Photo by Ernest Lifferth James Shoaf, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaks at the Interfaith Day of Prayer Thursday at the Southside Elementary School auditorium in Columbus.
The closing song was the spiritual classic “Let There Be Peace On Earth,” but the prevailing message at the first-ever Interfaith National Day of Prayer celebration in Columbus Thursday was this: Let there be peace and even friendship among those of differing religious beliefs, backgrounds and cultures.
The Rev. Chris Wadelton, pastor of St. Bartholomew Catholic Church, was among the early speakers especially striking a chord for harmony among spiritual diversity. He has participated in Christian-Muslim prayer gatherings the past seven years.
“God of all good things, you have given people of every creed, color, nationality, status, sexuality, ability, and gender, a common origin, a precious gift of life,” Wadelton said. “It is your will that they be gathered together as one human family.
“On this Interfaith Day of Prayer, we come together as prophets of this one human family, praying from the diversity of our traditions, sharing stories, and breaking bread (afterward) in respect and love.”
About 130 people, including behind-the-scenes volunteers, attended at Southside Elementary School auditorium to see nine different local houses of worship participate. They were:
- Open Mind Zen Indiana (Buddhist)
- St. Bartholomew Catholic Church
- St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
- Sri Ganesh Mandir (Hindu)
- Islamic Society of Columbus Indiana
- First Presbyterian Church
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
- Tree of Knowledge Indiana Community Coven
- Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbus
The city first hosted larger interfaith prayer-and-worship gatherings in the mid-1990s at Mayor Fred Armstrong’s prayer breakfasts, with Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims and others praying and fellowshipping. But the National Day of Prayer gatherings, which began here in 1992 under the leadership of the late Jean Bunton of Garden City, have been Christian-led events with attendees mostly from area Christian churches.
People from Christian churches gathered for their traditional National Day of Prayer ceremony Thursday at The Commons under the leadership of Pastor Adam Carrigan of Bethel Baptist Church. Organizers of each event stressed that they are in no way in competition with the other.
At the interfaith gathering, Sensei Frank Diaz of Open Mind Zen Indiana, injected personal warmth, humor into the event when he mentioned meeting Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints missionaries in his childhood in Madrid. Those missionaries won his heart via his stomach.
“The missionaries brought me popcorn,” Diaz said. “And so, to this day, I still have a love for the LDS Church, just because of the missionaries that gave me popcorn.”
The quip drew laughter especially from members of the Local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which worked with Columbus Interfaith’s mix of houses of worship to plan the event. Others such as First Presbyterian Church helped organizers assemble a Columbus Interfaith Choir.
Brittany Phillips with the local Tree of Knowledge Community Coven found common ground in the opening portion of her remarks.
“It is a joy and an honor to share the same space with each and every one of you today,” she said. “Though we come from various differing spiritual paths, we all know the spirit of life within us and the divine power within ourselves.”
Attendee Carol Price said the event serves as at least partial evidence that some of Columbus “gets it.”
“With so dissension and polarization in our country and world,” Price said, “it’s a wonderful opportunity find things we can all agree on.”
