"If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."
I would imagine this old adage is almost always true. Yet it seems that 2015, so far, has given us much about which to be outraged. From police shootings and race riots to unending political shenanigans and faith-based cover-ups, any attentive person can find a lot of things to cause them to rage.
What we do with our rage ... well, that can be complicated.
All of our emotions are complicated. Sometimes we are very in tune with our feelings, while other times they seem very obtuse. Sometimes we can express our emotions in healthy ways, and sometimes they gush all over us and make a mess of things. Sometimes we feel like we have our emotions under control, and sometimes it feels like they control us.
Emotions are the bridge between our outer and inner lives.
Our emotions are the reactions we have to the things we experience. For instance, when we see someone with a new car, we may feel envy. Or, when we hear a song that prompts a memory, we may feel shame or regret.
These feelings are not disconnected from who we are. They reveal something about what is going on inside of our hearts and minds. They can be signposts to help us better understand what we value, believe or prioritize. When we express our emotions in healthy ways, it is a good sign about the state of our hearts. But when we express our emotions in unhealthy ways, it probably means we have some personal growth to do.
Anger and its whole suite of accompanying emotions -- including rage -- are a way we react to injustice we either experience or perceive. When someone hurts us, is inconsiderate or treats a loved one unfairly, we get upset, annoyed and "ticked off." Anger can manifest itself in a major outburst or a slow burn. It can cause us to cut someone down with our words or to give them the silent treatment.
All too often, we think rage is an unhealthy emotion. Certainly, it is frequently expressed in unhealthy ways. But anger, even really strong anger, is not always wrong. Sometimes it is completely justified. And sometimes we ought to be angrier than we are.
We have to look no further than Jesus as an example. The famous biblical story of Jesus overturning tables in the temple and driving out the money-changers shows us that raging against systemic injustice is often warranted. I often hear people use this story as justification for any and all unhealthy expressions of anger. While I don't think it justifies any angry outburst, I think it does show us how important tapping into our rage can be to bringing about needed change.
All too often, rage makes us feel powerless. The problems seem so big, so systemic, even so far away, that we don't think we can make any difference. The reality, however, is the world is changed for the better when attentive and outraged people look for small, yet meaningful ways, to address injustice in their own worlds.
Locally, some of the most enraging headlines of 2015 have been about gang violence in Springdale. In response to those tragedies, a number of attentive and outraged activists brought hundreds of people together to march for peace in Springdale. As residents of Springdale, my family and I attended this march. It was a wonderful time to realize the majority of our city doesn't want this violence to become what our community is known for.
At the march's conclusion, we had dinner with one of my daughter's friends, an Hispanic teenage boy. During dinner, we engaged him in conversation about his perception of the police and what we, as white adults, in the community could do that would make a positive difference. He shared with us both his personal outrage and his perspective on issues in our community. I hope he felt heard because his comments made an impact on my wife and me.
Attentive outrage led to creative action which led to a meaningful conversation which made things a little bit better. That's justice.
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Robb Ryerse is one of the pastors of Vintage Fellowship in Fayetteville. He is also the author of Fundamorphosis: How I Left Fundamentalism Without Losing My Faith. You can connect with him at robb@vintagefellowship.org.
NAN Religion on 05/30/2015