After a turbulent election season, the Love Akron Network is hoping to unify people in the community across races, religions and political affiliations through prayer.
The organization is hosting Unite Our Hearts at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the House of the Lord at 1650 Diagonal Road. At the event, community representatives will lead the audience in a call for unity with prayer.
The Love Akron Network is a Christian organization in the Akron area that hosts programs to pray, unite and collaborate in the community.
Mark Ford, the executive director of the organization, said they’ve held several events like this in response to local or national issues. Members of the board agreed the vitriol stemming from this past presidential election was grounds for another.
“With all the fallout that’s come from the national election I have just been really, really concerned,” Ford said. “We call this Unite Our Hearts because there’s such a division between family, friends, churches, faith communities, I don’t care what religion it is. We just feel like we need to try to do whatever we can to pull our community together and hold hands and pray.”
For each prayer segment, two community officials within that segment will lead the prayer.
Pastor Diana Swoope from the Arlington Church of God and Pastor Tim Armstrong from The Chapel will pray for unity across religions; Pastor Josh Deeter from Tallmadge First Church of God and Pastor Bryndon Glass from S.P.A.N. Ministries will pray for unity across races; and Judges Donna Carr and Carla Moore, both from the 9th District Court of Appeals, will pray for unity across political platforms.
One person in each of those groupings is black, while the other is white.
“We’re really trying to work on this area of race,” Ford said.
Ford said they’re trying to keep with the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr., who was initially a pastor, by reciting his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
The ceremony will also feature combined music from the House of the Lord and The Chapel choirs, along with Communion at the end.
Bishop Joey Johnson from the House of the Lord, who will co-host the event with Ford, said conversation surrounding national events is hindering advancement on issues more relevant on the local level. He cited, for example, the police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Mo., that made national headlines.
“What happened in Ferguson is not what happened in Akron, but it may seem like that when you watch TV,” Johnson said. “We need to determine what local narrative is going to be and not let national narrative drive the local.”
Ford said the ceremony will be based on Christian ideals, but it’s open to all faiths. Ultimately, he and Johnson hope to spark a conversation among city officials and community members to learn about one another and begin tackling local issues.
“We want to try to help people begin to deal with their implicit biases by creating real conversation around these issues so we can begin hearing peoples’ stories,” Johnson said. “We’re hoping we’re going to begin to start some dialogue between city leaders.”
Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @Theresa_Cottom .