 Well, friends, it's such a pleasure to be here, and frankly, quite an unexpected pleasure when the friends called and indicated that you'd like to hear something about the Black Men's Gathering here at the Association for High Studies. It caused me to pause, and I was thrilled to be able to do that, and at the gathering this year, I told the brothers gathered there that we would be meeting this weekend, and you can see a number of them are here with us today. I'm also mindful that there's a standard here at the Association on Time, so I'm going to try to be responsible. Let me start by greeting, again, the members of the Boards of Counselors who are here from the Americas and from Europe, and indicate what a joy it is to be with you, and also fellow members of National Assembly, both in the United States and Canada, and all of you here coming to this really quite wonderful event that we've been experiencing over the last couple of days. At the gathering this past summer, I invited one of the young brothers who were there to get up and share some thoughts, and he got up and he approached, came to the middle of the gathering, and he looked out, and he said, he took a breath, and he said, you know, this morning I was reading from the writings of Abdul Baha, and he said, if you're not sure what you should say, he said, just look out into the eyes of the audience, and through them, Bahá'u'lláh will prompt you, and he paused, and he looked out, and he said, it's not working. So I thought rather than try that, and run the risk of that, you know, I would prepare some, a few remarks for you, and I'd like to start with a statement from the writings of Abdul Baha, and you can find this in the selections of Abdul Baha, where he says, in every dispensation there have been the commandment of fellowship and love, but it was a commandment that limited to the community of those in mutual agreement, not for the dissident foe. In this wondrous age, however, praise be God, the commandments of God are not delimited, nor not restricted to any one group of people. Rather, have all the friends been commanded to show forth fellowship and love, consideration and generosity, and loving kindness to every community on earth. Now must the lovers of God arise to carry out these instructions of His. Let them be kindly fathers to the children of the human race, and compassionate brothers to the youth, and self-denying offspring to those bent with years. The meaning of this is that ye must show forth tenderness and love to every human being, even to your enemies, and welcome them all with unalloyed friendship, good cheer, and loving kindness. When ye meet with cruelty and persecution at another's hands, keep faith with them. When malevolence is directed your way, respond with a friendly heart. To the spears and arrows reigned upon you, expose your breasts for a target, mirror-bright, and in return for curses, taunts, and wounding words show forth abounding love. Thus will all the peoples witness the power of the most great name, and every nation acknowledge the might of the ancient beauty, and see how he hath toppled down the walls of discord, and how surely he hath guided all the peoples of the earth to oneness, how he hath lit man's world, and made this earth of dust to send forth streams of light. Well, friends, I wanted to begin with that passage from the writings of Abdu Baha, because it seems to me that that is really what the black man's gathering has been all about. It's about the sense of love, and devotion, and commitment to the faith, and the yearning to be able to really be the best Baha'is that we could. So let me try to trace for you a little picture in brief terms about the beginnings of the gathering, which began in October of 1988. You should know that during that time, during that time, in all the news media, there were featured headlines talking about black men and endangered species. In all the magazines and newspapers on television, there was a tremendous conversation, if you will, discourse in the United States and all over the world about the challenge of being black and male in the United States. In fact, in one place, black men in Harlem were said to be more likely to die before the age of maturity 15 than men in Bangladesh. So black men in the United States living in New York City in Harlem were more likely to die before the age of maturity than men in Bangladesh. Or in the United States, if you were black and male, the likelihood of homicide against you was 83% before the age of 35, so that any black man in the United States faced the probability and the possibility that he would be killed before the age of 35 at the rate of 83%. And if you did fall victim, it largely would be a crime perpetrated in 70% of the cases by another black man. Very interesting. There were more black men incarcerated in the United States during that time than there were black men in college. In the Bahá'í community, thousands of people of African descent, men and women, had entered the cause in the 60s and 70s. But by the mid-80s, most couldn't be found as active participants in Bahá'í community life. Attendance at national Bahá'í events, including conferences, conventions, etc., included fewer and fewer men of African descent. And interestingly, those of us who did attend gave only passing acknowledgment to each other, as if it were taboo for us to be seen with one another for too long. After all, we had accepted Bahá'u'lláh and this meant that we believed in the oneness of mankind, which was interpreted