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.
​
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.
​
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.
​
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.
​
These people together make a congregation, and the congregation therefore must engage in two ways, addressing our anger.
​
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.
​
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.
​
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

Here is a poem offered during my clergy support group. I think it says what I'm trying to say, with many fewer words, and more poetically.
Compassion is resistance.
Kindness is resistance.
Connection is resistance.
Community is resistance.
Solidarity is resistance.
Generosity is resistance.
Education is resistance.
Truth telling is resistance.
Hope is resistance.
Joy is resistance.
Laughter is resistance.
Peace is resistance.
Above all, love is resistance.
-Nicole Kontra

Get Angry, Maybe. 1 of 3.
If you aren't angry you aren't paying attention! I wrote an earlier blog post on this idea, but it is on my mind again. Jesus got angry, they say, and it makes sense for us to get angry too.
​To which I say: Maybe.
Angry Jesus shows up in the temple market. In Mark he drives out the sales people and turns over the tables. In Luke (19:45-47) and Matthew (21:12-13) the focus is on the space being a house of prayer for all. Mark (11:15-18) adds that it should not be a den of thieves. He turns tables in some, and drives out the vendors in others.
Lets look at the John's version:

John 2:14-16 In the temple Jesus found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, with the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”

The whip, only found in John, is in all the pictures in the children's books. Jesus looks really angry. The synoptics allow us to spiritualize this story, with the emphasis on the Temple as a house of prayer, but we must not forget that the Temple is where people paid their tax to the local government, and where records of their debts are held. Jesus' anger in John's version is about the marketplace, but the purpose of that market was not to get dinner, but to get your offering converted to a form acceptable to the religious leaders. And the religious leaders were the local government. This was a protest at the statehouse.

We hear nothing of the consequences of this action; well nothing except the decision of the authorities to stop Jesus. (We shouldn’t downplay that as bad. He got publicity for his action and that made people think.) I still wonder were any debts relieved? Were taxes more honestly levied? Did the government become more focused on meeting the needs of the poor? Did readers of this text use it as motivation to care for money in just ways?

And yet here we are two thousand (or so) years later imagining Jesus making whips out of cords and flipping over tables. We use it as our permission to get angry, and to act on that anger to engage in violence overthrow of injustice.

It does set some criteria for acting in anger. Most important the violence is against things and not against people. And even there, the marketers product is not destroyed, only removed. The tables are flipped, making a mess, but not smashed to smithereens. And the sales people themselves are not whipped, they are lectured on the importance of the space.

Jesus never presumes that bad actors cannot change. He always offers words--often cryptic words--for them to mull over in the days and weeks and months to come. In the big picture of the gospels we come away with the idea that Jesus hopes that they will understand that “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:15).


INTERESTING LINK
Nadia Bolz-Weber is starting a Red State Revival and would love to come to a location near you. She says:
"Because first and foremost, this is not the moment to concede the Christian faith to nationalists. Nor is it the moment to double down on things that don’t work."

Church is sometimes a refuge, a place to hide from the chaos around us. In fact sometimes, when the going gets tough, we use the church as a place to hide. For the most part, my advice to churches is this: don’t hide!

But for some LGBTQ+ people, the danger is significant. For trans youth it is especially awful, and for all trans people the situation is bad. And right now the prospects for a worsening situation seems possible.

For people who are afraid, church should be a refuge.

In one of the more bizarre stories of the New Testament, the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40) is wondering about what a text in Isaiah means, and Phillip appears to explain. What is bizarre is not that identity as Ethiopian, nor Eunuch, but that Phillip disappears into thin air at the end of the encounter. “The spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away” (v. 39). (Honestly the image of Philip running alongside the chariot is weird as well!)

What is not bizarre in the first century context is that when this person says “what is to keep me from being baptized” (v. 36). Philip doesn’t even ask more questions. He just does the baptism, on the spot. Some ancient authorities have added some reassurance that he believed the good news, but there is nothing asking about his sexuality, his gender identity, nor his views on any number of Christian theologies.

In 1930 the first transgender magazine started in Germany. In 1933 Hitler became Chancellor and began re-enforcing traditional gender roles. Trans organizations were attacked, some people were forced to de-transition, and many were sent to what were to become concentration camps. The government was particularly concerned with people who were identified as male at birth.

Today, our government is again attacking people who are trans. Again, there is a particular obsession with those identified as male at birth. This will hurt real people and is part of intention to enforce traditional gender roles. Both the tirades against trans women in sports, and trans youth getting medical services they need are about very few individuals. This is a set-up for turning our society against a group of people who just want to live their lives as who they really are.

For people who are afraid, church should be a refuge.

Our buildings need to be safe places, and in some circumstances, secret places for people at risk to gather. We should be funding organizations that help trans and other queer people. We need to be public in our support of people who are trans, and yet make space for people to keep their identity private if they choose. Some trans people need help finding a way to move to safer towns or states. Others need a place to meet each other.
For people who are afraid, church should be a refuge.
​
​Subscribe to get Act! Be Church Now blog posts sent to your email. 

What you can do:

If your community is up for community organizing, is our city or town ready to become a sanctuary for Trans people? Worcester Massachusetts is not the first place I expected that to happen, and yet, some people got together to make it happen. 
If you’d like help creating a safe gathering place, you can contact the people at The Lighthouse. They are located in Florida but are helping churches in any state.

If you’d like to help families relocate and/or to make sure people can get the gender affirming care they need, check out Pink Haven.  

The United States was once considered a safe place to immigrate for LGBTQIA+ individuals living in especially dangerous countries. The LGBT Asylum Project in Worcester, MA has been helping those refugees. They especially need your financial help now. 

Subscribe to receive these Act! Be Church Now posts in your email