Day By Day #20

Day by Day #20

MORNING/MIDDAY OFFICE

Silence and Stillness before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:25–27

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Devotional

When we quit the lie that “good” Christians don’t get angry, we walk through a door that changes our life. Anger is a central discipleship issue for every Christian. It is a signal alerting us to many potential messages from God—a warning indicator light on life’s dashboard, inviting us to stop and pay attention to what God might be saying.

Through anger, God may help us clarify our values, that is, what we really want. When our values or beliefs are violated, we sometimes feel it in our bodies. For example, our stomach gets knotted, our neck tightens, we sweat, we clench our fists, our shoulders stiffen, we can’t sleep, etc. In this case, anger leads us to action.

Anger also can lead us to deeper emotions, such as hurt, sadness, fear, disappointment, and shame. When we are angry, it is important to ask, “What am I afraid of? Am I hurt? Sad? Disappointed? What is really going on beneath the anger?”

Anger may also be an indicator of unmet expectations in relationships with family, coworkers, friends, or other believers. Then we need to discern if we actually had a right to those expectations or if we were simply making assumptions.

Finally, anger can also be a sin, revealing our pettiness, arrogance, hatred, or envy. For this reason, integrating our anger with our spirituality—paying attention to what God might be saying to us through it—is a huge step to emotional and spiritual maturity.^a

Question to Consider

As you reflect on any current or recent experiences of anger, how would you describe the “warning indicator light” or the message your anger might be trying to send you?

Prayer

Lord, teach me to process my anger in healthy ways that enable me to better love you, others, and myself. Help me to learn “to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way.”^b In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

MIDDAY/EVENING OFFICE

Silence and Stillness before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading: Matthew 27:35–42a

When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself!”

Devotional

The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is the singular most important event in human history. Scandalous to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, the cross was the ultimate manifestation of the glory of God. The world’s ways were condemned. The devil was dethroned and defeated. And God opened up a way, through the blood of Jesus, to a life of loving union with him. However, the arena in which we live out our relationship with God is not the prayer closet but our relationships with one another.

Author Richard Rohr has written a lovely prayer that shows us how our life with God cannot be separated from our life with others. They really are, as Jesus taught, two sides of the same coin. I invite you to read this prayer slowly, allowing each truth to inform your life and your relationships:

I thank you, Lord Jesus, for becoming a human being so I do not have to pretend or try to be a God.

I thank you, Lord Jesus, for becoming finite and limited so I do not have to pretend that I am infinite and limitless.

I thank you, crucified God, for becoming mortal so I do not have to try to make myself immortal.

I thank you, Lord Jesus, for becoming inferior so I do not have to pretend that I am superior to anyone. . . .

I thank you for becoming weak, so I don’t have to be strong.

I thank you for being willing to be considered imperfect and strange, so I do not have to be perfect and normal.

I thank you, Lord Jesus, for being willing to be disapproved of, so I do not have to try so hard to be approved and liked.

I thank you for being considered a failure, so I do not have to give my life trying to pretend I’m a success.

I thank you for being wrong by the standards of religion and state, so I do not have to be right anywhere.

I thank you for being poor in every way, so I do not have to be rich in any way.

I thank you, Lord Jesus, for being all of the things humanity despises and fears, so I can accept myself and others in you.^c

As Rohr says, we can be thankful for God’s call for us “to die” to the manipulative and controlling ways of the world in order to embrace the crucified way of Jesus. Why? Because it is the pathway of Jesus to a life of power and resurrection.

Question to Consider

Which line in the prayer do you identify with most? Why?

Prayer

Lord, so much inside of me resists following you to the cross and living a life of brokenness and vulnerability. Grant me courage to follow you, all the way, whatever that might mean. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

^a For a larger treatment of a practical theology for anger, see Geri Scazzero, The Emotionally Healthy Woman, 94–100.

^b Aristotle. Cited at www.wisdomquotes.com/quote/aristotle-10.html.

^c Richard Rohr, Hope Against Darkness: The Transforming Vision of St. Francis in an Age of Anxiety (Cincinnati: Franciscan Media, 2001), 38–39.