This Interfaith Devotional program focuses on praise of God and gratitude for His bounties. 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
Praised be Thou, O Lord my God! This is Thy servant who hath quaffed from the hands of Thy grace the wine of Thy tender mercy, and tasted of the savor of Thy love in Thy days. I beseech Thee, by the embodiments of Thy names whom no grief can hinder from rejoicing in Thy love or from gazing on Thy face, and whom all the hosts of the heedless are powerless to cause to turn aside from the path of Thy pleasure, to supply him with the good things Thou dost possess, and to raise him up to such heights that he will regard the world even as a shadow that vanisheth swifter than the twinkling of an eye.
Keep him safe also, O my God, by the power of Thine immeasurable majesty, from all that Thou abhorrest. Thou art, verily, his Lord and the Lord of all worlds.
Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh
First Reading
Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
Judaism, Psalms 150: 1-6
Music
Second Reading
The fountain of life is issuing forth; blessed are they who drink! The doors of the Kingdom are opened; O what good news to those who advance! The garden of paradise is drawn near; O what a pleasure to those who enter! The dove of holiness is cooing; O what a happiness to those who hear! The gates of heaven are open; blessed are they who see!
The hosts of angels are standing in battle order; what a joy to those who gain the victory! The trumpet of life is sounding; how good it is to those who are awake! Realize the bounty of thy Lord as it is, and thank thou thy Lord and praise Him for that He hath directed thee to the right path.
May thy tongue praise Him and thy sight behold the light shining from the Sun of Truth. Verily, this is a rich blessing for which the saints of the past longed. Be happy and say: God chooses for His favors whomsoever He willeth. He is the Merciful, the Generous! O ye who are set aglow with the fire of God’s Love! Blessed are ye for having been chosen by God for His love, in this new age, and joy be to you for having been guided to the Great Kingdom! Verily, your Lord hath chosen you to show the path to the Kingdom of God, among the people.
Bahá’í Faith, `Abdu’l-Bahá
No more do I ask of you but this: that each one who will may take a straight Path to his Lord and put thy trust in Him Who lives and dies not; and celebrate his praise.
Glory to Him! He is high above all! Exalted and Great beyond measure! The seven heavens and the earth, and all beings therein, declare His glory: there is nothing that does not celebrate His praise.
Those that turn to God in repentance; that serve Him, and praise Him; that wander in devotion to the cause of God,: that bow down and prostrate themselves in prayer; that enjoin good and forbid evil; and observe the limit set by God;- These do rejoice.
Islam, Surih 25:7-8;17:33-34;9:112
I render praise unto God and yet again praise Him. I find Myself free from sorrow, inasmuch as I abide within the good-pleasure of My Lord and Master. Methinks I am in the all-highest Paradise, rejoicing at My communion with God, the Most Great. Verily this is a bounty which God hath conferred upon Me; and He is the Lord of unbounded blessings. I swear by the truth of God! Wert thou to know that which I know, thou wouldst forgo the sovereignty of this world and of the next, that thou mightest attain My good-pleasure, through thine obedience unto the True One…
Bahá’í Faith, The Báb
Music
Music
Third Reading
Praise God for that He hath made thee to show the light of guidance, to lay hold on the hem of the robe of greatness and to be attracted by the breaths of the Supreme Concourse. This is a matter which will satisfy thee from aught else save God and make thee above all needs and will cause thee to acquire an immortal wealth. Then thank God for this heavenly bounty on which the life of spirit depends entirely in all the worlds.
Praise God that He manifested unto thee the brilliancy of the Sun of Truth which is shining from the Kingdom of El-Abha; and God made thee look with divine eyes at the reality of revelation. Rest assured the light of the love of God will envelope the world with great illumination.
Bahá’í Faith, `Abdu’l-Bahá
Verily I beseech God, with all humbleness, to remove the covering from thine insight and to show unto thee His great signs, and to make thee a banner of guidance, severed from all else save Him, enkindled with the fire of His love, engaged in His praise and apprehending the realities of things; so that thou mayest see with thine eyes, hear with thine ears and not imitate any of the fathers and ancestors; have perception in the matter of thy Lord, for the people are in dark veils. By God, the True One, verily the doors of the everlasting paradise are opened before the faces of the devoted ones and the Tree of Life therein overshadows the spiritual ones. Happy are those who enter it and are sheltered under its shadow!
Bahá’í Faith, `Abdu’l-Bahá
We yield praise unto God–hallowed and glorified be He–for whatsoever He hath graciously revealed in this blessed, this glorious and incomparable Day. Indeed if everyone on earth were endowed with a myriad tongues and were to continually praise God and magnify His Name to the end that knoweth no end, their thanksgiving would not prove adequate for even one of the gracious favours We have mentioned in this Tablet. Unto this beareth witness every man of wisdom and discernment, of understanding and knowledge.
Know ye from what heights your Lord, the All-Glorious is calling? Think ye that you have recognized the Pen wherewith your Lord, the Lord of all names, commandeth you? Nay, by My Life! Did ye but know it, ye would renounce the world and would hasten with your whole hearts to the presence of the Well-Beloved. Your spirits would be so transported by His Word as to throw into commotion the Greater World – how much more this small and petty one! Thus have the showers of My bounty been poured down from the heaven of My loving kindness, as a token of My grace, that ye may be of the thankful.
Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh
Music
Open Prayers
Music
Closing Prayer
Praise, immeasurable praise be to Thee! I swear by Thy glory! My inner and outer tongue, openly and secretly, testify that Thou hast been exalted above the reach and ken of Thy creatures, above the utterance of Thy servants, above the testimonies of Thy dear ones and Thy chosen ones, and the apprehension of Thy Prophets and of Thy Messengers. I beseech Thee, O my Lord, by Thy Name which Thou hast made to be the Day-Spring of Thy Revelation and the Dawning-Place of Thine inspiration, to ordain for this wronged One and for them that are dear to Thee what becometh Thy loftiness. Thou, in very truth, art the All-Bountiful, the All-Powerful, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh
