Genesis 50:15-20 In their first musical collaboration, Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice visited the story of Jacob’s youngest son Joseph. Early in “Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Joseph sings, “Close every door to me. Hide all the world from me. Bar all the windows and shut out the light. Do what you want with me. Hate me and laugh at me. Darken my daytime and torture my night. If my life were important I would ask will I live or die, but I know the answer

Text: Isaiah 55:1-12 I can picture the prophet Isaiah decked out in full carnival attire, megaphone in hand and barking out: “Step right up ladies and gentlemen. Get your heart’s desire – and it’s free; it’s all free!” If I were at that carnival and heard that nonsense, I would have headed for the car. Whenever I hear a “it’s all free,” there are “no strings attached,” kind of promise, I look even harder for the strings. Isaiah, though, is no con man. He is a convicted man. H

Text: Luke 4:1-13 After forty long days being tested in the wilderness, it only seems right that Jesus should have been finished with temptation. For Luke, though, evil will not be dismissed so quickly. It will be back. You can count on it. It will return, says Luke, at “an opportune time.” But I am getting ahead of myself. For there is a back story of the temptation of Jesus that requires a quick look. It is a story has echoes from Eden and follows Moses without food for for