Speaker 1: God throws stones.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the commons cast. We're glad to have you here. We hope you find something meaningful in our teaching this week. Head to commons.church for more information.
Speaker 1: Hey, everyone. We are so glad to have you with us in the livestream today. If we haven't met, I'm Bobby, and I'm one of the pastors here at Commons. Now while I would trade, like, anything really to be back together with you at our parishes in Kensington and Inglewood. I am so proud of the work our community has done to practice social distancing to keep each other as healthy as humanly possible.
Hats off to you. You are heroes. You give up a lot for the greater good. But I'm sure you haven't always felt like a hero though. Maybe you felt impatient or frustrated and agitated.
Maybe you've felt a mix of sorrow or discouragement and what I like to call I have had it up to here, which is totally a feeling. Right? Maybe you felt lonely or worried or powerless. Well, today we begin a series called how to be angry. And we're going to cover all kinds of tricky emotional terrain.
But first things first, what's important about emotions like anger when it comes to faith? Well, the Christian tradition affirms that God is the source of all that is. So we can find something of God in our feelings. There is encounter with the divine in all parts of the human story. Of course, in joy and pleasure and beauty, but also in worry and complexity and anger.
Now, you might look at me and think, Bobby, what do you have to be angry about? And on most days, I would say to you everything. But here's a story that comes to mind. Back in the late nineteen nineties, I was in college and someone hurt me so badly. Like, I was hurt more than I had ever been.
It felt like a crisis to me. So I went to a mentor, a professor I took a bunch of classes from and I told him my story. And he listened. He asked good questions and then he pointed to my hands. And I looked down and I asked, what's wrong with my hands?
And he said, you are so angry. I hope I never cross you because your anger is fierce and your fists are ready to fight. The recognition of my anger by a person I trusted and then recognizing my anger for myself was a defining and a holy moment in my life. I can trace anger all throughout my life. And you know what?
I'm not sad about it. Anger has opened me and strengthened me and alerted me to what matters. But I do think I am one of the lucky ones. For some, anger has had a much more damaging effect. Maybe anger even feels like it cuts you off from God.
Well, the text that we turn to in the series is Daniel in the Old Testament. And it's probably been a while since you cracked open the book of Daniel, if ever. But I'm into that. I love to dust off a text that's been missing from the conversation for a while. You know, ask it, hey, you so quiet over there.
What do you have to say about God? Now, there are some really unique things about Daniel. In the Hebrew Bible, it's part of the writings. But in the Christian canon, Daniel is a prophet. Wait.
Wait. There's more. Daniel comes to us from two different time periods. The events are in the sixth century BCE, but the writing dates to the second century BCE. Daniel is written in two languages.
It's half Aramaic and half Hebrew, and Daniel holds two distinct genres. It's half narrative and half apocalyptic literature. And there's your crash course in Daniel. It's quite the book. Right?
And I'd argue the book's complexity is a perfect dialogue partner with a complexity of human anger. So we'll stick with the narratives in chapters two to four for this series. And I am telling you, there are some great stories here. And still, this is not an easy text. Some scholars basically say, yeah, this is a tough book.
Good luck with it. And to that, I say, bring it on. Like my friend Lindy says, we do not take an easy way and I say, we're better for it. Today, we're talking about how to be angry at God and we'll explore bad dreams, anger and fury, wait, who are you mad at, and new interpretations. And that's your outline.
But first, please join me in prayer. Let us pray. Loving God, source of all that is and near to each one of us. We pause for a moment to check-in with ourselves. Maybe we feel grateful today having joined the livestream and heard the prayers and sung the songs.
We feel a little more grounded and in touch with our faith. But maybe some of us are agitated today. We feel impatient and we're struggling to get what we need in these strange days. We wonder how you are at work God in all things. A global pandemic, ongoing social distancing, economic uncertainty.
Wherever we are, whatever we're feeling, we trust that you can meet us. And for small moments of beauty and generosity and presence, we are so grateful. Amen. So in Daniel chapter one, we read the story of Jerusalem's fall to the Babylonians, but like don't just let those words pass you by. Well, this is not a high time of faithfulness in the history of God's people, the fall of Jerusalem is ruthless.
Jerusalem came under siege in January. The people of the city held their ground for eighteen months until the May '86. Finally, severe hunger brought the city to its knees. The king in Jerusalem at the time is Zedekiah, and Zedekiah tries to escape the siege by making a run for it, but he is captured, forced to watch his son's executions, and then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon. Direct bible quote.
In addition, second Kings says, the king of Babylon set fire to the temple of the Lord, set fire to the royal palace, and set fire to all the homes in Jerusalem. So Judah went into captivity away from her land. Also, bible quote. To imagine yourself in the story is the stuff of nightmares. But beyond homes lost and blinded kings exiles, there's another violence on display in Daniel.
