Pride: When you hear this word what do you think of? A feeling of happiness in a job well done? A group of Lions? A Parade? Conceit? Do you see a person with a puffed up chest walking by thinking they are better? Do you see a child kicking a ball into a goal for the first time? Do you see flamboyance and acting out? Is Pride a good thing or a bad thing? All questions I find interesting. We are told throughout our childhood that we should have pride in ourselves and our possessions. It seems though that when you really look at pride it doesn't seem as though it's something to necessarily be proud of. Reading versus from the Bible leads you to believe that it is boastful and something to be brought down from. That thinking highly of oneself is not a quality to that should be strived for. Hummm, so how do we reconcile this? How can we have pride in ourselves without being boastful or conceited or can we? I think that the verses from the Bible about pride that I enjoy the most comes from Romans Chapter 12. Paul makes an appeal to us on how to live as a Christian and follow Jesus. He asks us to "present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect." It seems to me that Paul is asking us to not only give ourselves freely to God and to live as he would have us live, but also to realize that falling in line with others and going with the crowd is not always the way to follow him. That we must continually be transformed by renewing our minds to discern what is the will of God, or that we must continually move forward with our thinking and acceptance to be in the hand of God.
Paul goes on to say, "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. So here is where pride comes in; "not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned" So again to think highly of yourself or to put yourself on a pedestal seems to be looked down upon. We are to remember that we are just one cell of the being of God and that we all have an important function. To fight amongst each other or to say that my purpose is greater than yours creates a cancer in the body. I make up a small portion and so do you. Our dealings with one another determines our effectiveness, we may not have the same vision but we must have love for one another, we must have acceptance, we must have pride in one another. To be proud of you I am able to shine in my duties so that maybe you or another may be proud of me.
Well that was a long way to get to the point here. When I think of Pride I have a vision of a boastful man with his chest pumped out and beams of light surrounding him and my feelings towards that vision are not complimentary.
On the other side I also think "Parade" I think of a whole group of Prideful cells getting together. With overdone hair, flamboyant gestures and all that is gaudy. I think of men dressed in drag, dykes on bikes and public displays of affection. I think in your face and I hear in my head "we're here, we're queer, get used to it!" Last year, I with members of my church, friends and my partner, for the first time walked in the PRIDE PARADE. I was nervous to be a part of the above mentioned "Parade" because what I had seen or heard of the "Parade" brought the visions I expressed above. I had been a spectator at the "Parade" a couple of times and Saw and Heard it all. Here's the funny thing though. I went to the Pride Parade with Pride which in turn means with Judgment. I went thinking I was better than those GAYS, I'm not in your face, flamboyant or a dyke with a bike. I don't need to put myself out there like that to be who I am. And as I sat on the curb watching all the "Gays" go by I saw what I expected to see, my eyes were open but they were very closed as well. I was not renewing my mind to discern the will of God. It wasn't until I walked with this Prideful group, it wasn't until I really looked into the faces of the spectators and participants, it wasn't until I felt love and non judgement that I opened my mind to renewing. I saw things and grew to understand that these are not things to be afraid of or to have judgment over. That the Pride on the streets isn't a pedestal that these beautiful people put themselves on individually. Instead Pride is about the organism as a whole each individual cell coming together showing that Love and Acceptance is Gods Will. Its children smiling, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, friends, acquaintances and strangers together for one purpose. It was an amazing experience to be part of that purpose last year. To walk and look at the crowd instead of being part of the crowd. To invite people to join us. To look into the eyes of a people so misunderstood and see nothing but acceptance for us. Now remember I am walking with my church. Christians on the whole have not been, well, nice. Yet, we were accepted, just the way we were. I didn't have a shirt on that said hey not only am I part of Creator Lutheran, I'm also Gay. No one knew for sure or not if I was or wasn't and yet I saw acceptance. I heard "Thank You!" I hope that I have grown over the last year, I think I have. It's easy to forget or maybe hard to remember, that we have a tendency to see what we want to see instead of what is actually there. With our own Pride we bring judgment and with judgment we bring cancer to the body of God. Remember what Paul said? We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. My gift, your gift, their gift; it's something to think about. Start thinking about the gifts those whom you feel you have Pride over bring to God and change from Pride in yourself to Pride in others. It's an amazing change.
We will be walking once again with our Creator Lutheran Church June 17, join us. Renew your mind and discern the will of God!
