This week's texts give you the opportunity to address aloud the S-word - Satan, the Devil, Lucifer, Evil. The church's reluctance to even admit the existence of genuine evil has usually played right into the hands of this demonic side of existence, leaving people frightened and confused when confronted by these forces in themselves and others. "Equipping the saints" for good and evil encounters, the stuff of daily life, is the focus of this week's material.

"Saint Anthony wrestled with him, Luther taunted him and Milton immortalized him in Paradise Lost. To Saint Paul, he was 'the god of this world,' and he and his helpers figure in the New Testament nearly twice as often as the Holy Spirit. He is, needless to say, the Devil - next to Jesus Christ the most familiar figure in Christian lor…