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
Showing 4301 to 4325 of 4681 results
4301. Slow Burn
Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 6:19-24
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... other words, “Be careful what you love!” What you crave with your eyes, you love with your heart. In Jewish folk culture, “ayin hara” is the evil eye. People believed that the malicious gaze could bring about evil. In midrash, the evil eye cannot bear to see the good fortune of others. It is selfish and greedy. A “good eye” enjoys seeing others happy and successful. The eye also represents primeval light, the spiritual light of God, divine radiance. To blacken it, is to black out God. In a sense ...
4302. Secret Savior
Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18
Sermon
Lori Wagner
"For the sake of His great name the LORD will not reject His people, because the LORD was pleased to make you His own." (1 Samuel 12:22) They call him (or her) “Benny” for the $100 bills that bear the photo of his namesake Benjamin Franklin. In Salem, Oregon, a mysterious philanthropist has been placing $100 bills (Bennys) inside of packages of diapers and cereal boxes, clothing and toilet paper. Each of the bills contains a simple signature –“Benny.” The unknown giver has been donating money ...
4303. The Infiltrator
John 10:1-21, John 10:22-42
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... in heaven. May Your will be honored and respected among your human flock as among the heavenly host. Nourish us daily with your abundant love and presence. Forgive us our false witnesses to you, to the extent that we forgive others who bear false witness to us. Help us to take the higher road. For Yours is the kingdom, the glory, the power, always and forever.” *See Foucault, “Security, Territory, Population” ; “Beyond Structuralism and Hermaneutics”; C. Mayes in Journal for Cultural and Religious ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... Lectionary Major Text The Visit of the Magi to Bethlehem (Matthew 2) Minor Text The Priest of the God Most High Melchizedek (Genesis 14) Joseph is Given Asenath Daughter of Potiphera the Egyptian Priest of On to be His Wife (Genesis 41:41-52) and They Bear Ephraim and Manasseh Moses Marries Ziporah the Daughter of Midian Priest Jethro (Exodus 2 and 3) The Prophecy of Balaam Son of Beor (Numbers 24) Psalm 2: The Lord Has Raised Up His Anointed Psalm 110: The Lord Extends His Scepter to His Chosen Priest The ...
4305. Even in Our Hiding
Matthew 2:19-23, Matthew 2:13-18
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... movement. Sometimes refugees would stay for a few hours or a few days until another “safe house” could be located. Others would stay longer, surviving on little food and little light. Although the space behind the wall was dark and cramped, every one of those people bears witness to the kindness and courageousness of the ten Boom family, who saved their lives from those who sought them. In those few years of the war, the ten Boom family is estimated to have saved the lives of at least 800 Jews and many ...
4306. Ten Pounds of Mercy, One Pound of Faith
Luke 19:11-27, Matthew 25:1-13, Matthew 25:14-30
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... you, Hezekiah: “This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.” The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” (2 Kings 19:29-31 / Isaiah 37: 30-32) Key metaphors: plant/crop/planting/putting down roots/seeding ...
4307. She Waits
Acts 1:1-11, Luke 24:50-53, Luke 24:36-49
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... on high.” This is the language of Pentecost. This is the language of betrothal and consummation. Only the committed will marry the King. Only a disciple will have a room in God’s heavenly mansion and a seat at the table. To be properly dressed is to bear the fruits of the Spirit, to wear the cloak of God’s Pentecostal grace in and throughout one’s life and world, to be always in a mode of preparation and learning, mission and love. Years ago, when one prepared to be a wife, one prepared what was ...
4308. The Funeral Crasher
John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14, John 14:15-31
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... , to ashes we return” is a reminder of our humanness, our inevitable cycle of birth, life and death, and the humility that comes with our humanity. Outside of Good Friday, it’s our most serious and solemn time of the church calendar. Our scripture for today bears that same kind of solemnity. The story drops in on Jesus’ disciples at a time of fear and confusion over when their master will leave them. He confirms that he will leave them. But he’s talking to them about death. His death! They react as ...
