Many faces plan to come together

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.

“The theme this year is ‘Many Faces, One Family’ because, even

though our skins may be a different color, and we may speak different

languages and believe in different religions, we can still work

together for the good of all mankind,” said Jack Allen, treasurer for

the council and a member of the planning team for the event.

“Everyone is invited,” emphasized Father Bruce Patterson of St.

Bonaventure Church, president of the council. “This is an

interchurch, inter-religious event intended to bring us all together

as members of the greater Huntington Beach-area community, to listen

to some good, inspiring music and to share a prayer of blessing for

the new year.”

The Rev. Peggy Price of the Huntington Beach Church of Religious

Science will lead the gathering in a prayer of unity, while each

religious leader will answer with a response, such as “Amen,” from

their own faith’s tradition.

Those who attend need only to bring with them “their hopes,

concerns and wishes for themselves, their families for 2003,”

Patterson said. Everyone who attends will have the chance to offer a

personal prayer.

The program for the event will include a sheet of paper marked “my

prayer” for each participant to write a prayer on. The prayers will

be collected during the program and, at one point, set on fire.

The ritual was inspired by the World Peace Flame, a perpetual

flame first lighted by an international group of peacemakers in a

show of goodwill and cooperation in July of 1999.

Debi Wheeler-Ure, chairwoman for the organizing committee for the

Procession of Light, said the group decided to burn the prayers in a

local peace flame as a gesture of unification.

“In some of our meetings, we laughed over the thought that we were

uniting our prayers and turning them into ‘holy smoke,’” she said.

“That thought makes me smile. I think God is smiling, too.”

For Lourdes Gutierrez, who helped Wheeler-Ure organize this year’s

event, the flame is a reflection of shared aspirations for peace, “a

reminder that the greatest of achievements have small beginnings and

that it is individuals who create change.” As the smoke rises to the

heavens, 80 white doves will be released.

During the Sunday afternoon event, the Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints Stake President Bruce E. Miller will give the

invocation.

An honor guard from the Huntington Beach Police Department will

present the colors, and Mayor Connie Boardman will lead the Pledge of

Allegiance.

A musical prelude featuring Nancy Linder, the South Coast Klezmer

Band and the Sts. Simon and Jude Church Youth Band will be given at

2:30 p.m.

Gravity, a popular local trio that plays a blend of jazz, pop and

Caribbean rhythms and Crescendo, and a group of singers from The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will provide music,

including “We Are One” and “The Lord’s Prayer,” for the main program.

Wheeler-Ure will sing its closing song.

“I want people to take home with them a renewed sense of unity and

peace among our fellow citizens,” Patterson said.

As the sun starts to set, bagpipers will lead the gathering in a

procession to the end of the Huntington Beach Pier and back to Pier

Plaza.

* MICHELE MARR is a freelance writer from Huntington Beach. She

can be reached at michele@soulfoodfiles.com.