Anger

“Be angry,” Paul says, “but do not sin.” Scripture offers a path for us to engage the spiritual practice of anger without engaging in sinful, destructive patterns. Practicing anger as a spiritual discipline means learning to listen to our anger. Anger is a wonderful tool for clarifying our values. We do not get angry about things we do not care about, although it may seem that way on the surface. There is usually a problem under the problem - something that takes aim directly at our sense of self. The famous formulation for God’s nature - “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” - offers an image of holy anger and what it can accomplish. If we have the fortitude to dig deeply into our own anger, we can draw closer to God by learning to align our values with God’s values.