4309. Lazarus Rising
John 11:1-16, John 11:17-37, John 11:38-44, John 11:45-57, John 12:1-11, John 12:12-19
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... . Like Peter’s mother-in-law, who immediately rises to serve, like the blind man, who immediately praises God, Lazarus immediately begins proclaiming God’s power shown in the person of Jesus! And this was a “truth” that the authorities could not bear to muster. What stopped Lazarus from proclaiming God’s glory was out of his control: sickness and death. Lazarus was faithful. Nothing else stopped him. Not peer pressure. He didn’t care about that. Not fear or the authorities. He didn’t ...
4310. Pilate's Ruse
Matthew 27:1-26 · Luke 22:66--23:25 · John 18:28-40; 19:1-16 · Mark 15:1-15
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... , and besought him to remove the images. After five days of discussion he ordered his soldiers to surround the petitioners and to put them to death unless they ceased to trouble him. He yielded only when he saw that the Jews would rather die than bear this affront. At a later date Pilate appropriated funds from the sacred treasury in order to provide for the construction of an aqueduct for supplying the city of Jerusalem with water from the Pools of Solomon; and he suppressed the riots provoked by this ...
4311. The Stone is My Witness
Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-20
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... to us many years later. Stones are not just impediments to discard. Stones are stories. Each stone holds a story within it, sedimental (not sentimental….sedimental) stories –stories that add layers of meaning. The longer they endure, these stories continue to bear life within them through generation to generation. Stones make the best witnesses. The angel in our resurrection story today rolls away the stone from the seal of the tomb with rolling thunder. But the angel does not discard that stone, or ...
4312. The Mustard and the Cedar
Ezekiel 17:1-24, Matthew 13:31-35
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... heights. But God prevails. “Not by power, not by might, but by the Spirit, says the Lord.” God can grow anything God wants to, anytime, and anywhere, and in any condition, and with any people. And it will spread out its branches, says Ezekiel, and bear fruit, and birds of every kind will nest in it. Israel would become the destination for all people, who could put down roots there safely and securely under God’s care and reign (nesting). But Jesus tells a different parable. Jesus re-images Ezekiel’s ...
4313. Bringing in the Sheaves
Ruth 1:1-22, Ruth 2:1-23, Ruth 3:1-18, Ruth 4:1-12, Ruth 4:13-22
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... don’t matter. But we are not in charge of the Harvest crops. We are in charge of the sowing and the scattering of seed, and we are in charge of nurturing those seeds into fruition, and we are in charge of till and keeping the covenant of God and bearing the fruit of the gospel to everyone we can. We seek to work God’s mission fields, and to harvest (bring home to God) those of God’s faithful who respond to our good news. But we are not responsible for the turning of hearts and the growth of the ...
4314. Song of Promise
Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:46-56, Luke 1:39-45
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his ...
4315. Heart of a Pelican
Matthew 17:24-27, Exodus 30:11-16
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... from the blood of its own body. In our Christian tradition, we’ve likened the symbol of this bird’s sacrifice to that of Jesus. The Church is made of blood brothers and sisters of Jesus –all of us washed in the blood of our Messiah and Lord. We bear the DNA of God’s salvation gift in that blood covenant coursing through our veins. And our greatest gifts will be those that feed others with that same blood of Jesus. To offer a hand in love is the ultimate sacrifice. It means, we must put aside our ...
4316. House of Prayer
Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:16-18
Sermon
Lori Wagner
“My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” (Isaiah 56:7) “Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 7:11) "It is written," he said to them [Temple priests, leaders, and businessmen], "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it 'a den of robbers.'" ( ...
4317. Sweet Salvation
John 2:1-11, Isaiah 25:1-12
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts, said the psalmist” (104:14-15). God’s blessings are sweet –with overflowing wine. Why? Because a land filled with agricultural richness, good soil, and fruit bearing trees, makes for a land of grapes, olives, and other fruits. The life offered people by God is a life filled with the very best things we can possibly imagine. For people in Jesus’ time –this was overflowing wine, abundant food, cattle ...
