I just started Richard Rohr's The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage, and your message ("Stay angry, stay joyful") fits so perfectly with what he is saying about the prophets. He says first they needed to get angry but then they needed to recognize their anger as an expression of deep sadness and empathy for the condition of the world and humanity. But the prophets "were not just reformers; they were also mystics who were captivated by the wholeness and beauty at the heart of reality at the same time as they were confronting injustice."
Thanks so much for this encouraging message, Sarah. We must have both: the anger that confronts injustice AND the joy that sustains and enlivens us.
So true, the need for anger that confronts, and perhaps scares us at first, and joy to keep smiling and sustains our ever changing balance. It’s hard at first, but fulfilling and rewarding as it keeps our boats from rolling under the tides and times we face.
There is an Australian series A Place to Call Home.
Worth watching just to see greater dynamics in a house hold of differences and the ending was good!
Made near where l live, with actors we grew up with on good old black and white TV.
Off point? No! As it helps to see into lives made and broken and remade. 🥰
Gillian, I *loved* that series! I watched it during the early pandemic and it was addictive! And it really did end in a very satisfying way. You're right, it WAS all about differences: race, ethnicity, gender, class, religion... Thanks for reminding me of that show. Might need to do a re-watch sometime. :-)
Thank you Sarah. As a fellow Enneagram 9 and former Good Christian Lady, I relate to this so much. I am vey angry, but have no idea how to harness or handle the anger. Because I was never “allowed” to be angry, I don’t know how to appropriately express it, so it often comes out unexpected or sideways and I get so embarrassed that I didn’t handle it well. I know I also have a fair share of bitterness as a result.
Will be watching the comments for additional resources about expressing anger in healthy ways.
That's a great reminder: so often our anger comes out sideways when we DON'T know how to handle it. For what it's worth, I've found prayer to be a great place for the full expression of my feelings and then I can come back to the table with that valve release and resetting in my soul so that I can steward it better but I know others have talked about more physical experiences (even ax throwing! my spiritual director is dedicated to her kick boxing routine!) or even Mr. Rogers-esque stuff of banging the piano. I suppose it's finding what works for you.
Thanks for the prompt to think about what might be a good outlet for me. Right now, screaming into the void is my initial thought, but I do know a “stupid walk” as Erin Moon likes to say, does both my body and mind good, so I probably need to consider more physical outlets. And probably therapy.
Two random comments about anger, our own and God's.
I am not naturally an angry person either (it frustrated my siblings. What's the point in getting angry at someone who tips over, lets the anger flow past, and keeps on walking her own meandering way?) But when I was in labor with one of my children—my favorite way to labor was in my glider rocker, singing through those long slow hours—I felt a little surge of irritation at something, and must have expressed it, because my midwife leaned in, looked into my face, and said, "YES. Get angry." And that has stayed with me—anger in some instances is necessary to move us toward parturition.
And God's anger. I've studied His wrath, His judgment, His mercy, His love, His omnipresence. His mercy astounds me. His omnipresence pervades me. His judgment consoles me. His wrath—it wounds me. The more I studied it, the more it wounded me, in ever-deepening layers. I backed out of my studies bleeding, to be honest.
But I keep coming back to this: Of all the attributes of God, His wrath alone is finite. Rev. 15:1. So yes, get angry. But to be godly, do not retain your anger forever.
Bradley Jersak's book, A More Christlike God, really help me understand God's wrath in ways that I'm deeply grateful for. Here's a little nugget from p.196 of the book, I keep in my Notes app: "What have we seen in Scripture and in our experience? First, that God in his love grants authentic freedom to humanity and to the natural (and supernatural) forces of the world. God in his wrath also consents to permit, and not spare, the powerful consequences of these forces to take their course. And so, in the Bible, where we see or hear of God’s wrath, what we actually witness is God’s nonviolent, cruciform consent—the painful results of God letting us have our way."
This is so encouraging. You have put into words what I know to be true and encouraged me to sustain with love the battles I am facing to ensure justice and restoration for people who are marginalised, especially, sadly, within the church. I've had experiences of being told to repent of anger and dismay at unjust situations in the past. It is good to be reminded that those feelings are important signals and motivators to bring about change.
Be angry. Embrace it. Because we SHOULD be angry for all we’ve warned against and witnessed and endured. Thank you for YOUR anger and your voice and your words.
