Mayflower Church Sermon 3-22-09 "Who Cares?"

Highlights from the March 22, 2009 service at Mayflower Congregational UCC Church. Rev. Robin Meyers, senior pastor.

Title of Sermon: Who Cares?

Scripture Lesson: I John 4: 7-8

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Highlights from the Sermon:
At one time, the Church classified sins according to the danger they presented to the human soul. The worst, termed "The Seven Deadly Sins," are usually listed as being pride, avarice, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. (These form the basis for most TV mini-series.)

However, the last on the list doesn't sound so deadly to us. We think of it in terms of being a Couch Potato, Dagwood on the sofa. That is until we realize that the Latin word used for this sin is acedia which literally means "without caring", utter apathy.

In order for us to function, we have to tune out some things in order to concentrate on those things to which we should give our attention. Psychologists call this "negative adaptation." The danger comes from when we tune out everything not immediately important to our desires.

The Seven Deadly Sins were so identified because they were thought to be the source of lesser,venial sins. However, Sloth is itself the source of other Deadly Sins. Greed, for example, gets its marching orders from Sloth since Solth causes us to concentrate on ourselves exclusively. This also engenders the sin of Pride come through tuning out the needs and worth of others.

Sloth also corrupts religious devotion. There are far too many people who have just enough relgion to make them feel guilty, but not enough to make them feel responsible for their guilt, responsible in the sense of being "able to respond" to the needs of others.

John's counsel that we "show we are Christians by our love" is a call for us to become the beloved community. We live in a world that is looking for something real. The church's responsiblity is to become such a community. This we show through our love in action.

Robin said that he thanked God most for having found such a community in Mayflower Chruch.

My Valentine's Poem for My Wife

I wrote a poem for my Valentine's Day gift to my wife. It's not very good, but I had a lot of fun writing it, and she enjoyed getting it.

Like a compass needle always points northward.
So do I always bend towards you,
My Love, my own True North.

Though roads may bend right, then left
As I travel my way through many obligations
And obstacles, I find my paths bending to you.

You are my ever fixed point that guides
My paths, the center providing the calm
From the storms that rise, then fall,
My anchor through the ebbs and swells.

Rest in Peace, Jake

Jake before his illness
It's a sad day for our house. I had have my cat, my friend, Jake euthanized. I brought Jake into our marriage from my former household. I got him about a year before I met Cat, and we have had him all during the 6 plus years we have been a couple.

Jake was an alpha male, but a considerate one. When Jeremy, my twenty-five year old Persian mix, started declining, Jake always let Jeremy get to the food bowl first, but he insisted being next.

Cat and I noticed that Jake limping around the house. Just a little at first, but it became worse each month. He had developed a shoulder tumor that evently crippled him. It finally got to the place where he had to be helped to get to his food and get to the litter box. Finally, I knew keeping him alive was cruelty, so I did the right thing by him and had his life mercifully ended.

A few weeks ago, Cat and I adopted another cat we call "Dakota" from the city shelter. Like Jeremey, he is a gray, Persian mix. Life goes on, but it's good to remember all the things that bring us joy along the way.

Goodbye, my gentle friend.