Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: thirstiness, dryness, parched, craving, strong desire, longing, yearning, avidity, hunger, voracity, keenness, eagerness, lust, appetite, passion, love, crave, want, covet, desire, hunger for/after, lust for/after, hanker for/after, have one's heart set on

Antonyms: aversion, distaste, apathy, dislike, hatred, antipathy, disgust, disregard, abhorrence, acrimony, wet, animosity, animus, antagonism, bad feeling, bitterness, be averse to, detestation

Showing 551 to 575 of 679 results

551. Proper 23

2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c, Psalm 66:1-20, Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7, Luke 17:11-19, 2 Timothy 2:8-15

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... ’ve come back again! I’m glad to be in this house of God with you. People: With our whole selves, we thank God for the freedom to gather and to support one another on this journey through life. Leader: God is great Mystery and we yearn to experience being surrounded by God’s infinite goodness. People: Yes! We long to feel the ecstasy when God satisfies our deepest questions and gives meaning to the daily minutiae of our lives. Leader: Then let us respond to God’s goodness with silence, conversation ...

552. Proper 26

Psalm 119:137-144, Isaiah 1:10-18, Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4, Luke 19:1-10, 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... with the Holy One. Community Confession Yahweh — ancient “commandments” are clearly printed in our Bibles. We read them and ask what is “reasonable” and “applicable” for these times. With our minds we ask for guidance on this journey we call life. With our souls, we yearn for freedom from fears; we long to feel secure in our relationships and in our homes. We want to be happy. Reveal to us the hindrances that lurk in us and inhibit our inner peace. Open us to what is good and honest, what is ...

553. Proper 27

Job 19:23-27a, Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21, Haggai 1:15b–2:9, Luke 20:27-40, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... ; each Sunday we rest from the culture’s claims on our time; our bodies and our brains have a chance to be refreshed. People: Each Sunday, we make time to refresh our souls with music, conversation, and prayers; we listen for God’s voice and we yearn to be enfolded in Great Mystery. Leader: Today is Sunday. Now is the time to set aside your cares and open yourself to Holy Presence. Let yourself be immersed in beauty and grace. Prayer Of Thanksgiving Ingenious God — with a sense of awe, we acknowledge ...

554. Christmas 2

Psalm 147:12-20, Jeremiah 31:7-14, John 1:(1-9), 10-18, Ephesians 1:3-14

Bulletin Aid

Julia Ross Strope

... of Christmas.” We might imagine with them the “downside” for the Holy Family in an occupied country — physical pain, emotional trauma, financial fears ... twelve days of Christmas can provide opportunities to address many contemporary doubts, fears, and yearnings. A title/theme might be “The Word We Hear” or “Light for Our Astigmatism” —attempting to articulate the presence of God in our culture and how we find inspiration and avoid cynicism: spend time with literature that promotes ...

555. The Ultimate Mountain Top Experience

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

King Duncan

... ? The impoverished people of Mexico City did not ask for food, medicine, or clothing from the nuns who had come to minister to them. Instead, they said to them, “Sisters, talk to us about God.” Are we as wise as they? Is that the yearning of our hearts as well? 1. José González-Balado, compiler, Mother Teresa: In My Own Words (Liguori, MO: Ligouri Press, 1996), p. 43. 2. Drema’s Sermon, http://www.fairlingtonumc.org/sermons_2003/sermon08032003.htm. 3. Source unknown. 4. http://www.sermoncentral.com ...

556. Face to Face

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... that our frail physical bodies cannot withstand. During a total eclipse astronomers recommend that we observe the remarkable images through a reflection — a mirror image of the actual event. In that way the fragility of the human body can be protected, while the yearning of the human spirit can be fulfilled. That is what every believer does for every other member of the Body of Christ. We “reflect,” we “mirror image,” Christ’s presence, the very face of God, to each other and to the world. Like ...

557. Blessed Are Those Who Believe

John 20:19-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... young Russian soldier came to him one night and announced that he wanted to enter the seminary. The soldier had grown up under atheism. He had rarely ever entered a church. He wasn’t even sure of the purpose of a seminary. He only knew that he had a yearning for God and for knowledge and for truth, and so he had come by night to ask for John Paul’s help. In the long conversation that night, the young soldier kept repeating one thought: “I always knew that God exists . . . and now I would like to learn ...

