Commentary

Ken Sehested

Invocation. "Lead me, O Lord, O great redeemer through the troubles of this world. Lord, I thank you for watching over me thus far. You are forever by my side." —English translation of lyrics in “Ndikhokhele Bawo,” University of Pretoria Youth Choir

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Compiled by Ken Sehested

• “But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment. . . .” —Matthew 5:22a

• “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.” —Ephesians 4:26-27

• “Give in to your anger. With each passing moment you make yourself more my servant.” —Star Wars movie Emperor Palpatine taunting Luke Skywalker

• “Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage: anger at the way things are and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.” —Saint Augustine

• “Anger, used, does not destroy. Hatred does.” —Audre Lorde

• The truth will set you free but first it will piss you off.” —Joe Klaas

• If it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? —Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

• “Grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear.” —Zora Neale Hurston
  
• “What do you think we ought to do with the anger and the yearning for vengeance that is so powerful among us? I proposed in [Praying the Psalms] that what the lament psalms do is show Israel doing three things. First, you must voice the rage. Everybody knows that. Everybody in the therapeutic society knows that you must voice it, but therapeutic society stops there. Second, you must submit it to another, meaning God in this context. Third, you then must relinquish it and say, ‘I entrust my rage to you.’” —Walter Brueggemann

• “Hurt people hurt people.” —author unknown

• “All great spirituality is about what we do with our pain.” —Richard Rohr

• "Beneath the shouting, there’s suffering. Beneath the anger, fear. Beneath the threats, broken hearts. Start there and we might get somewhere." —Parker Palmer

• “One Saturday evening a church member called my wife about worship the next morning. She had assigned him a Scripture reading.
  “I made a mistake and wrote down Psalm 109,” he said.
  “That’s the one,” Nancy said.
  “Are you sure?” he replied, “This one’s not very nice—and you want me to read this in church?!” —Ken Sehested

• “Do not be quick to anger, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.” —Ecclesiastes 7:9

• When bell hooks first met Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist priest and peace activist, all she could say was, “I’m so angry.” To which he responded, “Oh, hold on to your anger and use it as compost for your garden.”
• “...when God forbids oppression of the poor in the Book of the Covenant [Exodus 22:21-24], it is the first time the Scriptures explicitly affirm that God becomes angry.” —Thomas D. Hanks

• “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” ―Mark Twain

• “Declare your jihad on thirteen enemies you cannot see: egoism, arrogance, conceit, selfishness, greed, lust, intolerance, anger, lying, cheating, gossiping and slandering. If you can master and destroy them, then you will be read to fight the enemy you can see.” ―Abu Hamid al-Ghazali

• “Men in rage strike those that wish them best.” ―William Shakespeare’s “Othello”

• The unregenerate are “by nature children of wrath.” —Ephesians 2:3

• “The best answer will come from the person who is not angry.” —Arabic proverb

• “Anger often acts as a shield that conceals more vulnerable feelings. These underlying emotions often include fear, shame, grief, powerlessness, betrayal, and fatigue. . . . From a neurobiological standpoint, anger is tied closely to our threat detection system. When we perceive a threat, real or imagined, our amygdala activates, preparing us for fight, flight, or freeze. This reaction can override our prefrontal cortex, which manages emotional regulation and social engagement. Consequently, we might lash out in anger when we perceive a threat. We might respond angrily when what we actually need is a feeling of connection and safety.” — Vivian Chung Easton, “Beneath the Surface: A Therapist’s Guide to the Anger Iceberg”
• “Anger as soon as fed is dead– / 'Tis starving makes it fat.” ―Emily Dickinson

• “Not the fastest horse can catch a word spoken in anger.” —Chinese proverb

• “The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: When God created the creation, he inscribed upon the Throne, ‘My Mercy overpowers My wrath.’” —Imam Bukhari and Muslim b. al-Hajjaj ahadith, or official collections of oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad

• “Contrary to the rest of men enlist yourself in an army without weapons, without war, without bloodshed, without wrath, without stain. . . .” —Clement of Alexandria

• “Salvation is not flight from the wrath of God; it is accepting and reciprocating the love of God. Salvation is not separation. It is the beginning of union with all that is or has been or will ever be.” —James Baldwin

• "Jesus does not weep in anger or in indignation or with any satisfaction. He weeps in profound grief for this gift of God that has died." —Walter Brueggemann

• “The fiercest anger of all, the most incurable, / Is that which rages in the place of dearest love.” ―Euripides

• “Anger is the prelude to courage.” ―Eric Hoffer

• “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves: one for the enemy, one for yourself.” — Confucius

• “At the heart of all anger, all grudges, and all resentment, you'll always find a fear that hopes to stay anonymous.” ―Donald L. Hicks

• “How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.” —Marcus Aurelius

• “You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.” — Gautama Buddha
• “Hatred bounces.” —e.e. cummings

• “Talk to us about reconciliation / Only if you first experience / the anger of our dying. / Talk to us about reconciliation / Only if your living is not the cause / of our dying.” —excerpt from a poem by Filipino author Justino Cabazares

