For Lent this year, I’ve decided to do something a little different. Last year, I wrote each week about moderation, but this year, I want to go a little more “big picture.”

The seven deadly sins don’t have one clear originator. Rather, early Christian monastics found seven continual stumbling blocks in their journey of discipline: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. Seldom willful acts, the seven deadly sins might be more accurately named the “seven deadly bad habits” or “seven deadly dispositions.” They’re natural behavioral patterns, so while we may each have a preferred vice or two, all of us commit all seven to varying degrees simply by existing. As these early Christian ascetics learned, the challenge of the seven deadlies comes with staying aware of them and finding ways to overcome these bad habits when we inevitably slip back into the rhythm.

Thankfully, each sin also has a corresponding virtue, so we’re not just looking at a list of things we need to avoid; we’ve got some goals too. Every Wednesday during Lent, I’ll post one of the seven deadlies, its corresponding virtue, and a few additional thoughts since many of our modern understandings of these words aren’t what early Christian writers intended. (For example, the original “sloth” is nothing like our modern connotation of the word, but more on that in about three weeks.) Just to keep things fun, I’ll dip a little into popular culture, as the seven deadly sins have appeared all over books, comics, movies, and TV shows. For example, the seven main characters in Gilligan’s Island —Gilligan, the Skipper too, the millionaire, and his wife, the movie star, the professor and Mary Ann— perfectly match the seven deadlies, and these character flaws drove almost all of the show’s action.

So yeah, this Lent, let’s think through some bad habits, work toward some goals, and have a little fun along the way. Next Wednesday is all about lust!

(Wow, that felt really weird to say, but I can’t think of another way to put it…)