It’s a slippery word, pride. In one breath it sounds

like sin; in the next it speaks of survival. It can offer a

wonderful sense of self-respect. I’m proud of you. It

names movements that celebrate hard-won dignity

and reclaim God-given worth in the face of human

contempt. It captures the feeling of fulfillment from hard

work well done. Yes, pride has its place. But scripture

makes us cautious.

Proverbs warns, “Pride goes before destruction.” Early

Christian teachers called it the root of every other sin.

Saint Augustine called it “the beginning of sin.” Thomas

Aquinas: “the queen of all vices.” A fitting conclusion

to this month’s series on deadly sins. One worshiper

quipped after early worship, “I’m so glad you’re

preaching sermons about all those bad things other

people do. I just hope they’re listening.” Must be time to

talk about pride.

Pride is the soil in which sin can grow. It bends every gift

of God back toward the self. Not healthy self-respect,

but the elevation of self over neighbor and God. Not

gratitude for grace freely given, but the demand to control

outcomes and occupy the center. This kind of pride

isolates, insists on its own way, resists mercy.

James is blunt: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace

to the humble.” James is clear: to exalt yourself is to risk

being humbled. James is direct: to judge your neighbor is

to play God, and this is dangerous territory.

We all need this reminder. We elevate the proud. The

loudest voice gets the microphone. The most shocking

headline gets the attention. Influence is counted in

followers, not faithfulness. Leaders are measured by

airtime, not impact.

But sinful pride is not leadership. It is only noise, a

clanging cymbal lacking love. True leadership displays

humility, listening before speaking, serving before leading,

trusting God before we trust ourselves.

Humility right-sizes our role. I grew up in the South, a

region with its own vocabulary and an endless supply

of pithy expressions that only make sense within its

boundaries. One of my favorites? Lord willing. As a kid,

I thought it was one word: Lordwillin. I would often hear

seasoned saints in our church use the phrase when

talking about the future: “We’ll see you next Sunday, Lord

willing.” “We’ll be planting on Tuesday, Lord willing.”

At the time, it sounded rote. It sounded like a habit. Now,

in that phrase, I hear faith, a quiet nod to humility. Not a

quaint quip, but a concrete confession. Those saints lived

in a God-breathed world. They knew that things would

happen—or not—if God willed them. James says, “You

do not even know what tomorrow will bring.” We do not

know the span of our years. That’s simply true. To live Lord

willing is to trust that tomorrow is not ours to command,

but a gift of God.

My sabbatical this summer began with two long weeks

in Montana. For much of that time I was outside and

alone. I walked long, silent miles on trails through Glacier

National Park. The mountains were massive. The skies

stretched beyond what my eyes could hold. And over and

over again, all summer long, the sheer scale of creation’s

majesty put me in my place. I remembered: I am not the

center. The world will keep on turning without my control.

My life, our church, this broken world rests in the mercy of

the One who holds it all in grace.

And yes, Second Presbyterian Church would do just fine

without me. Some of you looked almost too comfortable.

James wants us to remember that smallness. Pride

shrinks the horizon all the way down to the size of self.

Humility opens it wide to God and neighbor. Pride

clings to the reins, while humility opens its hands. We

remember that life comes to us…Lord willing. James

removes us from the place of God, and then James warns

us against a particular pride especially corrosive in our

time: setting ourselves up as judge over others. “Do not

speak evil against one another… Who are you to judge

your neighbor?” Pride gives us the final word on someone

else’s worth, with smug superiority. We say, “At least I’m

not like them.” Time and again, I have found that what we

call pride is often the mask our fear wears to feel powerful.

But, when pride takes power, its effects are magnified.

We’ve seen leaders demand the spotlight, stoke the

flames, treat accountability as an insult. We’ve seen

pride packaged in a suit. Pride polished as a brand. Even

the pulpit can become a pedestal, as I am occasionally

reminded. The most seductive form of pride is disguised

as moral outrage. It feels righteous, but it abandons love.

James warns against “speaking evil against one another.”

The Greek word here is katalaleō, literally meaning to

speak down or in a downward direction, to speak down

about someone, to diminish them, to make them small.