I'm an enneagram 8, so anger is one of those things that I'm deeply comfortable and familiar with. Thank you for prodding me to consider that joy is also something I should be familiar and comfortable with.
Also, "Flip side: I can be a thorn in the side of the enemy and a nuisance to the powers and principalities of our age - and still be joyful."
The trouble I find myself in regarding this is that I tend to be gleeful ABOUT being a nuisance, rather than being joyful AS I do it. I suspect I've got a lot of bitterness to erase.
Your words were an answer to pray for me. I have been going to therapy for over two years now. It is somatic therapy so it can get intense in a safe way. My last session, I told my therapist, through tears, I am so angry, but I am afraid to be angry because anger is bad. I have always believed that anger is a sin and my father was abusive so I have been so afraid that if I let my anger out, I will be like him. My therapist told me that anger is healthy and gave me some tools to help get the anger unstuck. Today, I did my first lick boxing circuit class and I signed up to be a member. Wearing the gloves and hitting and kicking things felt good and it is good for me too! I have also been a person who is afraid to let joy in, to trust that it will last and not turn into something horrible. I loved what you said, “ Your job is to learn to steward your anger in partnership with Love and hope and even”. Thank you, Sarah!
Cori, I just want to tell you how brave and faithful I think you are to be doing this good work! It isn't easy to keep showing up for healing and you're doing it! Woman of valour!
This eternal optimist has been feeling deflated as of late because of ::waves hand around:: all of it. But I am angry enough to speak up when people state falsehoods (in person, I can’t even with online debates), and I’ve been also seeking out the joy that usually just falls into my lap. Nature, family moments, my puppy baby, etc.
Trying to walk the balance of being informed, but not overwhelmed. And using that holy anger to stand up for those who didn’t happen to be born into the privileged position that I did. (Straight fair-skinned lady, raised in the church.)(Some of my joy comes with other older pale ladies lean in with a conspiratorial tone and I kindly disagree and lay down truth bombs. Their shock is my joy.)
Yes! We are on a Divine mission to allow our anger to activate us to seek wisdom on how to reduce harm and speak for those harmed. As a 9, I'm interested in peacemaking and that means fighting for justice in this unjust system.
“Anger is our holy starting point, sure, but it is Love who sustains the passion and directs it into life-giving transformation.”
I love this - thank you for the reminder that we need to come back to love. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how you talked about knowing what we stand for in Field notes for the Wilderness and it has helped shape my own thoughts about what’s happening in the world right now. As “Christians” we should be known for the good - for the love that we show others not for the lifestyle choices and social identities that we’re against.
Thank you! I needed this today. I also am reading Rohr’s book, The Tears of Things, and find it very good. The spirit is working to join us together to fight the injustices that unchecked Power is doing. These are very trying times, but we can stand up to tyranny and let our voices be heard, together we are stronger and we are not alone.
I was SO ANGRY for a long time. Rage!!!! I couldn’t understand myself. I now believe because I was so depressed and I was so busy pretending that I was a happy Christian that my depression came out in anger. Ah - then the guilt of not behaving fed the depression. A terrible cycle. I got a lot of help ♥️ Knowing ourselves and our anger is a powerful path forward. Finding the intersection of joy and anger can be about purpose. Check your anger triggers and actions. There can be joy there but anger might also be the smoke detector telling you something else is very, very wrong.
I think for women, our anger is often because of our depression or sadness or grief. You are not alone in that and that's a good caution, Melanie, thank you!
You are the actual best Sarah! I’ve been waiting for you to start speaking to these times, knowing that it would be worth it when you do. Thank you for your prayers and discernment and your voice speaking how to sustain life in these times. I know the Bible has lots to say about living under oppression, so trying to take hope that I can hold joy and resistance at the same time.
Thank you for such a thoughtful and inspiring piece. I love your message: feel the anger, find the love. There is such a weight and momentum of injustice, it feels like an avalanche. It’s been on my heart to speak on Jesus & the call to holy resistance: how we can keep open eyes, open heart, learn and act. It’s easy to fall to overwhelm or indifference.. I have the chance to preach on this, this Sunday and I hope God will give me grace to challenge and encourage my church family.
I just started Richard Rohr's The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage, and your message ("Stay angry, stay joyful") fits so perfectly with what he is saying about the prophets. He says first they needed to get angry but then they needed to recognize their anger as an expression of deep sadness and empathy for the condition of the world and humanity. But the prophets "were not just reformers; they were also mystics who were captivated by the wholeness and beauty at the heart of reality at the same time as they were confronting injustice."
