Why Can't I Be Mad?

As fashionable as it is in the "postmodern" crowd to be upset with the institutional church, it's becoming more fashionable to claim to be tired of being angry. "I've come to accept that my superchurch, Starbucks-sipping, suburban counterparts aren't wrong. The way they do things isn't 'good' or 'bad', just different." They aren't angry, but have come to accept that God uses that just as much as he uses the small, community church, the home church, or the free-lancer.

I propose a question: Where is the line? We talk about how little our old churches fostered community... how little they cared about social causes... how they ALMOST ignored economic justice, and how, when they didn't, it was with a project mentality or with the desire to plop more butts into their pews. But then we turn around and say we're not supposed to be angry.

Anger at the institution is a really good way to allow feelings of superiority and pride to come into play. People in that position (myself) very often have to remind themselves that we're all looking through a glass dimly, and that I have very little figured out, and have no right judging others for not having it all figured out. All this I can intellectually accept.

Yet, when my emotions start coming into play, I find it hard to accept that there are things that the institutions are doing that I'm NOT supposed to be mad about. What is our reaction when institutions hurt those around us? What if those issues are systemic? What if that pain goes beyond an individual person who maybe let their egos get the best of them, and the pain is actually caused by people's view of what "church" means?

So what is the role of anger? When is it righteous? When is it just destructive and vitriolic? No one wants to just be destructive. Many people who are honestly angry at the church are angry because they desire to see it for what it COULD and SHOULD be. I am constantly being called a cynic or told that I am jaded. I honestly don't think I am. I'm an idealist, to be sure. And I'm hurt. But I think my anger is caused by an abundance of optimism, not a lack of it... and certainly not just out of a desire to be negative.

Let's get it started. I want direction and thoughts on this, so please don't withhold them.
posted by Stephen at 8:07 AM | |