http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?NewsSectionId=69 Bondare 3.0 RSSBuilder 2013-06-18T17:56:33Z EthicsDaily.com info@ethicsdaily.com http://www.ethicsdaily.com Copyright 2002-2009 | EthicsDaily.com | All Rights Reserved http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20781 2013-05-23T22:33:58Z 2013-05-23T22:33:58Z In short, Pentecost reminds us that we aren't in the world to be spectators. We aren't here to wring our hands and act as if we are helpless to make a difference. No! We have a holy imperative and the assurance of God's Spirit as authority for being ordinary people who boldly take on the extraordinary issues of sin and suffering in our time and places. This is what it means to be a follower of Jesus. This is what it means to be part of a congregation. This is what it means to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20551 2013-03-07T22:29:11Z 2013-03-07T22:29:11Z God is appealing to us, imploring us, pleading with us. God calls us to come and receive from God what cannot be bought, sold, or stolen—restoration. We've been invited by God to a banquet although we have no way to pay the admission price. We've been invited to healing even though we have no health insurance or money to pay the healer. We've been invited. We've been invited. We've been invited. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20528 2013-02-28T20:29:53Z 2013-02-28T20:29:53Z God has prayerful changes for you and me also. There are places and spaces for us to enter, away from the routine noises and sounds of our living, where God will inspire us, reassure us, and prepare us to be divine instruments of righteousness, love, mercy, joy, hope, and peace. Let us turn aside to them. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20509 2013-02-21T21:20:07Z 2013-02-21T21:20:07Z Lent is a time of spiritual contemplation, preparation, and renewal when we voluntarily wrestle with the dynamics of living for God. Just as people voluntarily prepare academically before beginning the world of work, Lent is a time for preparing oneself for the work of discipleship. Remember, we always prepare for anything we do that we consider important! Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20489 2013-02-14T21:45:49Z 2013-02-14T21:45:49Z Discipleship involves following Jesus in taking people alive for God so they become part of God's love, truth, peace, hope, and joy in the world. It means following Jesus in liberating people from oppressive forces and systems—including cultural, social, political, economic, and religious forces and systems—that trap and cripple them. Discipleship involves following Jesus in living as God's good news and work for freedom, healing, peace, love, justice, joy, and hope. This meaning of discipleship—following Jesus—in "people-catching living" gives the term "catch and release" an entirely new meaning. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20434 2013-01-31T23:05:34Z 2013-01-31T23:05:34Z Scripture that is alive warns that we will either fulfill God's radical and subversive mission of love, justice, and peace that the Gospels proclaim concerning Jesus or we will fulfill God's mission of judgment and condemnation on the idolatry of opportunism and self-centeredness. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20309 2012-12-20T23:10:05Z 2012-12-20T23:10:05Z Like Job, Jesus, Shady Hook parents and families, and the rest of the world, we wonder if God has forgotten or abandoned us when innocents suffer. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20250 2012-12-03T06:51:02Z 2012-12-03T06:51:02Z Advent season is about hoping and waiting for someone who will end the age of injustice and make things right in our lives. So despite the fact that Advent season contains none of the festive atmosphere of Christmastime, there is good news in it. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20241 2012-11-29T21:56:32Z 2012-11-29T21:56:32Z The Christian perspective affirms that God's messiah has been sent to deliver the entire universe ("cosmos") from the oppressive power of sin and death. We recognize Jesus Christ as God's designated Lord and King of the universe. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20216 2012-11-21T20:08:57Z 2012-11-21T20:08:57Z People are moved to sing by experiences that affect them at the deepest levels. Whether the experiences are profoundly pleasant and joyful or unpleasant and painful, across the ages humans have expressed their feelings about what we've gone through by songs. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20197 2012-11-15T13:11:24Z 2012-11-15T13:11:24Z Justice is the standard by which we are to measure every political and social system. Justice is the standard that defines whether a ruler is a success or failure. