Gluttony-- the first temptation?

I've started jotting down notes on the topic of gluttony.  My purpose here is to try to take seriously the notion that gluttony is the first temptation that is usually confronted when a person initially sets out to follow a more disciplined spirituality.  The first encountered and the first that must be overcome in order to progress.  Wesley certainly emphasized the need be practice self-denial when it came to food and drink.  This principle is no longer considered to be integral to United Methodist identity.  Do you consider this to be an advancement over Wesley, a loss of something vital to faith development, or something in between?

your facebook page a place of peace or gossip? a Lenten challenge

I was inspired by Jesus' actions after the death of John the Baptist in the Gospel of Mark version, and it let to this challenge.

Eugene Peterson on learning to become a pastor

These are such good times-- 1 Kings 19

My reflections on 1 Kings 19:1-21 are influenced by Wesley's sermon "Of Former Times" and his identification of rebuking sin as a means of grace.  Lovingly confronting sinners with their sinful behavior is a work of mercy, according to Wesley.  This means of grace does good to a person's soul and can be a means of communicating God's grace to the rebuker and the rebuked.

In Sermon 102 Wesley rebuked the tendency to glorify the past and denigrate the present.  He repeated his definition of religion ("By religion I mean the love of God and man filling the heart and governing the life. The sure effect of this is, the uniform practice of justice, mercy, and truth. This is the very essence of it; the height and depth of religion, detached from this or that opinion, and from all particular modes of worship.") and pointed out the ways in which his Methodist movement was presently promoting the revival of this expression of Christianity.