A Re-Call to Righteous Anger

I’ve been doing some Lenten reading from a favorite book of mine, A Season for the Spirit, by Martin Smith. It was a gift from my friend, Lisa Ware, many Lenten seasons ago. I believe this is the 4^th time I’m reading the forty daily essays. I remember the first time through, being quite intrigued with the idea of the many selves of the self. Not selves in a schizophrenic sense, but the many faces, or masks perhaps, that I utilize in my daily l life.

Some years ago, I became familiar with the Enneagram, another gift from Lisa. I am a huge fan, and have found it to be extremely helpful with self-awareness, as well as an invaluable tool in parenting children whose personalities are often at odds. For those of you who are acquainted with this ancient form of identifying personality or inner essence, I am a One. Consequently, anger is the emotion that I most frequently go to as a reaction to what’s happening around me.

Over the years I have worked at turning criticism and judgment into compassion. I try to step back and examine why I’m angry or conflicted about someone or something, and figure out what’s at the beginning or root of my anger, and not simply denying and suppressing it behind false smiles. When I feel angered by words or actions of a co-worker or a family member, I'm learning to look at their life as a whole, and see them as someone who God loves and values, instead of jumping to harsh critique of their lack of insight or failure. This helps in parenting as well as in work and family relationships.

So anyway, back to the Lenten readings. This week one of the readings had to do with anger—entering God’s kingdom violently (John 16:16). Jesus demonstrated that aggression can be holy. He showed that it can provide the energy for us to assert the primacy of love, to cut away all that is not love, to differentiate the important from the trivial, to provide the strength to separate the authentic from the false and pretentious. Martin Smith’s challenge was to recognize the anger that becomes activism. To be open to God’s conversion of my anger into a righteous cause—a cause for love and justice.

When I was working with Spencer (my late husband) in a ministry of racial reconciliation in Jackson, Mississippi, I was not aware of how anger was driving me. As I look back, I realize that resentment and bitterness toward white people (especially southern white people in that setting) fueled my energy for justice and healing. It was a good thing. And along the way, I learned to have compassion and mercy on people who were caught up in the false assumptions and lies of separation and prejudice.

And what I now realize is that the compassion that I feel and demonstrate toward the co-workers, family and friends in my life, is only one side of the coin. What’s missing is the burning in my gut—the indignation at the injustice around me, that stirs me to action and mission. I miss that. I feel the anger, and can eloquently state my opinions, but the words seem an end to themselves.

Thank you, Martin Smith, for reminding me that while showing love and compassion in my ordinary life is a grand part of my personal conversion story, it’s not all the story. And so part of my prayer this Lenten season is that God will continue to open the eyes and ears of my heart to recognize and seize the opportunities to fight against the status quo, to embrace righteous anger, and to make a difference.