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
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1151. Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Sermon
Leonard Sweet
Today's gospel text is a remarkably detailed tour of temptations given Jesus by an articulate, Torah-toting, Scripture-quoting devil. Mark's short form of this confrontation is elongated and elaborated by both Luke and Matthew, suggesting that the shared source of these two gospel writers held this longer version, which each then adopted and adapted to fit his own gospel form. Luke opens by affirming the coherency between Jesus' experience at his baptism and his journey into the wilderness. The Holy Spirit ...
1152. Times Were Hard
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Illustration
Trace Haythorn
The times were hard. The government, a huge bureaucracy that provided so many important things like roads and military support and the justice system, was hopelessly out of touch with the people. And the religious establishment wasn't much better. It seemed so focused on preserving the status quo that it had little or no vision for what might yet come to pass. When a prophet spoke out, they were vilified, punished, especially if they called into question the decisions of the government. Voices of hope ...
1153. Joseph's Friend
Matthew 2:13-18, Matthew 2:19-23
Drama
Robert F. Crowley
Theme: Fatherhood is a solemn responsibility given by God. Modern fathers could learn a lot from Joseph, the man who was the stepfather of Jesus. Summary: Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus, talks about his relationship with Jesus. A monologue. Playing Time: 3 minutes Setting: A neutral playing area which could represent the home of Joseph Props: None Costumes: Hebrew, of Jesus' time Time: The time of Christ Cast: JOSEPH -- an elderly Hebrew man JOSEPH: What I wouldn't give to live those years over again -- ...
1154. Give To God The Things That Are God's
Matthew 22:15-22
Illustration
Phyllis Faaborg Wolk
"Tell us what you think, Teacher. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" When the Pharisees asked Jesus that question, he responded with a request, "Show me the coin used for the tax," and someone handed Jesus a coin embossed with the head of the current Roman emperor, Tiberius. Engraved around his head was the inscription, "Tiberius Caesar, majestic son of the majestic God, and High Priest." "Whose image is on this coin?" Jesus asked. "The emperor's," they responded. "Well then," Jesus said, " ...
1155. Proper 25
Mark 10:46-52, Psalm 34:1-22
Bulletin Aid
B. David Hostetter
CALL TO WORSHIP Rejoice and sing aloud for joy. The Lord has done great things for us. PRAYER OF CONFESSION Observant Parent, you know who we are. We can be moved by the sight of hunger without stopping our waste of food. We see the limitations of some of our energy sources but are slow to change our ways of using more than we need. We observe hazards and hurts in confrontation and conflict but are unwilling to learn the arts of conciliation. For our intransigence and intractability through your strong but ...
1156. Skip a Day
Humor Illustration
I heard about a doctor who decided to put one of his overweight patients on a diet. "I want you to eat regularly for two days," he said. "Then I want you to skip a day. Follow this pattern for two weeks and come back to see me. After two weeks you should lose five pounds. Got that? Eat two days and skip a day." Two weeks later the man came back for his appointment. He had lost 20 pounds. The doctor asked, "You lost all this weight just by following my instructions?" The man said, "Yes, I'll tell you though ...
1157. God Leads a Pretty Sheltered Life
Illustration
Editor James S. Hewett
Billions of people were scattered on a great plain before God's throne. Some of the groups near the front talked heatedly--not with cringing shame, but with belligerence. "How can God judge us?" said one. "What does He know about suffering?" snapped a brunette. She jerked back a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. "We endured terror, beatings, torture, death!" In another group a black man lowered his collar. "What about this?" he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. "Lynched ...
1158. God's Mercy
Isaiah 55:1-13
Bulletin Aid
H. Burnham Kirkland
Call To Worship Leader: O God, you are my God; how mighty and glorious you are. People: Your constant love is better than life itself, and so I will praise you. Leader: I will give you thanks as long as I live. People: I will raise my hands to you in prayer, and I will sing glad songs of praise to you. Amen. Collect O Lord, our God, we hunger and thirst after righteousness. We spend our time and money following the ways of the world, but we have no satisfaction. We come to you, merciful God, seeking that ...
1159. Turning Jesus Down
John 4:5-42
Illustration
John N. Brittain
Many churches have been designed in response to consumer surveys. In several Midwestern suburban areas the surveys have had similar results. People want the church to provide a good community center with an excellent gym and Nautilus-caliber training equipment; they want quality affordable day care and after school care for children; they want a variety of self-help and support groups; and they want sermons dealing with timely issues like money management and enhancing self-esteem. What they do not want ...
1160. Christ The King, Proper 29
Psalm 95:1-7a, Ezekiel 34:11-16, Matthew 25:31-46, Ephesians 1:15-23
Bulletin Aid
Amy C. Schifrin
Prayer Of The Day Leader: O Christ our King, bring us together under your gracious rule that we might hear your voice in the voices of the suffering among us, and begin to love as freely as you have loved us, for with the Father and the Spirit you live and reign, one God, now and forever. All: Amen. Intercessory Prayers Leader: Let us pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation. As you come to know him with the eyes of your hearts ...
1161. Proper 8/ Pentecost 6/ Ordinary Time 13
Psalm 89:1-4, Jeremiah 28:5-9, Matthew 10:1-42, Romans 6:12-23
Bulletin Aid
Amy C. Schifrin
Greeting Of Peace Leader: From every land and nation, every city and home, All: whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Leader: From every family, rich and poor, small and large, All: whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Leader: From the barrios and the colonias, from the neighborhoods of affluence, All: whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Leader: From the ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
Following Herod’s sadistic banquet, Mark reports on a banquet of Jesus (6:31–44). The banquet of Herod was in a palace; Jesus’s is in the open. Herod invited important people; Jesus receives all people. Herod bolstered his own reputation; Jesus ministers to peoples’ hunger and needs. So memorable is Jesus’s banquet that it is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. After the return of the Twelve, and in fulfillment of the first prerequisite of apostleship (3:14), Jesus summons the Twelve away from ...
1163. Courage to Face the New Year
Luke 2:21-40
Illustration
James Kegel
There is an odd little carol which is sometimes sung on this first Sunday after Christmas. It begins: There's snow on the mountain and ice on the pond, The Wise Men are home now in the back of beyond. The Shepherd's have left us; the heavens are dumb; There's no one to tell us why Jesus has come. It ends: But God's in His heaven, and Jesus has come To show every sinner he's welcome back home, To be this world's Saviour from hunger and fear, And give us new courage to face the New Year. We have courage to ...
1164. God Laughs
Illustration
Cal Samra
In an Easter 1984 article for the Boston Sunday Globe, Harvey Cox, author of The Feast of Fools, observed, “In his Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri reports that after he had made the tortuous ascent from hell to purgatory and then drawn close to the celestial sphere, he suddenly heard a sound he had never heard before.” Stopping and listening, Dante wrote that “it sounded like the laughter of the universe.” The Easter story, says Cox, “gives us a clue to this baffling riddle” as to why God laughs. “God ...
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