Prayer

-- Eron Ben-Yehuda Despite the nippy weather, hundreds of people attended Sunday's religious ceremony at the pier, known as the Procession of Light -- 2000. "It brought the community together," said City Councilwoman Shirley Dettloff, who said she hopes the gathering of followers from about 20 faiths for song and prayer will become an annual tradition. The procession kicked off a yearlong series of events, with each month celebrating a different aspect of our lives, including education, environment, business, art and history.

Friends of Dane Williams, the Hurley International intern whose body was found in San Diego Tuesday, plan to hold a “paddle-out” ceremony in his memory today by the Huntington Beach resident’s home. At 10 a.m. by Pacific Coast Highway and 22nd Street, the group plans to paddle off the beach on surfboards and say a group prayer with Williams’ surfboard in the middle of the circle. Williams’ funeral is set for 1 p.m. Monday at Hope Chapel Huntington Beach, 715 Lake St. Williams, 23, went missing after a trade show in San Diego early Saturday morning.

CHURCH NAME: Iglesia Bautista de Huntington Beach ADDRESS: 8121 Ellis Avenue. Services are held in the chapel of Huntington Beach Baptist Church TELEPHONE: (714) 903-2410 E-MAIL: pidalp@hotmail.com DENOMINATION: Baptist YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1998 SERVICE TIMES: Sunday worship is at 11 a.m.; Sunday school meets concurrently for children up to age 13. PASTOR: Nestor Pidal DEACONS: Armando Gimenez; Juan Zamora. SIZE OF CONGREGATION: 90-100.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a partial list of places to worship in Laguna Beach. If you would like to list your church, temple or synagogue, send us your listing via fax to 494-8979 or e-mail to coastlinepilot @latimes.com. Please include the name of the place of worship, the address, phone number, service times and pastor or rabbi. CALVARY CHAPEL PACIFIC HILLS Friday Night Worship Service -- 7 p.m. at Lang Park Multi-purpose Room, Wesley Drive.

MICHELE MARR One recent morning while doing dishes from the evening before, I found myself grumbling about members of a family I'm acquainted with. Thank God, for what it's worth, I was only grumbling to myself. They make a big hullabaloo about being Christians, I complained, and they talk like every single thing they've got in their lives is not only a blessing from God, but also a blessing and proof of their exemplary virtuous living. What's so holy about telling other people how swell God thinks you are?

Calvary Chapel of Huntington Beach 5772 McFadden Ave. Huntington Beach Friday: noon at the church; Easter Sunday: sunrise service at Golden West College at 6, 9 and 11 a.m. Central Baptist Church 7661 Warner Ave. Huntington Beach Friday: Youth praise service at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday: 9 and 11 a.m., Sunday night musical at 6 p.m. Christ Presbyterian Church 20112 Magnolia St. Huntington Beach...

MICHELE MARR When Ed Smart awoke to the realization that his daughter Elizabeth had been abducted at night while he slept June 5, 2002, it was as though the world came to a standstill. "It was your worst nightmare come true," he told me when we spoke by telephone recently. The horror of the situation threatened to incapacitate him. He couldn't conceive how he was going to get up every morning and go on. "The first week Elizabeth was missing Lois and I thought, 'This is going to end. She's going to come back into our lives.

Michele Marr Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? -- Job 2:10 Last Saturday afternoon and part of Sunday I spent 24 hours in paradise. Or so it seemed. I hadn't anticipated it. I looked forward to the weekend and Veterans Day missing my father who is buried in the Riverside National Cemetery. I reckoned, along with so many other Americans in our post 9/11 nation, the price of my freedom, paid for me by others.