4318. Stop the PANIC!
Luke 15:1-32 · Exodux 15:1-27--16:36 · Psalm 23
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.” Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” So the people rested on the seventh day. The ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... a dream and urges him to take Mary as his wife. Joseph is changed by that angelic voice and visitation, and that prophetic message changes both his mind and his future. No longer agitated, worried, or offended, Joseph wakes knowing in his heart that Mary is bearing the child of God. And he sets upon taking her as his wife. Seeking to protect her from the dangers of an honors culture where shame requires the family enact strict remedies, Joseph has pregnant Mary take leave of Mary’s family in Nazareth to ...
4320. The Prodigal
Luke 15:11-32
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... s not the way a prodigal behaves, is it? A prodigal God is never merely sufficient, never merely fair, never merely metes out what is deserved. But a prodigal God lavishes us with grace, forgiveness, love, and acceptance, so much that it’s nearly hard to bear, especially when it’s lavished upon someone else. Now that’s hard to hear. The perspective in the story between the brothers and God has to do with being “beloved.” We want to be “beloved” by God for the things we do. God calls us beloved ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... they had nursing training, so too are we all called into mission no matter what our gifts or faults. Wearing God’s righteousness is a sign that you are “saved” by God, that God’s saving covenant promise can be revealed in you. And it bears a responsibility…. Saving means being a fiery beacon in mission to others. Are you “on fire?” This should be the call to all Methodists…indeed to all Christians today. Dressing the world in God’s grace…..is our mission. We are “saved” to be priests ...
4322. Deliverance
Isaiah 49:8-26, Isaiah 44:24--45:25, Exodus 15:22-27, Exodus 13:17--14:31
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... there at our sea of culture, and all we see are barricades, closed doors, challenges, and change. Scary stuff. We see a deep ocean of mystery, unknown waters. And our first impulse is to hug the shore. Often in our ministry, we seed fields that we may never see bear fruit in our lifetime. We may participate in a mission so much larger than ourselves that we cannot possibly see the end game at the place where we are standing. But we are given a challenge –to step or even to begin to wade into the waters of ...
4323. The Well Watered Soul
Ezekiel 17:1-24, Ezekiel 47:1-12, Matthew 12:1-14
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... in the world is the Pacific Madrona tree. The madrona is a tree that doesn’t know how to be a tree. It’s an evergreen that has cinnamon-red bark, twisting branches, and beautiful red berry clusters. It produces these berries when no other tree is bearing fruit. It’s one weird, but wondrous tree. The tree grows in western Washington, Oregon, in the San Juan Islands, and on Vancouver Island. The tree only grows at the most unlikely places for a tree to grow –in rocky, course soil, on slopes and bluffs ...
4324. God Encounter
Luke 1:1-4, Luke 1:26-38
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... . Based on the Story Lectionary Major Text Luke’s Statement of Purpose and Mary’s Encounter with Gabriel in Nazareth (Luke 1:1-4; 26-38) Minor Text Handmaiden Hagar and Ishmael, Her Son, Sent Into the Wilderness, Encounter God (Genesis 16:1-14) Handmaidens Bilhah and Zilpah Bear Sons Who Will Become Lost Tribes of Israel (Genesis 30) Psalm 34: I Will Glory in the Lord Psalm 63: You God are my God Psalm 73: Surely God is Good to those Pure in Heart Psalm 121: The Lord Will Watch Over You Psalm 139: Lord ...
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... “run” with Christ in the world. For that’s where Christians belong. Not on the porch. Not in our buildings and our silos and our hideaways, barking from the sidelines. But out there –in the midst of the world, running with Jesus’ mission, proud to carry his name and bear his image. If you want to be blessed, healed and full of life in Jesus, you need to allow God to stir up your spirit. You need to allow Jesus to lift you up and pick you up off of that porch. And you need to follow him willingly ...
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