Cedar Hills Neighborhood
This is one of a series of articles about what is happening in neighborhoods around the Portland Metro area. Contact us to find out what is happening in your neighborhood.
Cedar Hills – people of the hill
Cedar Hills Feast
In the Cedar Hills neighborhood, every individual has taken an active role. From teaching children’s classes, to tutoring a study circle, hosting devotionals, starting a knitting group to knit for the homeless, or performing and presenting at various events and Holy Days, everyone has found a place where they can be of great service.
The children’s class at the Leedy Grange (located in the Cedar Mill neighborhood) was originally started through the Project Zaynab Summer session in 2009. It has been kept up through the hard work and perseverance of some youth and the supervising adults, including several members of the Cedar Hills neighborhood.
The Birth of Baha’u’llah celebration in November was planned by the Greater Bethany neighborhood and was held at the Grange, where they invited the Cedar Hills youth, junior youth and children's class and their families to participate. It turned out to be a great mix of cultures and everyone seemed to enjoy it. The Cedar Hills youth helped the children's class prepare and perform a skit about forgiveness. Several youth participated in the program by sharing about Baha'u'llah and His Station, reading from the Baha'i Sacred Writings and performing piano solos.
Cedar Hills children's class
One of the youth read some readings at the Thanksgiving service put on by the Inter-Religious Action Network at a church in Hillsboro. Another youth prepared a media presentation to be shown at the Martin Luther King Day celebration in Beaverton. Some youth just recently finished a Ruhi Book 1 study circle (part of the Baha’i process of global learning), and they shared prayers with other members of the community. They are already involved in other core activities, but now they have officially begun the Ruhi process. How exciting!
Another youth, who has completed the Ruhi sequence, has been trying to get a junior youth group together. With the help of resources in our community and our Junior Youth Coordinator, maybe something can get going on a more permanent basis. Fundraisers, such as movie nights, were also held to raise funds to send to the National Baha’i Fund. Devotionals for the imprisoned Baha’is in Iran have been hosted, with great success. We continue to keep them in our thoughts and prayers as we serve joyously.
Baha’is around the world are working with their neighbors to build spiritual neighborhoods, to strengthen these communities to take charge of their own spiritual, social and intellectual development. We invite everyone interested to help build a healthy rhythm of community life:
Building friendships
Getting together for devotional gatherings
Channeling the energy of the junior youth into positive action
Studying together to develop our individual and collective capacities
Applying principles in service to humanity
Contact us to learn more.