Faithful Living

An important examination of the theological, spiritual, and ethical issues surrounding death. At the end of a life of faithfulness comes our dying. To approach it as faithfully as we have our living calls for some serious forethought. Because one of the simplest facts of life—that we all die—seems like the most complicated thing we do. Not only have advances in medical technology saved lives, but they also have prolonged death, and raise a number ethical, moral, social, and theological issues. How far should we go to sustain life? Is it right to withdraw artificial feeding from the dying? Is it wrong to end the lives of those in pain? No matter who we are, dealing with these sorts of choices near the end of life is difficult to do on our own.Faithful Living, Faithful Dying: Anglican Reflections on End of Life Care brings together the wisdom of a task force created by the 72nd General Convention of the Episcopal Church to study what faithful living and faithful dying mean today. The task force’s reflections, published for the first time in this book, assist individuals, congregations, and the Church as a whole to disentangle the thicket of ethical, theological, pastoral, and policy concerns.

As I write this book, the world has been shaken by a horrible pandemic, namely COVID-19. The initial impacts of this dreadful disease were first seen in America in early 2020. As of today, the COVID-19 death toll in America is nearing six hundred thousand. In addition to the tremendous loss of life, the economy was virtually brought to a standstill because of business closures that were made necessary to stop or limit the spread of this disease. As a result, many people found themselves facing a daily struggle to remain safe while yet trying to provide for themselves and their families. Though this book was not written to address faithful living from a COVID-19 perspective, I felt led to share about faithfulness, but from a broader perspective. Having been raised in a family that did not have very much in the way of finances, my parents, who were both strong Christians, demonstrated to me what faithfulness looked like, especially in the face of adversity. Hence my title Faithful Living: Honoring God through Persistence and Faith during Trying Times. They, to me, are the epitome of the title of this book.

An important examination of the theological, spiritual, and ethical issues surrounding death. At the end of a life of faithfulness comes our dying. To approach it as faithfully as we have our living calls for some serious forethought. Because one of the simplest facts of life—that we all die—seems like the most complicated thing we do. Not only have advances in medical technology saved lives, but they also have prolonged death, and raise a number ethical, moral, social, and theological issues. How far should we go to sustain life? Is it right to withdraw artificial feeding from the dying? Is it wrong to end the lives of those in pain? No matter who we are, dealing with these sorts of choices near the end of life is difficult to do on our own.Faithful Living, Faithful Dying: Anglican Reflections on End of Life Care brings together the wisdom of a task force created by the 72nd General Convention of the Episcopal Church to study what faithful living and faithful dying mean today. The task force’s reflections, published for the first time in this book, assist individuals, congregations, and the Church as a whole to disentangle the thicket of ethical, theological, pastoral, and policy concerns.

Have you ever considered there was more to achieving your health goals than just a rock-solid diet or exercise plan? Conquer these two avenues and go deeper in the trenches to tackle personal comparisons, insecurities, and mental struggles that thwart the very health goals you set out to accomplish. In this 14-week whole health journey, you will discover the following: How to arm yourself against internal health battles How connected your spiritual life is to your health How to stop jealousy or emotional merry-go-rounds How to be successful in planning meals and exercise How friendships can flourish instead of flounder Ladies, this is all for you! Meet weekly with a girlfriend or small accountability group to focus on your weekly health challenges and assignments. Together youll achieve a fully equipped life by applying principles related to physical, emotional, social, mental, and spiritual health.

How can the things we do and say in Church impact our lives and shape the decisions we make on a daily basis? What kind of life is implied for people who believe the things that Christians believe? Faithful Living attempts to think through these questions and considers the formational impact worship can have on Christian ethics, and therefore on the lives of Christian disciples. It focuses on one of the Church’s regular practices, reciting the Nicene Creed, and offers an ethical commentary on the Creed’s key ideas and themes, challenging Christians from all traditions to think through their faith in order to live faith-fully before God. In so doing, it seeks to hold Christian belief and practice (what are often more formally called doctrine and practice) together. Each chapter addresses one clause from the Creed, attending to its theological meaning, before turning to the ethical implications associated with it. Topics include community, food, politics, disability, suffering, hope, discernment, and catechesis.

In this prophetic call to faithful Christian living, Marva Dawn identifies the epidemic socio-cultural attitudes that destroy hope in our modern lives. Because affluent persons don't know what to value--how to choose what's important and weed out the rest--we remain dissatisfied with what we have and are compelled to want more. Dawn demonstrates, however, how Christians can organize their lives to live in ways that allow them to love God and neighbor and, in the process, alleviate the despair in their lives and in the lives of others in the world.

If God loves me, why did my child die? If life is supposed to be so wonderful, why do I feel so bad? If God hears my prayers, why am I still single? If God is in control of the world, why is life so hard? Sheila Walsh hears questions like these wherever she goes. In her own life journey, she has struggled with difficult questions?and has found some answers. Not easy, pat answers, but real-life, lived-out-in-the-flesh answers that can help you find meaning and purpose in spite of pain and suffering. Life Is Tough but God Is Faithful offers encouraging insight into God's presence in the midst of our questions and struggles?and highlights positive choices you can make, no matter what your circumstances may be. "Life is tough, but God is faithful" has become Sheila's motto. "The Bible is full of stories of men and women who, in the midst of the toughest situations of life, discovered the faithfulness of God," she says. "When our dreams go sour or seem unfulfilled, we can choose to allow Satan to slither into our lives, or we can choose to remember that God is faithful, no matter how hopeless life gets." Sheila looks at thirteen crucial turning points that can help you rediscover God's love and forgiveness. Showing how the choices you make affect your life, she offers insights from the book of Job, from her own life, and from the lives of people whose simple but determined faith helped them become shining lights in a dark world.

This book explores how the Christian life is lived in a pluralistic situation where different contexts of belonging give rise to different moral challenges. While it is characteristic of modern life to exist in a postmodern situation where there is an erosion of comprehensive systems of meaning, we still live today in contexts of belonging. We still seek to gather out of the fragments of modern life the sustenance of a network of belonging, belief and practice which comprise a faithful life. The construction of such a life, not only for us, but for others, serves as the framework for our moral commitments. Furthermore, sustaining and transforming social frameworks which shape various aspects of human life form the life task of adult Christians.