​SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2021 
Today’s scripture reading for worship is:
 
Mark 1:9-15
 
The scripture for the first Sunday in Lent is the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.
 
Consider the poem below. Do you agree with the poet? How does the digital world bless your life of faith and how does it challenge it?
 
Our Lord spent forty days and forty nights
Resisting Satan in the wilderness.
We picture barren rocks and sand; we might
Add in a scrubby tree or two. I guess
That’s where temptation ought to come,
So we can see it from at least a mile away,
And be prepared, with Bibles, church retreats,
And exhortations to stand firm.
 
Instead, it wounds with cuts too small to see,
In this our wired wilderness.
We play and work in deserts of the digital:
Abuzz with locust-noise of clicks and tweets
And filled with lonely crowds. Our enemy
Is faced and fought right here, or not at all.
                                                                       Holly Ordway