Trinity Presbyterian Church of Bethesda
06.22.08; Rev. David Williams
Scripture Lesson: Romans 12:9-21
Christians have a whole bunch of trouble figuring out how to deal with anger. It’s a tough nut to crack, because on the one hand, we know that we follow the Prince of Peace. We are supposed to turn the other cheek, and go the extra mile, and when they asketh us for our cloak, rendereth unto them our shirt and pantaloons also. On the other hand, we’re human beings. When we feel messed with, we get mad. It’s a natural reaction when our desires or our hopes are frustrated. We perceive those frustrations as indicative of a threat, and then our bodies kick into action to respond to that threat.
It’s a hard-wired response, just a part of the way that we human beings were created to deal with things that endanger our existence. Adrenaline starts cranking, increasing muscular response and reaction time. It also puts our heart into overdrive, sending oxygen streaming to our muscles and to our brain. In our brain, hormones start cranking, and we become much, much more able focus on the perceived threat. In fact, we become so focused on the present moment that we lose the ability to see much of anything else. The big picture vanishes, and all we can see through a red-tinged tunnel of fury is that person or object that needs to be smashed.
This is very useful in the jungle. It is not quite so useful in the suburbs.
We get fist-clenching mad at that guy in the line ahead of us who just can’t seem to figure out the self-checkout. Jeeez! C’mon! Your card goes there. No! Don’t press that! No! AAAAH! We get mad at our kids when they attempt to use the vacuum cleaner to clean up a milk spill. You did what?!?! I...just..can’t...believe...you’d...oh! We get mad at our parents when they decide that we can’t stay out until 3 PM with our friends. All of my other friends are going to be there! Why are you so mean?! I hate you! We get mad at that stripped cheap metal bolt that adds another hour to what should have been a really easy installation. Stupid useless piece of...! Stupid! Stupid! Dag ragga frabb it!
Or words to that effect. So how are we to deal with this mismatch between what our faith clearly asks of us and our more natural, instinctual response? Some of us just repress...everything...smiling and saying...it’s nothing... and we...bottle...up...anger...until...we JUST COMPLETELY EXPLODE!!!! Some things, like Jeremiah’s call, just can’t be held in. They’ll burn in your bones, smoldering and sizzling until they claw their way out of you eventually.
Others among us are very much in touch with our anger, even in church. We use our anger as a convenient tool to get whatever we want, attuning ourselves completely to the Dark Side, becoming the one who must be obeyed if you want to escape the raging fires of our white-hot wrath. GO GET ME A CUP OF COFFEE!!! It works really well, right up until the point at which somebody yells back. The challenge with just letting yourself express your anger is that it begets more anger, and the resulting conflict always and invariably ends in someone being hurt. Damage is done, often damage that can’t easily be repaired.
The prophet Jeremiah knew all about conflict. He lived and preached during the last desperate days of Judah, when the Babylonian Empire stood prepared to deal a final death blow to the hopes of Jerusalem. From his knowledge of God’s will, Jeremiah knew...knew with complete certainty...that the time was short. Unless the Jewish people embraced a very different future than they’d hoped for, annihilation awaited. Faced with a people who didn’t want to hear that message, Jeremiah was constantly, endlessly shouted down. He was deeply and fully in the minority, and surrounded on every side with opponents.
But while he didn’t back down, he also recognized that he alone was in no position to fight. His ultimate vindication lay in God, not in his own ability to do battle. Even though he was in conflict, he knew that when push came to shove his own ability to fight was meaningless. He had trust in that, and though at times he despaired at his own seeming helplessness, he managed to keep himself focused on saying and doing what he must. He knew that God was on his side, and it was on God that he would rely for his defense.
From the 12th chapter of Romans we hear the Apostle Paul describing the Christian life, and how it should be lived. Romans, if y’all remember from me talking about it before, is an incredibly complicated letter. It’s filled with twists and turns and deep theology, and needs to be read several times through to even begin to get at what Paul’s trying to say. As we get closer to the end of the letter, though, Paul throttles back a little bit. Instead of going with the hard-core theology of salvation, he gets to the nitty gritty of what it means to live as a Christian. Not “here are the mindbendingly hard teachings you need to memorize be Christian.” This isn’t abstract stuff. It’s a simple, basic, practical answer to how a Christian is supposed to live, to live and breathe, as an embodiment of Christ’s love.
We hear that we are to bless those who curse us. We hear we need to live in harmony. We hear we need to live at peace and not take revenge, and overcome evil with good. And yet anger is still present, howling and snarling away in our hearts whenever stresses arise or conflict comes. How do we cope with it?
First, both Jeremiah and Paul allow room for anger. Jeremiah certainly didn’t hold back from speaking the truth with a furious love. Right after he tells us that love must be sincere, the Apostle Paul tells us to “hate what is evil.” Anger can alert us to things that are wrong in our lives. Sometimes it can be selfish, true. But at other times it is a response to injustice. At other times, it’s a response to human suffering or the violation of God’s creation by those who seek only their own profit. We are allowed to be angry at what is evil. From that anger, though, we have to be sure that we do not lash out. Do not let rage control your response.
Second, both Jeremiah and Paul make room for God’s action. As you stand against a “foe”, do so understanding that God is just, and that justice is woven deep into the fabric of all creation. You, you the person, you the human being, cannot fully grasp how to balance the scales of God’s justice. Your temptation, your desire, your anger...these things will cause you to press down on your end of the scales just a little harder than you should. Like yesterday, when the enraged guy behind me in traffic yelled an obscenity at me and my family for not making a turn as quickly as I could have. If dealing with him was left entirely up to me at that very moment, it would have involved close air support and uranium-tipped 30mm rounds. But only God knows where that little moment rests in the scheme of things. So I let it go. What’s at the heart of your anger? Let it go. Trust that God is just.
Allow room for anger, but don’t let it overcome love for those who oppose. Make room for God’s action, and trust that God is just.
Christians can come to terms with anger...but only if that anger is guided by love.
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