Thanks so much for this encouraging message, Sarah. We must have both: the anger that confronts injustice AND the joy that sustains and enlivens us.
Whew, that's a good word, Jeannie! Thanks for sharing it. I've added that new book to my library queue, too.
I just bought this book today and I am excited to dive in and follow along in the podcast!
I'm really liking it so far - taking lots of notes!
So true, the need for anger that confronts, and perhaps scares us at first, and joy to keep smiling and sustains our ever changing balance. It’s hard at first, but fulfilling and rewarding as it keeps our boats from rolling under the tides and times we face.
There is an Australian series A Place to Call Home.
Worth watching just to see greater dynamics in a house hold of differences and the ending was good!
Made near where l live, with actors we grew up with on good old black and white TV.
Off point? No! As it helps to see into lives made and broken and remade. 🥰
Gillian, I *loved* that series! I watched it during the early pandemic and it was addictive! And it really did end in a very satisfying way. You're right, it WAS all about differences: race, ethnicity, gender, class, religion... Thanks for reminding me of that show. Might need to do a re-watch sometime. :-)
Yes!! Oh yes, Sarah. As you write “Our task now is to learn how to steward our anger well.” ‘And without bitterness.’ Bravo!
Thank you Sarah. As a fellow Enneagram 9 and former Good Christian Lady, I relate to this so much. I am vey angry, but have no idea how to harness or handle the anger. Because I was never “allowed” to be angry, I don’t know how to appropriately express it, so it often comes out unexpected or sideways and I get so embarrassed that I didn’t handle it well. I know I also have a fair share of bitterness as a result.
Will be watching the comments for additional resources about expressing anger in healthy ways.
That's a great reminder: so often our anger comes out sideways when we DON'T know how to handle it. For what it's worth, I've found prayer to be a great place for the full expression of my feelings and then I can come back to the table with that valve release and resetting in my soul so that I can steward it better but I know others have talked about more physical experiences (even ax throwing! my spiritual director is dedicated to her kick boxing routine!) or even Mr. Rogers-esque stuff of banging the piano. I suppose it's finding what works for you.
Thanks for the prompt to think about what might be a good outlet for me. Right now, screaming into the void is my initial thought, but I do know a “stupid walk” as Erin Moon likes to say, does both my body and mind good, so I probably need to consider more physical outlets. And probably therapy.
Two random comments about anger, our own and God's.
I am not naturally an angry person either (it frustrated my siblings. What's the point in getting angry at someone who tips over, lets the anger flow past, and keeps on walking her own meandering way?) But when I was in labor with one of my children—my favorite way to labor was in my glider rocker, singing through those long slow hours—I felt a little surge of irritation at something, and must have expressed it, because my midwife leaned in, looked into my face, and said, "YES. Get angry." And that has stayed with me—anger in some instances is necessary to move us toward parturition.
And God's anger. I've studied His wrath, His judgment, His mercy, His love, His omnipresence. His mercy astounds me. His omnipresence pervades me. His judgment consoles me. His wrath—it wounds me. The more I studied it, the more it wounded me, in ever-deepening layers. I backed out of my studies bleeding, to be honest.
But I keep coming back to this: Of all the attributes of God, His wrath alone is finite. Rev. 15:1. So yes, get angry. But to be godly, do not retain your anger forever.
Bradley Jersak's book, A More Christlike God, really help me understand God's wrath in ways that I'm deeply grateful for. Here's a little nugget from p.196 of the book, I keep in my Notes app: "What have we seen in Scripture and in our experience? First, that God in his love grants authentic freedom to humanity and to the natural (and supernatural) forces of the world. God in his wrath also consents to permit, and not spare, the powerful consequences of these forces to take their course. And so, in the Bible, where we see or hear of God’s wrath, what we actually witness is God’s nonviolent, cruciform consent—the painful results of God letting us have our way."
I was just about to make the same recommendation, Felicia! I found that a great, resetting look at the "wrath" of God.
This is so encouraging. You have put into words what I know to be true and encouraged me to sustain with love the battles I am facing to ensure justice and restoration for people who are marginalised, especially, sadly, within the church. I've had experiences of being told to repent of anger and dismay at unjust situations in the past. It is good to be reminded that those feelings are important signals and motivators to bring about change.
Be angry. Embrace it. Because we SHOULD be angry for all we’ve warned against and witnessed and endured. Thank you for YOUR anger and your voice and your words.
