Devotional meeting in Jackson. Be there or be square.
Written by ry on March 17th, 2006
Great little story about a Baha’i devotional meeting in Jackson, TN courtesy of the Jackson Sun:
What typically happens is that open invitations are extended for members of the community to come to one of their nondenominational prayer meetings. On the glass coffee table in the Schmidts’ home are the books “The Bounty of Allah” and “The Glorious Journey to God” stacked on top of one another.
On a recent Tuesday, three candles are lit on the coffee table as Bahai members gather for this informal prayer meeting. Rebecca Schmidt’s husband, Rick, opens up the meeting with a Buddhist ritual.
“I get to ring my bell of awareness,” he says. In the palm of his hand, he holds a small circular bell. To help get them in the mindset for meditation and prayer, he says “present moment, perfect moment” before he taps the bell with a wand three times. After the sounding of the third bell, the prayer meeting begins.
Rick Schmidt, though he is the only Buddhist in the room, doesn’t feel like an outsider. In fact, he says, “the similarity I see between Buddhism and Bahais is acceptance and compassion,” he says.
The article is fairly info-heavy (as much as single page newspaper articles can be) and covers a lot of the basic information about the Faith as well as extending the invitation to all to join the Baha’is of Jackson at their next devotional. I’m just going to go ahead and assume that anyone reading this who is going to be in the neighbourhood of Jackson, Tennesse around 6 p.m. on Tuesday evening will be dropping by the Schmidt’s house at 1492 Lambuth Blvd. right?
For those of us who came into the Baha'i Faith through the ever popular 
17
PM
I love these kinds of stories–what individual Baha’is do to promote the Faith through their participation in the core activities. These believers are “stars,” “celebrities”, whose selfless efforts inspire others when others have the chance to hear of their efforts.
23
AM
My father is actually from Jackson, TN though he is not a Baha’i. I can’t remember the last time I heard anything about Jackson that did not involve a family member so this story was a bit of a treat. Thanks for including it.