This weekend, we are cheering on Ephi, Erwin and Garth who will be jogging to Maritzburg for most of Sunday. And for those of you who manage to find your way through the traffic challenges on Sunday (or who give up and join us online) we are exploring our next deadly sin: appropriately for us non-Comrades runners, sloth - what someone has called "a sleepy sort of vice".
William Willimon says in his book on the Deadly Sins ("Sinning like a Christian") that we need to take sloth seriously:
"There are those who think that tornadoes destroying towns, the suffering of little children, the wars in our world, and college religion courses taught by atheist professors are the chief threats to faith. I would nominate the less spectacular gradual attrition and erosion. The morning after a midnight visionary encounter with God is the great spiritual challenge. Among my parishioners, it is one thing to have a dramatic, life-changing conversion experience. It is quite another thing to keep it going over the long haul. Sloth eats away at the soul, extinguishes faithful fire, and thus takes its toll, wearing down the soul by slow degrees."
The ancient antidote for sloth is joy - as Nehemiah reminds us: "the joy of the Lord is our strength" (8:10). Join us on Sunday as seek God's joy together.