David Noble, a statement of faith, Forest Hills Church

I believe in the triune God whose love holds me close, through the grace of Jesus Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
In many ways this God is mysterious and unknowable, yet, I believe, has chosen to be revealed in Jesus Christ, God’s only son. Jesus was the true food that came down from heaven to abide with us. He served the poor and the needy and proclaimed the realm of God. Through the nourishment he provided in his life, death and resurrection, I am able to know something about God’s love and grace. I know that God loves me enough to suffer for me, as shown by Jesus’ death on the cross. Through Jesus, I know God’s love is gracious, because God has chosen to forgive my sin and draw me close forever. For me, this is cause for rejoicing. In Jesus Christ I am redeemed and set free to live as his disciple, and to share with others the love and forgiveness he has shared with me. With him as my Lord and Savior, I am called to a new way of life that emulates his in service to the poor and needy, a life that is joyful and purposeful.
I believe in God, in whose image I have been created. As God is relational by nature within the trinity, I too am called to live in community with others whom God has created.  I believe it is this God’s justice and mercy I am called to know and proclaim through the life I live in a community of believers and within the worldwide community. Despite God’s loving creativity, all human communities know pain and despair, having avoided God’s intentions for humanity and all creation. But God has acted in Jesus Christ to redeem the world and has called forth a holy people, set aside for the purpose of living out God’s grace in community and sharing that grace with all. I am blessed and am called to be a blessing.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, through whom I am strengthened and encouraged, corrected and taught, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It was by the wind of the Holy Spirit that God created the earth out of chaos. It was by the breath of the Spirit that life has been given to me and every other human being. It is by the companionship of the Holy Spirit that God seeks to guide me, even as the Spirit guided Jesus in his earthly ministry. I seek to be more and more aware of the Spirit’s guidance and nurture in my life and in the world.
I believe that the church is the body of Christ for the world, the community grafted into God’s holy people, through whom God’s love and grace and mercy are to be witnessed today by others. The church not only practices these qualities within its life as the body, but it is called to share them in the world through proclamation, service and celebration. Within the church, God gives various gifts for ministry that are organized and realized through love for the good of all communities.
One of the primary ways the church witnesses to God’s love and grace is through the sacraments, Holy Communion and baptism. In communion, we are witnesses to Jesus’ expectation that we abide in him and he in us. In baptism we celebrate God’s desire to choose us for relationship.  By both we are sent out to be agents of God’s grace and mercy to all. While no description of these two sacraments can do justice to the mysterious and powerful work of God, I seek to deepen my understanding of them and appreciate their comprehensive influence in my life.
I believe that Holy Scripture is God’s word for me and the world around me. I study it and am fed by it and it reads me as much or more than I read it. Through these writings that others have produced over many centuries as they experienced God, I search for God’s word for me today and for my congregation and world. I trust that scripture will guide me as I seek to be a faithful follower of the one to whom it witnesses- Jesus Christ.