Jesus in Matthew 6, teaches us how to pray, how to look toward the Kingdom and about relying on God. He says look, pay attention, the flowers are enough, the birds are enough, creation isn’t anxious about proving itself.
As Pride Month draws to a close (even as festivals and celebrations continue over the coming weeks), I’ve found myself wondering what gets in the way of Pride. What prevents us from embracing one another, delighting in our differences, and celebrating who we are? I wonder if this is because moving country, interviewing for new roles, settling in a new place, and getting to know all the new roads and paths makes me wonder whether I missed celebrating Pride the way I should have… but for now I am going to move on from me and look more generally.
The Gospel reveals a world of abundance. Water becomes wine. Five loaves and two fish feed thousands. The lilies neither toil nor spin. The shepherds leaves the ninety-nine for the one. There are baskets left over. The one coin is enough. Scripture tells a story of a God who gives more than enough, and only expects what we have to give.
Yet we inhabit a world shaped by something else. We are told there isn’t enough acceptance, money, safety, beauty, love, success, time, youth, or room for everyone.
Scarcity becomes more than an economic reality; it becomes a spiritual condition.
Compare, Consume, Perform. Eventually we begin to measure ourselves by the same economy. Was my Pride visible enough? Is my body good enough? Is my relationship impressive enough? Is my activism loud enough? Is my story remarkable enough? In our curated, highlighted, filtered and perfected world, even our own Pride can become another performance.
The alternative way we could choose is Gratitude.
Which says: I do not earn this life, I receive it. I do not have to experience everything to receive this life as gift. Pride at its best becomes doxology; Thank you God for making me, me.
Ordinary isn’t complacency, it is a habit of resistance in a culture built on dissatisfaction. Most days, it is enough; to love my husband, to preach, pray, lift, To laugh with friends, to pay the bills, to welcome strangers, to receive Communion, to heat another meal prep lunch, to water the houseplants… I have to remember in the music backed, colourful scrolling that these are not small or unremarkable things.
For generations, many queer people were denied the possibility of precisely this kind of life. They were imagined only as tragedy, controversy, spectacle or exception.
I am not saying that our lives should be the same, or our expressions should mould to fit in… I am saying that to live an ordinary, faithful, joy filled life is not a retreat from our difference or from Pride itself, it is in fact one of the fruits of the work and grace which have gone before us.
Every day we are invited into one of two liturgies….
The World’s liturgy is compare, consume, perform.
The Kingdom’s liturgy is receive, gift thanks, delight.
So beloved – whether you are queer, questioning, an ally, adjacent, or simply wondering where you belong, hear the good news again;
You are enough! Despite what the false shepherds of fear, shame, comparison, or exclusion might tell you, there is enough. Enough grace, mercy, belonging, love, and God. Your life doesn’t need to become extraordinary before it becomes holy… it already is.
This post is from Rev James Baker’s Substack here.
