Prayer

"Practice dying," Plato said. Such practice is extremely important, because no one escapes death. Of perhaps equal importance is practicing how to live after a loved one dies. Among the shocks that befall humanity, few are more devastating than such a loss. The July 23 cover story in Time Magazine deals with the suicides of military personnel — one per day on average, and most of them young. Every 14 seconds, someone in the U.S. dies. That's about 6,200 deaths per day. So, somewhere in this country, every day, children, parents, spouses and friends are facing life without a person who made an immense difference in their own lives.

Community members gathered at the footsteps of the Costa Mesa City Hall on Thursday to join in the National Day of Prayer. Eloise Ott of Praise Jam, a local musical group, played patriotic songs and encouraged everyone to sing along. “We invite people to bring their beach towels, their food and whatever they want to come here and enjoy this gorgeous day ...,” she said before the midday event. Most of those who gathered to pray for their country were Christian.

Muslims in Orange County and throughout the world will mark the end of the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, or Hajj, with communal prayers and the celebration of “Eid ul-Adha,” or “festival of sacrifice” on Friday. The holiday commemorates Prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael at God’s command and it is celebrated with prayers, gifts to children, distribution of meat to the needy and social gatherings. The communal prayer will be held Friday morning at local mosques.

November is a month most of us express thanks for all that we have — for home, family, friends and faith. But that was "so yesterday!" Now, Thanksgiving seems to be only a speed bump slowing us before our holiday buying frenzy, while the turkey and stuffing fueled our race toward the Black Friday sales. If this holiday track meet left you frazzled, I want to offer you a choice of two very different running lanes. First, you can align yourself with denial and tell yourself that you are only spending more this year so that you'll have more to be thankful over next year.

With new rules governing how one can pray at public meetings, fewer clergy are willing to be designated prayer givers at our local city council meetings. Isn't this a 1st Amendment right? Why do public groups like city councils need designated prayer givers? I once joined several local clergy in signing a letter to members of our Newport Beach City Council asking that one of them offer the invocation just as one leads the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of each of their meetings.

Dear God, we pray that you might receive in love the souls of those dear innocent people whom fate and fury took from their families and from our grieving country in Tucson, Ariz. We pray for Gabe Zimmerman, Phyllis Schneck, Christina Green, Dorothy Morris, Dorwin Stoddard and John Roll. We do not pray for "six people. " We pray for one person at a time. In your mercy. O Lord, shelter their souls in the world to come and take them close to you forever in heavenly peace. May their memories be for a blessing.

Grace can be amazing. As a pre-teen in the 1950s, I accompanied my parents to the home of my great aunt and great uncle in Alhambra for Sunday afternoon dinners. Uncle Ed was my paternal grandmother's eldest brother. My paternal grandmother died when Dad was 10, and Uncle Ed took a proprietary interest in his upbringing. Because there was no San Diego (405) Freeway in the 1950s, we drove surface streets from Newport Beach/Costa Mesa to Los Angeles County's western San Gabriel Valley.

The 5-year-olds at Lil’ Lighthouse Preschool at Lighthouse Coastal Community Church in Costa Mesa bow their heads each afternoon to recite a simple prayer. “Thank you for our healthy bodies,” one line in the prayer goes. The children recite in unison, sitting on the carpet of the church chapel with red and blue book bags still strapped to their backs. The children ask daily about their absent classmate, Julian Dunn— a happy-go-lucky 5-year-old with an infectious smile who is interested in cars and loves to play with his friends, said Lil’ Lighthouse teacher Michelle Rieke.

COSTA MESA — With heads bowed and the rain pouring over them, local church leaders and hundreds of congregants encircled Costa Mesa City Hall in prayer Monday. Representing numerous faiths, they prayed in a show of support as the city recovers from the suicide of one of its employees and others who face layoffs six months from now. "Today we're simply here to show support and love for our city in light of everything that's been happening," said Becks Heyhoe, an organizer for One Church for Our City, a coalition of Costa Mesa churches.

Michele Marr Where there is music, it is said, there is prayer. And where there is a cantor, there is music. Temple Bat Yahm will host its Cantor's Annual Grand Concert Sunday evening, a program of music -- part sophisticated, classically written Jewish music and part Leonard Bernstein's "Candide.' The cantor in the spotlight is Jonathan Grant. A professionally trained singer and conductor, Grant came to Newport Beach's Temple Bat Yahm in 1994 immediately after his ordination.

