Hundreds Gather to Pray for Ways to Halt Violence

Conflict is too common, solutions are too rare, the woman said.

She stood up in the middle of the high school gymnasium to offer her own solution to the 200 people gathered for a National Day of Prayer celebration in Huntington Beach on Thursday.

“The next time you see the guy with the green Mohawk, the stranger, that person you don’t like, look him in the eye, smile, show him you care,” said Cynthia Doe, 51, a Huntington Beach paralegal.

The applause bounced off the walls. It reverberated across Orange County and the nation Thursday as people of various professions, ages and faiths gathered to pray.

At city halls, in churches, in school gymnasiums, some gathered at events offered under the umbrella of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, a Christian organization, and others met for independent interfaith prayers scattered throughout the region. Organizers said participation was up substantially from previous years as many gathered to pray for the victims of the Littleton, Colo., shootings and others hurt in school violence.

Some pastors took the opportunity to encourage educators in light of recent added challenges.

“Historically, teaching has not been a dangerous profession,” Pastor Mike Beals of Mission Hills Christian Center said to about 200 educators at a prayer breakfast at the Mission Viejo Country Club. “But a spirit of fear . . . has washed over us. We need to remember the power of love.”

School nurses, adult-education tutors and high school administrators in the crowd nodded in agreement.

Some had already acted.

Don Stoutenger, a Laguna Hills High School science teacher whose niece and nephew are students at Columbine High School in Littleton, spent time after the incident brainstorming with his class, trying to think of ways to prevent similar actions at their school.

Keep adults informed whenever we hear threats, one student suggested. The class agreed.

Reach out and care for others, especially those on the fringes, another girl said.

More brainstorming took place and solutions were discussed at Huntington Beach High School, where groups of all faiths gathered in small groups in the gym.

“The way to overcome obstacles is to focus on our similarities, not our differences,” Lynda Ambruster of Orange told her table of business people, writers and a rabbi.

“We have to bridge the gap between kids and adults through dialogue,” added Mark Stern of Huntington Beach.

Some religious leaders raised the point that more communication and tolerance are needed between faiths.

“If all the religions convened under the same God, why fight?” said Rabbi Stephen Einstein of the B’nai Tzedeck of Fountain Valley. “We are all children of the same God, brothers and sisters regardless of the color of our skin.”

Some of the 120 Christians convening during their lunch hour in front of City Hall in Orange had their own set of answers.

“They took prayer out of the schools and then they took the Ten Commandments, and now there are no more morals,” said Judy Tackett, 54, of Orange, who along with two other mothers brought her home-taught children to the service.

Clusters of participants sat cross-legged, holding hands as they prayed for civic leaders and victims of violent crimes.

“It’s tough for the parents of children, especially those lost to sinful violence, but let us pray for them,” Lake Forest resident O’Neal Howard said solemnly.

“Lord, I pray for our city leaders, and state and president, that they be good,” said 6-year-old Lesley Chapin, holding hands in a circle with her sister and mother.

Just about all 70 events in Orange County organized by the National Day of Prayer Task Force were overbooked, said Betty Krusiewicz, who coordinated the events.

“We’ve reached a point where everyone agrees something is wrong,” she said. “People of faith believe the fundamental reason is issues of faith are being removed from our culture--from our textbooks, city buildings. Once you remove those issues, you will see the consequences.”

Visitors seeking answers visited Mariner’s Church in Irvine from 7 in the morning to 7 at night. Gathered in circles of five or six, with tissue boxes in the middle for the tearful ones, they prayed for deaf brothers. They prayed for sisters in credit card debt. They prayed for the efforts in Kosovo. They prayed for the families affected by the recent car crash at a Costa Mesa day-care center.

“Times are turbulent,” said Pastor Jim Gaffney. “It makes us come together and try to gain strength from one another.”