Seven deadly sins – and how to overcome them?

We’re just kicking off a sermon series in the 630pm congregation on the “Seven deadly sins.”

I wonder what feelings the word “sin” conjures up for you? Perhaps it was once the sort of thing that might strike fear into us, to be avoided at all costs. But, in the words of one writer, it has now been turned “from a Rottweiler into a poodle.” We may greet it with a smirk, or a heavy dose of irony. “It’s naughty… but nice” we tell ourselves.

For others these “sins” are to be celebrated. Lust, envy and greed sell newspapers, flog cars and get people to buy the latest yoghurt from posh supermarkets. Pride is seen as an essential element in business, family life or a nation’s psyche, whilst sloth is what makes for a great new year’s break. Anger is what makes great films and BBC boxed sets, and gluttony is what makes me at least want to binge-watch my way through BBC boxed sets over a Christmas holiday.

We’re going to spending time these weeks looking at the “seven deadly sins” of pride, gluttony, greed, anger, envy, lust and sloth. These emerged as a way of remembering and ‘codifying’ some of the chief ways in which harmful patterns of behaviour manifest themselves. They talk about the root causes of sin, not just the symptoms of it, and are ‘deadly’ in that they are the source from which many other harmful attitudes flow. A bit like trying to identify a virus in a diseased body, or find the root cancer and cut it out, this allows a long hard look at sin, an invitation to be honest before God, and then the road of grace from there.

Do come along and walk through this journey with us, we hope it will be engaging, challenging and inspiring with equal measure. And see below for some resources which might prove helpful as we journey through this season together.

Download excellent study materials from Holy Trinity Brompton (htb.org)