Lent 3- Sloth

 

Prov 6:6-19; Psalm 90; Eph 5:15-20; Lk 13:6-9

We are continuing our examination of the Seven Deadly Sins which are the major diseases of the soul. This week we are looking at the sin of sloth. Sometimes it is called acedia. We usually think of sloth as laziness, but that is only partially true. Sloth gets in the way of your goal as a human being- which is to love and serve God. Our calling includes a ‘general calling’ (that is common to all of us), but we also have a ‘specific calling’ (which is unique to us as individuals).

The general calling that All Christians share includes things like worshiping God, studying Scripture to learn the ways of Jesus, praying, showing gratitude for our life, loving others, living honestly, working to create a just society, and so on. You might think of these as our Baptism vows. Our general calling is the way of life for all Christians. To neglect this call on our life is sloth.

As well as the general calling that we all share, God has also given us a specific calling. We each have a specific calling based on our own particular location, time, and gifts. … That specific calling looks different in particular human lives. My specific calling is different than yours. … Paul talks about spiritual gifts like- teachers, prophets, pastors, evangelists, and apostles. And even those will look different based on our specific circumstances. Two people who share the gift of teaching might express that gift quite differently based on their circumstances- if they are married or single, live in Canada or Nigeria, live in a rural community, or an urban community, or work in a university. The particulars of our life will shape how our specific calling is expressed. I have a particular calling to my four children, and to my wife, who are all very unique people. … Paul talks about the body having many parts- eyes, ears, hands, feet, and so on. Each of those body parts represents a specific calling.

Our specific calling is how we are salt and light to the community that we have access to in a way others don’t have access. No one else can be Levi’s dad the way that I am. I’m not going to be able to knock on your grandson’s door and have the kind of conversation you can have. … Sloth will cause us to neglect that specific calling that God has given us.

We can neglect our calling by sitting around and watching TV, or we can neglect our specific calling by busying ourselves with things that aren’t actually ours to do. Both are sloth. So, Sloth can look like laziness, or busyness. Really, it is avoidance. It is the avoidance of doing the thing God has called us to do.

Sloth is a refusal to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23). Sloth is what causes us to be the fig tree that bears no fruit in Jesus’ parable (Luke 13:6-9). Sloth is to bury our coin (our talent) in the ground rather than invest it (Matt 25:14-30).

The emotional side of sloth looks like a kind of sadness about God, or boredom with God, or a feeling of indifference to God. Speaking to monks, John Cassian says, 

“Once this has seized possession of a wretched mind it makes a person horrified at where he is, disgusted with his cell, and also disdainful and contemptuous of the brothers who live with him”. 

He describes sloth as a wearied or anxious heart that causes one to listlessly sleep their life away, or to leave the monastery under the illusion that they can find a better monastery somewhere else, or leave monasticism entirely and go back to life in the world. … If our ultimate goal is to be unified to God, then sloth is a serious disease of the soul because it draws us off that path.

These feelings of sadness, boredom, and indifference towards spiritual things will cause us to neglect our spiritual responsibilities. This might mean we watch TV rather than pray. Usually this is what we think of when we think of sloth. … Or, we might busy ourselves with meetings, rather than serve the poor (if that is our calling). Or, we might so busy ourselves with volunteer work that it’s difficult to find time to pray and read our Bibles. This is the image of Martha running around in the kitchen to show hospitality, but ironically not being truly attentive to Christ. There is nothing wrong with being hospitable, but this is a matter of priorities in the moment. … Christ’s call on our life to offer ourselves to God and our neighbour in love, by picking up our cross and following him, is a call that our flesh naturally resists. Our flesh naturally wants instant gratification, to fulfill our desires, but our spiritual work demands we trade immediate pleasure for the sake of attaining the eternal.

The virtue that cures sloth is diligence. Diligence is the commitment to consistently and faithfully pursue what is good, true, and aligned with God's will. To be diligent is to commit to a disciplined life, rooted in a desire to grow closer to God. This isn’t about perfection. This is about faithfulness.

One way to grow in diligence is to behave as if you have it. Sometimes if you force yourself to smile you will begin to feel happier. Sometimes our behavior can influence our inner disposition. … So, begin to do the things you believe God desires that you do, regardless of how you feel about them. Make a rule of life and commit yourself to it. A rule of life is a realistic spiritual workout program. Commit to following it, even when you don’t feel like it- especially when you don’t feel like it. Sometimes our emotions follow our actions, and committing ourselves to diligence can leave us feeling much closer to God and like we are living with deeper purpose.

Also, remember that Sabbath rest and celebration are a part of the Christian life too. So, this isn’t about filling your life with super serious activities. It’s about committing to a faithful pattern of life.

Within our rule of life is it wise to include regular time of self-examination and confession to God so we can notice early signs of sloth. I know one pastor who says that he knows it’s coming when he stops flossing his teeth. That’s not a sin, but he knows it is an early sign. …

Include regular prayer and Scripture study in your rule of life. And you might also want to include structured liturgical prayer (written prayers in a prayerbook) because when sloth starts to grab a hold of us, it will be harder to find words to pray extemporaneously. So, if you have written prayers available to you, it will sometimes be helpful when sloth starts to grab us.

