Prayer

MICHELE MARR I expected to start my Thursday morning last week at the prayer breakfast organized by the Greater Huntington Beach Interfaith Council for the National Day of Prayer. Then I was going to get my hair colored and cut, shop for Mother's Day and do a dozen-odd errands to get ready for a 20th anniversary celebration road trip my husband Michael and I are taking this week. Instead I was home in bed with the flu. Sick, I know, is sometimes the only way to get me to slow down, to pause, to stop; I'm sure God must know that, too. On Thursday it gave me unexpected time not only to pray but also to contemplate prayer, the thread of its presence in my life.

Michele Marr World peace through local prayer will be the central message atthe Greater Huntington Beach Interfaith Council's fifth annual Prayer Breakfast on May 2, the National Day of Prayer. As many as 300 residents of Huntington Beach and FountainValley, many active in one or more of the nearly 32 various faith communities or humanitarian organizations that support the council, are expected to attend the continental breakfast and program of inspirational messages and entertainment.

EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK For more than a year, Debbie Borden has faithfully gone to City Council meetings and submitted her name to speak during the public comment session. When called upon, she stands before the council, city staff, gathered residents and cameras, and says a prayer. Borden, the wife of Planning Commissioner Bill Borden, a one-time council candidate, has only missed two meetings, and for those, she had a friend fill in. But she doesn't believe the task of asking for God's guidance should be her responsibility.

Incoming Mayor Cathy Green kicked off her first meeting on Monday with an invocation, a move some have been waiting years for and others criticize as unconstitutional and divisive. City watchdog Mark Bixby contends the prayer is an act of exclusion rather than inclusion. "Invocation proponents are fond of citing the religious roots of our country's founders," Bixby said. "But they always neglect to mention that many of those founders fled their homelands because their governments had deemed certain religions to be acceptable and others to be unacceptable.

SOUL FOOD Toward the end of March, with our nation at war, the Rev. Ignacio Castuera, pastor of St. John's United Methodist Church in Watts, stood in its pulpit and told his congregation, "The most important and first thing we can do as a religious people is to go to our knees and pray." Today is a day that calls us, as a nation, to prayer. Today is our annual National Day of Prayer. The tradition of setting aside a day for prayer is older than our nation.

Before the Huntington Beach City Council meets every other week, someone walks up to the podium to lead a prayer after the flag salute. Prayers in public meetings often end with a phrase like "in Jesus' name," which reflects the country's dominant faith. But on the day following the announcement of the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden, a woman in a long, flowing, sky-blue dress and a blue scarf covering her hair walked to the podium. With her head down, she led the prayer.

A quick read through the pages of last week's Independent showcased an important, heartening fact about Huntington Beach: A lot of little, good things go on here. There is Christine Polomsky, a first-grade teacher at Huntington Seacliff Elementary School. She was honored by Project Tomorrow as one of five outstanding science teachers in the county for creating a science resource center for her students. There is the four-person math team from Mesa View Middle School, studying hard for their competition.

Eron Ben-Yehuda HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The city will herald the new year Sunday with a religious ceremony known as The Procession of Light -- 2000. The goal is to bring together followers of different faiths who will rededicate themselves to making the community a better place to live, said Father Christian Mondor, co-chair of the interfaith council that is organizing the event. More than 2,000 people are expected to attend the celebration that kicks off at the pier at 3 p.m. with the release of doves, "a symbol of prayers rising to heaven," he said.

Michele Marr Religious leaders from various faith communities in Huntington Beach will gather at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 5, at the Pier Plaza for the fourth annual Procession of Light. The event, which has drawn thousands of Huntington Beach residents and visitors from across the country in previous years, is meant to promote understanding and respect for others regardless of their faith, ethnicity or culture. It is sponsored by the Greater Huntington Beach Interfaith Council.

Last Friday at noon, in observance of the National Day of Remembrance and Prayer proclaimed by President Bush, I drove to a nearby church, St. Peter by-the-Sea Presbyterian on Bolsa Chica in Huntington Beach. The walkway to the sanctuary was lined with American flags anchored in large clay pots of colorful annuals. The flags rustled lightly in the faint sea breeze. The sky was blue and lit with cottony clouds. I stood for a moment before entering the church.

