“Temptation” is a word that has absented itself from this culture’s vocabulary and thinking. It’s so much easier to just give into it. “Save us from the time of trial,” the modern version of the Lord’s Prayer has substituted in place of “Lead us not into temptation.” But everything in the current culture points to…

“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” or “Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil.” Whichever version of the Lord’s Prayer you say, the request is the same: we ask God to be our strength and guide when we’re faced with temptation and sin. In our Collect…

The reading for today from Matthew’s Gospel is an odd bit of Scripture, isn’t it? This particular passage is full of images. They’re very vivid images, so vivid that we almost can’t help but imagine the scene of Jesus’ conversation with the tempter. If we have very lively imaginations, we might feel the heat of…

Our 40-day Lenten journey began on Ash Wednesday. In many churches, the people of God were marked with ashes as a sign of penitence and mortality. In words, we are told, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” (BCP, p. 265) And forever mindful of the horror of September 11, 2001,…

This Gospel story says something important about what happens between Baptism and ministry to Jesus and all the rest of us who follow him. For ministry to be real and effective, a wilderness is required. Whether we are called to a geographic place is open to debate. But we are certainly called to squarely face…

“I’m only human!”The last line of defence for those accused of errors in checkbook mathematics, misplacing the car keys, forgetting an evening meeting, overshooting the exit from the highway, reading the wrong lesson on a Sunday morning. “I’m only human!”A standard line that expresses frustration for our propensity to forget, misplace, daydream, and be unprepared….