Speaker Prep

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science begins words science-and-religion scientists scripture search searching seeking self self conscious self hatred self pity self-knowledge selfless service shoghi effendi shoghi effendi marriage shoghi effendi premonition death shoghi effendi schedule shrine shrine bab shrine-of-the-bab sick caring sick-caring sightseeing signs silence simple life simplicity sincerity siyah chal siyah chal bahaullahs declaration slaves smoking social-justice solidarity solitude soul south speaking speech speeches spiritual life sports steadfastness stories striving succession sudan suffering suicide sympathy tablets tablets divine plan taxes teaching temples ten-year-crusade tenderness test tests the-covenant thoughts tihran timing training transformation translation travel travel-teaching trials trust trustworthiness truthfulness underground railway unity unity religion universal language universal language heart heart venting virtue vision vocation war watchman wealth wedding abdul baha 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A talk on house-of-worship

Suggested sequencing: open with a powerful story, deepen with a reflective one, close with one of joyful resolution. Adjust to your audience.

Opening

The Laying of the Wilmette Temple Cornerstone

Shoghi Effendi's narration, in *God Passes By*, of the Master's laying of the cornerstone of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár at Wilmette in May 1912 — a moment the Guardian describes as the inauguration of the construction of the first House of Worship of the Bahá'í Dispensation in the Western world.

God Passes By · Shoghi Effendi

Middle

A Stone for the Mother Temple: 'Abdu'l-Bahá at Wilmette

Mahmúd's Diary records that on May 1, 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá travelled from Chicago to the small lakeside village of Wilmette to dedicate the cornerstone of the future House of Worship of the Western world. He laid the stone with His own hand and invited each delegate of the gathering to place upon it a stone of his own.

Mahmúd's Diary: The Diary of Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání · Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání

Closing

Only Nettie Tobin's Stone Arrived: The Cornerstone of Wilmette

On May 1, 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá traveled north of Chicago to lay the cornerstone of the first Bahá'í House of Worship in the West. Many stones had been sent from Bahá'í communities for the ceremony. Only one — found in a builders' rejection pile and dragged to the site by Nettie Tobin, a Chicago seamstress — had actually arrived. The Master asked for hers.

Mahmúd's Diary: The Diary of Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání · Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání

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