Monday Morning Music Ministry

6-27-26

As June draws to a close, so does Pride Month. It is worth noting the celebrations or festivities or whatever we are supposed to feel, or do, to honor homosexuals.

Many groups and nationalities and causes have parades these days, and even associated holidays, some to honor peoples’ heritage, and some to pander to voting blocs, or both, in the American spirit of multi-tasking. It strikes me that, among the flags and lapel-pins there is no White Month or WASP Parade, but some might respond that every day and month in America is an affirmation of White-Majority Christianity; but that statistic is rapidly losing validity.

I have attended, but not marched in, Steuben Day parades in New York City, being of German ancestry. The tradition began in Ridgewood, Queens, a few blocks from my parents’ home when I was a kinder pre-garten. It is now held in Manhattan, centered around the formerly German neighborhood of Yorkville on 86th Street.

But I love, and attend, ethnic festivals of all peoples, and do so frequently. I genuinely love seeing blacks attend St Patrick’s Day events; Poles at Columbus Day festivals; and other cross-cultural happenings. It confirms the basic goodwill of the American people, despite stereotypes of the nay-sayers.

There are still some people, however, who say Nay regarding aspects of some types of group-ID festivities. I suppose I share the bewilderment of Norm Macdonald, who pictured a Gay Pride parade where a father bragged about his son who was Number One in his class at Harvard and loved to fondle other men’s privates. What else, really, is Gay Pride?

I still resent “gay” being hijacked as a word, but my thoughts this month are centered on the “Pride” part of the phrase.

Of course there is a type of pride that is legitimate, like being proud of your child winning a race. That is a human emotion – a reflection of love – that cannot offend or presume. The Bible warns against other forms of pride… and this armchair theologian holds the view that pride can be regarded as the chief sin. To my way of thinking, pride is the underlying motive for other other sins enumerated by God in the Garden, prohibited in commandments, and warned against by Jesus.

• What I mean is this: When we rebel against God, we are presuming that we are exempt from His rules. Worse, we act as if He will give us a pass.
• When we break Commandments, our pride persuades us that His rules are for other people, but we are above His laws.
• God has carefully and fully shared His laws for living… but it is pride that says we know better than the Lord of Creation.
• When we fail to completely surrender to Jesus – to spread His message and opportunity for salvation – we pridefully act like we have a better plan (even if we continually postpone acting on it).
• If we doubt the Bible… or pick-and-choose portions of it… or are seduced by extra-Biblical philosophies… our pride says, in effect, that we know these things better than God and His revealed Word.
• Salvation? Eternity? Heaven? Concern for our loved ones’ souls, much less our own? Taking such vital questions lightly is a reflection of pride; we act like our wishes are stronger than God’s truths.

Back to Pride Month. In the contemporary world’s parlance, I understand that homosexual relationships are what’s being celebrated; and to quote one of the most legitimate of bumper-strip theological truths: I don’t hate the sinner, but I do hate the sin. And the Bible clearly preaches against the practice of homosexuality. A fuller exegesis is that I pray against the transgression, and for the transgressor. No false humility: in the sense that Paul referred to himself as chief among sinners, I frequently sin and I am aware that God despises all sin. Oh, I am conscious of it, and pray for – and accept – forgiveness all the time. I love, and pray for, fellow sinners. That’s what Jesus has us do.

But our sins are properly matters of regret, remorse, and repentance. God forbid that we ever turn them around and build holidays around them or organize parades to brag about them. Who would attend Shame Day parades?

… actually, in this life, there are virtual Shame Days, Shame Months, and Shame parades all the time. How many do we march in, unknowingly or intentionally?

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Click: Toby James – Speak Truth (Music Video)