Southwick Baha’i community reaches out to neighbours to foster friendships

Friends and neighbours gathered at the home of Mark and Jessica Habibi to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Báb, one of the twin founders of the faith.

Mark said: “Our local celebration has been part of a process of community building and it has been wonderful to share this momentous event with our friends and neighbours as a message of hope in an increasingly chaotic world.”

The celebration included dinner, games, music and the screening of Dawn of the Light, which follows a group of diverse people from different continents as they relate the stories of their own personal search for meaning and their discovery of the message of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh.

Mark said: “This message inspires them, and millions like them, including the Baha’is of Southwick, to serve humanity and contribute to the advancement of cohesive and harmonised community life.”

The Baha’i faith is the youngest of the world’s independent religions.

Mark added: “This year’s bicentenary celebrations encompass the anniversaries of both the birth of the Báb and of Bahá’u’lláh and find expression in communities across the world, as Bahá’ís reach out to their neighbours to establish bonds of friendship and strive together to create a pattern of community life that fosters spiritual and material progress.”