• “If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it—usually to those closest to us: our family, our neighbors, our co-workers, and, invariably, the most vulnerable, our children.” —Richard Rohr

• “No matter how hot your anger is, it cannot cook yams.” —Nigerian proverb

• “Every war already carries within it the war which will answer it. Every war is answered by a new war, until everything, everything is smashed.” —Käthe Kollwitz

• “I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was grief.” —C.S. Lewis

• “I have learned through bitter experience the one supreme lesson: to conserve my anger, and, as heat conserved is transmitted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmitted into a power which can move the world.” —Mahatma Gandhi

• “Anger makes us all stupid.” —Johanna Spyri

• “If I have learned anything in my life, it is that bitterness consumes the vessel that contains it.” —Rubin “Hurricane” Carter

• “I wouldn’t have to manage my anger if people would manage their stupidity.” —anonymous

• “If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.” —Chinese proverb
• “Conquer anger by love; conquer evil by good; conquer the miser by liberality; conquer the liar by truth.” —Gautama Buddha

• “Catering to fear and pessimism is a function of the most dangerous belief: that violence can bring order out of chaos.” —Gareth Higgins

• “Let us not be afraid to protect the weak because of the anger of the strong, or to defend the poor because of the power of the rich.” —Brazilian theologian Rubem Alves

• “What Christians call discipleship is nothing less than organizing people for another way of life that deals with the inequalities, the frustrations, the anger, and the hopelessness of their times in constructive ways.” —Joerg Rieger

• “For what we Christians lack is not psychology or literature . . . we lack a holy rage—the recklessness which comes from the knowledge of God and humanity. The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of the earth . . . a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God's earth, and the destruction of God's world.” —Kai Munk, Danish pastor killed by the Gestapo in 1944

• “Holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” —Gautama Buddha

• The seven sins: Luxuria (extravagance, later lust), Gula (gluttony), Avaritia (greed), Acedia (sloth), Ira (wrath, more commonly known as anger), Invidia (envy), and Superbia (pride).
• “A Cherokee elder sitting with his grandchildren told them, ‘In every life there is a terrible fight—a fight between two wolves. One is evil: he is fear, anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, and deceit. The other is good: joy, serenity, humility, confidence, generosity, truth, gentleness, and compassion.’ A child asked, ‘Grandfather, which wolf will win?’ The elder looked him in the eye. ‘The one you feed.’” —Cherokee parable

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Ken Sehested

Invocation. “Inspired by Love and Anger.” —Iona Community

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Ken Sehested

Invocation. “Lord dear Lord I've loved / God almighty, God up above / Please, look down and see my people through / God dear God I've loved / God almighty, God up above / Please, look down and see my people through / He'll give peace and comfort / To every troubled mind / Come Sunday, oh come Sunday / That's the day.” —“Come Sunday,” Duke Ellington featuring Mahalia Jackson

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Ken Sehested

Processional. “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” —aka the Negro National Anthem, James Weldon Johnson, performed by the Howard Gospel Choir

Call to worship. “Beware of those who pray pretty, but live ugly. Who drink in Jesus, but spit out hate. Who pursue a Christian nation, but not the Sermon on the Mount. Who boast of faith, but rely on fear. And who hear God’s promises of abundance, but not God’s cries for sacrifice, servanthood, humility, and compassion. Jesus is not there.”  —Chris Kratzer

Ken Sehested

Invocation. “Generals gathered in their masses / Just like witches at black masses / Evil minds that plot destruction / Sorcerer of death's construction / In the fields, the bodies burning / As the war machine keeps turning / Death and hatred to mankind / Poisoning their brainwashed minds / Oh, Lord, yeah / Politicians hide themselves away / They only started the war / Why should they go out to fight? / They leave that role to the poor, yeah / Time will tell on their power minds / Making war just for fun / Treating people just like pawns in chess / Wait 'til their judgement day comes, yeah.” —"War Pigs,” Black Sabbath

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by Ken Sehested

“Why stand ye gazing . . . ? (Acts 1:11)

Invocation. “As my soul slides down to die. / How could I lose him? / What did I try? / Bit by bit, I've realized / That he was here with me; / I looked into my father's eyes. / My father's eyes. / I looked into my father's eyes. / My father's eyes.” —Eric Clapton, “My Father’s Eyes”

Ken Sehested

Processional. “I’m gonna tell you fascists / You may be surprised / The people in this world / Are getting organized / You’re bound to lose / You fascists bound to lose / Race hatred cannot stop us / This one thing we know / Your poll tax and Jim Crow / And greed has got to go / You’re bound to lose / You fascists bound to lose.” —"You Fascists Bound to Lose," Woody Guthrie, performed by Resistance Revival Chorus with Rhiannon Giddens

Call to worship. You may have seen this social media meme. It’s a painting, of a woman in Victorian style dress, and the caption reads: “These days most of my exercise comes from shaking my head.”