See, was the practice of rising empires in the ancient world to capture and haul off the handsome privileged class and retrain them to the empire's liking. And some of these handsome Jewish men include Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Once far from home, are forced to take new names. So Daniel is called Bethesdaar, Hananiah is Shadrach, Mishael is Meshach and Azariah is Abednego. For anyone who grew up with lots and lots of bible stories, those names are probably fiery furnace familiar.
But by the time we roll up to chapter two, we find that in spite of everything these handsome guys have done all right for themselves. They are respected. Their values are basically intact and they have some power in the service of the king. But kings of world dominating empires are fickle, aren't they? And here's what happens.
Nebuchadnezzar has a bad dream. He calls all of the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers and astrologers to explain his dream to him. And they say, sure thing king, just tell us what you dreamt and we'll take it from there. Now, maybe Nebuchadnezzar ate a bad slice of pizza the night before, but he is cranky and he says, no. You tell me what I dreamt and what it means or I'll cut you into pieces and turn your houses into rubble.
Here are verses 10 to 11. The astrologers answered the king, there's no one on earth who can do what the king asks. No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods and they do not live among the humans.
Now, before you know it, all of the details of the dream, before you know any of the details of the dream, you feel the tension of the story. The tension has something to teach the reader. And that's my first point about anger. Anger's tension holds information that you need. Even when you don't know the details of what makes you so mad or why something so small makes you furious or what reason you have for blowing up at someone who just asked a simple question.
The tensions of bad dreams or sudden outbursts or surprising tears when you are angry. The tensions are information that you need to interpret to gain understanding in your life. As Brad Lewis said in our anger podcast episode on comments between Sundays a couple of weeks ago, anger is there to alert you that something is wrong. We could say that anger can serve as a moral guide like something has offended your values, your sense of fairness, your independence. Something has gone so wrong.
So yes, we need anger. But of course, can also be disruptive. So after the astrologers and magicians say, sorry, we can't interpret a dream we don't know, we read. This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.
Now, we are definitely going to talk about the consequences of rage next week. It is going to be lit. And yes, that's my fiery furnace pun. The truth is that anger can sometimes lead to vindictive, abusive and deadly behavior. It's not okay that the king loses it on the innocent in the scene and still.
Anger is a sacred part of the story. It's written in to play a part. And even here in the character of Nebuchadnezzar, it's artful. You see, the character of Nebuchadnezzar is a composite of an actual king by that name, a different king by the name of Nebuchadnezzar, and the fascination with Babylon as a world power. And the writer of Daniel looks back hundreds of years and borrows these snippets of literature handed down all to grapple with this horrible time of exile in their history, a time that made the Jewish people ask big questions about their identity.
Like, where was God when all this violence went down? And what did our faith mean after we were torn from our land and what survived after the Empire fell? So the anger of this king has something to show God's people. Sure. They were angry too.
But where Nebuchadnezzar's anger is cold blooded, fury, their anger could be grace. So we see this quiet juxtaposition. The king's commander arrives to kill the wise men of Babylon, but we're told that Daniel speaks to him with wisdom and tact. Daniel asks why the harsh decree and he receives an explanation and then Daniel asks for more time. He is sure that he can interpret the dream.
In verses 17 to 19 say, then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. And he urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. And during the night, the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. And then Daniel praised the God of heaven. So Daniel doesn't yell.
Daniel doesn't fight. He takes his time. He turns to his friends. He goes to bed early. But that doesn't mean Daniel isn't angry.
Daniel sleeps in a bed. He's forced to lie in. He wears the clothes his enemies have put on his body. When the people of Babylon speak to him, to him, they don't even say his real name. So you think Daniel isn't angry?
I think he is. It might not come across the way that we expect to see anger with screaming and yelling, but there is an awareness of injustice that is woven through Daniel's words. Sure. Daniel's people have made their mistakes and this weeping prophet by the name of Jeremiah warned them that this could happen, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Daniel and his people crushed by another empire are angry too.
They're angry at power, angry at exile, but also angry at themselves for not listening to a prophet and letting it all come to this. There are all kinds of ways to be angry. And for some of us, we have the power of Nebuchadnezzar to flail and rage. And some of us get flustered and we break down in tears. Some of us yell and raise our voices.
Some of us get quiet and retreat into ourselves. Some of us swear a blue streak and then it is over. Some of us stop our anger before it's metabolized. Making sure that we don't upset anyone or feel upset ourselves. Nonviolent communication expert, Orin J.
Sofer, makes this claim about our right to feel what we feel. He says, all emotions are okay to feel. It's how we respond, what we do with them that matters. When we aren't aware of our emotions or when we become flooded and allow them to take over, they can cause harm. And I think for many of us who are devoted to God and practice our faith in the Christian tradition, we've had a hard time with difficult emotions like anger.
Like, we're told God is in control. God knows everything. God is mighty and powerful. But then in the shadow of these claims, we get hurt. We have a real reason to be angry but we're not so sure that it's allowed.
