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Moscow interfaith group marks National Day of Prayer with ‘Love is Our Prayer’ service
Moscow interfaith association unites faith traditions for National Day of Prayer service.
By Cody Wendt | FāVS News Reporter
Main Points
During Thursday’s 75th annual National Day of Prayer, the Moscow Interfaith Association will bring together diverse worldviews for a service called “Love is Our Prayer” to be held at 7 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church of Moscow.
The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held the first Thursday of May, established by Congress in 1952 and signed into law by President Harry Truman. It invites people of all faiths to pray for the nation.
The Moscow service will center around a series of speakers from area congregations offering what organizer Nancy Nelson calls “personal witness to the power of love,” followed by a candle-lighting ceremony and a public commitment.
How it came together
A member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse, Nelson had the idea for the service last winter and brought it to the attention of the Rev. Elizabeth Stevens, who she remembers responding, “Oh, the interfaith people will be all over this.”
After a well-received presentation on the matter to the Interfaith Association — which counts area Protestant, Jewish, Bahá’í and Buddhist institutions among its members — the date was set.
“It’s a lot more fun to do this with other people and other congregations,” Nelson said. “I’ve been working with the interfaith group to do it ever since.”
Annette Bay Pimentel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has served as a co-organizer with Nelson.
Centering on love
“The most important thing is that it brings together people of faith who center love, and it gives them a chance to see each other and express their beliefs,” Nelson said. “I just realized that I really want people to know there are a lot of people who do center love as the reason for their highest aspirations.”
The service will begin with gathering music from the local instrumental group the Rose Garden Trio, followed by an opening prayer from the Rev. Derek McGuckin of the First United Methodist Church.
The five speakers offering their reflections will be the Rev. Hannah Brown of the United Church of Moscow; Annie Reneau of the Bahá’ís of Moscow; Abra Miller of Pullman’s Refuge Church; Zen Buddhist Joe Pallen; and Destry Hurst of the LDS church.
Hymns and one “sacred text” reading selected by each speaker will bracket the reflections.
Bruce Pittman of the First Presbyterian Church of Moscow will lead the candle-lighting, and group pledge which reads, “We commit to resisting hatred with courage, to protecting the powerless and choosing love in public life.”
Stevens of Moscow’s Unitarian Universalist church will deliver a closing prayer and benediction.
Attendance is open to the public.
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