With the happenings in Boston and in West Texas fresh in our minds, the National Day of Prayer makes more sense than ever, says the Rev. Julie Elkins, president of the Newport-Mesa-Irvine Interfaith Council and pastor at First United Methodist Church of Costa Mesa. Different faiths will join "for common action in prayer" at 7 a.m. Thursday, May 2, 2013, at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church, she says. The prayer breakfast will welcome clergy and members from a variety of faiths, including Jewish, Methodist, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Muslim, Bahai, Sikh, Church of Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints, First Church of Christ, Scientist, United Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, Unitarians, Lutherans, Episcopal and UCI Interfaith.

To pray or not to pray - that was the question at this week's Irvine City Council meeting. In the end, the council voted 3 to 2 Tuesday to pray, approving a proposal to invite local religious leaders to start the bi-weekly meetings with an invocation. Council members Larry Agran and Beth Krom dissented. Four public speakers kicked off the lengthy debate over separation of church and state by pulling from the consent calendar a proposed policy that would require sending a list of do's and don'ts known as the Rubin decision along with the invitation.

I am the son of a cop. My dad spent 30 years in the Los Angeles Police Department, and I grew up surrounded by cops. Jerry Wooters, also a cop on the LAPD, was a frequent visitor to our house. For most of my youth, Jerry walked from his house to ours for coffee every Saturday morning. It was his routine. But there were lots of others with names like Trailer, Knuckles and Matheney. They were good men and full of fun, in spite of the ugly and harsh parts of the world they had witnessed.

November is a month most of us express thanks for all that we have — for home, family, friends and faith. But that was "so yesterday!" Now, Thanksgiving seems to be only a speed bump slowing us before our holiday buying frenzy, while the turkey and stuffing fueled our race toward the Black Friday sales. If this holiday track meet left you frazzled, I want to offer you a choice of two very different running lanes. First, you can align yourself with denial and tell yourself that you are only spending more this year so that you'll have more to be thankful over next year.

Grace can be amazing. As a pre-teen in the 1950s, I accompanied my parents to the home of my great aunt and great uncle in Alhambra for Sunday afternoon dinners. Uncle Ed was my paternal grandmother's eldest brother. My paternal grandmother died when Dad was 10, and Uncle Ed took a proprietary interest in his upbringing. Because there was no San Diego (405) Freeway in the 1950s, we drove surface streets from Newport Beach/Costa Mesa to Los Angeles County's western San Gabriel Valley.

"Practice dying," Plato said. Such practice is extremely important, because no one escapes death. Of perhaps equal importance is practicing how to live after a loved one dies. Among the shocks that befall humanity, few are more devastating than such a loss. The July 23 cover story in Time Magazine deals with the suicides of military personnel — one per day on average, and most of them young. Every 14 seconds, someone in the U.S. dies. That's about 6,200 deaths per day. So, somewhere in this country, every day, children, parents, spouses and friends are facing life without a person who made an immense difference in their own lives.

I struggle to fulfill my commitment to five daily prayers. It's not something that I'm proud to admit because praying brings out the best in me. Like eating and drinking to nourish your body, praying five times a day feeds your soul, connects you to God and helps you stay on track. The exact hour and minute of each prayer may vary, but in general, Muslims pray in the morning, around noon, in the afternoon, at sunset and in the evening. Each prayer is about five minutes or less.

This might hurt. But once it's over, we'll all feel better. Jerusalem, the blessed city, the witness to heaven's miracles, the center of faith, hope and despair, is not just important to Jews and Christians. It is significant to Muslims as well. Muslims just celebrated the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey and Ascension from Mecca to Jerusalem to heaven on June 17, which this year was the 27th day of the Islamic lunar calendar month, Rajab. You almost don't want to believe it. I mean, how could you go from Mecca in Saudi Arabia, to Jerusalem to the seventh heaven and back to Mecca in one night?

Six months ago, Lori Fallace had never spent a night in a tent. In June, with subtemperature gear and ice pick in hand, the Irvine schoolteacher will scale the 14,179 feet to Mt. Shasta's peak in a show of perseverance and support for all those who have been affected by breast cancer. "What I want to achieve is to empower people," Fallace said. "There are steps you can take to decrease your risk. " Fallace, Irvine Unified School District 2012 middle school teacher of the year, has taught science and health classes for years.

For Christians and Jews, all of our religious holidays divide us except for Passover and Easter. Passover and Easter divide us by bringing us closer together. Let me try to explain this exquisite spiritual contradiction. Passover and Easter are different in that Passover, as theologian Martin Buber has written, is celebrated by a meal eaten for God, while Easter is celebrated by a meal eaten of God. Passover celebrates a God who could not become visible, while Easter celebrates a God who had to become visible to save a sinful humanity.