Summary
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The other thing I wanted to say, that I've been very struck in this conference by the amount of pain and anger that is here in this community. As the Christian community, we do not often allow ourselves sufficient space to acknowledge the feelings that we have. We're too quick to say 'That's not appropriate as a Christian.' Too, too, too quick. And when I hear pastors saying, "How can I preach reconciliation when I have this kind of anger?" my response is to say, "Stop preaching. Stop preaching. Do some more listening, to others and to yourself. Work through some of that pain, anger and frustration and desire for revenge. Wrestle with it long enough that it can begin to be transformed and redeemed. And maybe visit it again and again, maybe visit it in a while, maybe in six months, in a year, in another year." But particularly we who are ministers of the gospel are not going to be of any use to others unless we wrestle with the depths of our own messed-upness, and our own wounds. Because then we cannot be the truth if we preach a gospel that sounds sweet, and people see we are burning with anger. (And I just want to say also that I don't think anger is a sin. What we do with it might be sinful, but anger is anger. It is what we feel). (excerpt)
Link: www.healingofmemories.co.za/articles/The%20role%20of%20punitive%20justice%20in%20reconciliation%20-%20Sept%2097.htm
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