Tuesday evening, the concrete steps by the Huntington Beach Pier were filled with men in blue: police, firefighters and others in uniform. As Police Chief Ken Small was keen to point out, they were lucky men in blue. Each of them had lived another day to attend the ceremony. At the city's Patriot Day Ceremony, held on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden got only a brief mention, as did the War on Terror and global politics in general. The majority of the attention focused on those who gave their lives in the line of duty - for whom heroism was, before anything else, a job. That meant that, in the course of honoring the first responders on 9/11, Small also paid tribute to Kenyon Youngstrom, a California Highway Patrol officer who was fatally shot during a traffic stop earlier this month.

Before the Huntington Beach City Council meets every other week, someone walks up to the podium to lead a prayer after the flag salute. Prayers in public meetings often end with a phrase like "in Jesus' name," which reflects the country's dominant faith. But on the day following the announcement of the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden, a woman in a long, flowing, sky-blue dress and a blue scarf covering her hair walked to the podium. With her head down, she led the prayer.

I love living in a city where pelicans get so much press. This paper did a wonderful job last week covering some recent news (“A long-awaited flight,” Feb. 18), and I had just been to the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center the week before that after learning about the dozens of sick birds. Perhaps it’s because I’m partial to pelicans, but still, any opportunity to watch the volunteers at the center work their magic is always a rewarding experience. The morning I went to hang around and observe, there were but three people there, yet they seemed to be doing the work of at least twice as many, methodically weighing, treating, feeding and tending to literally dozens of brown pelicans in their Pacific Coast Highway facility.

A week after a devastating earthquake in Haiti killed countless people, aid from local Orange County groups is starting to make its way to the island. Huntington Beach will hold a fundraiser lunch at Zach’s at Pier Plaza from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, said Councilman Joe Carchio. Zach’s will serve a pasta lunch and take donations for Haiti. “Hopefully, we’ll raise the funds that we need to help in some small way to alleviate the pain,” Carchio said.

Every Sunday morning about 8 a.m., Steve Acosta gathers with a half-dozen friends in a back alley in Sunset Beach and assembles a church from scratch. The worship leader for Calvary Chapel of the Harbour enters the compact space of the Sunset Beach Women’s Club and sets to work opening folding chairs, lugging picnic tables and assembling a sound system for guitars and bass. When the main room is packed with chairs, Acosta and his helpers create another row in the hall for those who show up late.

Rabbi Rebecca Yaël Schorr is unwavering in her conviction that the Bible does not belong in our public schools. In her protest before the Huntington Beach Union High School District board July 22 about a proposed Bible as Literature elective, the associate rabbi of Fountain Valley’s Congregation B’nai Tzedek made many arguments against it. The Bible used in the classroom, Schorr contended, “would be merely a translation and...

Bhutan? You're going where? Is that a country? We've become used to answering these questions and others if the topic of our recent journey to Bhutan comes up. Over the holidays, I had the opportunity to visit this remote Himalayan country with my wife Chana, daughter Dagny, 16, son Orion, 14, and a few friends. Nestled between the Chinese province of Tibet and India, about the size of San Bernardino County, the kingdom of Bhutan has maintained its independence and unique traditions, creating a spectacular experience for anyone wanting to step back in time and visit a true Shangri-La.

Local man who runs food pantry in Costa Mesa may be sent back to Mexico for misdemeanor convictions in 1996.He's a modern-day savior to the hundreds of poor residents living in run-down motels on Costa Mesa's Westside. More than a source of food and clothing, Luis Armendariz is a symbol of hope to those still caught in the web of drugs and prostitution -- a man who escaped through prayer and service. But nearly a decade ago, this Huntington Beach resident made mistakes that now might send him back to Mexico -- an exodus he's not prepared to make.

Among those supporting the expansion of Saint Andrew's Presbyterian Church was a man praying with extreme devotion during the last meeting at Newport Beach City Hall. If you happened to be there, you couldn't have missed him. He isn't the typical Newport Beach guy who likes to stand out. He's a simple man. His material life hasn't changed very much despite living in Newport Beach for many years. But his spiritual life has had a major overhaul. His name is Hector Alfaro.