Leaving shame behind: A biblical Pride reflection
A rainbow flag with the words ‘Queer & Proud’ on the backpack of a person in a Pride march
After 27 years serving in international mission, Neil maintains a strong interest in the global Christian community and international development and serves today in Bible teaching, training and leadership development. He has an MA in international development and one published book, Not Everything in Our Bibles Is Inspired. He is actively working to see the Christian community become more inclusive to all, which led to him becoming an LGBTQIA+ ally.
INSPIRED by guest speaker Jonathan Tallon’s reflection on Pride in the New Testament at our national gathering last month, OTN trustee and LGBTQIA+ ally Neil Rees shares his own response with a broader Biblical focus.
Pride elicits strong emotions, on both sides.
There are those who go all out to celebrate their queer identity and the positive gains attained by and for LGBTQIA+ people. And then there are others who have nothing but negative comments to make, and would ban the whole thing if they could. For some Christians, the name itself - Pride - says it all. I mean, pride is always a sin, and potentially the number one sin, isn’t it?
Well… If by pride we mean arrogance - the unfounded conviction or feeling that we are better than others, an unwarranted sense of superiority or of our own importance - then it’s hardly a positive characteristic. That kind of pride is ugly and destructive, certainly not something to be celebrated. In that sense, it contrasts with humility, which stands out in Scripture as one of the human virtues that we are to most aspire to.
But as we saw in Jonathan Tallon’s reflection on pride in the New Testament, pride has another meaning. Pride isn’t only the opposite of humility; it’s also the opposite of shame. And here’s where we find what Pride is really all about.
Shame emerges as a theme that runs through the whole Bible. For people living in the ancient Near East, shame was a powerful force, involving both individuals and their communities. Being ‘shamed’ would bring public disgrace both to the person involved and their whole family. More than just a negative emotion, shame reflected an internal pressure to conform to wider expectations, and was a lever used by society as a whole to enforce its norms.
For centuries, queer people have been shamed into compliance, silence, hiding, or exile. From an early age, they would know that they were ‘different’, and somehow not acceptable to society in general. Any non-heteronormative behaviour was labelled as deviant, with penalties that ran from quiet discrimination or exclusion all the way to violent persecution and murder.
Generally speaking, the Church has been complicit in creating and maintaining this systemic shaming of LGBTQIA+ people. Rigid readings of Scripture and deeply held traditions both reflected and reinforced discriminatory societal values. Even today, a majority of Christian traditions reject same-sex sexual relationships which are viewed as contrary to God’s will for all people, in all places, at all times.
In the West, as we think of the good news of what God has done for us in Christ, we tend to emphasise forgiveness and freedom from guilt and sin. But the gospel also addresses shame, promising glory and honour to those who follow Christ (Romans 2:7). Both Peter and Paul quote the prophet Isaiah, who proclaims that ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame’ (Isaiah 45:17; see also 1 Peter 2:6 & Romans 10:11).
In the same way that he embraced our sin, Jesus also took our shame to the cross. Crucifixion was intended not only as a horrendously painful death, but also a shameful one. The victim was stripped naked, and exposed to the vitriol of crowds who gathered to spit and heap scorn on them. The writer to the Hebrews is clear: ‘For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame’ (Hebrews 12:2).
Jesus knows what it is to be willfully shamed, and can identify with the shame which so many queer people have experienced. No wonder the Old Testament prophet Joel, when speaking about the future deliverance that God promises, twice declares: ‘And my people shall never again be put to shame’ (Joel 2:26-27).
Many Old Testament events can be read as vivid figures and metaphors that relate to the freedom we find in Christ. One of the most powerful is found as the Israelites enter the promised land under Joshua’s leadership. As the river Jordan parted, echoing the liberation they had experienced when they left Egypt forty years earlier, they left the desert behind and set up camp for the first time in their new homeland. Here, the men were circumcised - then an outward act that reflected the covenant of love and compassion that God has made with us all - and God declared: ‘Today I have rolled away the shame of Egypt from you’ (Joshua 5:9). Egypt, where they had lived a life of shame as slaves to other people’s expectations and demands, was now a thing of the past. They were truly free.
Pride is our way of celebrating freedom from the shame that attempts to determine LGBTQIA+ people’s rights and place in the world. It is a re-vindication of the dignity of all human beings, irrespective of sexual orientation or gender identity, and a rejection of the exclusion and discrimination that historically have been inflicted on the queer community.
