Spirituality and surfing collided the morning of June 28 in La Jolla Shores.
Congregational Church of La Jolla presented its inaugural Blessing of the Surfboards, inviting area surfers and church congregants to Kellogg Park for meditation and a song from the church choir before receiving a seawater blessing for their surfboards.
The Rev. Tim Seery, pastor of Congregational Church of La Jolla, said he was first inspired to have the event when he was living on the East Coast and saw that Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine has a bicycle blessing.
“I thought that was really creative because that’s a huge part of New York culture,” Seery said. “I thought ‘Here in California, what would be something very unique to us that we could bless?’ And surfboards was it.”
La Jolla is one of two communities in San Diego County to have a formal Blessing of the Surfboards event. The other, hosted by Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Cardiff, is typically in early fall. ♦