This Interfaith Devotional program focuses on the nature and process of creation. These readings have been selected from various religious traditions. Please come and join us on Sundays at 9:30 am at the Beaverton Baha’i Center.
Opening Prayer
Magnified be Thy name, O Lord my God!
Thou art He Whom all things worship and Who worshipeth no one, Who is the Lord of all things and is the vassal of none, Who knoweth all things and is known of none. Thou didst wish to make Thyself known unto men; therefore, Thou didst, through a word of Thy mouth, bring creation into being and fashion the universe. There is none other God except Thee, the Fashioner, the Creator, the Almighty, the Most Powerful.
I implore Thee, by this very word that hath shone forth above the horizon of Thy will, to enable me to drink deep of the living waters through which Thou hast vivified the hearts of Thy chosen ones and quickened the souls of them that love Thee, that I may, at all times and under all conditions, turn my face wholly towards Thee.
Baha’i Faith, Bahá’u’lláh
First Reading
All contingent beings pass
Into material Nature which is Mine.
When an aeon comes to an end; and then again
When another aeon starts, I emanate them forth.
Firm-fixed in my material Nature
Ever again I emanate
This whole mighty host of beings,
Powerless themselves – from Nature comes the power.
These works of mine
Bind me not nor limit Me:
As one indifferent I sit
Among these works detached.
(A world of) moving and unmoving things
Material Nature brings to birth.
while I look on and supervise:
This is the cause and this is the means
By which the world revolves.
For what a human form I have assumed
Fools scorn Me, knowing nothing of my higher nature
Great Lord of (all) contingent beings.
Hindu Scripture – Bhagavad-Gita
Music
Second Reading
And the Buddha said, ‘Tathagata sees the universe face to face and understands its nature. He proclaims the truth both in its letter and in its spirit, and his doctrine is glorious in its origin, glorious in its consummation.’
Buddhist Scripture – Tevijja Sutta
O Son of Being!
With the hands of power I made thee and with the fingers of strength I created thee; and within thee have I placed the essence of My light. Be thou content with it and seek naught else, for My work is perfect and My command is binding. Question it not, nor have a doubt thereof.
Baha’i Faith, Bahá’u’lláh
When I behold Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, The moon and the stars, which Thou hast established;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou thinkest of him?
Yet Thou hast made him but little lower than the angels, And hast crowned him with the glory and honour.
Thou hast made him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands;
Thou hast put all things under His feet.
Jewish Scripture – Psalms 8: 3-9
Music
Third Reading
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Christian Scripture – John 1: 1-4
The one true God hath everlastingly existed, and will everlastingly continue to exist. His creation, likewise, hath no beginning, and will have no end. All that is created, however, is preceded by a cause. This fact, in itself, established, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the unity of the Creator.
Thou hast, moreover, asked Me concerning the nature of the celestial spheres. To comprehend their nature, it would be necessary to inquire into the meaning of the allusions that have been made in the Books of old to the celestial spheres and the heavens, and to discover the character of their relationship to this physical world, and the influence which they exert upon it. Every heart is filled with wonder at so bewildering a theme, and every mind is perplexed by its mystery. God, alone, can fathom its import. The learned men, that have fixed at several thousand years the life of this earth, have failed, throughout the long period of their observation, to consider either the number or the age of the other planets. Consider, moreover, the manifold divergencies that have resulted from the theories propounded by these men. Know thou that every fixed star hath its own planet, and every planet its own creatures, whose number no man can compute.
Baha’i Faith, Bahá’u’lláh
Music
Open Prayers
Music
Closing Prayer
Compassionate God! Thanks be to Thee for Thou hast awakened and made me conscious. Thou hast given me a seeing eye and favoured me with a hearing ear, hast led me to Thy kingdom and guided me to Thy path. Thou hast shown me the right way and caused me to enter the ark of deliverance. O God! Keep me steadfast and make me firm and staunch. Protect me from violent tests and preserve and shelter me in the strongly fortified fortress of Thy Covenant and Testament. Thou art the Powerful. Thou art the Seeing. Thou art the Hearing.
O Thou the Compassionate God. Bestow upon me a heart which like unto glass, may be illumined with the light of Thy love, and confer upon me thoughts which may change this world into a rose garden through the outpourings of heavenly grace.
Thou art the Compassionate, the Merciful. Thou art the Great Beneficent God.
Baha’i Faith, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