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20174 2012-11-08T20:34:17Z 2012-11-08T20:34:17Z What standard should we use to judge public policy? What factors should guide our decision-making? Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20155 2012-11-01T22:55:07Z 2012-11-01T22:55:07Z So in God's name, let us challenge everyone we know to be "good and trustworthy" voters. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20131 2012-10-25T22:39:04Z 2012-10-25T22:39:04Z We hold as truth that the Spirit of the Lord is working on and with us. God has spoken to us. This isn't some casual undertaking we're about. We're on God's business! We're on a mission from God! Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20104 2012-10-18T14:32:45Z 2012-10-18T14:32:45Z Frustrated faith isn't merely about feeling like God has put us on hold. It isn't about feeling like God has stepped out and left a message for us to use voice mail. It feels like we have called on God from the depth of our dark situations and experiences only to hear the phone ringing, ringing, and ringing! Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=20039 2012-09-27T23:55:02Z 2012-09-27T23:55:02Z By God's Spirit, let's love as Jesus loved, live as Jesus lived, welcome all as Jesus welcomed all, suffer for others as Jesus did, and be renewed people whose lives are overwhelming evidence of God's love, truth, joy, mercy, and peace for all. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=19996 2012-09-13T20:14:03Z 2012-09-13T20:14:03Z May the Spirit of God that empowered Jesus work in and on us so that the "Gentiles" of our time and place experience the healing, liberating, and powerful love of God. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=19972 2012-09-06T14:51:24Z 2012-09-06T14:51:24Z We must decide whether to live for God as prophets or for the Enterprise Empire as pawns. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=19952 2012-08-30T22:00:36Z 2012-08-30T22:00:36Z Many people who say they are following Jesus reject the idea that "life" is defined by what is "spiritual," rather than what is material ("flesh"). Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=19932 2012-08-23T15:16:57Z 2012-08-23T15:16:57Z God invites us into a "life forever" relationship with divine grace and truth that will challenge and change the world. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=19908 2012-08-17T06:50:04Z 2012-08-17T06:50:04Z As followers of Jesus, you and I are messengers of this good news to people who face the dark side of life. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=19887 2012-08-11T16:23:21Z 2012-08-11T16:23:21Z God calls us through Jesus Christ. Trust the grace. Enter the life. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=19749 2012-06-28T18:01:31Z 2012-06-28T18:01:31Z Grace rises to confront the wind and waves of our overwhelming circumstances. Grace rises to speak peace to our trembling and frustrated spirits. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=19658 2012-05-31T23:49:34Z 2012-05-31T23:49:34Z By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are confirmed as followers of Jesus Christ. By the presence of the Holy Spirit, we have confidence to act as agents of God's grace and truth in our time and place. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=19635 2012-05-24T12:05:26Z 2012-05-24T12:05:26Z People who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender pose no threat to the institution of marriage. Marriages are threatened by hypocrisy, hatefulness, and self-centeredness. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=19609 2012-05-17T23:09:30Z 2012-05-17T23:09:30Z God is love. Living for God and with God is loving and living as Jesus lives and loves. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=19583 2012-05-10T18:16:20Z 2012-05-10T18:16:20Z The test for determining whether someone truly loves God is whether that person loves other people. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=19502 2012-04-12T14:43:37Z 2012-04-12T14:43:37Z The risen Jesus is proof of God's life and God's love. The risen Jesus is proof of God's power. And the risen Jesus is the best evidence for hope despite the tomb-like circumstances and situations of life. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=19470 2012-04-05T21:14:37Z 2012-04-05T21:14:37Z In Jesus, God showed up as friend to the poor and weak and disfavored, not the divine tool God of the privileged and powerful. Wendell Griffen http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=19306 2012-02-23T23:56:54Z 2012-02-23T23:56:54Z Glory to God who gives us authority to make moral and material differences in a stuck world and for stuck people, despite what the stuck up "scribes" say, think, and do. Wendell Griffen