‘Respect and love’: St. George faith communities come together for annual Prayer Over the City

Written by Mori Kessler
January 2, 2024

ST. GEORGE — For its 18th consecutive year, the annual Prayer the City event brought various faith traditions together in unity on New Year’s Day to offer supplications to a higher power on behalf of the community they all love and call home.

Rev. Jimi Kestin of Solomon’s Porch Foursquare Fellowship, shares a prayer at the 2024 Prayer Over the City interfaith event in St. George, Utah, Jan. 1, 2024 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

“We can say we have truly found the answer to unity that does not require uniformity of thought and its really two simple words – respect and love,” Rev. Jimi Kestin, of Solomon’s Porch Foursquare Fellowship, told St. George News. “If we respect each others’ differences and we love unconditionally … then we can find areas to cooperate and not worry about the places we wouldn’t.”

Kestin was one of the founding members of Prayer over the City when it started New Year’s Day in 2006. At the time, the event was held between the leaders of different Christian faiths and held outdoors in Pioneer Park. Since then, it has grown to include several diverse faith traditions including Judaism, Buddhism, the Baha’i faith, Islam and others.

As the event grew it also moved indoors and found a home in the St. George Tabernacle, which is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Except for the times when renovations to the building were being completed and during the COVID-19 pandemic, Prayer Over the City has been held in the building for the majority of its 18 years.

The format of the event primarily consists of representatives of various Christian and non-Christian faith communities offering a two-minute prayer or message often related to a particular subject. For example, Chaplin David Jones of the U.S. Army Reverse offered a prayer for those serving in the Armed Forces while Rev. Dr. Ralph Clingan of Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church offered one for elected officials serving on the local, state and federal levels.

Other prayers and messages related to asking God to safeguard and support the city’s first responders, as well as school teachers and the students they educate. Calls for daily acts of kindness and being less judgmental were made along with an appeal of support for Israel and world peace.

At the 2024 Prayer Over the City interfaith event in St. George, Utah, Jan. 1, 2024 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

Shadman Bashir, a representative of the area’s Islamic community, gave a prayer focusing on respect and humanity.

During his prayer, Bashir said differences between people were not meant to divide but to invite opportunities to build bridges of understanding, He said people should not be considered chosen or un-chosen and that all people are worthy of respect.

Bashir, who has been involved with Prayer of the City and the St. George Interfaith Council for three years, spoke about his experience of participating in both.

“Some of the best people I’ve come across are on the interfaith council,” he said, adding the council members are focused on not just providing support for their own, but to everyone. “That is what attracted me to this and I love being a part of this group because of the mutual respect that I experience.”

Bashir works at Utah Tech University as the director of its international student affairs and scholars office, and he is one of the estimated 100 or so members of the Islamic faith in the St. George area. While the local Islamic community presently lacks a dedicated place of worship, Bashir said they are still able to meet each Friday for prayers. The gradual growth of the area’s Islamic community highlights the growth of other faiths in St. George overall.

Rev. Tristan P. A. Dillon, parochial vicar of the St. George Catholic Church, shares a prayer at the 2024 Prayer Over the City interfaith event in St. George, Utah, Jan. 1, 2024 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

As various non-LDS Christian faiths grow locally, so too have non-Christian faiths such as Judaism with the addition of the Jewish Chabad Center of Southern Utah in recent years.

While the Chabad Center is a member of the Interfaith Council, representing the area’s Jewish community at the event was Rabbi Helene Ainbinder of the Biet Chaverim Jewish Community of Greater Zion. She offered a prayer for the state of Israel and its people as well as a plea to God for world peace.

At a time when it feels like the world is burning and people seem to focus more on differences and division in their beliefs, Kestin said the St. George area and its faith communities are presenting a better image than any other place in the country, and perhaps even the world, of what community should look like.

“We can stand together in unity that does not require uniformity of thought,” Kestin repeated. “There are many representatives on this panel whose philosophy and doctrine is radically different from my own. I don’t have to agree with it. I don’t have to support it. I certainly don’t have to endorse it, but I can respect it – and that’s the secret to Prayer Over the City.”

Ed. note: This story has been updated to clarify who represented the local Jewish community at the Prayer Over the City event.

Photo Gallery

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2024, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mori Kessler serves as a Senior Reporter for St. George News, having previously contributed as a writer and Interim Editor in 2011-12, and an assistant editor from 2012 to mid-2014. He began writing news as a freelancer in 2009 for Today in Dixie, and joined the writing staff of St. George News in mid-2010. He enjoys photography and won an award for photojournalism from the Society of Professional Journalists for a 2018 photo of a bee inspector removing ferals bees from a Washington City home. He is also a shameless nerd and has a bad sense of direction.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MoriKessler@STGnews

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!