Dictionary: Face
Synonyms: countenance, physiognomy, profile, features, expression, facial expression, look, appearance, air, manner, bearing, guise, cast, aspect, impression, grimace, scowl, wry face, wince, frown, glower, smirk, pout, moue, side, flank, vertical, surface, plane, facet, wall, elevation, dial, display, (outward) appearance, nature, image, front, show, act, false front, facade, exterior, mask, masquerade, pretence, charade, pose, illusion, smokescreen, veneer, camouflage, respect, honour, esteem, regard, admiration, approbation, acclaim, approval, favour, appreciation, popularity, estimation, veneration, awe, reverence, deference, recognition, prestige, standing, status, dignity, glory, kudos, cachet, effrontery, audacity, nerve, gall, brazenness, brashness, shamelessness, look out on, front on to, look towards, be facing, have/afford/command a view of, look over/across, open out over, look on to, overlook, give on to, give over, be opposite (to), accept, come to accept, become reconciled to, reconcile oneself to, reach an acceptance (of), get used to, become accustomed to, adjust to, accommodate oneself to, acclimatize oneself to, be confronted by, be faced with, encounter, experience, come into contact with, run into, come across, meet, come up against, be forced to contend with, beset, worry, distress, cause trouble to, trouble, bother, confront, burden, brave, face up to, meet head-on, dare, defy, oppose, resist, withstand, cover, clad, skin, overlay, dress, pave, put a facing on, laminate, inlay, plate, coat, line
Antonyms: dodge, fear, back, give way, back down, dodge, avoid, throw in the towel, withdraw, cave in, retreat, succumb to, lay down one's arms, throw in the sponge, defer, submit, escape, bashfulness, shun, evade, elude
Showing 4251 to 4275 of 4986 results
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... !" they say flatly. "But bayberry, pine and cinnamon scent the shadowed room. Snow lies in quiet beauty outside. I hear someone downstairs turning on the tree lights while another admires. I lie very still in the dark. Form the church in the village on the far side of the woods, carillon notes fall faint and sweet on winter clear air. "Silent night," my heart repeats softly. Holy night. All is calm All is bright. "As I take the stairs lightly going down, no bones weary now, my whole self is thankful; once ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... , it was considered bad luck if you took your old broom to a new house. Brooms are so commonplace in our culture that they have played a role far beyond that of a cleaning implement. Everyone knows they were used as transportation and as magical side-arms for the flocks of witches that darkened medieval skies and minds. Harry Potter fans are familiar with magical flying brooms that are used instead of flying ponies. The broom also served as a binding symbol of love and togetherness for early American slaves ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... this opening, Bartimaeus doesn't hesitate to take the steps necessary to get him where he needs to be, to get him what he desires most. Finally invited to approach Jesus, Bartimaeus throws aside his cloak his final mantle of respectability to reach Jesus' side more quickly. He instantly responds to Jesus' question "What do you want me to do for you?" (verse 51), but with the respect and reverence he feels for the one he stands before: "My rabbouni , let me see again." Jesus proclaims Bartimaeus healed. Why ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... Columbia were wiped out by the wind-whipped flames of forest fires that became city fires. In Oregon the state was severed in half. The main pass over the Cascade Mountains, dividing the green moist western half of the state from the eastern, dry, high-desert side of the state, was completely closed for two weeks. But even as the drought, high temperatures and winds kept fires raging in the west, the fires in the East went out completely. If you don't think you're dependent on fire, think again. Our flames ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... forts, hunted for arrowheads, and swung on grape vines. We played cowboys, knights, and Tarzan. We marveled at God's creation, and soaked up the beautiful scenes created by the world's greatest artist. What fun we had in the woods. But there was a dark side to the woods. They could be hostile and unforgiving. Thickets of briars. Acres of poison ivy. Ticks. Chiggers. And worse, snakes! We fell out of trees. We had sudden encounters with older, antagonistic kids we didn't know. Once we stumbled on a swarm of ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... -tacky-signs tourist trap. Anything that needs to advertise itself so deliberately, so indiscriminately, must not be worth a second thought. The glut of signs fills some of us with suspicion, not eager anticipation. Apparently the crowd of people who followed Jesus from one side of the Sea of Galilee to the other would have been great fans of Wall Drug. They had just been the recipients of one of Jesus' most astonishing miracles all five thousand of them had been fed to fullness with just five loaves and ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... last" is really true then we're all in a tie for first place. Dig deep enough. Open a few locked doors. Tighten up the focus. One thing becomes excruciatingly clear. There are no pure people. There are no "only nice" guys. Each of us has a dark side, a hidden self, a stockpile of dirty laundry that follows us through life. Each of us lives with mixed motives, and even our best has something in it to be pardoned. It's easy to lampoon and lambaste those in the public eye who get caught in moral failures ...