I'm an enneagram 8, so anger is one of those things that I'm deeply comfortable and familiar with. Thank you for prodding me to consider that joy is also something I should be familiar and comfortable with.
Also, "Flip side: I can be a thorn in the side of the enemy and a nuisance to the powers and principalities of our age - and still be joyful."
The trouble I find myself in regarding this is that I tend to be gleeful ABOUT being a nuisance, rather than being joyful AS I do it. I suspect I've got a lot of bitterness to erase.
That's very self-aware, Stephanie, thanks for sharing that!
Your words were an answer to pray for me. I have been going to therapy for over two years now. It is somatic therapy so it can get intense in a safe way. My last session, I told my therapist, through tears, I am so angry, but I am afraid to be angry because anger is bad. I have always believed that anger is a sin and my father was abusive so I have been so afraid that if I let my anger out, I will be like him. My therapist told me that anger is healthy and gave me some tools to help get the anger unstuck. Today, I did my first lick boxing circuit class and I signed up to be a member. Wearing the gloves and hitting and kicking things felt good and it is good for me too! I have also been a person who is afraid to let joy in, to trust that it will last and not turn into something horrible. I loved what you said, “ Your job is to learn to steward your anger in partnership with Love and hope and even”. Thank you, Sarah!
Cori, I just want to tell you how brave and faithful I think you are to be doing this good work! It isn't easy to keep showing up for healing and you're doing it! Woman of valour!
This eternal optimist has been feeling deflated as of late because of ::waves hand around:: all of it. But I am angry enough to speak up when people state falsehoods (in person, I can’t even with online debates), and I’ve been also seeking out the joy that usually just falls into my lap. Nature, family moments, my puppy baby, etc.
Trying to walk the balance of being informed, but not overwhelmed. And using that holy anger to stand up for those who didn’t happen to be born into the privileged position that I did. (Straight fair-skinned lady, raised in the church.)(Some of my joy comes with other older pale ladies lean in with a conspiratorial tone and I kindly disagree and lay down truth bombs. Their shock is my joy.)
"informed, but not overwhelmed" is a whole spiritual practice these days, isn't it? So glad you shared this.
It is, indeed. 💕
Yes! We are on a Divine mission to allow our anger to activate us to seek wisdom on how to reduce harm and speak for those harmed. As a 9, I'm interested in peacemaking and that means fighting for justice in this unjust system.
“Anger is our holy starting point, sure, but it is Love who sustains the passion and directs it into life-giving transformation.”
I love this - thank you for the reminder that we need to come back to love. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how you talked about knowing what we stand for in Field notes for the Wilderness and it has helped shape my own thoughts about what’s happening in the world right now. As “Christians” we should be known for the good - for the love that we show others not for the lifestyle choices and social identities that we’re against.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Thank you! I needed this today. I also am reading Rohr’s book, The Tears of Things, and find it very good. The spirit is working to join us together to fight the injustices that unchecked Power is doing. These are very trying times, but we can stand up to tyranny and let our voices be heard, together we are stronger and we are not alone.
I was SO ANGRY for a long time. Rage!!!! I couldn’t understand myself. I now believe because I was so depressed and I was so busy pretending that I was a happy Christian that my depression came out in anger. Ah - then the guilt of not behaving fed the depression. A terrible cycle. I got a lot of help ♥️ Knowing ourselves and our anger is a powerful path forward. Finding the intersection of joy and anger can be about purpose. Check your anger triggers and actions. There can be joy there but anger might also be the smoke detector telling you something else is very, very wrong.
I think for women, our anger is often because of our depression or sadness or grief. You are not alone in that and that's a good caution, Melanie, thank you!
You are the actual best Sarah! I’ve been waiting for you to start speaking to these times, knowing that it would be worth it when you do. Thank you for your prayers and discernment and your voice speaking how to sustain life in these times. I know the Bible has lots to say about living under oppression, so trying to take hope that I can hold joy and resistance at the same time.
Thank you for such a thoughtful and inspiring piece. I love your message: feel the anger, find the love. There is such a weight and momentum of injustice, it feels like an avalanche. It’s been on my heart to speak on Jesus & the call to holy resistance: how we can keep open eyes, open heart, learn and act. It’s easy to fall to overwhelm or indifference.. I have the chance to preach on this, this Sunday and I hope God will give me grace to challenge and encourage my church family.
Prayers for your words!