And friends, we’ve heard this in influential voices—some

who claim the name of pastor—speaking as though

God has given them the authority to denounce whole

communities of people, to declare our neighbors a threat

simply because of who they are or where they’re from.

I want to be clear. To call beloved children of God

“demonic” or a “beast” is not Christian faith; it is hubris

dressed as holiness. Some may hear this politically. But

when scripture’s call to humility is reduced to political

posturing, it says more about our politics than it does

about the gospel.

James asks us all, “Who are you to judge your neighbor?”

True humility will never weaponize scripture to wound

a child of God. It listens before it labels. It blesses rather

than curses. It says not “they are less,” but “you are loved.”

Words matter because they shape how we see our

neighbors, regardless of who speaks them or why.

Pride condemns. Pride divides. Humility builds.

Humility blesses.

We have seen it reflected among us. As I’ve returned

from sabbatical and reengaged in our city, Jim Morris

has been on my mind. Jim was one of our city’s finest

and most faithful leaders, a force for global good. We

lost Jim a year ago. I miss him every day. It was my great

privilege to be his pastor and to learn from his wisdom.

I’ve been reflecting on our final meal together. Neither

of us knew it would be our last. For two hours, Jim told

stories. Those stories were about others. He praised

the leaders he loved and the institutions he served.

He said, “I wish you’d known Dick Lugar and Mr. Lilly.

They were such remarkable men, they could have

been Presbyterians.” He marveled at the opportunities

he had been given, a kid from a small town in Indiana.

And then we talked about basketball. We talked about

education. We talked about politics. We talked about

the place of faith in steering our nation toward civility.

He wondered out loud how our church could do more

for hungry children.

When his soup came, Jim asked if he could offer the

blessing. He thanked God for all that we have, and then,

as always, he shifted the focus. “God, help us remember

the hurting, the hungry, the sad, the vulnerable, and the

lonely. We know you love them just as much as you love

us. Hard to understand sometimes. Amen.”

You see, another way is possible. Pride is a clenched fist.

It is full of fear, defensive, closed off and ready to fight.

Humility is an open hand, ready to receive, ready to give.

This change in posture reshapes our practice. So, try

it in small ways. Ask for help instead of pretending you

don’t need it. Ask for someone else’s story before you

assume you know it. Share credit instead of guarding it.

Confess without defense. Apologize without excuse. “I

was wrong” is a complete sentence.

For leaders, humility must begin with different questions.

Leaders must ask, who benefits from this decision, and

who will bear its cost? Who is missing from the table?

When decisions serve only our own interest, pride is

in control. Humble leadership holds power lightly and

shares it widely.

And what of the Church? Well, here our call is clear: to

reclaim God-given dignity wherever it is denied. As we do,

we must stay sober about how quickly noble causes bend

toward self-display. Even holy work can become another

platform for the ego. But the remedy James offers is not

shame, but surrender: draw near to God lest you drift into

pride’s grip.

Nearly every day here at Second, I walk past a striking

print by Japanese artist Sadao Watanabe. It hangs just

down this hallway. Most days, I must confess, I rush past

it without even noticing. But when I pause, this is what I

see: Christ kneeling, towel in hand, gently lifting the foot of

his friend.

Watanabe’s title for the piece is Jesus Washes My Feet.

Not Peter’s. Not the disciples’. Not theirs. Mine. Ours. The

genius of the artist is that we do not stand at a distance

as spectators; we ourselves are in the scene. Humility is

not a vague virtue. It has flesh and bones—that of the one

who emptied himself, who took the form of a servant, who

was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

This is our picture of leadership.

Listen. Sinful pride does real harm. It weaponizes faith for

power. It judges, excludes, and wounds. Left unchecked,

it breeds bullying, belittling, and the dehumanization that

crushes spirits and sometimes costs lives. Pride finds

pleasure in making others small.

But humility blesses. It lifts burdens, makes space, listens

with care, and serves with love.

You know this as well as I do. The world does not need

more self-righteous bravado. It needs the church to show

another way—a better way.

The cross puts our pride to death. As we have been

served, we are called to serve. So, take up the towel.

Open your hands. Serve a neighbor. Show them how

beloved they are. And then remember how beloved you

are, too. Amen.