(Haifa, 27 November 2008)
From the Universal House of Justice:
We call for memorial services to be held in her honor in the Houses of Worship in Wilmette and Panama City and for commemorative gatherings to take place in communities throughout the Americas and in her native Ethiopia.
Here are two excerpts to inspire us from stories in the news quoting her:
And in 2003 at the Southern Regional Baha’i Conference together with Counselor Eugene Andrews:
Rebequa Murphy…used an urban analogy to illustrate her point that the institute process (which includes study circles, children’s classes and other community activities) was aimed at raising a community of teachers of the Faith.
“In New York City you learn [to] only hail cabs that have their light on, because if their light’s not on they’re not open for business,” Ms. Murphy said.
“When we become communities of teachers, what happens? What the institute process does, it turns on [our] lights. So people know we’re open for business. And they come to us.
“We must never forget the purpose for which we live — to bring about the oneness of the human family.”
At the 2007 US National Convention she demonstrated her deep and sincere attachment to the Covenant of Bahá’u'lláh and her reverence for the Supreme Body, the Center of the Covenant today, when she said, to effect, “[We want to see and hear] through the eyes and ears of the House of Justice [and not through our own eyes and ears].”
Here are the words of Bahá’u'lláh Himself:
If it be your wish, O people, to know God and to discover the greatness of His might, look, then, upon Me with Mine own eyes, and not with the eyes of any one besides Me. Ye will, otherwise, be never capable of recognizing Me, though ye ponder My Cause as long as My Kingdom endureth, and meditate upon all created things throughout the eternity of God, the Sovereign Lord of all, the Omnipotent, the Ever-Abiding, the All-Wise.
(Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, 272-3)
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A touching anecdote about a meeting with Ms. Murphy can be found here.
Two audio files of one of her talks are available here and here.
A PowerPoint presentation she made on “The Condition of Humanity” can be downloaded from here.
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Counselor Rebequa Murphy(died 25 November 2008 in New York City, after recent travels in Florida)
God bless her radiant soul!
Delegates and observers at the yearly national convention of the Baha’is of the United States (at which Ms. Murphy frequently participated) in 2005 pictured outside the Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois
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O my God, Thy Trust hath been returned unto Thee. It behooveth Thy grace and Thy bounty that have compassed Thy dominions on earth and in heaven, to vouchsafe unto Thy newly welcomed one Thy gifts and Thy bestowals, and the fruits of the tree of Thy grace! Powerful art Thou to do as Thou willest, there is none other God but Thee, the Gracious, the Most Bountiful, the Compassionate, the Bestower, the Pardoner, the Precious, the All-Knowing.
I testify, O my Lord, that Thou hast enjoined upon men to honor their guest, and he that hath ascended unto Thee hath verily reached Thee and attained Thy Presence. Deal with him then according to Thy grace and bounty! By Thy glory, I know of a certainty that Thou wilt not withhold Thyself from that which Thou hast commanded Thy servants, nor wilt Thou deprive him that hath clung to the cord of Thy bounty and hath ascended to the Dayspring of Thy wealth.
There is none other God but Thee, the One, the Single, the Powerful, the Omniscient, the Bountiful.
—Bahá’u’lláh, BP 44-45
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(Images reproduced with permission of the Bahá’í International Community. The second was photographed by Eric Van Zanten)
3 comments
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November 30, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Victoria O'Neill
Thank you so much for shedding some light. I’ve searched far and wide to find out some information about this………..Rebequa was (is) a radiant light, and is loved and will be missed by so many people.
November 30, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Victoria O'Neill
I only met Rebecqua once, but could not get over how absoloutely radiant she was (is). She is loved, and will be missed by so many people.
December 2, 2008 at 10:23 pm
alexbn
(Here is another anecdote about Ms. Murphy as narrated by Martine Coblentz, shared here with her permission)
…about Counselor Rebequa Murphy who passed away. She was a champion for the Youth…. I’d like to share a story about the very first person she taught the Faith to. Rebequa was participating in a teaching campaign. She said she was so afraid to go out and do “street teaching.” She was terrified! She was young, she had just become a Baha’i she did not know what she would say. Her mentor, would boldly walk up to a stranger and say, “Excuse me, have you heard of Baha’u'llah?”
He was an experienced teacher, and she thought, “I could never do that!”
He took her by the arm, and encouraged her. She thought to herself, “I’m going to go up the very next person, and if they reject me, I’m never going to try again!”
So, the very next person they saw was a man in a wheelchair. Rebequa took a deep breath and approached this man. She said to him, “Excuse me, have you heard of Baha’u'llah?” The man replied, “…please tell me more about Him, I’d like to know.”
He later attended the fireside they had planned for that evening.
Rebequa as many of you know became a great teacher!