as, well, as though when we were in groups that we had to be the integrators, if you understand what I mean. That, you know, we couldn't be seen together because somehow that would indicate that we weren't truly believers. There always had to be one of each and there were so few of us we had to spread ourselves around. Myths about black men are bound in the society, you know that, then and now. And that, the Bahá'í community is no different. And regardless of who you are individually, no matter your personal or professional achievements, no matter the promptings of your heart, the image one must contend with is one that the media and historically and historically racist society imposes. And that is that black men are to be feared, that black men are lawless, black men are unpredictable in their behavior and most likely to be criminals of some sort, some brand or sort. In other words, always suspect in a dehumanizing way. And we see even today examples in racial profiling or if you're black and male and you're going to certain stores, people follow you just because you're black and male. Or if you drive a nice car, you can't be yours so you get stopped. Or other such things, you know, old ladies, particularly old white women walking down the street with their bags, if a black man's coming, they cross the street and go to the other side, just in case. You know, this is just an endemic part of the society that we live in. Groups of black people together set off some kind of worry that something strange is going on. What are they doing together? You know, what's that all about? Now people don't question that when groups of whites are together or people of other backgrounds together, but when black men particularly together, it must mean trouble then and still today. Also in the Bahá'í community, we experienced at that time that there was a worry that when groups of black men, particularly at large events like a national convention, that maybe they were doing some kind of caucusing. And of course that was not Bahá'í. Something must be at play that indicated that these individuals, because they were together, were not mature believers. Because after all, we believe in the oneness of mankind, and if you believe in the oneness of mankind, why would you want to be together? Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? Clearly, something was wrong with the picture. Add to this that when we looked around during that time, there were very few old black men who were visibly serving in the Bahá'í community regionally and nationally, and frankly even internationally. Although we did have a number of women of African descent as models, but there were very few old black men. And so I asked myself, and Michael, I was serving as an auxiliary board member then. I asked myself, well, what can I do about this? And as a board member, I thought, well, perhaps I have some sort of regional recognition responsibility, and it occurred to me that perhaps because of this service, I might be able to assist this particular population in the Bahá'í community to discover what Bahá'u'lláh had in mind for them. What does Bahá'u'lláh want from us? It surely couldn't be to continue in the same vein and the challenges. And we were seeing a number of men just continually, just leaving the faith, distancing themselves from the Bahá'í community for various and sundry reasons. So I invited a number of men, completely independently, just decided to do it. What nerve I had, you know, what audacity to actually go out and invite a number of men of African descent to spend a weekend together to discuss these themes. And of the people that were invited, there were a number who invited 12 courageous souls actually decided, with trepidation, to attend. John Mangum, Bojack, who was here singing during our prayers, was one of those 12. Now let me talk to you about the purpose or intent. As I said to you, I asked myself, what can I do about this situation? And really what could assist in changing this sort of process that was occurring in the Bahá'í community in a useful way? The questions I sort of raised were, what does Bahá'u'lláh have in mind for us? What does he expect from us in this community? Who are we in the eye of God? And what part are we to play in the development of a new world civilization? The 12 of us who decided to attend and we met in Greensboro, North Carolina, someone once asked me, well, did you choose Greensboro because of its historical connection with the civil rights movement? I said, no. Greensboro had just opened a new airport and they had some very inexpensive tickets there. Very practical reason. And we met in a little hotel called the Residence Inn. Why? Because they were also inexpensive and they had a little meeting area. But we spent those days together in prayer and in consultation, struggling with these questions and these concerns, and trying to learn about one another and about the, and sharing some of the difficulties we'd experienced. What happened was something really quite magical. A rare sense of intimacy developed, along with candor and a sense of openness was created. And we together decided to embark on a journey of discovery using the Bahá'í writings and the guidance from the Supreme Body to direct our steps. This group of twelve were a diverse group in age and Bahá'í experience, in trade and profession, from geographical, different geographical regions. And also they came with multiple agendas. But we were Bahá'ís with a common love, affection and attachment to the