Our mission at Associated Ministries is uniting people of faith to build stronger communities. The unity
that we strive to participate in is a God-given gift that sometimes happens
naturally, and other times it takes more intentionality and deliberation. Put a paint brush in the hands of a group of
volunteers and they are united by the service that they are offering, and by
the relationship that they develop with the homeowner whose house is being
brightened. When a family is homeless,
volunteers from a variety of faith communities come together to help get the
family relocated temporarily into a hotel while a different volunteer from
another faith community visits the family in the hotel to help them develop a
plan to secure more stable housing. And
while being of service, people of faith come to know one another, sometimes
rather intimately.
Sometimes, though, an issue arises in our society that
requires us to be even more intentional and more deliberative. SEEKing
Common Ground: A Dialogue About Art, Faith, and Sexuality will be held on Saturday, May 19th from 3:30 to
5:00 pm at Tacoma ART Museum. Participants
will engage one another directly as they respond to questions from the
facilitator and from one another, and seek to better understand one another’s
views on a “thorny” topic such as human sexuality.
Leaders of the faith community will not present positions,
or debate one another, but instead will engage in a more traditional sense of dialogue,
facilitated by Associated Ministries’ executive director, Rev. Chris
Morton. The five participating dialogue
members include: Rev. Gregory
Christopher – Shiloh Baptist Church; Pastor Dean Curry – Life Center; Rabbi
Bruce Kadden – Temple Beth El; Rev. Sharon Moe – United Methodist Church
District Superintendent; and Rev. Sarah Wiles – Bethany Presbyterian Church.
Please join us for the dialogue and hear how people of
faith, with very different perspectives on the topics of art, faith, and human
sexuality can engage one another with respect and dignity, while holding to
their different views. But before you
come to the dialogue, please take the time to view HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture exhibit
--- it may take an hour, or even two, and offer your observations or questions
for the dialogue.
