Faith leaders gather in Newport Beach to pray for Ukraine, world on National Day of Prayer
People say “keep the faith” in times of hardship.
It is a means of asking someone to continue to trust in someone or something, even when it becomes increasingly difficult to do so.
Perhaps no one is more familiar with this concept than the faith leaders who gathered early Thursday morning beneath the roof of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Newport Beach on the National Day of Prayer.
The holiday was designated in 1952 under the Truman administration and is celebrated every first Thursday of May.
Sikhs sat together with Muslims, Jews, Catholics and other Christians for breakfast inside the church’s auditorium as members of the Newport Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council milled about the room alongside volunteers catering the event, checking in on devout attendees, politicians and public-safety officials.
Thursday’s event was the first time such a gathering had been held by the council for the National Day of Prayer since before the pandemic began.
Tom Thorkelson, director of interfaith relations at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Newport Beach, said planning the event took five months, most of which were spent trying to find a Ukrainian priest to deliver a prayer for the world and get both a Democrat and a Republican on stage to pray for the nation.
“We live today in a fractured society,” said Thorkelson. “Our political climate is totally out of whack. We can’t talk civilly to each other. We can’t work together. We become enemies instead of people who just have a difference of opinion and we need to change that atmosphere in America. We can’t do everything someplace all over the country, but we can do something in Orange County.”
The room was awash in soft blues and yellows, with decorative columns featuring balloons that represented doves and globes, and a Ukrainian flag was prominent in each table’s floral centerpiece. Church president Dan Livingston said it was no coincidence the room was decorated that way, adding it was to “remember the people of that embattled nation and who are suffering under such aggression.”
Prayers came from leaders of all faiths, each focusing on slightly different subjects: the first responders that worked throughout the pandemic, peoples’ families, local cities, Orange County, the nation and, eventually, the people of Ukraine.
Andrew Nelson, who is also a member of the host church’s interfaith relations team, delivered the prayer written by Father Vasile Saucier of the St. Vladimir Ukranian Orthodox Cathedral in Los Angeles, who was unable to attend.
“We beseech you: loving and kindness and abundant blessings upon the nation, the people of Ukraine during these days of great danger to their safety and well-being,” read Nelson. “Our brothers and sisters, Lord, are once again threatened by aggressors who see them only as simple objects blocking the path to the complete domination of the precious land and resources of the country of Ukraine.
“Strengthen the people as they face this great danger, turning to you in the immeasurably deep faith, trust and love they have placed in you all their lives. Send your heavenly legions, O Lord, commanded by the patron of Kyiv, archangel Michael to crush the desires of the aggressor, whose desire is to eradicate your people.”
The event Thursday was also attended by Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine), who delivered the prayer for the nation, Newport Beach Mayor Kevin Muldoon and Costa Mesa Mayor John Stephens.
Porter joked that her remarks prior to the prayer were unusual because they were brief. She said she was there on behalf the Orange County delegation in the U.S. Congress.
Speaker and Cal State Fullerton president Framroze Virjee noted that love and submission to a deity are at the core of most religious observances — births, the transition from adolescence into adulthood, weddings and funerals.
“When my dear friend [Thorkelson] asked me to speak today, he shared his hope for the morning,” said Virjee. “This is the guidance he gave me for what I should speak about: ‘I hope that we can bring those in attendance in this troubled time in our country and in the world to the realization that all of us, even those of us from diverse faiths, share common values and can work together for the benefit of those who inhabit this beautiful planet.’”
“He then asked me to bring you together, help us to leave with the dedication to be better children of our creator. Wow. I almost don’t think there’s more to say. Maybe we should just rest, meditate, contemplate on that charge. But ... I am a lawyer and a college president, so I can’t pass this up,” joked Virjee.
Thorkelson said his goal, and the council’s, was to make the relationship between faiths collaborative and united, even as their collective theologies may have differed.
“Our values are very consistent,” said Thorkelson. “Rather than us thinking we’re right and you’re wrong, why can’t we say, ‘I don’t understand it the way you are but maybe I can learn more about you, come to understand you and respect you.’”
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