I had anger issues when I was a child. If I got fouled hard in basketball, I would get into a fight. If kids were making fun of me, the heat in my chest would propel me towards them, fists clenched. King-family lore includes my punching a hole in the wall before breaking down in tears.
It usually ended in tears, because the anger held-back whatever I was really experiencing. I see the same things in my (most!) kids. When feeling hurt, scared, or confused, they hide behind anger to avoid their uncomfortable vulnerability. I told my oldest son Isaiah about God’s thoughts on anger (above), and he responded “Wow, I’ve killed [my brother] David tons of times!” His words shocked me into realizing I do the same. We all do the same. We are all murderers, and we are becoming less human because of it.
Charlie Kirk was a human being, created in God’s image, husband and father of two young children. When we react to his assassination through political lenses first, we kill him all over again, and we dehumanize ourselves. However you feel about his politics, he and his family deserve our grief — as do the deaths of 23 year old Ukrainian refuge Iryna Zarutska, and the shooting deaths and injuries in the Evergreen, CO and Minneapolis shootings.
These individuals were dehumanized when someone deemed them unworthy of living. We continue dehumanizing when we respond by pointing the finger at “them” (whoever your “them” might be). We dehumanize ourselves when we diminish the death of one over the death of the other out of political convenience. If we are driven by anger, we unwittingly participate in the next murder. “Anyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer.”
In the wake of a week’s heavy and violent headlines, allow yourself to grieve — feel your vulnerability, feel hurt, scared, or confused. But anger is the more familiar path these days. Anger feels powerful. God agrees that it has the power to dehumanize (fuller Matthew 5 passage) so thoroughly that holding anger against someone(s) is just like having killed them. But the true power this world needs is the re-humanizing power of God’s Kingdom. Seek instead true strength — mourning, meekness, thirsting for righteousness, poverty of spirit, peace-making (Matthew 5.3-12). Allow yourself to feel, and then move into the world in holy vulnerability.
Let me recommend three practices for your consideration:
BRIDGES
Comfort a friend of a different political persuasion — if you don’t have any, then make some. You don’t have to agree with Mr. Kirk’s politics to say “How are you doing?” and you don’t have to support open boarders to say “Iryna’s death was shocking — I’m sure this is an especially hard week for you.” When we subvert our anger, we push back against darkness by re-humanizing one another and ourselves.
UNDERSTANDING
For non-partisan (and Christian) news recaps, I have enjoyed: The Pour Over Podcast — 10 minutes, 3x per week.
For broader learning about Christian Spirituality and political engagement, read Michael Wear’s The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Transformation and the Renovation of Public Life.
TRANSFORMATION
Ask the God who became human for a de-humanizing world to shape your heart. One practice is breath prayer — holding a simple and reflexive prayer on your lips for any moment you recognize your need. When you notice your anger is directing you, take a breath, and simply pray “Come, Holy Spirit,” inviting the spirit of Christ to sow the Kingdom.
Your brother and friend,
Michael+