This is all so good and important, Anne. I think it's one of your finest efforts. It sparks so many thoughts and feelings.
I follow a woman on social media who is (I think) in her early 50s now; I was her Sunday School teacher back in the 1980s. She has taken a very different path now, away from Christianity. I don't know if pride came first or followed after (as a form of defense for her rebellion) but it's there very strongly now. A typical recent posting had her picture and overlaid text saying something to the effect of "Loyalty to yourself ABOVE ALL, MFers!" It's very sad to see.
You're right, James Martin gets everything backwards, inside-out, and upside-down.
Your point about meaningful work is very well taken. But I think that even relatively meaningless work can be salutary in this same self-forgetting (even meditative) way. The summer after I graduated from high school, I worked at a public beach on the south shore of Long Island. My parents, small-time Democrat Party operatives, had pulled strings to get me this $2.35/hour job. My favorite part of the job was, just after sunrise, to line up the wire-mesh garbage cans, approximately 40 of them, so that they stretched out in two straight lines, over about 1/3 of mile. It was a very calming exercise to get them all straight, so that if any helicopter pilot flying over our beach saw them, (s)he would marvel at the collinearity of these garbage receptacles.
Your paragraph about how that "group of people" was treated over the centuries is also spot on.
With regard to that song, I'm fairly certain I would have hated it in the 1980s, but today it's so fiercely counter-cultural and contrarian that I feel I could now sing it lustily and with good courage.
Anne, thank you for forgetting yourself for long enough to pen this superb analysis and exposition of humility as the Word defines it, and as the church throughout the centuries has sought to live it out. While fatigue seems to chase you down, I, for one, am grateful for your returning time and again ad fontes to provide your readers with wisdom from above.
Thank you a million times over for this excellent piece. Your exposition on this is brilliant and a great comfort.
I'm part of a small group of Christian parents whose adult children are either living in same sex relationships or are transitioning -- there are so many families quietly desperately contending before the Lord for our children's salvation. There is a generation of young people being lied to by the PRIDE messengers. There are countless children being mutilated by "GENDER AFFIRMING" doctors. I am personally bone weary tired of hearing how Jesus just wants us to love the LGBTQ+ community. Mr. Martin writes; "Pride Month reminds us whom Jesus invite us to love today." Are you kidding me? It's easy to offer thin, costless love. It's exhausting to have friends say, 'Can't you just love your child and let the rest go? Can't you just see them as whole?' No, my adult child is not whole. He is broken and needs every drop of the blood of Christ, as we all do. June is especially difficult for parents walking the line of no compromise and unconditional love for our prodigal children, which entails terribly painful conversations and tears and daily leaning on the power of the gospel.
Especially horrendous is that little children are being taught by Pride Month that drag queens are 'fun' and colorful -- and that questioning their bodies is their 'right' -- this is the deepest grief and highest call, to stand and protect the innocent in the name of Jesus.
Your powerful gift of writing continues to call out lies and brings courage to my heart. Bless you Anne.
My tiny act of rebellion this month is to post scripture about humility (almost) every day in June. This will be me flying a different flag. He who has ears, let him hear.
This bit from Martin was also very jarring to me: "And that’s closer to what Pride Month is meant to be for the LGBTQ community: a recognition of the human dignity of a group of people who have, for centuries been, treated with contempt, rejection and violence. "
Maybe it's just me, but every time I've ever seen footage from a Pride parade, "dignity" is the very last word that is brought to mind. It doesn't at all seem to be the thing they're trying for.
This is all so good and important, Anne. I think it's one of your finest efforts. It sparks so many thoughts and feelings.
I follow a woman on social media who is (I think) in her early 50s now; I was her Sunday School teacher back in the 1980s. She has taken a very different path now, away from Christianity. I don't know if pride came first or followed after (as a form of defense for her rebellion) but it's there very strongly now. A typical recent posting had her picture and overlaid text saying something to the effect of "Loyalty to yourself ABOVE ALL, MFers!" It's very sad to see.
You're right, James Martin gets everything backwards, inside-out, and upside-down.
Your point about meaningful work is very well taken. But I think that even relatively meaningless work can be salutary in this same self-forgetting (even meditative) way. The summer after I graduated from high school, I worked at a public beach on the south shore of Long Island. My parents, small-time Democrat Party operatives, had pulled strings to get me this $2.35/hour job. My favorite part of the job was, just after sunrise, to line up the wire-mesh garbage cans, approximately 40 of them, so that they stretched out in two straight lines, over about 1/3 of mile. It was a very calming exercise to get them all straight, so that if any helicopter pilot flying over our beach saw them, (s)he would marvel at the collinearity of these garbage receptacles.
Your paragraph about how that "group of people" was treated over the centuries is also spot on.
With regard to that song, I'm fairly certain I would have hated it in the 1980s, but today it's so fiercely counter-cultural and contrarian that I feel I could now sing it lustily and with good courage.
Thanks very much for writing this piece!
Anne, thank you for forgetting yourself for long enough to pen this superb analysis and exposition of humility as the Word defines it, and as the church throughout the centuries has sought to live it out. While fatigue seems to chase you down, I, for one, am grateful for your returning time and again ad fontes to provide your readers with wisdom from above.
Thank you a million times over for this excellent piece. Your exposition on this is brilliant and a great comfort.
I'm part of a small group of Christian parents whose adult children are either living in same sex relationships or are transitioning -- there are so many families quietly desperately contending before the Lord for our children's salvation. There is a generation of young people being lied to by the PRIDE messengers. There are countless children being mutilated by "GENDER AFFIRMING" doctors. I am personally bone weary tired of hearing how Jesus just wants us to love the LGBTQ+ community. Mr. Martin writes; "Pride Month reminds us whom Jesus invite us to love today." Are you kidding me? It's easy to offer thin, costless love. It's exhausting to have friends say, 'Can't you just love your child and let the rest go? Can't you just see them as whole?' No, my adult child is not whole. He is broken and needs every drop of the blood of Christ, as we all do. June is especially difficult for parents walking the line of no compromise and unconditional love for our prodigal children, which entails terribly painful conversations and tears and daily leaning on the power of the gospel.
Especially horrendous is that little children are being taught by Pride Month that drag queens are 'fun' and colorful -- and that questioning their bodies is their 'right' -- this is the deepest grief and highest call, to stand and protect the innocent in the name of Jesus.
Your powerful gift of writing continues to call out lies and brings courage to my heart. Bless you Anne.
Amen!
My tiny act of rebellion this month is to post scripture about humility (almost) every day in June. This will be me flying a different flag. He who has ears, let him hear.
Thanks Anne. As a Catholic, albeit Melkite rather than Roman, I appreciate your clear, grounded meditation on the importance of humility.
This bit from Martin was also very jarring to me: "And that’s closer to what Pride Month is meant to be for the LGBTQ community: a recognition of the human dignity of a group of people who have, for centuries been, treated with contempt, rejection and violence. "
Maybe it's just me, but every time I've ever seen footage from a Pride parade, "dignity" is the very last word that is brought to mind. It doesn't at all seem to be the thing they're trying for.