blessed perfection. We spent that weekend together, exploring all kinds of things, and we emerged from it with a profound sense of joy and were energized to become more fervent servants and determined to broaden the circle to include others who we felt needed this experience. Vowing to meet again the following June. Now a word about the process. Without going into all the detail of it, we just don't have the time here today. Let me say that essential to the gathering was the creation of a safe place. In inviting participants to participate, I always remind them that in my view there is no place in North America that is completely safe for a man of African descent. You always have to look over your shoulder no matter what situation you're in. You always have to be on guard and cautious and careful not to expose yourself too much, not to put yourself in harm's way, because you never know what's coming. It could be innocently stated but a cutting comment. And so I said the gathering has to be a safe place. And each individual is who comes then and now is asked to take an oath of confidentiality to maintain the privacy of everyone who attends so that the brothers can feel able to share their feelings, their concerns, their questions. They can share their hearts without worry of exposure outside the BMG. Next love which the Baha'i writings indicate is that essence which holds the very atoms together. This love must be continually evidenced and practiced and expressed regardless of the situation. For we all know and I'm sure you'll agree that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. And the BMG is a place where everyone can come, open themselves and explore those themes which cause difficulties, cause troubles and facilitate the process of personal transformation. And the BMG, I should tell you, is not about others but it's about us. And it's striving to understand what it is that Baha'u'llah wants from us. How can we fulfill the vision of nobility that has been given by Baha'u'llah to his creation? How can we be the best that we are and become in light of the standards of his cause better and better? What the gathering is and what the gathering is not. The gathering has been labeled in lots of different ways. And so I thought I would share for you from a letter of the House of Justice what the gathering is and is not. You know the House of Justice, that source of all good freed from all error. And one letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States in response to a message from a group of Baha'is in North Carolina who indicated that they wanted to initiate some program called a supreme effort, white Baha'i men contributing their share to the solution of the problem of racism in America. And this letter was published in the American Baha'i. The House of Justice said that the initiative of white Baha'is so indispensable to the solution of a problem that involves the black and white races equally must of course be readily and genuinely welcomed. And nothing should be done to dampen this ill. But to attach the label white Baha'i men to their endeavor can raise unnecessary problems. For one thing it is illogical that white men should be seen to be more concerned about this matter than white women or indeed any other segment of the United States Baha'i community. Yet such an impression can be given by this designation. For another these friends would appear as attempting to imitate the black men's gathering. Whereas the gathering is a distinctive activity with a different agenda. It does not concern itself chiefly with race unity in the Baha'i community as such. Shall I repeat that? The gathering is a distinctive activity with a different agenda. It does not concern itself chiefly with race unity in the Baha'i community as such. It addresses itself to a special situation faced by a minority that has suffered severe social and spiritual afflictions imposed upon it by the majority. The program of the black men's gathering is unique and exemplary as an avenue for transcending the legacy of anguish frustration and social pathology that is peculiar to black men in the United States. It urges them toward a fullness of life within the spirit and principles of the Baha'i revelation. So the gathering is an opportunity to focus on the personal and spiritual and social development of man of African descent and has nothing to do with others. It is not about race unity and the most important part of the black men's gathering is prayer. Abdu Baha'i defined prayer for us as conversation with God. And together at the gathering we learn how to pray and we do it for hours. It's interesting because we asked the committee if we could share the devotions this morning and they consented and said yes and then I said well when do they start? They said nine o'clock and I said but that's only what 10, 15 minutes. How can we really pray in 15 minutes? From the context and experience of the gathering we may start at eight o'clock and we may not end until noon. A hundred brothers praying calling out to God and having that conversation. And so but to be responsible to your program we tried our best. I'd like to share a little reflection of one of the brothers about prayer gathering style as he calls it prayer gathering style. He writes the BMG is many things. I'm sure each man has his own take or spin of the gathering. I'm also sure that each man will agree that the single most important part of the gathering is our prayers. The delightful dilemma is to reconcile an agenda with the