Synonyms: renounce, relinquish, dispense with, forswear, disclaim, disown, disavow, discard, wash one's hands of, give up, stop, cease, drop, forgo, desist from, have done with, abjure, abstain from, discontinue, break off, refrain from, set/lay aside, desert, leave, leave high and dry, turn one's back on, cast aside, break (up) with, vacate, quit, evacuate, withdraw from, surrender, cede, yield, indulge in, give way to, give oneself up to, yield to, lose oneself to/in, uninhibitedness, recklessness, lack of restraint, lack of inhibition, unruliness, wildness, impulsiveness, impetuosity, immoderation, wantonness
Antonyms: keep, claim, continue, stick by, self-control, power through, achieve, defend, bear, hope, acquire, quick visit, adopt, continue along, adhere, remain, pursue, support, take up, keep up, reuse, advocate, stay, persevere, cherish, keep going, carry on
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2551. The Loaves
John 6:1-21
Sermon
David Coffin
One of the hardest lessons in life I had to learn was never to get a job at the restaurant I enjoyed eating in since childhood. There was a particular fast food restaurant that had plenty of vegetables and condiments on their sandwiches that I had always looked forward to eating since I was twelve years old. When I got out of college in the 1970s, the job market in my area had a glut of four-year college degree graduates. I applied for a manager trainee position at the restaurant I have cherished since ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Cognitive confirmation bias, the core concept of my upcoming book, Slant, on how we understand Jesus, scriptures, and our theology, has also become a current “buzz word” in the confusion of our society today. No matter what “side” of the political spectrum we are on, we want to know “how” others cannot see the “truth” or “facts” that are right in front of them. Interestingly, this inquiry comes from both ends of that divide. That should tell us something. The answer is simpler and yet more complex than we ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
“What is truth?” That is the missing question from this week’s lectionary reading. It’s an important question. As we celebrate Reign of Christ Sunday, we find ourselves watching Jesus’ interaction with Pilate the eve before his death. The Jewish authorities have handed him to the Romans in hope they will sentence him to death, as the Priests and Pharisees had no power to do so in their own courts. This would be the only way they could remove this “dissident” from under their skin. As Pilate reluctantly ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
By the time we get to Epiphany Sunday, for most people, the season of “gift giving” is over. The sea of presents from Christmas has been mostly put away, the decorative trees and lights are coming down, and, having celebrated New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, people are moving on to resume their lives, hoping for a positive year. Stores, no longer selling Christmas, are already focused on St. Valentine’s Day. The thrill of the holiday season has passed. For most, Epiphany just doesn’t have the “zing” that ...
2555. We Live in Hope
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Sermon
Bonnie Bates
Good morning! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Happy Easter! Several times this week I have revised this sermon message, wanting to incorporate the emotions of this Holy Week, to understand the last week as a journey with Jesus and the disciples. The joy and triumph of Palm Sunday quickly seems to move into the intimacy of Maundy Thursday with its meal shared among friends, the servant leader Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, and the breaking of bread and sharing of cup. We then quickly move ...
Sermon
Wayne Brouwer
Sometimes the healing of our hurts starts only when we find another song to sing. Take the story of Helen, for instance. She had her sights set on a law degree from Ohio Wesleyan College. But then the flu epidemic of 1918 hit, taking her father as a victim. Suddenly everything had changed. Helen could not go to college; she had to get a job to support her mother. For the next ten years, Helen worked at an electrical utility; a simple, repetitive cog in the company machine. Just when she thought she was ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
“Awake you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” (Ephesians 5:14) In 1908 Jack London wrote a short story, published in Century Magazine called “To Build a Fire.” In the story a man hikes the Yukon trail along with his dog in subzero temperatures despite urgent warnings about the dangers of the extreme cold by those in Sulphur Creek. Thinking he can light a fire whenever he wants if the cold gets too harsh, the man’s overconfidence and insistence on going it alone leads to a ...
2558. No Excuse
Luke 13:10-17
Sermon
Dean Feldmeyer
But the leader of the synagogue, indignant be- cause Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” Luke 13:14 When my brother, Brian’s kids were little, he used to coach football. Well, coaching may be too strong a word. These were nine and ten-year-olds and Brian used to say that what the league called coaching was really more like herding cats. The team practiced twice a week ...
2559. God Is Like...a Potter
Jeremiah 18:1-11 · 1 Corinthians 15:20-26
Sermon
Kenneth L. Gibble
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So begins our morning’s reading from the Old Testament. When you hear those words, you may wonder what the Bible meant when it said, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.“ How did that word come to Jeremiah? Was it written down somewhere? Did Jeremiah hear it audibly? Just who was this Jeremiah anyway and why did the word of the Lord come to him? Lots of questions come to ...
2560. God Is Like...Fire
Malachi 3:1-4 · Luke 3:1-6, 9,16-17
Sermon
Kenneth L. Gibble
What is God like? We’ve been exploring that question, each time with a different image for an answer. So far, we’ve thought about how God is like the words “I Am,” how God is like a potter and how God is like bread. Today we turn to an image that is probably more familiar than any other for most Christians ― God as parent. The religion of the Hebrews was not the first to regard God as father. Do you remember your Greek mythology, where Zeus was the father of the gods? And though we have no written records ...
Sermon
Jill J. Duffield
Zacchaeus’ parents must have had high hopes for their son. They named him Zacchaeus, after all, which means, “righteous one, pure one.” A name, as it turns out, which was rather ironic because he grew up to be the chief tax collector, not just a tax collector, but that person in charge of other tax collectors, the chief among cheats who extorted the exploiters and as a result got rich. I wonder if people rolled their eyes when they saw this short man coming to get the fees, fines, and burdens imposed by ...
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