Braving the World: Honoring Anger, Embodying Nonviolence

Nothing changes, if nothing changes

Dear Substack Community: I have been living with a lot of anger this week; maybe you have, too! I decided to write on honoring our anger AND embodying nonviolence. Here are my thoughts. Feel free to share it out with folks who are curious!

Remember, relationships move at the pace of trust, and those of us who have anxiety or despair, we fundamentally don’t trust our environment. I am one of those people.

We are all doing the best we can right now. Let us nurture the visible and invisible ecologies of our world! Let’s be the people who speak truth and embody wisdom.

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Photo by Nsey Benajah on Unsplash

Sermon Title: Braving the World: Honoring Anger, Embodying Nonviolence

Scripture Readings:

• Matthew 21:12-13

• Ephesians 4:26-27

This week, I’ve had countless conversations with people in the church and in the community who are terrified and angry. I find myself angry, too!

I am angry that the ruling class continues to compromise my and our futures.

With a stroke of a pen, federal agencies were to pause payments that would impact my ability to receive healthcare or buy food. You see, Erin and I are one of those people who are “on the system.” And, with the executive orders that have been made public will impact our ability to flourish in New York. Gratefully, New York is a sanctuary state, but I know not all systems can be trusted.

I’ve been sitting with my anger and fear. I’ve been wondering how do we really build a community that flourishes?

Federal agencies will not be celebrating Black History Month this year. I learned this on Tuesday, January 28, a sacred day for me as it is Erin’s birthday. I held both the joy for her existence in this time and place and the sadness and despair and anger that the very people who built the White House were property owned by Slaveholding White People and the Ruling Class.

What shall we do with our anger?

How do we learn from our anger?

My therapist tells me that anger means you matter and that you might need to strengthen boundaries. Anger teaches us. We can sometimes feel anger in our bodies. Anger is more than an emotion; it has a somatic quality to it.

Where do you feel your anger?

Anger has caused some people to display violence, like the January 6th riot at the Capital. Political violence and state violence is rooted in anger and an inability to steward a non oppositional political imagination. (Repeat that sentence)

What shall we do with our individual and collective anger?

Last summer, y’all sent me off to walk the Camino de Santiago for my continuing education and professional development. I traveled with a group of Presbyterian pastors.

We walked every day. We did yoga together on occasion. We shared rooms together. We were in each other’s space all the time. We walked alone at times and then at other times, we walked in pairs or larger groups.

Some of us couldn’t walk the entire 15 miles that was charted out for the day, so we supported each other and found benches and taxis and busses to help carry each other along the Way. Sometimes, that was me who needed to be carried.

My brain catastrophizes, due to living with complex PTSD and being on the autism spectrum. So, when I was alone on the Camino and my knee and leg started to hurt, my brain started to play tricks on me. I also live with anxiety, which means I don’t trust my environment or my surroundings. It’s an orientation to the world; and, it at times has paralyzed me.

I now find anxiety a means of grace reminding me to stop and breathe; feel my feet on the ground.

I love where we live. I love that I can walk outside and not be scared that someone will hurt me.

I love the chore of trying to remove the 4 inches of ice on my front deck with my snow shovel that Zach Hamm gave me!

I have come to trust this place. This wooded and vast area of Western NY, which was home to the Spiritualist movement is alive! Thank you, Tim Nichols for suggesting that book to me!

Our land is alive with the energetic folds of past, present, and future becomings.

In my continued study to become a theologian , I continue to ask this question:

To what extent do the teachings, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus shape my convictions?

What do I do with my anger? Can I compost my anger into peace?

Can we truly build the beloved community? Do you want that to materialize in Alfred?

We live in a violent culture, and so many of our ways of being in the world has justified violence; whether it is against children, women, or men, our ways of being in the world justifies interpersonal and collective violence.

We now are facing State terror and State sponsored violence. All of us, no matter how we voted. We all will live the consequences of the politics that are emerging. And, no matter how we vote, whether we are affiliated or not with the right political party, I think we should be angry that not more people are not curious about a way of peace.

Church decline continues and we should be aware of that, but what if church decline was because we have accommodated comfort, instead of talking about sin?

Liberals and Progressives never want to talk about sin.

Why are we trying to approximate community when we are full of rage and anger?

