Leaves and Branches

We attended Feast yesterday evening at Jefferson Park in Tacoma, in the traditional south end of the park beneath the two trees. Usually at least once every summer, Feast, usually held in homes, is held in this park. The Bulletin advertised this as a potluck, so I tried out my pressure cooker to make beans and a dish called Coriander Carrots, from the cookbook by Lorna J. Sass, which I served together over brown rice. I was the only person who knew it was a potluck.

The weather, which has been warm all summer, turned cool and breezy last night, so that by the end of Feast we were quite chilled. I was happy to have a nutritious dish to serve, along with the hostess' nutritious and delicious zucchini bread.

We sat in a circle of chairs, reading from Baha'i Writings and prayers, people I have known for many years, and some I have just met, a circle of unity. Then I looked up and saw the branches of the trees intertwined overhead, so that it was impossible to distinguish which branches and leaves belonged to which trees, although the trunks were far apart on the ground.

It seemed to me that this was our unity, that we "eat with the same mouth"; the unity of the early believers in Iran who never knew whose cloak or shoes they donned before going out of the house to teach.