Daily Lesson for June 5, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson is from Ephesians 4 verse 26:

"Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger."

"Be angry" - wow what a surprising word.  And what a liberating one.

Anger is a natural human response to disappointment, injustice and abuse. There is no way to go through life without getting angry, and we ought not be ashamed of ourselves when we do.  Anger happens; and clearly today's lesson encourages us to go ahead and recognize our anger rather than trying to suppress or deny it.

At the same time, today's lesson also tells us to go ahead and do something with our anger - to acknowledge and express it in a positive and constructive way, rather than allowing it to build up inside of us.  When we are angry, we need to speak it;  we especially need to speak it to those whom we are angry with.  If we do not then the anger inside of us only boils more until finally we explode.  Usually, this explosion ends up hurting whoever happens to be present at the time and may or may not be directed at those who we are most angry at.  That's when we come home from work and kick the dog because we won't tell our boss we think we've been mistreated. 

Sometimes, however, we simply aren't in a position to do much to address the wrongs which are the source of our anger.  This is when learning to pray the Serenity Prayer is of immense aid as it helps us to remember that there are some things we simply cannot change; we have to accept that about this world.  At the same time, however, the Serenity Prayer also opens us to thinking creatively about how things could be changed if we had the courage to address them. Prayer and meditation allow us to be honest about our feelings with God and open us to new possibilities for righting wrongs - even when doing so may take years or even decades.

Jesus said, "You have heard it said, 'Do not murder.' But I say to you do not even be angry."  My interpretation of that is not that Jesus meant we should never feel an ounce of anger.  For anger is natural and surely it was anger at an abusive religious system that provoked him to cleanse the Temple.  Rather, I think what Jesus meant is for us not to become anger itself - not to let it seep into the pours of our own being. And the only way I know to keep it from doing that is to let it come out.