Opening Reflection

Friends, as we gather today, let us sit with that very word that may feel uncomfortable: anger. For many of us, anger has been a forbidden feeling, a sign of losing control or failing to embody grace. And yet, anger is woven into the very heart of our faith story—not as a destructive force, but as a catalyst for justice. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in his final book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, wrestled deeply with anger. He wrote, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

In those times, King’s anger was clear. He called out the white moderates who valued order over justice, whose passivity in the face of oppression upheld systems of harm. And yet, King’s anger did not lead him to violence. Instead, he held fast to a vision of the beloved community, a world where justice, peace, and dignity are embodied realities—not abstract ideals but tangible ways of living.

Today, we explore what it means to honor our anger as a sacred gift while embodying the radical nonviolence that creates beloved community.

Honoring Anger

1. Biblical Foundation: Righteous Anger

Let us begin with Jesus in the temple. Picture the scene: tables overturned, coins scattered, shouts ringing out. Jesus’ anger in Matthew 21:12-13 is not a moment of uncontrolled rage but a deliberate response to exploitation. The temple, meant to be a house of prayer, had become a den of robbers. Jesus’ actions were fueled by a love for justice and a refusal to tolerate systems that harmed the vulnerable.

This is righteous anger. It is the fire that burns against oppression and calls us to action. And Scripture gives us permission to feel this anger: “Be angry, and do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26). Anger itself is not the problem; it’s what we do with it that matters.

1. Dr. King’s Prophetic Anger

Dr. King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail offers a modern example of righteous anger. In it, he speaks directly to white moderates who criticized the civil rights movement for being “untimely” and “disruptive.” King’s anger is palpable: “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.”

But King’s anger did not lead him to despair. Instead, it fueled his commitment to nonviolence. He channeled his frustration into a vision for a world where all people could thrive together. His anger was not about destruction but transformation.

1. The Gift of Anger

Anger is a gift, beloved. It alerts us to injustice and calls us to courage. It is a companion to bravery when held with discernment. But anger, like fire, must be tended carefully. Left unchecked, it consumes. Directed with care, it becomes light and warmth, guiding us toward justice.

Embodying Nonviolence

1. Nonviolence as Strength

Nonviolence is often misunderstood as weakness. But as King’s life shows, it requires immense strength. Nonviolence begins with the belief that every person, even those who perpetuate harm, is worthy of redemption. It refuses to humiliate opponents but seeks to win their friendship and understanding. This is moral bravery—to confront injustice with love, even when it is costly.

Dr. King outlined six principles of nonviolence. Among them is the idea that nonviolence is not passive but a force for transformation. It resists both physical violence and the violence of hatred. It is a way of being that embodies the beloved community here and now.

1. Practical Practices for Nonviolence

How do we embody nonviolence in our lives?

• Name the Injustice: When anger rises, take a moment to name what has stirred it. Is it a broken system? An act of harm? Naming helps us focus our energy on the root cause.

• Ground in Prayer or Contemplation: Before acting, ground yourself in God’s presence. Pray, breathe, or reflect to move from reaction to response.

• Take Creative Action: Find ways to address the injustice constructively. Write a letter, organize a gathering, create art, or march for change. Let your actions embody the beloved community.

Braving the World

1. Courage to Confront

Braving the world means confronting systems of harm with courage. Consider Greta Thunberg, whose anger at climate inaction has mobilized millions. Her words are sharp, her actions bold, but her vision is clear: a world where all life can flourish. This is anger transformed into love for the earth and its people.

1. Beloved Community as Embodied Reality

The beloved community is not a distant dream; it is an embodied reality. It is felt in the way we treat one another, in the systems we build, in the spaces we create. It is the church as a living witness to God’s justice and peace. When we honor our anger and channel it into nonviolence, we become the hands and feet of Christ, bringing the beloved community into the world.

Closing Call to Action

Beloved, let us honor our anger. Let it be a teacher, a guide, a fire that calls us to action. But let us also embody nonviolence, choosing courage over fear, justice over vengeance, love over hate. In this way, we live into the vision of the beloved community, where God’s justice and peace dwell among us.

Let us pray: God of justice and peace, ignite within us the courage to confront injustice with love. Help us honor our anger and channel it into actions that heal and transform. May we embody your vision of the beloved community, living as witnesses to your grace in the world. Amen.