Done With Shame

Romans 5:1–8

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

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Introduction

In the reading from Paul's letter to the Romans, we hear that "hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit." As I sat with Paul's words to us, I could not help but think that shame still maintains a powerful grasp on hearts, bodies, and minds. Now I'm not talking about guilt (a more nuanced moral reaction); I'm talking about the deep and painful feeling of shame born out of fear of or lived humiliation for something others judge as incompatible with imperfect societal norms. I don't know about you, but I'm done with shame (as a weapon and as an oppressor) and choose to embrace something else; the hope of God's love poured into our hearts. 

Shame

Why do I think we, as a church, should be done with shame? It's because we've harnessed shame as a weapon of mass spiritual and physical destruction. We've taken shame and forged shackles that bind and oppress people's hearts and minds. And on this Sunday of celebrating "Presbyterian Men," I can't help but think of how we've used shame to corrupt our idea of masculinity and what it means even to be a "man," let alone the damage it's done to other facets of creation. How do we overcome history and a culture driven by an immense fear of humiliation and indignity?

Speaking of Presbyterian Men's Sunday and our troubled past with shame, there's a poster by Saville Lumley titled "Daddy, what did you do in the Great War?" that demonstrates how we weaponize humiliation. First published in 1915, the poster was one of the first experiments in psychological advertising. Saville's creation didn't promise recruits a better life but asked, "What are you doing to tell your children, your loved ones if you don't sign up to fight? What kind of man are you?" I mention this as an example of shame's destructive power on our understanding of masculinity. Yet, we should note how similar language has been used to marginalize people of different genders/sexualities, races, and social statuses. 

If we take the whole of our sacred text, I believe we would discover that shame runs contrary to the will of God and God's will for us. 

Filled With Hope

Talk about God liberating people from the bonds of shame and oppression and moving us closer to the will of God. We see this in our reading from the Old Testament, where Moses goes up to meet with God and is told, "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself." (Ex. 19:4) Does God desire we remain enslaved to such feelings of humiliation? Does God desire that we enslave others with psychological devices? Certainly not! As we hear in Paul's letter to the Romans, God desires that our hearts find fullness in the hope of God. We move from a place of kataischyno (shame/disgrace) to a state of doxa (glory). 

Unlike shame, hope is a transformative force that breathes life into weary souls, restores dignity, and is a balm that soothes the wounds inflicted by systematic and cultural injustices. Hope is a force that liberates; it frees us from feelings of not belonging by shattering the expectations and walls that try to define people, faith, and emotions into categories that a select group deem "acceptable." You and I are called to be a part of this movement of co-laboring with the Spirit of God to fill hearts with hope and love. And perhaps even more importantly, called to co-labor with the Spirit of God to take down and deconstruct the powers that keep shame alive as a means of control. 

Today, God reminds us of a vital part of our calling to be agents of change who move people and creation from a place of shame to a place of glory encircled by the hope and love of God. 

Live With Pride

Amid everything happening in our communities (let alone the world), we need to run to dismantle shame, fill ourselves and others with hope, and live with a sense of pride that there is no shame in who we are as people wonderfully and beautifully made in the imago Dei (the image of God). We should take pride in living outside the stereotypical gender roles set by old traditions and customs. We should take pride in living to our true authentic selves and be free to express our love however we understand it. We should take pride in all these things because Christ came into our world not to put us to shame but to raise us up and instill the affirmation that "nothing can separate us from the love of God." (Rom. 8:39)

God does not put us down but raises us. It reminds me of a portion of a poem by Maya Angelou titled "Still I Rise": 

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
(“Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou)

Let us draw on the inspiration of the powerful words of Maya Angelou, who triumphantly proclaims, "Still I Rise." Let us rise out of the "huts of history's shame" and enter into the light of God's everlasting hope that disperses the cloud of shame. As we let the Word of God sink in, let us rise as a collective force, adding our unique facet to the beautiful gem that is God's diverse and wonderfully made creation. Let us draw strength and renewed hope for ourselves and not neglect our neighbors in this lifelong journey. We celebrate our identities, our authentic selves, and the love we share so that one day (if not today), we cast down shame and say "no more." 

Conclusion

People of God, let us rise together. Let us rise above shame and live with pride, knowing that we are cherished by a God who loves us so profoundly that they were willing to give everything so that we might live in the fullness of God's love. Let hope be our guide; let love be the compass by which we navigate the path toward living together in the kin-dom of God. And let the affirmation that we are fearfully and wonderfully made as vessels filled with God's hope and love deny shame a foothold as God's love overcomes.