Are You Angry?
Field Notes: Rev. C. Richards
September 2020
Psalm 10: 1-6, 12-13 MSG
GOD, are you avoiding me? Where are you when I need you?Full of hot air, the wicked are hot on the trail of the poor.
Trip them up, tangle them up in their fine-tuned plots. The wicked are windbags, the swindlers have foul breath.
The wicked snub GOD, their noses stuck high in the air.Their graffiti are scrawled on the walls: Catch us if you can!" "God is dead." They care nothing for what you think; if you get in their way, they blow you off.
Time to get up, GOD—get moving.The luckless think they're Godforsaken. They wonder why the wicked scorn God and get away with it, Why the wicked are so cocksure they'll never come up for audit. But you know all about it—the contempt, the abuse. I dare to believe that the luckless will get lucky someday in you. You won't let them down: orphans won't be orphans forever.
Are you mad? Are you angry about daily life? The media stokes it. Political parties stoke it.
So many of you tell me you are angry and exhausted. You tell me you are angry that justice is not being served. Angry that the rich are getting richer, angry that the poor can’t get the help they need. You are angry that there seems no end in sight to the Pandemic and all the disagreement and frustration and lethargy it brings. Angry that you’ve lost some family members, or angry that you are in disagreement with your neighbor on whose fault it is that we are stuck in this mess.
Maybe you are angry that your friends and family members are still suffering under racism or hate of one kind or another – hatred based on race, religion, gender, or whatever the flavor of the month. Maybe you are angry that protesters can’t seem to just get along with others.
I bet on some level you are angry, fearful, frustrated, lethargic, and feeling stuck in the middle of a long tunnel of frustration that doesn’t seem to have a clear end.
Where is God right now? How is God acting? How can you look for what God is up to? Are you spending time in prayer or silence, reflection or compassion for you neighbor? Has God abandoned you? Have you abandoned God?
Are you Mario these days? Or maybe Daisy?
In times like this – I find a focus on God’s daily acts in my life is crucial. Time in prayer and listening is crucial. When I slow down and listen for God – I start to see God showing up – in the baptism of a 2 and 3 and 4 year old with all their small friends running around a farm site. I see God in the banter of friends painting the church lobby. God shows up in the encouraging words of church friends to one another. God is present in the hopeful marriage of a faithful young couple. God is smiling as hymns echo off the tree trunks in our newly busy cemeteries at outdoor worship.
God’s presence is a balm to anger. It soothes our tired hearts, eases our tense spirits. Our neighbors may disagree with us, but they are still beloved neighbors. Others may seem foolish or despairing, but our hearts made peaceful by God can love them where they are. Christ’s Peace to you – spend time with him and love your neighbors – especially now, and we will walk with Christ together. -PrCR