Righteous Anger

A sermon preached at Faith Episcopal Church, September 11, 2005

It has been noted on occasion that my ability to express anger is in keeping with my hair color. Ooo watch out, she is a redhead after all! It’s true, I do anger well. Sometimes it’s intentionally expressed righteous anger as commentary on injustice like last week. It is a good and justifiable thing to be angry on behalf of people who because of their race and economic status were forgotten as the storm bore down on the only place they had to hide. Four years ago it was right to be angry at those who hijacked the planes bringing terror and death. It is right to be angry at those who would use such events for political or economic gain. That’s sociological anger and it can be a force for change and betterment of the human condition. Indeed, it’s often a necessary step on the road to reform. But it’s exhausting and has to be tempered with other topics and comic relief. Too much of the prophets’ anger and people will refuse to listen. Learning how to use anger well and with integrity is necessary for spiritual growth.

Anger is a very real human emotion. It’s a good idea to learn about it. All too often we take the words of today’s reading from Ecclesiasticus literally and think that anger is bad. Actually anger is neutral, it simply exists. How one acts when angry is really what the Bible is talking about.

Pretending that you never feel anger or denying it when you do is not healthy. There’s lots of evidence that how one deals with anger has a significant impact on physical health. If you swallow your anger often or long enough, you will probably end up with an ulcer. Your unacknowledged and repressed anger will turn on you. Anger is described as hot, fiery so it is no surprise that if you keep it inside it will burn you or at least your stomach lining. It might be better to invest in some emotional oven mits and learn how to express your anger so it doesn’t hurt you or someone else.

Hurting someone else with your anger – now we’re getting closer to why the bible frowns on it. The letter to the Ephesians says to avoid sin when angry. Now that’s very good advice. Unless we learn how to deal with our anger, in a way that is helpful we are owned by it like a child in the throes of a temper tantrum. That means learning how to recognize it, not automatically stuff it down inside but actually be able to observe it and then learn how to express it appropriately. The old adage of counting to ten is actually a very good bit of advice – it doesn’t deny anger but it makes a space for a less volatile and more helpful expression of it. On occasion you will hear me say “I am too angry to discuss this right now.” I know that I can’t even be coherent when I’m angry. I need to rant, slam a cupboard or two, scream into a pillow or when I’m really angry, clean the kitchen. That’s my equivilent of counting to ten. I have to express it and get it out before I can really deal with what made me angry to begin with.

Stephen King’s spooky book and movie “Carrie” is all about the consequences of repressed anger. The unpopular girl who has been picked on for so long finally snaps and her anger creates an energy so deadly that the world around her bursts into flames. The savagery of the French Revolution was like that. Anger had simmered for so long, with no outlet or hope of change that when it broke out it could not be contained.

We live in a culture that does not do well with anger. It is often overexpressed for trivialities, or unexpressed because we’ve been told that anger is socially unacceptable, or it is indiscriminate. You can’t tell me that freeway shooters aren’t angry about something.

The Bible is speaks often of God’s anger or wrath. What brings about God’s anger? First on that list is worshipping something other than God. It’s easy to think that this is God being heavy handed in a popularity contest with other gods but it’s more subtile than that. God is displeased when we put money, power, or ourselves at the top of our priority list. All of the other things that anger God have their roots in this kind of idolatry. Worship of money will lead us to greed, dishonesty, selfishness and isolation. Remember the lesson of King Midas’ love of money that eventually costs him his beloved daughter. Gold is a false god and bowing down at that altar is sure to displease the Holy One.

In Paris I worked often with a very swanky funeral home. They buried all of the important people, those with titles, those with lots of money and influence. They had on staff their own Chef de Protocol to make sure that people were greeted nd seated according to their rank and importance. Jean Marc was the young man with whom I planned many funerals and he spoke from experience about the loneliness and emptiness of the lives of so many wealthy people in Paris. People living in unimaginable luxury with no purpose except browsing at Dior and worrying about their money. They live alone in a gilded hell because of what they have chosen to worship.

When God gets angry it isn’t a temper tantrum; it’s about creating a better future. Forsaking false gods and turning ones focus to a better way of being is all that is required to turn away God’s wrath. Remember Ninevah – after Jonah brought God’s message – they changed and God did not destroy them. Or maybe God did not allow them to destroy themselves. A good lesson for us in this is that anger tempered into clear-headed resolve can be directed toward a better future. That’s healthy righteous anger.

Our other readings today have to do with forgiveness. We are called to forgiveness in the aftermath of anger. Either we are justified in our anger at how we have been treated or someone is justified in their anger towards us because of something we have done. Anger will make you a prisoner of time. It will trap you in the past. Forgiveness is the way to freedom. We incur God’s wrath when we refuse to forgive because holding on to our anger means that we have begun to worship it. Feuds between groups are like that whether it’s the Hatfields and the McCoys or the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland or Jews and Arabs or liberals and conservatives. At some point the animosity has gone on for so long that no one even remembers why. Anger and hatred become a way of being. It’s as if people begin to define themselves by their hatred. They do not know who they are without their enemy. This does not please God.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa was probably the best proof that the world has ever seen that the human species can evolve emotionally and socially. It gave us a model of forgiveness and reconciliation and gave the people of South Africa the best chance to escape the grip of their past and move into a better future. There was plenty of justifiable anger for the victims of apartheid. The gift of the hearings held by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the committee was to allow people to tell their stories. The pent up agony and anger were given an outlet; they were heard. Many who needed to confess did so – detailing in public the horrible things that they had done to their brothers and sisters. The memories will never go away but they have been stripped of much of their destructive power and the people are free. This courageous process was watched with amazement around the world. Interestingly, no other groups have yet to take such a bold step into the future. But at least we know it can be done. Forgiveness is the powerful product of well managed anger. Archbishop Tutu wrote a small memoir of his work with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He titled it No Future without Forgiveness. Whether it is forgiveness of self or others, he was right.