Abiding Presence (2016)

God's good gift of life does not come without God's guidance, guidance carried in the scriptures of Old and New Testaments and interpreted in our Confessions of Faith. As medical science has reduced pain and permitted longer life through the discovery of countless new therapies and treatments, the duration and enjoyment of human life have been extended for literally billions of people. Our conviction of God's abiding presence has accompanied this process, deepened by our Reformed Christian appreciation for the role of science in healing, and our pastoral sense that our wholeness in Christ co-exists within the- sometimes tragic-- range of human limitations. The sacredness of life reflects its cosmic Giver; as part of the web of creation, we accept the goodness of our inspirited bodies alongside their fragility, aging, and inevitable death.