needs of a prayer thirsty group. At the beginning of the week the sessions open with just general prayers. Someone would start a song prayers and songs would follow or someone would say a prayer and then it would be on. In fact it seemed that a moment of silence was a request for prayer. What the brothers at the gathering have learned is that when they continuously pray sing and chant with love and affection to the blessed beauty the ancient of days the glory of God to Bahá'u'lláh with absolute sincerity then the concourse on high will join us in our prayers and the heralded angels will sing. Then will the hearts of men turn toward God. Then will we become one soul in many bodies. Then will we look at our brothers and find the love we need. Then will the tears flow and the hearts open until we see nothing but God and throw our arms around each other and say I love you brother. I love you. That is the healing power of prayer. That is the prescription for wellness that the brothers at the gathering have discovered. I wish I had time to go on reading more of this but I see the time is flying and there are other things that I wanted to share including and so I'll go on and just talk a little about the tests of service. But please keep in mind this idea of prayer and the intensity of prayer is so critical to our process. Now in the development of the gathering over the years countless challenges and frankly unkind accusations have been made over these years. I think largely motivated by a limited view of how the revelation of Bahá'u'lláh could be applied to assist humanity in its various aspects in its progress towards the achievement of that long sought New World civilization. Sometimes difficult and painful things, comments and actions were occurred sometimes from quite well known believers in the faith as well as people in the rank and file. For example one believer from Florida a mature white Bahá'u'llh called one day under the direction of his local assembly and asked for information about the black man's gathering because his assembly decided that one of there as he stated colored Bahá'u'llh needed to come and I said oh colored okay. When I said well who is the gentleman and maybe he should call himself because I'd like to if people want to come they're welcome but they need to call themselves. He said that I gave him the number and asked him to call have the gentleman called. The gentleman took the moment to to just share independently his own opinion and he said well I don't really think I don't know about this black man's gathering and but I don't really think it I really personally don't think that you all should be spending so much time together talking about us. Doesn't sound very Bahá'u'llh to me and I sort of took a breath and paused and I said well gee what makes you think that you're so important that we would want to spend a week talking about you. Well friends I know that wasn't nice but but after years of criticism and needless hostility I couldn't control myself and I hope that he and you will forgive me for that. But never mind the test of service. What about the joys of the service? What about the joys of the service? Here are some statements from the Supreme Body the House of Justice which share some some insight you know the again the universal House of Justice that source of all good freed from all era. In 1995 I'm just reading from some of the more recent messages of the House of Justice to participants at the gathering. In 1995 the House of Justice wrote the noble sentiments suffusing your message friends at every year we send a message to the House of Justice and to the national assemblies of those who are participating. So to the friends of the NSA of Canada or Bermuda or Botswana or the United States or whoever is there. This is a message from the House the noble sentiments suffusing your message of 30 July 1995 uplifted our spirits and made us very hopeful about the salutary effects of the experience you have reported. The motive and methods you have employed in the black men's gathering are admirable and worthy of emulation by others who aspire to serve the cause of God and thus rise above the afflictions of this earthly life. In 96 I'm moving quickly in 96 the House of Justice wrote we and they wrote this to to this person individually we are to express to you its remembrance of your initiation of this special event and its gratitude for the unique spirit your efforts have inspired in a succession of gatherings which focused on a particular group to address their distinctive needs but which also upheld the world embracing vision of the cause of Bahá'u'lláh. This is indeed an exemplary achievement at a time when so many other groups in the United States are gripped in the self-imposed strictures of cultural divisiveness. Would to God that the news of this accomplishment might be noise abroad as a lesson and an inspiration to others. Or here to the gathering the House writes the universal spirit which it conveyed talking about the message from a group of individuals who are daily pressured by the myopic cultural vision of those among whom they live and work. The certitude of the participants commitment to the Lord of mankind. The intensity of their desire to maintain a high standard of moral rectitude. The clarity of their understanding of the essentials of the four-year plan in relation to the individual the institutions in the community. The vibrancy of their fellowship all evoked in us feelings of admiration and gratitude. Well let me let me stop