Ministering God's Constancy: Pastoral Dimensions of End-of-Life Decisions

H. Frederick Reisz Jr.

Article Type: Article

Publication Date: 1/1/1996

Issue: The Edges of Life (Vol. 16, No 1, Winter, 1996)

Pastors and laity minister this theology in their very presence and accompaniment of a person dying. We minister not just care but the gospel, the presence of the living Christ. We are the hands and heart of Christ conveying the constancy and trustworthiness of God by and through God’s grace. The enfolding presence of God in Christ is communicated precisely at the time when that trust may be failing. In accompaniment and care, we reveal the love of God which reunites this person and us in Christ. In prayer, touch, and presence, we assist our sister or brother to pass into the care of God, commending them to God. We assure them of the forgiveness of God that is everlasting, both to the dying person and those who surround them. Thus are proclaimed again the promises of God. Now most surely God is God. God is all in all.

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