This afternoon the word swimming around our heads is "pride." Many of us have been out and about in the Village this weekend enjoying the Pride festival. I want us to look at what that word means, to the world, and to you, individually and to think about how we respond to God's call to be proud in our live.
This week I did a lot of reading about pride. Do you know the word pride is found 51 times in the Bible? Of those 51 times, almost all of them make reference to pride as something to be avoided. Of course, the pride that is being thought of in this way is pride that is defined as arrogance, self-centeredness, vanity, conceit, and an "unduly" high opinion of oneself. The thought of this type of pride led the authors of the books of the Bible to write things like, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18). That's one of those phrases those of us who grew up evangelical might have had to memorize years ago.
We have been taught for so long that pride is something to be avoided. The creation myths in our faith tell us that pride is the root of all sin; it was pride that made the Devil rebel against God. We have been taught to avoid pride; to give it up as something very dangerous; something that would damn us to hell. Outside of church as well, pride is looked upon as something to be avoided. You've heard, or maybe even said, "that arrogant so-and-so" about someone else. What we react to is excessive pride.
Now, our community has done a good thing, I think, by attempting to reclaim the word pride, taking it for its positive worth, seeing it as a good thing, a healthy thing. We have to see pride as a positive attribute, more so than a negative one, in order to be whole. We have to adopt the definition of pride as dignity, self-esteem, and self respect if we are to be whole. In this context I believe pride is not a vice to be overcome, but a virtue to attain.
There are stories in the Bible that also speak to us of pride in a positive way. The reading we heard today is found in all three of the synoptic gospels - the gospels attributed to SS Matthew, Mark and Luke. Though where the story appears in the gospels varies, and even some of the details vary, much of the story is the same in all three versions. It always starts out with Jesus surrounded by a large crowd. He goes into a boat so everyone can see him, and speaks to them from the boat. He then tells a story about seed. He says a sower went out and sowed seed. Some fell on rocky ground, and it was trampled on by foot, and the birds of the air came and ate it up before it even had a chance to sprout. Some seed fell on rocky ground. It grew up but quickly withered when the sun came out and scorched it because it had very little roots. Some seed fell among thorns. It too grew up, but so did the thorns, which eventually choked it out so that it too died. Some seed fell on good soil. This seed grew up and the plants flourished, and they produced a yield of grain which was harvested. The yield was many times larger than the normal yield.
Then Jesus says something that particularly struck me, "No one, after lighting a lamp puts it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house." This saying is quoted also in all three synoptic gospels. But in Mark and Luke's version Jesus says this right after telling this parable. Hearing this saying after this parable said something to me about pride. Something different than what the "usually quoted" verses about pride have said.
No one lights a light then hides it. We are lights, lit by God, in this world? We are bright spots in the world, people offering hope in the darkness? We are really the presence of Jesus in the world today? I think that we were meant to be and made to be. This is what pride is for us. And if we are these things, we must not allow ourselves to be hidden, but to be put on a lampstand; out, shining in the darkness. Can we be a light in the world if there is a part of us that is hidden? That we're ashamed of? That we reject? That we despise? That we haven't dealt with? That we don't like? That we ignore? That we merely tolerate? That we haven't integrated into the rest of ourselves? That we aren't proud of?
The story of the seed describes several options for how we can live our lives.
We can take parts of ourselves, and completely reject them. That's like the seed that falls on the path and is trampled by others. We can accept society's opinion about our gender, our wealth, our sexual orientation, our position, our title, our power. We can adopt others' attitudes about us as our own. We can believe what we hear; we can let others trample us underfoot. When we do, our lives produce no yield, just like the seed.
We can be like the seed that sprouts on rocky terrain. We can cautiously and hesitantly attempt to be who we are in the world. However, without a firm foundation, when the naturally occurring challenges of life present themselves, like the hot sun, we are scorched; we wither; we can't stand up as who we are because we really don't believe in ourselves; we really haven't accepted who we are; we really haven't integrated all the parts of who we are fully. Again, we yield no fruit. There is no harvest from our lives.
Perhaps, we are like the seed that is sown among thorns. We sprout, we grow, just as we are, as the seed that we were created to be, right alongside the thorns of the world. However, the thorns are stronger than us. Those people and organizations who condemn us, who think who we are is wrong, bad, and sinful are like thorns that choke us. The thorns believe they are the best seed in the world, they believe that other types of seed have somehow chosen their seed-type, or are unnatural seeds, coming about by some mutant-seed variation of nature. The thorns choke the very life out of the seed.
The best choice is to fall on solid ground. This option entails fully embracing who we are. Growing up, as the seeds that we were made to be. Putting ourselves in a good environment of fertile soil in which we can be nurtured. Getting the nutrients and water we need to develop a dense and substantial network of roots, one that will sustain us through life's natural challenges. Working on growing ourselves up strong, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, so we can sustain the thorns that come along and attempt to choke the life out of us. Growing up, as strong as possible, as the seeds we were created. Trying to produce corn as a grain seed is a tough thing. It just doesn't work. We can only produce fruit when we live as the seed we were made.
So it seems to me there are really two distinct ideas of pride. One, the negative one, many of us grew up hearing about: unduly high opinion of oneself and arrogance. The other speaks of a sense of one's own worth, position; one's dignity, self esteem and self-respect.
I
think either one or the other will rise to the surface in each one of us.
Either one or the other will take hold of us, and the one that we subscribe
to the most, will affect us and will dictate our choices. The version of pride
we choose will affect our beliefs about who we are and how we are to be in
the world. We can let others dictate which pride we want to live by, or we
can choose.
It's our choice.
It's your choice.
Prayer
Loving
God, Creator of all,
thank-you for making each one of us exactly who we are.
Help us to embrace the qualities you've given us.
Help us to nurture the gifts we are to your world.
We are so precious.
Help us to stop our gifts and skills being wasted -
but to take pride in who we are and in what we offer.
Help us to realise that we are your very presence in our world.
Amen.
This
sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester.
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