Saturday, 12 April

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath.  Do not fret—it leads only to evil. Psalm 37:8

Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger. Ephesians 4:26

Because English is such a rich language, it can sometimes be difficult to gauge when or whether we are angry to the extent that it challenges our faith.

Perhaps the issues which the scripture texts raise are less to do with the degree of our anger but more to do with our justification for responding as we do.  Our Hebrew and Christian scriptures have examples of what is sometimes called ‘righteous anger’ - occasions when assertive and committed responses to an issue raise within us an emotional and spiritual reaction as well as a rational one.  Do we accept that sometimes we are called, as individuals or as communities, to fulfil the role of prophet by expressing God’s anger at actions and decisions which go against our deepest Christian values?

One of the popular hymns written by John Bell and Graham Maule of the Iona Community starts with the line: “Inspired by love and anger, disturbed by grief and pain…”  It is a deeply challenging hymn which challenges us to be angry without sinning.  We are not called to be furious, vengeful, vindictive or destructive: but we are called to respond to poverty, oppression and injustice in a way which is inspired by both love and anger.

To my mind, righteous anger came to the fore quite recently when a number of major churches openly told the government that some of their policies were driving vulnerable people into destitution, despite the government’s contentions to the contrary.  A Christian voice was heard among the political and economic manoeuvrings of secular power, and the voice was angry because of the love that was felt for those who were being victimised.

Philip Jones

Metropolitan Church