Ken Sehested

There’s never an appropriate time to die. But if there was, Walter Brueggemann’s passing was well timed: In the last week of Eastertide (he was an Easter man if ever there were one, though never out of sight of the crucifixion) and days before Pentecost’s outburst. I can imagine the Heavenly chorale jumping the gun just a bit to offer an exuberant rendition of Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire” as Brueggemann passed through the Pearly Gates:

“You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain / Too much love drives a man insane / You broke my will but what a thrill / Goodness gracious, great balls of fire.”

—compiled by Ken Sehested

Language matters

• “El Shaddai” is one of several “names” given to God in Scripture. El Shaddai is a feminine noun, which can be translated “God of the breast,” conveying the quality of nourishing, satisfying and supplying needs. It is used seven times in Scripture (see Genesis 17:1).
• The English translation of “El Shaddai” as “God Almighty” is misleading, because “almighty” suggests omnipotence, the capacity to overpower or destroy. Whereas “Shaddai” infers sufficiency and nourishment (i.e., “blessings of the breasts and of the womb”) and implies a certain fecundity.
• Also in Hebrew, the divine presence(“Shekhinah”) of God is feminine.
• From the word “womb” (rehem) comes the verb “to have compassion” (raham), and the phrase “Yahweh’s compassionate (rahum) and gracious” repeatedly appears in the Hebrew scripture to describe the merciful and saving acts of God in history.

Biblical texts

• Deut 32:18; Ps 90:2; Prov 8:24-25; Isa 43:1,7,15; 44:2, 24; 45:9, 11; 51:13; 54:5 – The Creator God of Israel is also imaged as the shaper, maker and mother God who formed Israel in the womb and birthed Israel with labor pains. 
• Deut 4:31; 2 Chr 30:9;  Neh 9:17; Ps 78:38; 86:16; 103:8; 111:4; 112:4; 145:8; John 4:7 – images of God who demonstrates “womb–like compassion” for her child Israel.
• Exodus 33:19 and 34:6 – In Hebrew the words for “compassion” and “womb” derive from the same root. God of compassion use the Hebrew word “rehem” which can be translated “womb-love.
• Num 11:12 – “Was it I who conceived all this people, was it I who gave them birth that you should say to me, carry them in your bosom like a nurse with a baby at the breast?”
• Prov 7-9 –“Wisdom” (“Sophia”) who was present before the foundations of the world were created; and announces (Prov 1) Heaven’s judgment on “scoffers” and “fools.”
• John 7: 38 – From his breast shall flow the fountains of living water.
• Gen 1:2 – God as a nesting mother.
• Is 42:14 [Thus says the Lord], “For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant.”
• Ex 19:4 & Deut 32 :1-12 – God as a mother eagle.
• Hos 13:8 – “I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs.”
• Ps 17:8, 36:7, 57:1, 61:4 – Refuge in “the shadow of [God’s] wings.”
• Job 38:28-29 – “Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?”
• Luke 15:8 – A woman tirelessly sweeping for her lost coin, for what is important to her.
• Luke 13: 34 (Matt 23:37) – “How often I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.”
• Gen 2:7, Ps 104: 29; John 3:8 – “Ruah” presence gives life; feminine Hebrew word meaning breath, wind, inspiration or spirit.
• Gen 3:21 – God as a seamstress.
• Isaiah 66:13 – "As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.")
• Isa 4:4, Ps 51:7 – God as a washerwoman.
• Ps 22:9-11, Ps 71:6; Isa 66:9 – God as a midwife.
• Matt 13:33 – God as a woman baking bread.

 A few post-biblical texts

• Clement of Alexander (c.150 – c. 215 CE) spoke of Christ as the breast of God supplying the milk of love.
• “Just as God is our Father, so God is also our Mother.” And also, “The mother can give her child to suck of her milk, but our precious Mother Jesus can feed us with himself, and does, most courteously and most tenderly, with the blessed sacrament, which is the precious food of true life. . . .” —Julian of Norwich (1342–1416)
• “We are all meant to be mothers of God.” —Meister Eckhart, 13^th century mystic
• “A mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled.” —Emily Dickinson

• “In the divine economy it is not the feminine person who remains hidden and at home. She is God in the world, moving, stirring up, revealing, interceding. It is she who calls out, sanctifies, and animates the church. Hers is the water of the one baptism. The debt of sin is wiped away by her. She is the life-giver who raises men [sic] from the dead with the life of the coming age. Jesus himself left the earth so that she, the intercessor, might come.” — Jay G. Williams, “Yahweh, Women and the Trinity,” Theology Today 32 (1975) 240.

• “You, beloved daughters, serve as reminders / that life cannot be had on the cheap; / that every new future foreseen in joy / will endure all tearful failures; that strength / of hand and valiance of heart must be / coupled with wombish welcome to that / unnameable (and thus unmanageable) / Promise that death’s ascendance will / be crushed. / Such vision persists; such milk flows; / and by it we are kept from perishing.” —Ken Sehested, “On the flow of tears”