Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz

Plop, plop.  Fizz, fizz.  Those were the sounds in my kitchen this morning.  A little NyQuil last night and some Alka Seltzer this morning.  Yep, the crud has descended upon our house.  'Tis the season, I suppose.  It's literally in the air.

This is actually a theological way to describe sin.  It's in the air.  For a long time it was thought that original sin was passed down from one person to another as a genetic defect.  Sin was hereditary.  That has been the Western view.  In the East, however, original sin has been viewed more as being in the air we breathe.  It's not a genetic defect, but it's in the atmosphere.  Either way, we can't escape it.

It doesn't take a theologian to recognize that from the moment we can – we rebel.  Our thoughts rebel, our words rebel, our actions rebel.  Sometimes the rebellion is tiny and sometimes it is colossal, but rebellion it is.

It might be helpful to view sin as a cold or the flu.  For we know that if we don't wash our hands or get right in the way of a cough or sneeze, we are exposing ourselves to the germs.  Is it not the same when we place ourselves in positions were sin is just waiting for a partner?

Catholic tradition has given us nine ways in which we can participate in sin: 1. by counsel, 2. by command, 3. by consent, 4. by provocation, 5. by praise or flattery, 6. by concealment, 7. by partaking, 8. by silence, 9. by defense of the ill done.

We're gonna get sick – there's nothing we can do about it.  We're gonna sin – we can't stop it.

But we can use the spiritual ZiCam or Vitamin C as a preventative: self-examination, prayer, and repentance.   

Fr. Steve Rice
Rector, St Timothy's Episcopal Church
Winston-Salem, NC
www.sttimothys.ws
www.sttims.blogspot.com
336.765.0294