4258. Tiny Pencils
John 15:1-17
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... religion. What existed outside the walls of one's village or city was unknown and feared. Today the world is tiny. We have instant access to more information than we could ever hope to process. We have front row seats to events unfolding on the other side of the world. We can communicate with soldiers on the front, sailors at sea, pilots in the air as they're moving into battle. We can also visit the most remote villages, the poorest countries, the most pathetic hospitals--whether they're in the next county ...
4259. Transmission
1 John 3:11-24
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... grapefruit be halved, then cored, then using a serrated knife, each section sliced apart, first from its neighbors and then from its encasing membrane. This left a half-grapefruit "bowl" filled with the juicy, succulent fruit, ready-to-eat. From both sides of our family tree, therefore, Elizabeth and I find ourselves compelled to undertake these time-consuming, finger-slicing, tedious tasks in order to really enjoy eating a grapefruit. We just can't bring ourselves to use those pointy little spoons and ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... --his shoulders and arms bulging with muscles, legs slightly bent and apart to help him balance, head and neck crooked forward, so that the planet earth rested squarely upon his massive shoulders. This Atlas was the guy who, after getting on Zeus' bad side, was condemned to actually holding the weight of the world on his shoulders. Atlas was perhaps our first, and most enduring, image of stress in the work place! If, as the famous book title suggested, "Atlas Shrugged," the whole world would go toppling ...
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... in his chair as silence filled the room. The pastor again walked slowly to the pulpit and delivered a brief sermon with an invitation at the end. However, no one responded to the appeal. Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man's side. "That was a nice story," politely stated one of them, "but I don't think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only son's life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian." "Well, you've got a point there," the old ...
4262. Be Kind
Ephesians 4:17--5:21
Sermon
James McCormick
... something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80’s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940’s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos ...
Sermon
James McCormick
... deal with it. We know it all too well, don’t we? There is something at work in the world and in us that tempts us to be less than we know we ought to be. There is something that tempts us to move away from God toward the dark side. Paul knew about it. That’s why he said that we have a battle on our hands. We’d better put on the whole armor of God, so that we can stand against the wiles of the devil. Luther knew about it. That’s why he wrote in his hymn ...
4264. Weak Sauce
1 Corinthians 9:1-27
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... coughed on, sneezed at, breathed on by these walking epidemics. You also know the dread of waiting for the virus to appear in your own life. It turns out the spreading of germs to everyone else at work isn't the only down-side of these unwelcome colleagues. Apparently a bigger problem than absenteeism in the American workplace is presenteeism the presence of ill workers and the work they produce while shuffling sickly through their day. Sick, but on-the-job workers, produce faulty goods, write inaccurate ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... , do you know which bus is yours?” He didn’t answer. The teacher knew that lots of kids are shy on their first day. It didn’t matter anyway since she had asked the parents to write the names of their children’s bus stop on the reverse side of their name tags. Just as she put the boy on the bus and said “Good‑bye Fruit Stand, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she turned over his bus tag‑-and there, neatly printed, was the word, “Anthony.” (1) Names are interesting. A woman named Jewell and her ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... got another favor to be asking you,” the fisherman stammered. “Ask away,” the fish replied. “Could you maybe make the missus and me into a----um, a Duke and Duchess living in a fine mansion?” “Of course,” the fish replied, and then it leaped over the side of the boat. And for a very short time, the fisherman enjoyed peace and quiet at home. But he knew it couldn’t last. Soon, his wife wanted a bigger mansion and a better title. And each time she complained, the fisherman would go back to the ...
4267. Which End Is Up?
Ephesians 3:1-13
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
... up?” That’s when the gravity of a grace-bearing, gift-bearing, God-bearing Epiphany will give you the levity you need to be “more than conquerors,” and to turn the world upside down. Or more accurately, turn the world . . . right-side up. Illustrations, Animations, Illuminations, Ruminations Back in 1984, the legendary comedian George Burns wrote a book called Dr. Burns’ Prescription For Happiness: Buy Two Books and Call Me in the Morning (New York: Putnam, 1984). The comedian writes: "If you were ...
