Covenant Comments

Day of the Covenant; Covenant Comments

By John Taylor; 2007 Nov 26, 04 Qawl, 164 BE

Today is the Day of the Covenant, so I really have no choice but to write about this crucial juncture in our Baha'i Calendar. By the way, speaking of the calendar, if you have not done so already, go to newdaycalendar.com and install their excellent calendar program. It has been life transforming -- well, maybe life enhancing -- for me to be greeted first thing when I turn on my computer in the morning with a "live" version of the Badi Calendar. Feasts no longer creep up unannounced, they are part of a coherent scheme; and now I am aware of the actual Holy Hays --the real times, not just the days on which our local community happens celebrate them -- these are not always the same, especially in a small community like ours, and especially on this the Day of the Covenant, which is perhaps the most flexible of all. It took me a while to get used to Jalal, Jamal, Kamal instead of Saturday, Sunday, Monday, but that is all to the good. Now the Badi' week is a living thing, an organic part of my life.

Yesterday, Sunday, since the choir was singing there our entire Dunnville contingent of believers attended Hamilton's celebration. I took pictures, so if you are getting this by email and want to see photos of the action as well as reading about it, go to the Badi' Blog at badiblog.blogspot.com and read this there; the web gallery should be up by Tuesday. Also, especially lately, that is where more corrected, proofread versions of these essays are to be found.

The Day of the Covenant celebration started off with the junior youth giving a play about their role in the world and in the Baha'i community. I was struck not only by their hard work, but also their sincerity and seriousness. They seemed buoyed but also weighed down with the heavy role that Baha'u'llah has given for youth in this time; when the play climaxed with their gathering in a circle and raising a globe high in the air, they were not acting, they offered no empty gesture but a heartfelt commitment to the Lord of the Covenant.

 Life has a way of weighing you down, and I was inspired by the uplifting comments, most recited directly from the Word of God, of the morning's keynote speaker, my spiritual brother, Joe. Afterwards I talked with him and Joe was kind enough to share some of his notes and quotes for the talk, so insofar as the following general comments about covenant have merit, it is his; insofar as it is frippery worthy of being relegated to the limbo of vain illusion, yoo-hoo, that's me.

 Comments about the Nature of Covenant

 Joe started out saying that covenant means an agreement, a contract, a marriage bond between our heart and our God. Covenant means a standard, an agreement to set standards and actualize them for the well-being of the world. It is pretty clear, however, that ours is a world that does its best to avoid standards, worldly standards as well as divine. Baha'u'llah laments this pigheadedness on our part,

 "How long will humanity persist in its waywardness? How long will injustice continue? How long is chaos and confusion to reign amongst men? How long will discord agitate the face of society? The winds of despair are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is daily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably defective." (Baha'u'llah, quoted in, Shoghi Effendi, World Order, 32)

 At the same time, no matter who we are, we cannot avoid making agreements in everything we do. Any fruits we bear in life come out of the covenants we make in our contact with others, contracts both small and large, frivolous (a joke is a contract) and sacred (marriage and religion are contracts), both temporary and eternal.

 Whenever we open our mouth to speak we enter into an implicit contract with our listeners. On the most basic level we agree to use the same language, in this case English. A language is nothing else but an agreement that a specific set of sounds mean something. Its linguistic conventions demand that the sounds come together in arbitrary ways that assign both denotative and connotative meaning. If we did not make this implicit covenant I could never get an iota of meaning across to you, nor you to me. This centrality of language gives a hint at how crucial words are when uttered by the Almighty. Baha'u'llah puts great emphasis on this:

 "Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God is endowed with such potency as can instill new life into every human frame, if ye be of them that comprehend this truth. All the wondrous works ye behold in this world have been manifested through the operation of His supreme and most exalted Will, His wondrous and inflexible Purpose." (Gl 141)

 We also constantly make covenants in our economic life. Whenever we enter into a financial transaction with others, unless it is bartering which in modern times is fairly rare outside of close relationships, we must use money. In order to use money, we have to agree upon a kind of money. Whatever currency we choose, it is the result of another, broader covenant. Every use of money makes an implicit vote of confidence in the issuing institution. Whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, every purchase we make demonstrates trust. Both parties trust that the body that issued that common currency will back it up.

 Similarly, the Manifestations of God in every age create a spiritual language, a spiritual common currency. Who is their backer? God, and God only. Unlike the lesser contracts that create and uphold language and money in a worldly way, the divine covenant, both the lesser and the greater covenant, constitute a contract of love. God's covenant only works through voluntary commitment within and among believers. But -- and this is why we have commemorations like the Day of the Covenant -- the fact that God does not force it upon us does not in any way make it weak or option. For the obligations of love are the heaviest of all, as our oppressed brothers and sisters in Iran and Egypt are reminding us every day.

 As parties to this divine covenant we, God's creatures, make a vow to our Creator. This starts deep in the heart; I say, as the Psalm puts it, "I have chosen the way of truth. I have set my heart on your law." (Ps 119:30, WEB) Thus I commit to the only thing that I know deep down will save the world, God, His Word, and the holy Teachers who utter it.

 I participate in it personally, and you do, and everyone who reads, prays and acts. By doing so we are building a spirit language, an invisible currency based upon the Holy Word. Who knows what will result?

 The deeper understanding of covenant that we are striving for today calls for no empty affirmation of belief. Goethe was right when he said that, "Knowing is not enough, willing is not enough, we must apply." It commands our motion in and through the Word of God, for truth seeking is truth making.

 "Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. Your law is truth." (Ps 119:142)

 The House of Justice has offered us four core activities and assured us that if we place them first our covenant will bear fruit in a new language, a new currency of spirit. So let us get to it!