Precious in His Sight: A Ronciliation Service

“Precious in His Sight,” a service of healing and racial reconciliation open to the greater Santa Barbara community, will be 7 p.m. Jan. 27 at Page Hall on the upper Westmont campus.

Sponsored by the Inter-Faith Ministers’ Alliance in partnership with Westmont, the service is the second in a series of three intended to promote relationships of healing and reconciliation, and draw attention to the fact that all people are God’s people, no matter their ethnicity or race.

The Inter-Faith Ministers' Alliance is comprised of a small group of area pastors committed to issues of healing and reconciliation within the faith community.

“Let us strive to reconcile our differences and not allow race to be a banner behind bitter battle cries,” said the Rev. Charles A. Cole, president of the Inter-Faith Ministers’ Alliance. “God made us in his own image and we are precious in his eyes. If we let the color of our skin determine who’s kept out and who’s let in, we lose sight of the master’s plan, and without a plan, nobody wins.”

The Jan. 27 service is the second in a series of three that began last May at Calvary Chapel. More than 100 faith communities in the greater Santa Barbara region have been invited to participate.

Speakers will include Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum; Christine Simms, President of the local chapter of the NAACP; Rev. Richard Ramos of the Faith Initiative; Rabbi Steven Cohen; Rev. Curt Peterson, Montecito Covenant Church; Rev. Ruben Ford, St. Paul A.M.E Church; Rev. Robert Cornwall, First Christian Church; Rev. George Brooks, Bethel Church of God in Christ; and Rev. Ben Patterson, Westmont College campus pastor.

For more information, call Cole at (805) 965-2625, or Toya Cooper, special assistant to the provost for diversity initiatives at Westmont, at 565-6832.