Be angry but do not sin. —Ephesians 4:26

Theologian Allen Dwight Callahan writes about a compelling biblical verse:

There are two imperatives in the opening phrase of Ephesians 4:26—two. One is a prohibition against sinning. The other is an exhortation—an exhortation to anger.

That’s right: The Bible commands us to be angry.

“Be angry. That’s an order.”…

Now, you may object that we’ve already got more anger that we know what to do with right now, and, of course, you’d be right. There is indeed a surplus of anger out there. With increasing frequency and intensity, people are voicing their anger, venting their anger, even voting their anger.

But there’s anger, and there’s anger.

Yes, there’s the anger of being cut off in the turn lane, of having a wait time that exceeds four minutes, of being berated in the comments on your post by a misanthropic troll….

Then there is the anger that leaves us shaken and shaking because a sacred trust is being treacherously broken; because those who have done no harm are being gratuitously harmed; because those who have too little now have even less, and those who already have much too much now have even more; because egregious wrongs are being perpetrated, and the perps don’t even admit that the wrongs they’re perpetrating are wrong.

What has happened—is happening now, here, and everywhere—is not merely a sin and a shame. It is an outrage, and outrage calls for rage, rage that ought to come out. Anger in such instances is not merely permissible. It is obligatory, imperative.

Thus, the imperative: “Be angry.”

Faced with an outrage, anger is the price we pay for paying attention. It is the rage that ought to come out, because, when faced with an outrage, it is a sin not to be angry. [1]

Richard Rohr honors the wisdom contained in powerful emotions like grief and anger:

Great emotions are especially powerful teachers. I’m so aware of this in the experience of grief, after experiencing the deaths of my mother, a teenage niece, and my father. Even anger and rage are great teachers if we listen to them. They have so much power to reveal our deepest self to ourselves and to others, yet we tend to consider them negatively. Yes, they are dangerous, making us reactive and defensive, but they often totally rearrange how we know—or if we know—reality at all.

Believe it or not, such emotions are ways of knowing. They have the capacity to blind us, but also the power to open us up and bring us to profound conversion, humility, and honesty. People who are too nice and never suffer or reveal their own negative emotions, usually do not know very much about themselves—and so the rest of us do not take them too seriously. Consider if that is not true in your own circle of relationships. [2]

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John Chaffe Five for Friday

1.
“In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety.”

• Abraham Maslow, Developmental Theorist
   
  If all the Marvel movies have taught us anything over the past decade, it’s that there is a deep need within all of us to have examples and inspiration to step into the dangerous unknown rather than to slink back from it.

There is something in the human psyche/mind/soul that desperately needs to keep growing rather than fall into arrested development.

May we all find inspiration for that daring journey into perpetual growth.

2.
“Every totalitarian regime is frightened of the artist.”

• Walter Brueggemann, Old Testament Scholar
   
  It’s always the poets, authors, playwrights, musicians, and storytellers who seem the most able to speak out the truth when no one else is willing to do so.

Perhaps that is why in most totalitarian regimes, as they ascend in power, they silence the voices of the artists early on.

To create is inherently a defiant act in an epoch that wants to keep its status quo.

3.
“It’s impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”

• Epictetus, Greek Stoic Philosopher
   
  Over the years, as I have taught on the topics of Christian spirituality, biblical studies, and “systematic” theology I have found this quote from Epictetus to be true.

I have experienced pushback in the classroom and the church, as I shared and taught on the faith.  Sometimes it was an enjoyable dialogue exchange over a particular insight, and other times it was rather hurtful.

Well, perhaps hurtful isn’t the right word.

I have felt misunderstood and made to feel as though I was wrong, even though I was often quoting a part of the Christian tradition that the student in front of me knew nothing about.

It feels to me that Christian education in the West is not producing students as much as another generation of gatekeepers, of people who think they know something fully when they truly have not studied enough.

I care about education because, for me, education is more than just the transmission of information, it is about the transformation of the student as a result of coming into contact with new information…  Transformation cannot happen for any of us if we wall ourselves off from new information because we think we already have a final position.

4.
“The dark night is God’s attack on religion. If you genuinely desire union with the unspeakable love of God, then you must be prepared to have your ‘religious’ world shattered. If you think devotional practices, theological insights, even charitable actions give you some sort of purchase on God, you are still playing games.”

• Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
   
  The Dark Night of the Soul is one of my absolute favorite topics.  I spent a whole year reading through the works of St. John of the Cross.  Although I did not finish all of his works by the end of the calendar year, it left an indelible mark on my heart, mind, and soul to do so.

Even writing briefly about it makes me want to go back and reread him all over again!

Rowan Williams reads to me as if he has also read The Dark Night of the Soul for himself.

Why do I think so?

Because the experience of the Dark Night of the Soul dismantles, deconstructs, tears down, overhauls, renovates, exposes, and, dare I say it, crucifies our understanding and dependency upon “religion.”

God is not willing for us to be content with anything less than the infinite and unfathomable Love of God present to us in every moment.

Religion is one of the safest places to hide from God.  We can hide from God behind robes, pulpits, gestures, ceremonies, rituals, etc.

The Dark Night of the Soul is without a doubt one of the most painful seasons of life, but on the other side of it, I don’t think it is possible to be anything other than a mature, Christian mystic.

5.
“Good souls many will one day be horrified at the things they now believe of God.”

• George MacDonald, Scottish Preacher
   
  I am sure that this is true of myself as well.

Lord, help all of us to change our minds/elevate how we think/be willing to reconsider everything we thought we knew about You.

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