5 Clergy to Explain Meaning of Prayers

An Anaheim Hindu group is hoping to use prayer to explore the common threads among various religions at a gathering next week.

Five clergy members from different faiths will each spend about 30 minutes offering a prayer and then explaining the prayer’s meaning at a symposium Jan. 9.

The Chinmaya Mission in Anaheim is organizing the event, which starts at 6:30 p.m. at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Theater. Organizers expect ideas--such as the love for the Lord--will be one of the unifying themes in the prayers.

“Rather than finding religions to be different, we are hoping we will get some kind of uniform message,” said Susamma Barua, one of the symposium organizers.

A Buddhist monk will recite “Prayer of the Heart.” A Unitarian minister will say a prayer based on the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. A Hindu minister will recite three prayers: “Prayer of Love,” “Prayer for Immortality” and “Prayer of Fullness.” A Muslim will recite a prayer that comes from the first chapter of the Koran. And a rabbi will recite a prayer in praise of the Lord.

Information: Chinmaya Mission at (714) 991-5274.

Taking a Stand in the Middle

The way David Adams sees it, the political views of most Christians are not represented by either the conservative Christian Coalition or the liberal National Council of Churches.

Adams maintains that the news media, by frequently quoting these two groups, are ignoring the Christian middle ground.

On Jan. 10, the Lutheran minister will lecture at St. John’s Lutheran Church of Orange about traditional Christian views that don’t fall in the extremes.

Adams is the executive director for the Office of Government Information of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod.

His group monitors government activities that may affect the church and tries to educate church members about issues that shape today’s world.

The talk, which begins at 4:30 p.m., is “aimed at helping the person in the pew to understand they don’t have to join one of these polar opposite views in order to express concern about political life,” Adams said.

He plans to talk about traditional Christian principles and field questions from the audience about how to apply the principles to specific issues.

The lecture will be at the church, at Almond Avenue and Shaffer Street in Orange. Information: (714) 288-4400.