't know if we can do all of the other things. So I saved it to last, but really it should have come first. And so I leave you with that final thought in this program of Abdu'l-Bahá's virtues. Thank you very much. [Applause]