We are now well into the second full week of the Lenten season.  Last week I wrote a bit about the first Sunday of Lent and the two sermons that I heard that day (connecting them with some of my own hopes for the season).  According to Robert E. Webber in Ancient-Future Time, the second Sunday of Lent is intended to focus on “the call to deny sin.”  This, of course, builds off of the temptation of Jesus from the first week of Lent.  After seeing the pioneer and perfecter of faith confront Satan, we, too, are challenged fight back against sin.  Webber asserts:

The temptation to sin, to do what we know to be fundamentally wrong, to live a life oriented toward our own self-centeredness, sustains a powerful hold on our lives.

Sin is, all too often, utterly insidious.  Which makes taking the time to think and feel through these things so vital for the Christian life.

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One sermon that I heard this past Sunday was the third in  series on the “seven deadly sins” (or what fans of Shazam! would call “the seven enemies of man.”).  The sermon was rooted in the language of the ancient virtues, which was cool because that’s part of Lewis’s argument in Mere Christianity as well as a key approach taken by many when talking about ethics (in the arena of virtue theory).  It’s always good to see connections between the pulpit and the classroom.