558. P.S. I Love You

John 21:1-14

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... was doing and he was “hurt” by his own conscience, by his own memory of his previous threefold failure to assert his relationship with Jesus his “Lord.” Peter confesses, “You know everything,” Jesus knows his denials and desertion, and he knows his yearning to confess his love. But here, with each assertion of his love, Jesus empowers Peter with a distinctive ongoing mission to “feed my lambs,” “tend my sheep,” and “feed my sheep.” Despite his failure of faith and nerve on the night ...

559. John 21:1-19

John 21:1-14

Sweet

Leonard Sweet

560. Down in the Dungeon

Psalm 130:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

... more than watchmen wait for the morning . . .” Imagine a watchman on the city wall. His task is to guard the city through the night, but the hours drag. It’s boring. And he’s feeling fatigued. The graveyard shift isn’t easy. He begins yearning for the breaking dawn when he will be relieved. “My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning . . .” Some of you have been there. Life is hard. We get discouraged, disheartened. I read somewhere that Hayden planetarium in New York ...

561. Is the Lord Among Us or Not?

Exodus 17:1-7

Sermon

Tony Everett

... there is tougher than expected. The more difficult and distant the destination seems, the easier it is to be diverted and discouraged along the way. The more remote the future dream appears, the easier it is to focus only on the discomforts of the present and to yearn for the pleasures of the past. Is the Lord among us or not? Tell us! Show us! Right now! In our text today, the folks had had enough… again. They were thirsty… again. They complained to Moses… again. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt ...

562. A Breath of Fresh Air

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon

Tony Everett

... About your community? About your congregation? How do you speak about yourselves? Your community? Are most of your verbs in the past tense? Do you spend most of your time thinking about what it was like in the past? Do you often grumble about the present and yearn for a future that will never be? Do your memories of a glorious and cherished past seem to be gone forever? Do you sometimes feel so used up and dried up that you have given up all hope? Some scholars claim that congregations belonging to mainline ...

563. Peace and Quiet in an Upside-Down World

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Tony Everett

... alarm clocks) until his 8 pm bed time, Johnny is in perpetual motion. He is running or talking or both all day long, and he expects the same from everyone around him. You can’t be around Johnny very long without feeling exasperated and exhausted, yearning for just a few minutes of peace and quiet. You may know Johnny, or someone just like him. One Sunday after church Johnny’s Dad was attempting to read the newspaper and Johnny, well, Johnny was being Johnny. Finally, Dad had reached his tolerance limit ...

564. Appetites and Desires

Romans 7:7-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... little girl said with a grin, “Lunch!” (as told by Don Colbert, What Would Jesus Eat? [2002], 145). Cravings. We all get them. Whether they are the need for ice cream at midnight, or hot wings during the big game, or some Sunday evening yearning for a mystery casserole your grandmother cooked up when you were eight. We crave flavors with our taste buds, but even more we crave them with our memories, and our souls. As life unfolds our “good food” memories are too often gradually replaced by appetites ...

565. Full Immersion

Acts 19:1-22

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... don’t satisfy, because you are greater than people. Success doesn’t satisfy, because you are greater than success. Institutions don’t satisfy, because you are greater than institutions. You are made greater than every thing: there is in you a yearning for the divine that nothing else can satisfy. Your spirit transcends every fortune, every frame, every fame, every person who crosses your way. Nothing satisfies because of your eternal longings that need arms and wings, that have no earthly resting ...

566. The Challenge to Forgive

Luke 7:36--8:3

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... detailed list! Even though the word forgive, and its cognates appear only about 150 times in the Bible, the concept of forgiveness is even more central to the Bible than the concept of sin. If sin is the eternal enticement of humankind, the eternal yearning of humanity is for forgiveness, and our eternal challenge is to be able to forgive. Just how do we go about forgiving? I. The first step in the challenge to forgive is to accept forgiveness for ourselves. Many scholars, commentators, and ministers often ...

567. The Genealogy of David

Ruth 4:13-22

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

... the father of Obed, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David. Without warning, the narrator tells us who Obed really is: David’s grandfather! With this revelation, the entire symphony modulates into another, higher key. The yearning for a king in the book’s canonical-historical context is finally addressed. This little genealogy transforms the book from a beautiful story into a powerful sociopolitical apology for Yahwistic leadership. Little does Boaz realize that by showing Ruth mishpat ...

