Prophets who continue to lead (or end) with their rage have
only half of the message, it seems. They
have the anger but lack the compassion; mere moral positioning and ethical
“answers” are not really the work of conversion… In our times, it is common to
confuse articulate passion with prophetic when it is simply untransformed anger
that will not change anything in the long term or lead us anywhere good.
Any opinion, liberal or conservative, might well be a good
one, but what is its guiding energy and end point?
Richard Rohr,
The Tears of Things
___________________________________________
Sometimes I live in a cloud of rage
Each morning I stare out over the devastation
That is America.
I see power abused,
Wealth mistaken for worthiness
Injustice paraded as justice
I see the victims
their lives torn asunder by
racism and hate
their pain ignored
their very being canceled
and I am angry
And so I scream to the heavens
“God, do something!”
My fingers type out fury
Awash with righteous wrath
I proclaim my disgust with articulate passion
I am, I hope, a truth teller
But where, oh where, is compassion?
I am Jonah, furious that grace and love might fall upon
The objects of my anger
Sulking under a tree at the very thought
That they might be redeemed
I have left no room for compassion
Redemption
Reconciliation
I need to be right
I need to put those “sinners” in their place
I want to see them fall and be humiliated
Alas
God will not join us in that place
Yes!
We need to speak out!
Against injustice and inequity
Yes, we need to act to counter
The works of evil
We need to feed the hungry, clothe the naked
House the homeless,
Welcome the stranger
Fight for justice.
But we must let our God of love
Be Love
We cannot get lost in rage
Ours is a ministry of reconciliation
We cannot allow our frustration and anger
To kill our capacity
To feel the pain and emptiness
The lostness of the oppressors
God does not love any of us because we are good (or right)
God loves us, all of us, because God is good
The God of love is big enough to never give up
On anyone
To never quit seeking, reconciliation and renewal
I do not know how to balance my anger at injustice
And my disdain for the distributors of cruelty
With that unfathomable love
We must go beyond
Our inadequate views of mercy
And let God be God
Or else we will lose our capacity
To sing a redemption song
And that is all we really have
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