because frankly I get just so filled up and moved by these sentiments that the House of Justice continually expresses. I don't it fills me with a sense of gratitude that in spite of the difficulties and the challenges over these many years the Universal House of Justice calls this initiative exemplary and offers it as a model to others in the world. We now have gatherings in in Brazil. One was started in Botswana. Friends even the count the International Teaching Center called on Council Guderian to come and talk with me about the gathering as he began these initiatives for the Persian friends because the model is a viable helpful model to providing an avenue for personal transformation and the renewables of spirits in spite of untold odds. In the 16 years since the gathering was initiated we've witnessed in a huge increase in involvement by high community life locally and regionally and nationally by men of African descent as servant leaders. You go to national convention now for God's sake they're just a black man all over the place serving the faith and at one point it was kind of a little worrisome because for God's sake there they all were you know and with this sense of certitude and the sense of not knowing who they were as lovers of Bahá'u'lláh broader involvement in the teaching and consolidation work on every level on the home front and internationally and of course throughout the four-year plan we saw just hundreds and hundreds of men of African descent along with others responding to the call of the House of Justice to travel and be of service in the continent of Africa. You find among these men a strengthened and enhanced identity self and text defined as Baha'is or as followers of Bahá'u'lláh not defined by others a greater depth of understanding of the messages in the direction given by the House of Justice and by the National Spiritual Assembly and a heightened response to the calls of these great institutions and the response during these plans has been nothing short of extraordinary. Well I'm going to stop now and invite some of the brothers from the gathering to come up and just share with you their own sense and let me call these four brothers we've asked to come and just this is not rehearsed it's just this spontaneous please come and share your your experience because I thought because I thought you would like to you'd like to get a sense from them what their what their experience was and so we've asked them to just share in three or four minutes a little sense of what the gathering has meant to them please thank you Dr. Roberts it is actually going from five minutes to four minutes to three minutes so I've got my my watch here there are some practical things that taught you about about four hours of prayer you learn not to drink too much okay a friends I became a Baha'i in 1975 and by 1982 my love for Baha'u'llah had not changed but my participation in the community had dwindled to nothing I was not the person you could reach by phone and I was in a sense dead to the community and this went on for quite some time and and as I reflect on it a great part of that was because I could not understand how the Baha'i faith related to the people that were essential in my environment my environment was with black people and I knew what the writing said but I this could not see how the community how the Baha'i community was relevant this was this is extremely painful friends and so this went on for quite a while through some of the toughest years of my life until I came to such a place in my life that I could no longer be without Baha'u'llah and so I made a decision to put aside everything that was bothering me about the community and just love Baha'u'llah even if it meant that I would never feel whole and that I would never have the answers honestly but in the end there's a there's a song that we began to sing this year about if you take one step he'll take two and so when I reemerged into the Baha'i faith the community there was this gathering and not only is it okay to talk about being an American of African descent it is praiseworthy as a result of the gathering I will honestly say that my family has been transformed my sons are Baha'is my brothers are Baha'is and I have to say that it's it's owed to the black man's gathering and this person who didn't answer the phone a few years ago who may have had this excuse or the other has served had the bounty of serving on as national delegates six seven times and this year was asked to serve as auxiliary board member for the state of Georgia and it could go on friends but my time is up and I will just say that when you get an opportunity to talk to some of these brothers who are behind me about the black man's gathering please do so and and let's dispel some of the misconceptions and allow these brothers to share with you a lot of our a lot of our good morning my name is George Bailey I'm from South Orange New Jersey USA my first direct contact with the Baha'is is when I met and fell in love with and married my wife Cheryl Giddens Bailey who's with me today actually I should say that I'm with her today but that's another story after we married I found myself in a whirlwind of Baha'i activities that I didn't didn't know anything about we held firesides we had activities at our house gatherings and when they had the World Congress in New York we hosted families from three continents at our home and you know I considered myself a friend of the Baha'is I was intrigued by the principles I had been seeking all of my life