In our rule of life, it is also good to have work to do. Idleness is particularly problematic when sloth comes to us. Exercise. Go for regular walks. Do something good for someone. Clean a room in the house. Include regular, good, active work into your rule of life. …

Build community into your rule of life. Sloth often flourishes in isolation. Engage with faithful friends who you find encouraging to be around. Join a Bible study. Seek out a spiritual mentor. Sloth will want you to disengage from community. Do the opposite. Engage in the community. Worship with others. Sing with others. … Use a rule of life to create a balanced and livable rhythm of life, and commit to do it, especially when you don’t feel like it.

Sometimes we will have to just push to follow our rule, even when we don’t feel like it. That might be the most important time to keep to the rule. … There is a strange thing that I notice within myself. Sometimes I can feel a pretty powerful reluctance to pray. Some days when I go to pray it is sheer obedience to make myself do it. I know I’m not the only one who feels that. I also know that after I pray, I feel much better, and I find my original reluctance strange and confusing. It teaches me that my emotions don’t always have my best interest in mind, which is why many of the early saints were so suspicious of those emotions.

Another way to snap yourself out of sloth is to meditate on the day when we will stand before God and give an accounting of our life. When God smiles at us and asks us to tell Him what we have done with the precious gift of life he gave us, and the particular talents he gave us, what will we say? … The Catholic Archbishop Fulton Sheen, when contemplating the cross of Jesus and the scars Jesus gained to save us, imagines us encountering Christ on that day. He says, 

“On Judgment Day He will say to each of us ‘Show Me your hands and feet. Where are your scars of victory? Have you fought no battles for truth? Have you won no wars for goodness? Have you made no enemy of evil?’ If we can prove we have been His warriors and show the scars on our apostolic hands, then we shall enjoy the peace of victory. But woe to us who come down from Calvary of this earthly pilgrimage with hands unscarred and white!” 

Those are hard words, but perhaps they help us meditate on the serious business of how we spend our time and energy.

Or, if that image is too abstract, we can use a more earthly meditation by asking ourselves how we want our children, family, and friends to remember us once we are gone. What effect is your life having on others? What will your legacy be? Maybe consider writing your own eulogy- the eulogy of the person you want to be.

Sloth is a disease of the soul that causes us to retreat into a sad apathy about life and God. The slothful person might, at times want God’s presence, but is unwilling to exert the effort required to follow Christ. Christ will not force us. It is always an invitation. He stands at the door and knocks, but effort is involved in answering the door, … either to get up off the couch, or to pull ourselves away from the things that have busied our lives with.

Sloth is a spiritual disease that undermines our calling to love and serve God. It tempts us to neglect both our general calling as followers of Christ, and our specific calling to be salt and light to those around us. Whether through indifference, avoidance, or misplaced busyness, sloth alienates us from the path of spiritual maturity and unity with God. Diligence (the steadfast commitment to what is good and aligned with God's will) offers the cure. … May we be attentive to Christ's invitation to follow Him, even when the path feels challenging, trusting in the eternal rewards that await those who bear their cross. So that in the end we will hear the words of our Lord, “well done, good and faithful servant”. Amen.

Have you ever thought about how to intentionally shape your life to grow closer to God? In the above sermon I mentioned creating a “rule of life”. Monastic communities will have a ‘Rule’ that will guide the community’s life together. A monastic rule is a shared rule of life, but you can also make a rule of life for yourself, and even for your family.

There are a number of ways to make a rule of life for yourself. A rule is meant to help you grow in love for God and others. It is a realistic spiritual workout plan that includes a number of spiritual disciplines. It’s important to make our Rule of life realistic, so that we won’t be overwhelmed and give up on it. It’s good to review it periodically so that we can adjust it depending on what we discern God is calling us to do based on the circumstances of our life. The disciplines are about wisdom, not necessarily righteousness. If we mess up our fasting practice that isn’t necessarily sin. It might be foolishness, but not sin.

The primary disciplines to include in your rule of life are Scripture study and prayer. There are also a number of other disciplines you may want to include based on what you feel God is calling you to work on. Each discipline offers an opportunity to receive a particular grace. For example, Dallas Willard says that fasting teaches us to be sweet and kind when we don’t get what we want. Fasting teaches us to not be ruled by our desires. These disciplines are not ends in themselves. They are meant to draw us closer to God, and shape our life in such a way that we are constantly making ourselves open to God.

The other consideration that I find helpful is to think about daily practices, weekly practices, monthly practices, seasonal practices, and yearly practices. Daily practices might include Morning Prayer and/or Evening prayer (which includes prayer and Scripture study), and maybe going for a walk. Weekly practices might include worshipping at Sunday Eucharist on Sunday, extended devotional reading, an act of service, and maybe meeting with a small group. Monthly practices might include meeting with a spiritual director, or taking a day away for retreat (to practice silence and solitude). Seasonally, you might want to consider a fasting practice for Lent, and practicing celebration for Easter and Christmas. Yearly, you might want to consider going on a three day retreat at a retreat center to practice silence and solitude.

There are a number of other disciplines you might want to consider. A good outline of the disciplines can be found in the book “Celebration of Discipline” by Richard Foster. Consider taking time before the ending of Lent to prayerfully write your own rule of life. Even a small beginning can open the door to spiritual growth.