Matthew
25:41-45, Revelation 3:14-18
Sloth
Did you talk through the
conversation starters on your tables?
What did you think of the cute little critter at the top? Sloths are such adorable animals; how can
anyone find reason to malign them?
I began to realize this, as I
started putting together these series of reflections. Most of what we know about “sloth” we
associate with those cute little animals.
So much so, that my informal survey revealed inconclusive rests as to
which came first – the word “sloth” - or an animal by that name which then
defined for us what the word “sloth” meas.
Which do you think came first?
In many instances, sloth is
associated with laziness. We think of
those slow-moving mammals as devoid of energy or drive. We associate sloth with lying on the couch. Sloth certainly got a greater foothold when
the TV came with a remote control. (How
many us remember TV’s with no remote? I
tossed a TV a few weeks back because I couldn’t find the remote. You can’t program it without one.)
Sloth is not the word associated
with the first known listing of the deadliest of evil thoughts. Akedia is the Greek word, and it was
more widely understood in thirth-century Rome as dejection. It was John Cassian, in the 5th
century, who began to associate acedia with
sloth.
By learning a bit about the roots
of this word, we begin to better understand why it was so abhorred by the early
Church leaders as to merit becoming one of the seven deadly sins. Acedia is not simply being lazy; it is
revealing the dejection which overcomes someone who has failed to grasp the
gravity of God’s grace. St. Thomas
Aquinas defined sloth as “sorrow about spiritual good.”
Sloth – the deadly sin of sloth – is
failing to act in order to bring to God’s children the good things which God has
for them. The petition in our Ash
Wednesday confession reads: For our neglect
of human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty…Have
mercy on us, O God.
As I was collecting thoughts to put
on those table tents, I found myself consumed in the contrast between how we
think about this creature and reality. We
are inclined to think of a sloth as some lazy critter just lying around waiting
for whatever to happen. In actually the
sloth is a species which has existed for more than 64 million years. 64 million years. Humans have been here for about 6
million. Sloths have been a part of God’s
creation for so long precisely because it refused to give up or give in or
neglect what it knew to be true about the way God had created it.
Mommy and Daddy sloths not only
teach their children how to survive, they show them how with each careful and
deliberate movement.
It is a deadly thing, when we cease
to pass on that which has first been given to us. It is a disastrous thing, when we fail to
honor the faith that has been given us.
And it is a sinful thing, when we do not reveal in our words and actions
the hope and purpose with which God has endowed us.
It is deadly, if not to us
individually then surely to us as a community, when we lounge on our couches
rather than bringing a word of comfort to those who are lost and lonely. It is deadly, if not to us individually then
surely to us as a community, when we spend every day off work at the beach and
never once spend an afternoon helping a neighbor repair their leaking roof. It is deadly, if not to us individually then
surely to us as a community, when we park our car in the carport, close the
door, and make a quick dash to the backyard chaise lounge and gallon of sweet
tea rather than taking our turn delivering those sacks of food to our back-pack
buddies.
Sloth – Acedia – it is a
deadly sin. To us as a community and to
us as individuals.
Amen.
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