having been a son of a seventh day Adventist minister I had a few ideas that I had to work out in any case we moved to South Orange New Jersey and I became very friendly with Mike O'Neill's brother Ormond O'Neill and we found out that the brothers were going to Africa and I said well we that's great Africa that's wonderful and we decided among ourselves to do something for them and we decided to give them a send-off so we cooked up some food and got some beverages together and went to Kennedy Airport one night and if you know anything about Kennedy Airport just finding somebody there is a real challenge we managed to find them and we all got together and they held prayers before they departed and we fellowshiped I met Dr. Roberts and Oliver and Michael and Patrick and all the brothers who are going to Africa and it was great so we sent them off and so we decided of course three weeks later they're coming back hey let's welcome them home cooked up some more food brought some more beverages met them at Kennedy Airport at some ungodly hour and we welcomed them home I don't know who dropped a dime on me but whether it was Ormond or my wife or whether it was just Dr. Roberts being a little perceptive but he kind of walked up to me and says I'd like to invite you to the black man's gathering I said well Dr. Roberts you know I'm not a Baha'i he says don't let that stop you so I went and it was an amazing experience to see the unity and diversity and yes a black community is very diverse you know we had college professors we had doctors and lawyers and we have brothers who look like they just came right out of the hood but we're all together at one accord and it was one amazing experience and so it just happened conveniently that my birthday rolled around during the black man's gathering so I said gee that's one less anniversary for me to remember so I signed my card my name's Stan Brown a lot of I'm from Bainbridge Island Washington which is an island in the Puget Sound about eight miles due west of Seattle there aren't very many blacks in Bainbridge and I'm the only black in the community Baha'i community there the community is so small that we actually have most of our meetings with isolated believers in North Kitsap County I'm the only black in Baha'i in North Kitsap County as well the cluster is made up of the entire Kitsap Peninsula Kitsap County plus a few areas in the next county over and in that entire area there are only three blacks so I feel very isolated there and I first came in contact with the gathering in 1999 I didn't know anyone who had ever attended the gathering I hadn't met Dr. Roberts hadn't met anyone but I had heard about it through a friend of a friend who was there on Bainbridge Island made some contacts by telephone eventually got to Dr. Roberts he invited me I attended not knowing what to expect who I was going to meet or anything and now I think I can truly say that some of the brothers in this room and that I've met at the gathering are some of my closest friends the the gathering itself has had a tremendous impact on me it allows me to relate with other black males it allows me to see that there are quite a few black males in in the Baha'i faith who are doing stupendous things the it serves to invigorate me every year when I go I since I started in 1999 I've gone to I went to three in a row this year wasn't able to attend and I really missed something big this summer it's it's like a part of me it isn't isn't all together and I found out that it not only influences me but the entire community because normally as soon as I get back from a gathering the first thing they ask is well what did you guys do this year and are you guys gonna go anywhere and things like that and I end up coming back really pumped up and I inspire end up inspiring and invigorating the entire community last year that was the impetus that got us started on the deepening under is one letter and then moving on from there when I first went to the gathering in 1999 I had no idea that six months later I'd be in Africa but there was the last year of the four-year plan and I was able to work things out so that I was able to to go to Africa and spend some time in Nigeria the next year went back to Africa to Liberia and I must say that the the inspiration that went both ways was just tremendous didn't really realize while I was there what kind of impact we were having on the Africans but the letters that we got after we returned and the emails that I've had since the return has shown the impact that the brothers had in every place that we went to on the other side of the coin all of us who went to Africa were just inspired tremendously by the dedication of the African Baha'is and the spirituality that's all over the continent and the both Baha'is and non-Baha'is how they will can can relate to the things that we do I do want to relate one incident that happened in Liberia nine of us went and we were split up into three different groups and went to three different parts of the country and the group that I was with on our way back to Monrovia which was the home base for us we I guess it was the very last major city that we came to before we were going to come back to Liberia to Monrovia we stopped the car got out to stretch our legs and we snapped a couple of pictures big mistake a couple of police officers saw us taking pictures and immediately came over and questioned us do you have the authority where is your permission why are you taking pictures all kinds of questions and we just