16.     BAHÁ'U 'LLÁH

Preparation:   Display table;  Pictures, maps etc. of Persia and pictures of Akka, Bahji, etc. Creative work:- Crayons.  Using instructions, make up the booklet, one per child.  (See end of lesson). This contains the verse for this week.

Prayers.

Song.  "Oh, Bahá'u'lláh, bring us together in unity."   Or another favourite song about Bahá'u'lláh.

News time & birthdays.

Revision of the previous week, linking with today's lesson.

Introduction.   Last week we spoke about the gentle Báb Who came to Persia. He told His followers to treat everybody like brothers and sisters and to look after poor people.  The Báb promised that another Messenger would come soon, Who was the Messenger that all the people in the world were waiting for.  This promise came true when God sent Bahá'u'lláh.

Story.    Bahá'u'lláh was born in Teheran, in Persia.  Even as a child He was very wise and adults did not know why.   They loved Him because He was kind and generous. One day a man came to see Bahá'u'lláh with a letter.  It was from the Báb and after Bahá'u'lláh read it He became a Bábí. After the Báb was killed many Bábís were put into prison and Bahá'u'lláh was too.  It was a terrible, dark damp prison and the Bábís were chained together. Instead of being sad they would sing and praise God.

The rulers of the country decided to send Bahá'u'lláh away.  He was very ill and it was Winter time but Bahá'u'lláh and His Family had to travel in the cold and snow.  The rulers had taken all His money so that they were very poor and often did not have enough to eat.  God took care of Bahá'u'lláh so that when He reached the city of Baghdad He was able to tell the Bábís that He was God's new Messenger.   Very soon many people came to meet Bahá'u'lláh to ask Him about God or to tell Him their problems.  The Muslim priests did not like it that so many people went to Bahá'u'lláh instead of going to them.  They sent Him far away to Constantinople and finally He was sent to a prison in the Holy Land.

Bahá'u'lláh always had many difficulties, sometimes He was not allowed to see people for years,  sometimes He was very ill or a very sad thing would happen to one of the Bahá'ís who was in prison with Him.  He would pray to God and write down what God wanted us to do.  He wrote to the kings and rulers of the world telling them to take care of the poor and not to start wars.  He wrote letters for you and me to read to show us how to do the right things in life.  There is a lot to learn about Bahá'u'lláh and it will take us a long time.  We can read a little of His Writings in the morning when we wake up, and before we go to bed to help us learn more about Him.

Reading:      "Blessed is the spot, and the house, and the place, and the city, and the heart, and the mountain, and the refuge, and the cave, and the valley, and the land, and the sea, and the island, and the meadow where mention of God hath been made, and His praise glorified."

The reading is quite simple, but may need a little explanation. The children may not know, for example, what a refuge is.

Creative work.   The little booklet, which you have probably made up before the lesson, contains the verse for this week.  On each page is written one of the places Bahá'u'lláh mentions.  For each booklet you will need eight sheets of paper, 5" x 8"   (12 cm. x 20 cm.), or could use halves of A4 sheets (slightly larger). The children could draw pictures to represent some of the places, or stick in pictures cut from magazines, above the words on some pages.
If your children are capable of joining the pages together, leave that for them to do, but at least prepare the words (be careful to get the correct combination of pages on each sheet, with one page on each side using the bottom half: 1,16 - 2,15 - 3,14 - 4,13 - 5,12 - 6,11 - 7,10 - 8,9.)

e.g. page 1

turned over top to bottom will show page 16

and page 2

turned over top to bottom will show page 15

etc.

Each other sheet will have two places on it, written at the bottom of each side, remember one is upsidedown, so to see the other you must turn top to bottom.

When the 8 sheets are on top of each other, with pages 1 to 8 top to bottom, uppermost on the lower half, they can be joined across the horizontal line with glue, staples or sewing. Then fold in half to show page 1 on top.

 Last modified: May 17, 2001

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