Huntington Beach religious leaders host interfaith prayer vigil at Central Park
'If 10 people come, or 100, it's a win,' Johnson said. 'We are showing that we're doing something. We're going to stand together no matter what.'
A number much closer to the latter figure than the former showed up at the Central Park Amphitheater in Huntington Beach for the vigil, hosted by the Interfaith Council, to hear prayers and words of encouragement from religious leaders around the area.
Strife has not been in short supply lately.
Huntington Beach held a contentious election that wrapped up last week, days before thousands converged on the pier and other Orange County locales for a 'No Kings' rally. The region has also seen Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids recently, while internationally, Israel and Iran escalate attacks.
'We do a lot of interfaith gatherings, and we do the good times and the bad times,' said Cantor Jenna Sagan of the Jewish Congregation B'nai Tzedek in Fountain Valley, an Interfaith Council board member. 'You can't just come together on Thanksgiving and to bless the waves. You also have to come together when there are times when we're hurting. When we're hurting, we have to be in community, so this was really special for that.'
Sagan led the crowd in a singing of a popular Jewish tune, with words that felt prescient.
'Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow,' the song goes. 'Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend, and together we will walk in the ways of HaShem.'
Sagan's 8-year-old daughter, Lianna, later read a short poem of peace.
Mark Currie of the local Baha'i community led a prayer of togetherness. Bishop Kurt Rieck of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who represents a Latino community in northern Huntington Beach and Westminster, told vigil attendees that now was a time to remember things that we have in common.
'As a young man, I lived in Mexico for a few years,' Rieck said. 'Growing up in Irvine, a privileged background, I arrived in Mexico thinking I was perhaps better than those around me because of the resources and education available to me coming from this country. Since then, I have been humbled. I have learned that it's not about the resources that we have that defines our value, but rather how we use the resources that we do have to bring joy and peace to those around us.'
Maneck Bhujwala of the Zoroastrian community, Pastor James Pike of Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, Emrah Erduran of the Muslim community and Pastor George Hooper of Community United Methodist Church of Huntington Beach also shared remarks and prayers.
Johnson also gave attendees a chance to pray together.
'I'd like you to specifically think of how you can generate more peace, how you can lay down a weapon and be more kind, more giving,' she said. 'Even if it's just using your blinker better when you drive.'
Conversations sprung up after the hour-long vigil.
'If we would just do unto others as we would have others do unto us, we would be in fine shape,' remarked prayer vigil attendee Kay Goddard after the ceremony.
Added Hooper: 'But today, that's been turned into, do unto others before they do unto you. Do unto others as you're afraid they'll do unto you.'
Goddard nodded in agreement.
'It's being warped,' she said.
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