ANGER MANAGEMENT & TRUE CONFESSIONS

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,

But only what is helpful for building up others according to their needs,

That it may benefit those who listen.

  

                              ~ Ephesians 4:29

            I’ll start right off with the confession:  I’ve been feeling a lot of anger lately.  Mostly it has to do with a ridiculous series of events related to my work involving (in my view) a serious injustice.  Of particular significance for this blog, my anger and lack of patience are spilling out of the workplace, and making me angry and impatient about things relating to animals and the lack of things I see and hear from the church relating to animals.  How can people continue to do X, I stomp about wondering, and why won’t the church speak up about Y?

            Now, my clients are excited that I am angry at work because they want me to fight for them.  But I worry about being, shall we say, too truthful about my views with the wrong people, with unhelpful repercussions.  Similarly, when I think about how to convince the church of the importance of engaging on the topics of animal suffering and how human responsibility for that suffering impacts us theologically, I worry these days about being a little too forthcoming; I forget that what seems utterly self-evident to me now never occurred to me at all until just a few years ago.  Unmanaged anger is almost never constructive, and usually hurts us more than the object of our fury.  

          
  So it was a great blessing to me on a recent Sunday at the National Cathedral to hear the Rev. Cannon Gina Campbell preach about anger, using the day’s reading from Ephesians 4:26-35.  I expect I am not alone in dealing with anger regarding how we, as a society, treat animals; nor am I likely the one one dealing with frustration, at a minimum, that we don’t hear more (or anything) about it from the pulpit, with the result that big game hunters quote the Bible to defend their slaughter of innocents, Christians respond to vegans with the quip, “God gave us the animals to eat; that’s what dominion means,” and churches see no harm in holding pig wrestling contests or giving away chicks covered in dye for Easter.  Anger is a two-edged sword; it can move us to constructive action or to destructive name-calling.  Learning how to channel and manage anger is key to effective advocacy as well as Christian living.  As usual, scripture is helpful here and Ephesians has much to teach us about living in community.  Rev. Campbell explains how.  (The full text of her sermon is here; I commend it to your attention.)

            “Anger has power; the potential to destroy love, to kill relationships, and every lovely thing. An ill-timed word or a malicious act can break even the strongest bond,” she said; yet, anger is not all bad: “Anger arises as an invitation to—and the energy for—action. God intends truthful anger for healing, unity, and newness.”  But how do we get past the anger that destroys to the anger that heals? The first step is learning to recognize when our “pithy comebacks” are maybe not what God intends:  “Any inclination to use our anger to serve self-interest, to soothe injured pride, to support personal peevishness, calls us to mature in prayer, in humility, in truth; lest we grieve the Spirit of God.”  Rev. Campbell reminds us that Paul urges us to speak the truth, responsibly rather than self-indulgently: “That means no denying or repressing our anger.  No ‘just getting it off our chest’ or ‘letting it all out’ without discerning thought, concern for facts, examining our part in things. No going passive with our aggression.”  And finally, “To use our anger in life-giving ways requires awareness and thoughtfulness. We of the clenched fists, the pounding pulse, the pumping adrenaline, seek in our prayer to choose a fight worthy of God.”

            I believe that the fight to end factory farming and animal testing and puppy mills and fur farms and animals as circus props, collectors’ items, or other objects of human adornment or amusement is “a fight worthy of God.”  I also believe, as Professor David Clough has so eloquently said, “The animal question is a properly theological one in the sense that it raises and illuminates issues concerning the adequacy and coherence of Christian doctrine in the areas of trinity, creation, covenant, incarnation, atonement, eschatology, Christology, pneumatology, and beyond.”  (On Animals, Vol. I, Systematic Theology).  Professor William Greenway put it this way in a recent interview: "I argue that awakening to love not only for all people, but also for all creatures, is an essential aspect of awakening to the grace of God. Love for all creatures is not marginal, some sort of theological add-on, but is intrinsic to faithful understanding of divine grace."  I believe a right and compassionate relationship with all animals is fundamental to who we are created to be, and as long as we are silent on these issues as people of God, then we are failing in fundamental ways and we will pay a personal and a community price for it. 

            So, having been called from my stew of irritation and impatience, having been reminded to breathe, to pray, and to put down my weapons, I will seek ways to be constructive at work and in the Christian community.  I will remember that the work situation will pass, whether my view prevails or not, and that the struggle for justice – whether for humans or animals - can take generations.  While my heart breaks for the misery of animals suffering needlessly today for human pride, greed, and gluttony, I will take heart in the considerable progress being made by secular animal activists, the remarkable number of books relating to animals and theology that have recently been published, and the increasing awareness among theological scholars of the issue of animal welfare.[1]  In time, surely, it will percolate to the pews and the pulpits from the streets and the scholarly writings.  After all, what we are talking about, although thoroughly grounded in traditional Christian scripture and theology and with a long history of quiet voices within the church, really is a new perspective – one that requires real change in people’s behaviors.  It will take time for this perspective to gain traction, and forcing change at too great a speed, I work hard to remember, is to risk pushing our communities even further away.  Rev. Campbell said, “Paul’s desire for life as God’s beloved community proves all that matters: a life as a new creation in Christ made possible in our baptism, a life as one people—one body—forever bound, forever joined, one to another; a life quickened by the Holy Spirit, rooted in a common ethic, marked by kindness, tenderness, forgiveness, and love.”  One day, soon, I hope, that “common ethic, marked by kindness, tenderness, forgiveness, and love” will extend to the animals, who were commended to our care at creation and who are so utterly at our mercy. 

            In the meantime, here is a Franciscan blessing to urge us on our way (with a few edits to remind us that all our fellow animals, like us, suffer pain, fear, and loneliness and long for freedom, companionship, peace, and joy, and that they, too, deserve justice):

May God bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that we may live deep within our hearts.

May God bless us with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of [any of God’s creatures], so that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, hunger, and war, so that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in this world, so that we can do what others claim cannot be done, to bring justice and kindness to all [God’s creatures]. 

Photo credits:
Anger illustration by Ron Leishman
Seal: Humane Society of the United States
Warthogs: David Wye

---

[1] I have given countless copies of Matthew Scully’s Dominion: The Power Of Man, The Suffering Of Animals, And The Call To Mercy to clergy because for a long time it was (in my view) easily the most powerful book out there on animal welfare from a Christian perspective.  More recently, I donated a copy of David Clough’s On Animals, Volume I: Systematic Theology to my seminary.  Now there are so many really excellent books on animals and theology, I could go bankrupt stocking the shelves of clergy I meet with good reading material.   You may also recall from a few posts ago that David Clough reports a growing interest in academia on the subject of animals as a subject of theological inquiry.  And speaking of new books, I have updated my Resources page to add  some recent publications on Animals and Theology as well as a new book on animal sentience.  I must confess I haven’t yet read all the new additions, but I wanted to let people know they are out there.