568. Israel Punished and Restored

Hosea 2:2-23

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... will be characterized by mutual righteousness, justice, devotion, mercy, and faithfulness. Here is the promise that the Israelites will be transformed in their inner selves to live with their God in that relation of intimate love and faithfulness for which God so yearns. And when the Israelites become such a people, then they will, indeed, “know” the Lord—the key word in Hosea for the intimate relation of devotion between God and his people. (The NIV translation of yādaʿ with acknowledge instead of ...

569. Rend Your Heart

Joel 2:12-17

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... , like the love of a mother for the child of her womb. Slow to anger includes in its meaning God’s patience—an incredible long-suffering patience with us sinful folk, a constant refusal to give up on us and to consign us to death, a yearning love to include us in his kingdom. The NIV’s translation of the Hebrew words rab ḥesed by abounding in love in 2:13 has obscured their meaning, however. They could be translated literally “great covenant love.” The term ḥesed is used many times throughout ...

570. The Man Among Myrtle Trees

Zechariah 1:7-17

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... that night Zechariah had been crying out to God, like the psalmist (Ps. 88:1–2), Zion personified (Lam. 1:2; 2:19), the prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 15:11), or Israel in the wilderness (Num. 14:1). Isaiah 26:9 quotes such a prayer, “My soul yearns for you in the night; / in the morning my spirit longs for you.” What Zechariah reports having seen and heard during this night brought good news to a people who had many questions. The NIV uses the singular “vision” to introduce all the reports in Zechariah 1 ...

571. The Lord Will Care for Judah

Zechariah 10:1--11:3

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... of the house of Judah who remain in Diaspora as well. This compassion is mother-love, the passionate caring of a woman for the child she nurtured in her womb (rekhem), as articulated in Jeremiah 31:20, “I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns [lit., my internal organs writhe] for him.” (see also Jer. 31:9c). Such maternal mercy is the opposite of rejection. God had “rejected” (mʾs) the Israelites of the northern kingdom and banished them from their land because they had abandoned the life ...

572. No More Tears

Sermon

King Duncan

... to break with grief.’ ‘He went a little forward and threw himself on the ground’ . . . We see an agonizing, straining, and struggling Jesus. We see a ‘man of sorrows.’ (Isaiah 53:3 NASB) We see a man struggling with fear, wrestling with commitments, and yearning for relief. We see Jesus in the fog of a broken heart. “The writer of Hebrews would later pen, ‘During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him ...

573. Thanksgiving and Prayer

Philippians 1:1-11

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... the same way in Rom. 15:23); cf. Phil. 2:26 (of Epaphroditus’s longing to see his Philippian friends); 2 Cor. 5:2 (of Christians’ “longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling”). Here, however, it is used, without a dependent infinitive, of Paul’s affectionate yearning for his friends (cf. 2 Cor. 9:14, of the deep love which, as Paul hopes, the Jerusalem church will conceive for his Gentile converts at the reception of their gift; also 2 Cor. 7:7, 11, where the noun epipothēsis is used of the ...

574. The Beginning

Genesis 1:1-2:3

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... teach that whatever one person does to another affects God (e.g., Amos 2:7; 1 John 4:20). A person’s manner of interacting with other humans characterizes the way that one relates to God. Moreover, because God made humans in his image, God yearns to redeem those who have disobeyed him by providing the means for them to receive forgiveness and reconciliation. Male and female he created them. The Hebrew emphasizes the phrase “male and female” by placing it before the verb. This third and final part of ...

575. Oracles of Restoration

Ezekiel 34:1-31, Ezekiel 35:1-15, Ezekiel 36:1-38, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Ezekiel 37:15-28

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... not speak of the love of God, as other prophets do, and as the nt does, and his theology seems deficient for that reason” (Ezekiel, p. 118). Indeed Greenberg claims, “The restoration would not be a gracious divine response to human yearning for reconciliation. . . . It would be an imposition on wayward Israel of a constraint necessary for saving God’s reputation” (Ezekiel 21–37, p. 737). A powerful image from earlier in this book expresses this “constraint” as Ezekiel declares that restored ...

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