The Virtue of Pride

Below is the cover article in the June 2023 edition of our congregation's monthly Parish Page. 

In the weekly E-Newsletter for June 1, I wrote about the history and meaning of Pride Month for the LGBTQ community. In particular, I noted how the celebration of Pride has its roots in the Stonewall Inn riots of the late sixties, a time when LGBTQ people stood up and refused to continue to suffer the insults, violence, and discrimination that were prevalent in mid-twentieth century American society.  

We would like to think we were beyond the hate and discrimination that led to those riots over half a century ago. However, we have learned over the past several years that we have not advanced as far as we thought we had. Yes, marriage equality is the law of the land and we are seeing gender identity and sexual orientation being added to protected categories in non-discrimination laws, but that is not the only development over the past few years. As I noted in a sermon last month, hate crimes against LGBTQ people have increased 70% in the past three years alone. I have heard from gay members of our own parish who say that they once more are starting to feel uncomfortable, even afraid, to visit Grand Haven. 

Sometimes Christians, when considering pride month, will point out that pride is not a virtue but is actually one of the seven deadly sins. However, this confusion (as so many theological confusions are) is based upon a misunderstanding of translation from Greek or Latin and intot the English language. The Greek word for this vice in the fourth-century list compiled by Evagrius was Ὑπερηφανία, a word that is about seeing yourself as more than you truly are (a more accurate translation is self-overestimation). When John Cassian translated this list into Latin for Western Christianity, he used the Latin word superbia, a word that, once more, is about seeing yourself as more important than anyone else. 

This the profound irony of some Christians rejecting pride month. The fundamental reason for pride month is to advocate for human rights, to insist that to acknowledge your sexual or gender identity is good, that you carry the same worth as every other person. For Christians to attack LGBTQ persons celebrating pride month is for those Christians to participate in the true vice and sin of superbia—believing their cisgender and heterosexual experience is the one that should be privileged as normal, that those who do not conform should change to become cisgender or straight. 

So, I hope you will join me and the rest of SJE in combatting this false narrative with a different voice. In particular, I hope you’ll join us on June 10th as we participate in the pride festival. Because love needs action to overcome hate.

You can also find out more online here about the 2023 Pride Worship service at 10am, Saturday, June 10, right before the pride festival kicks off at noon! We hope you'll join us!