Sermon
Elizabeth Achtemeier
... throughout the Bible. It arose in the time of the tribal federation and of the Judges, when God fought on behalf of Israel against their enemies. Because the Lord defeated Israel’s foes in those days, the idea arose that he would always be on their side, and that there would come a day — a Day of the Lord — when God would defeat all of Israel’s enemies and she would be exalted among the nations. Beginning with Amos in the eighth century B.C., the prophets turned that popular confidence upside down ...
4269. Such a Transformation!
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
Sermon
Elizabeth Achtemeier
... of us have done wrong! And as a result, all of us are now counted righteous in the eyes of our God (v. 11). The servant’s burial is not the end of the story, however, for God once more takes up the speech in verse 11. On the other side of the grave, beyond the finality of death, God proclaims that his servant will be restored and exalted to a good and happy life (v. 11). Is that a foretelling of the resurrection of Christ? The text does not say; it gives no further details. But it is clear that ...
4270. Easter 4
Acts 2:42-47, Psalm 23:1-6, 1 Peter 2:13-25, John 10:1-21
Sermon Aid
Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe
... the best possible pastures for grazing. Thus leadership is providential in the sense of aiming at making the physical provisions available for undergirding life. Moreover, the shepherd is the source of security for the sheep. There is a positive and a negative side to this idea. Positively, the shepherd establishes peace for the flock by bringing them to the most restful and bountiful setting. Negatively, the shepherd secures the safety of the sheep by warding off any threats to the sheep's well-being. The ...
4271. Epiphany 4
Psalm 15:1-5, Micah 6:1-8, 1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5, Matthew 5:1-12
Sermon Aid
Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe
... an important counterpoint of Micah 6:1-8. Micah underscores how salvation is not first and foremost about ethics. Rather, it is rooted in God's transformation. Once this central reality is established, the entrance liturgy in Psalm 15 provides the other side of the issue—namely, that the transformed life of the people of God will inevitably result in moral conduct that is in harmony with God's character. NEW TESTAMENT TEXTS These texts complement each other. Paul writes of the distinctive manner in ...
4272. Proper 10
Psalm 119:1-176, Romans 8:1-17, Matthew 13:1-23, Genesis 25:19-34
Sermon Aid
Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe
... at responsibility, and then at the marvelous richness of the Kingdom that triumphs despite setbacks. There may well be other central elements in this parable that will be suggestive for brooding over this text. Certainly preachers will not need to explore the side streets of this parable in detail, for there is more than enough crucial imagery and thought in this passage to keep even the most gifted pulpiteer busy. It is striking how the parable proceeds slowly and rhythmically telling of the first three ...
4273. Proper 12
Genesis 29:15-30, Matthew 13:31-35, Matthew 13:44-46, Matthew 13:47-52, Romans 8:28-39, Psalm 105:1-45
Sermon Aid
Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe
... through the many reversals outlined above. But the absence of God in the confrontation between Jacob and Laban would suggest that we should not be encouraged to make more out of this confrontation than we already have. God does not appear to take sides in the confrontation of the two tricksters, and instead stays away from the story altogether. God does enter the story, however, in Genesis 29:31, and even though it goes beyond the boundaries of the lectionary text, it provides another level of commentary ...
4274. Proper 16
Exodus 1:1-22, Matthew 16:13-20, Romans 12:1-8, Psalm 124:1-8
Sermon Aid
Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe
... " Setting. Psalm 124 is frequently classified as a song of thanksgiving. The thanks that is directed to God in vv. 6-7 provides a strong basis for such a conclusion. Recently, scholars have argued that the psalm also has an instructional side to it, especially in vv. 1-5, where a threatening situation is described without any divine intervention. Psalm 124, therefore, must be seen as providing both instruction on how God acts in events and language of thanksgiving. Structure. Psalm 124 separates into ...
4275. Proper 18
Psalm 149:1-9, Romans 13:8-14, Matthew 18:15-20, Exodus 12:1-30
Sermon Aid
Marion L. Soards, Thomas B. Dozeman, Kendall McCabe
OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS Exodus 12:1-14 is one of the central descriptions of how the Passover is to be celebrated and how it functions in the life of Israel. Psalm 149 is a two-sided hymn of praise in which God's ability to destroy and to save is acknowledged. Exodus 12:1-14 - "The Passover" Setting. The confusion of the present form of Exodus 11-13 confronts any reader with immediate obstacles to interpretation. At least three different traditions have been brought together in ...
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