So we blame God. And the faith that used to carry you drops you in the dirt and walks away. But Daniel has a different approach to anger and to fear and to threat. His tough times have taught him a thing or two about how to handle big emotions. Sure.
Sometimes the scriptures rail against God. Where are you? Why are you so silent? How did this horrible thing happen to me? But more often the scriptures practice radical responsibility.
They say we did this. Like, we did this to ourselves. We deserve this punishment and we have to live with that. And I'm not always comfortable with this admission, but even in the agony of owning your own emotion, your own action, your own story, is this radical insistence that God is still near to you. So when Daniel wakes up from the dream, he prays, praise be to the God to God forever and ever.
Wisdom and power are God's. God changes times and seasons. God deposes kings and raises up others. God gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. God reveals deep and hidden things.
God knows what lies in darkness and light dwells with God. You have given me wisdom and power. You have made known to me what we asked of you. You have made known to us the dream of the king. Now, two elements of the prayer are parallel to each other.
At first, Daniel says that God possesses wisdom and power. And then, Daniel says God has given that wisdom and power to him. The truth of the matter is that the same world that allows for horror and harm is the same world where you can be healed and restored. Wisdom and power above, wisdom and power below. But here's the thing.
If you can't get over being mad at God, maybe God isn't who you think God is. And it's time for a new interpretation. Okay. Super quick here. Daniel goes to the king.
He says, no one can interpret a dream like you want them to, but there is a God who reveals mysteries. And the dream goes like this. There's this enormous dazzling statue and the head is made of gold, the chest and arms of silver, the belly and thighs are bronze, the legs are iron, and the feet are iron and baked clay. And the metaphor is that empires will collapse upon themselves. And verse thirty four and thirty five tell us that what happens next in the dream.
Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar, while you were watching, a rock was cut out but not by human hands and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them all. And a great wind swept away the rubble without a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. And upon hearing the interpretation, king Nebuchadnezzar falls down flat before Daniel and then the king raises Daniel and his friends to a high position in the court. Now, when you look through the imagery of the dream, you have to wonder why Nebuchadnezzar finds the interpretation pleasing.
I mean, he doesn't exactly win here. He's toppled and replaced. But the point of the dream isn't to tell you the historical facts. The point of the dream is to tell you about God. God throws stones and then replaces what is crumbled with a holy mountain.
God throws stones at injustice. God throws stones at power that abuses. God throws stones at everything we do that harms another human being or damages God's incredible creation. To be made in the image of God is to be capable of throwing stones too. Stones that topple wrongdoing.
Stones that demand fair treatment and equality. Stones that smash everything that harms you and those you love. A new interpretation of anger says it's a holy force and you can be with God when you feel it. Anger is a gift in God's world, not a reason to be mad at God. You are free to feel angry.
In fact, you must. How else will you know what is wrong? Now you might be wondering, Bobby, what does this even look like? Anger is an emotion where I encounter God? Well, you're in luck because I have a little example.
A story I'm calling a benediction of anger. Rebecca Traister wrote a book called Good and Mad, the revolutionary power of women's anger. And men, don't stop listening now. What Traister says transcends gender and is absolutely something we all need to hear. Now I love Tracer's work with politics and history, but that's not what I'm here to talk about.
Still, the book's backdrop is this. Tracer wrote good and mad in the aftermath of the twenty sixteen election that cat catapulted Trump to power. And near the close of the book, she explains what it was like to write the entire manuscript in just four months. She describes it as one of the healthiest times of her life. And she says this, while I was pouring some of that fear and all of my anger into this project, I realized that I had begun to sleep well and deeply at night.
I'd wanted to exercise more than I ever had before. My appetite was healthy. I was communicating well with the people I love. I was having great sex. She continues, there had been something about spending my days and nights immersed in anger, mine and the anger of others that had been undeniably good for me.
Now, I don't know the spirituality of Rebecca Traster, but I know her experience of anger is what mine has been like too. My life has been better for anger when I name it and I feel it and I move through it. Every good gift is a gift from God, including your anger. And when you feel what you feel most fully, when you name your anger, your hurt, your frustration rather than bottle it up, avoid it, or pass it off as blame on others, or even blame on God. When you meet your anger with action and contemplation, it will offer you not only relief but joy.
God is with you in your anger and sometimes dear ones, that is enough. Anger can bless. It is benediction. It is a stone that topples empires. It's not an endpoint, but it makes room for the world to be made new.
Please join me in prayer. Loving God, we confess that we do not always trust our anger. We fear it. We ignore it. We stuff it deep down inside.
But this path is a path that destroys, that erupts, that ignores. And you hold out more for us than that. So we desire to honor the full experience of our anger, to feel it, to name what's uncomfortable, to move through what makes us so mad, and find you recreating our pain to something that is strong and beautiful and important to the world. So, oh Christ, of the places that hurt, you are there and you're healing us. And spirit of the living God present with us now, Enter the places of our anger and heal us of all that harms us.
Amen.