The House Can Play (can you?)

The popular party game Taboo is a fantastic lesson in communication with those around us. In it, you are given a word that your teammates, with your assistance, need to guess. You cannot use that word, or a short list of related words. It requires quick and creative speech. Think you can play Five Year Plan Taboo? Let's find out! Try to describe the following as directly and descriptively as possible, without using any of the forbidden words, which can easily be misunderstood by Baha'is and the wider community alike:

Children's Classes
(Sunday School,
instruction,
Book 3)

Devotional Gatherings
(services,
meeting,
verses)

Junior Youth Groups
(middle schoolers,
workbook,
class)

Study Circles
(books,
Ruhi,
practices)

Home Visits
(door-to-door,
information,
declare)

I'm sure you did a great job ... but let's take a look at how the professionals play:

Children's Classes

“lessons that develop their spiritual faculties and lay the foundations of a noble and upright character”
-20 October, 2008

Devotional Gatherings

“acts of collective worship in diverse settings, uniting with others in prayer, awakening spiritual susceptibilities, and shaping a pattern of life distinguished for its devotional character”
-Ridvan, 2008

Junior Youth Groups

“assist junior youth to navigate through a crucial stage of their lives and to become empowered to direct their energies toward the advancement of civilization”
-Ridvan, 2008

Study Circles

“enable people of varied backgrounds to advance together and explore the application of the Baha'i teachings to their individual and collective lives”
-26 April, 2009

Home Visits

“they call on one another in their homes and pay visits to families, friends and acquaintances, they enter into purposeful discussion on themes of spiritual import, deepen their knowledge of the Faith, share Baha'u'llah's message, and welcome increasing numbers to join them in a mighty spiritual enterprise”
-Ridvan, 2008

How grand, how intriguing are these essential activities, described in this way! Why not take advantage of our wealth of letters from the Universal House of Justice, allowing this infallible Institution to guide our words as well as our deeds? Is it not possible that, as our language shifts in ways that begin to accommodate the true breadth of the vision of the Plan, we might find that raising this vital subject of religion in our everyday interactions is suddenly no longer so ... taboo?