Fri 9/20 @ 6:00 pm EDT – Sun 9/22 @ 12:30 pm EDT
Audacity: The Other Nature of Worship
Responding to the inmost longing of every heart to commune with its Maker, they carry out acts of collective worship in diverse settings, uniting with others in prayer, awakening spiritual susceptibilities, and shaping a pattern of life distinguished for its devotional character.
—The Universal House of Justice
Many people are seeking to be transformed through having a conversation with God. They want active participation, want to feel the spirit of the Almighty in their DNA, want to have their souls quickened with that spirit. With this goal in mind, this weekend’s training will focus on building expertise and capacity necessary to drive the core activities of this current plan. It is through this particular devotional model, in its mechanics as well as its determined spirit, that Lloyd Lawrence and Kenneth Ray, African-Americans raised in the black church, and curators of a seven-year endeavor known as the Hush Harbor devotional, wish to share their experience and assist the friends on how to extend devotional brave spaces not only for black folk or Bahá’ís, but for anyone who enters Baha’i spaces seeking shelter, fellowship, protection and worship. It is the intention of the facilitators that the participants learn to create self-directing devotional environments that can sustain a rich and diversified range of cultural expression. We joyfully invite you to a weekend of exploration, research, and play.
A Culture of Learning:
Regardless of a community’s starting point, it has advanced the process of growth when it has combined qualities of faith, perseverance and commitment with a readiness to learn. In fact, a cherished legacy of this series of Plans is the widespread recognition that any effort to advance begins with an orientation towards learning.
—The Universal House of Justice
We will examine themes centered on healing, cross-cultural training, knowledge transference as well as fruitful grounding in Bahá’í guidance that allows us to explore this important question:
How can a culture of learning linked with service contribute to the growth and development of a vibrant community life?
Your Presenters:
Lloyd Lawrence is a New York based interdisciplinary artist who seeks to obliterate the boundaries between art and the rest of the world. Lloyd completed undergraduate work at Tyler School of Art where he studied under the tutelage of renowned poet Sonia Sanchez, followed by postgraduate research at the University of Washington with famed Harlem Renaissance artist, Jacob Lawrence. Lloyd is currently facilitating [The Well] a progressive writing workshop and poetry clearinghouse for future devotional endeavors that build on both information drawn from the former Hush Harbor devotional gathering and meaningful conversation that was trademark of the Urban Juke Joint (a nobler expression) open mike experience.
Kenneth Ray is currently a Math Tutor who works mainly with highly motivated but financially limited middle and high school students in the New York City metropolitan area. In addition to teaching, he was a former Assistant Basketball Coach for the Berkeley College Men’s Basketball team for 15 years, earning the nickname “Coach K.” He currently serves as a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly in the City of the Covenant.
Hush Harbor History:
The worship experience called “Hush Harbor” maps its beginnings in secret gatherings held by enslaved Africans in America. The Hush Harbor or what author Albert J. Raboteau referred to as the “Invisible Church,” allowed the slave to call on the name of the Lord in relief. In order to keep their voices from carrying, wet fabric suspended over tree branches provided safe spaces for plotting freedom as well as safe spaces to pray for freedom.
This program is intended for youth and adults; there will be no program for children or junior youth.
