New Englanders are known for keeping emotions in check. But how good it feels to get really angry! I have known such moments, rare moments, and was quick to regret them. Ben Franklin wisely said, “All things begun in anger end in shame.” So true: Lose your temper, do something stupid, feel ashamed.
Question: Can we ever just lean into being mad? Edward Abby says, “The one angered about nothing cares about nothing.” For the world to become a better place, the least we can say is that anger will get us there faster than indifference.
To see anger done well, look up the out-of-character episode of Jesus of Nazareth losing his temper in the temple at Jerusalem. A sanctuary — be it a synagogue, mosque, or church — is where people grow closer to what brings them alive: Universally speaking, that transcendent yet accessible living presence that bestows upon sincere seekers wisdom, guidance, and deep joy. Worship, the means for quenching such thirst, is fundamental and inalienable to our being human. Anyone who comes between a worshipper and their primary source of life is playing with fire. Think of mama bear and her cubs. Don’t ever be that foolish tourist trying to get a close-up shot of those cute little cubs.
Jesus could not passively stand by and allow currency exchangers and sacrificial animal salespeople to transact business there in the temple, thereby coming between mom and her cubs. Human beings must turn the whole of who they are toward the holy with resolved regularity to deepen and strengthen this altogether life-giving relationship. Anger is the most proper response directed toward anything and everything that would seek to compromise that connection.
We are permitted, even encouraged, to lean into that kind of righteous anger. Here’s how. Three storylines from the beginning of human history speak of how we renew, sustain, and strengthen our rapport with the sacred source of all living things: Escaping from captivity, returning home from exile, and mending a broken relationship. Each storyline reveals a fundamental, universal challenge to our innate desire to cultivate a sense of the transcendent.
Can you name what in your life keeps you from returning home, from returning to that place where you are loved thoroughly and known deeply? What in your life holds you captive from being fully who you are already? What in your life must be embraced and forgiven for you to be back in right relationship with someone you love? Garner and direct your anger, your righteous zeal, toward addressing and removing all that comes between you and what you love.
Perhaps you know The Serenity Prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” The Way of the Cross offers a similar kind of guidance: Let all the petty stuff fall by the wayside. When life slaps you on your right cheek, be willing to offer life your left cheek as well. But whenever some power in life seeks to come between you and what you love, between any human being and their desire to grow closer to what brings them alive, allow courage and rage to turn over some tables.
The Rev. Bradford Clark is the rector at Ascension Memorial Church in Ipswich.