thought that we were just taking a few pictures well things got a little intense there at the curbside and they decided that they would take us to the police station to straighten this thing out three hours later we were finally released and while we were in the in the police station the Baha'is from Liberia were negotiating our release now I talked to the to our chief negotiator afterwards and she said that the first question or the first price that they gave was $200 US for each of us in order to release us and the Baha'i response was no you don't understand we're Baha'is we don't play that game they didn't do anything wrong so you might as well let them go well three hours later we were finally released that confiscated the cameras they gave the cameras back and everything and it cost ended up costing $20 US for all three of us needless to say there were a lot of remover of difficulty prayers said during those three hours a lot of problems my name is Derek Smith from Evanston Illinois and I think I speak for a younger generation of black brothers who are slowly but surely taking ownership of this phenomenon is what I would call it and I think that the the best way to obviously describe the the black men's gathering is to look at its effects on the individuals who participate in it and it it within my own realm of existence it has it has deepened my relationship to Bahá'u'lláh in ways that I hadn't thought possible into the revelation of Bahá'u'lláh and to the covenant established by Bahá'u'lláh you can imagine what happens to someone when they're involved in it in an activity that is explicitly addressed by the Universal House of Justice it's an honor that I think is hard to describe and one of the reasons I think that this revelation has become so much more real to me since the gathering is I have seen some of the things that have been talked about by Bahá'u'lláh and by Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi in what happening in this group of in this group of men when Abdu'l-Baha talks about the serried lines that will carry forth an ever advancing civilization I look at my brothers and I see these serried lines when Bahá'u'lláh talks about an army of light I see you know I see this army and when and when Shoghi Effendi uses militaristic terms to describe the dispersal of the faith throughout the world I look at my brothers and I see that really taking place and it gives you a sense of confidence in a sense of the realization that the spread of the faith is inevitable that this army will truly take over the earth and you know I just I just ask that you all pray for us and that you imagine what it's like to gather with a hundred other people and pray for the better part of the day calling on the spirit of Bahá'u'lláh to carry you forth in your effort to spread the light of unity throughout the world and to remember us and to pray for us and I'm just I'm honored to be able to share my experience with you and allow upon. Well friends, the time for us this morning is gone and I want to express my deep gratitude to you for your interest in this experience of spiritual and social transformation. I'd like you to join us in closing this session. First I'd like to share with you the words of Abdu'l-Bahá and then I'd like you to join us in singing a song as we move to our break which will connect us with the spirit of the Black Men's Gathering. This from the writings of Abdu'l-Bahá. O ye loved ones of the Lord this is the hour when ye must associate with all the earth's people in extreme kindliness and love and be to them the signs and tokens of God's great mercy. Ye must become the very soul of the world, the living spirit in the body of the children of men. In this wondrous age at this time when the ancient beauty, the most great name bearing unnumbered gifts, hath risen above the horizon of the world, the word of God hath infused such awesome power into the innermost essence of humankind, that he hath stripped men's human qualities of all effect and half with his all conquering might unified the peoples and a vast sea of oneness. Now is the time for the lovers of God to raise high the banners of unity to entomb in the assemblages of the world the verses of friendship and love and to demonstrate to all that the grace of God is one. Thus will the tabernacles of holiness be upraised on the summits of the earth gathering all peoples into the protective shadow of the word of oneness. This great bounty will dawn over the world at the time when the lovers of God shall arise to carry out his teachings and to scatter far and wide the fresh sweet sense of universal love. Now I'd like you to join us in a song that we sing at the gathering. I'll tell you the words and then the brothers behind me in here gonna join and singing it and it's a marching song. So we'll march into into our break if you will and and have a few minutes before we're called back into session. The words are done made my vow to the Lord and I never will turn back. Oh I will go I shall go to see what the end will be done made my vow to the Lord. Can you say that? And I never will turn back. Oh I will go. Oh I shall go. To see what the end will be. Friends when you go out there are also some materials that you may be interested in out in the lobby and we thank you so much for the opportunity to be with you. So sing with us. Done made my vow to the Lord. And I never will turn back. Oh I will go. I shall go. To see what the end will be. Done made my vow to the Lord. And I never will turn back. Oh I shall go.