“Occasions where the community's efforts, in their entirety, are the
subject of earnest and uplifting deliberation”
Furthermore, the friends are conscious that the work of the
Cause proceeds at different speeds in different places and for good reason --
it is, after all, an organic phenomenon -- and they take joy and encouragement
from every instance of progress they see. Indeed, they recognize the benefit
that accrues from the contribution of each individual to the progress of the
whole, and thus the service rendered by each one, in keeping with the
possibilities created by a person's circumstances, is welcomed by all.
Gatherings for reflection are increasingly seen as occasions where the
community's efforts, in their entirety, are the subject of earnest and
uplifting deliberation. Participants learn what has been accomplished overall,
understand their own labours in that light, and enhance their knowledge about
the process of growth by absorbing the counsels of the institutions and drawing
on the experience of their fellow believers. Such experience is also shared in
numerous other spaces that are emerging for consultation amongst friends
intensely engaged in specific endeavours, whether they are pursuing a common
line of action or serving in a particular part of the cluster. All these
insights are located in a wider appreciation that progress is most easily
achieved in an environment imbued with love--one in which shortcomings are
overlooked with forbearance, obstacles are overcome with patience, and tested
approaches are embraced with enthusiasm. And so it is that, through the wise
direction of institutions and agencies of the Faith functioning at every level,
the friends' exertions, however modest individually, coalesce into a collective
effort to ensure that receptivity to the call of the Blessed Beauty is
identified quickly and nurtured effectively. A cluster in this condition is
clearly one where the relationships among the individual, the institutions, and
the community--the Plan's three protagonists--are evolving soundly.
- The
Universal House of Justice (Ridvan 2013)
