Constructive and Destructive Anger (2 of 3)

What I want out of the story of Jesus in the Temple is justification for my anger. I take up anger really easily, it is my go-to emotion. And it eats me up inside. And does nothing good for the world.
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Destructive anger is the thing we hold onto when the world feels out of our control. It is when we are still angry a month, and two months, and year after the event. The problem with destructive anger is that the person it destroys is me. It does not hurt the person or system that we are angry with. The solution to destructive anger is to find things in our ordinary lives that are good. I recommend the podcast Hidden Brain for more on overcoming destructive anger.
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But in this time, when more and more things are happening, and we are newly angry every morning or evening when we read or hear the news, we need to figure out constructive anger. This anger is good for us. Constructive anger is what we use to process the story of what has happened. Anger we use to motivate us to action. Anger we aim at leaders and not at the masses that follow.
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As a church, as a group, right now we have the challenge that many people are angry (and afraid, but that’s another blog!) Each person’s anger is tied into their own story. For those that have lots of leftover destructive anger—at anything—this new anger just feeds into it. It eats at the soul. And sitting next to them in the pew is someone who’s dealing with a brand new anger. And another person is just angry about one of the things and has no space for all of the other things. Still another cannot release the enormity of all of the things to even see the details. And still others have shut off the news, or are just the sort of person who thinks everything will come out all right.
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These people together make a congregation, and the congregation therefore must engage in two ways, addressing our anger.
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We need help letting go of the destructive anger. To do this we must acknowledge our inability to change others, to change the past, and our limited ability to change our government. Through lament, crying out, naming our pain, we begin letting go. We must follow that with spiritual disciplines that ground us in what is beautiful, meaningful, and loving in our lives.
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And we need help finding constructive uses for our anger. As a congregation we must discern some action that we con do, and can point to, as our hope that we are making some small difference. We must also take a break from action and look for what is around us that we can appreciate. Name something that we love about each other, spend time appreciating some art in our sanctuary, settle into some music that heals us. And then do an action that makes a difference. Now is the time to be overly gracious, excessively thankful, now is the time to speak kind words to someone who worships with you.
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Church must be a place that we can be angry. It must also be a place where we let go of the angry that is destroying us, and use our anger to construct something better.​​

Interesting Link!
Polly Plum has taken the idea of knitting or crocheting prayer shawls in an interesting new direction: Rage Wraps. Here's a constructive use for your anger!
Creating Rage Wraps

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