Week 24: Winter
Lesson 20: It’s OK to be Angry

I express my anger in healthy ways.

Getting to the Heart of the Lesson

Anger has been given a bad rap. Somewhere along the way, many of us learned anger is “bad.” And bad things are to be avoided. The important message of this week’s lesson is anger is an emotion — a feeling we all have and, just like every other emotion, anger wants to be acknowledged and expressed. In Psalm 4:4, King David instructs, “Be angry and do not sin;” King David did not write “If you are angry, it is a sin.” Too often we have gotten confused about this. “Turn the other cheek” teachings are the goal, but they must not gloss over the important work of recognizing anger in order to speak one’s truth (as we will see in the story for this lesson).

Behind anger, there is always an important message. Ignoring our feelings, or “stuffing” them away with other substitutes, becomes harmful to us and those around us. In this lesson, we explore how anger feels in our bodies, how to listen to our anger, and how to express our anger in healthy ways.

Anger lets us know where we have been hurt or when we have witnessed something that is unjust, unkind, or not alright. In this way, anger invites us to become more clear and more capable in our ability to speak up, voice our needs, and do justice. This is very important! The ideal outcome of this lesson is for all of us to have new ideas about how to listen to our anger and how to turn anger into a clean, clear channel of expression and a clean, clear request for truth and transformation.

(NOTE: If you wish to focus more intentionally on the Christian calendar, Lent and the time before Easter, this lesson illustrates important teachings from Jesus during the events of Holy Week.)

Teacher Reflection

Some reading and a 10-20 min exercise (more if you have time and wish to take it) so you are able to experience the teachings offered through this lesson.

Do you get angry? Some of us go there readily…. for others, anger is a scary place to be.

Option 1 — Read through the Wisdom Quotes and Sacred Text selections for the week. Which phrases resonate for you? As you reflect on anger and the role it does or does not play in your life, what would be most helpful for you in creating a healthy relationship toward anger? In what ways might anger be a teacher for you this week? Within your family? Watching the news? Running errands? Completing a project? Waiting in line (or waiting in general)? Take some time to journal or meditate on this. Then, as best you can, put your reflections to practice this week.

Option 2 —If expressing anger is new for you, or if you are looking for ways to express anger more productively, it might take a few attempts before you find a way to share your anger in a way that feels helpful, liberating, even healing. Notice if anything on this list feels like a good place to start and then try the activity with something that has recently made you angry: crying out to God (in spoken prayer, journaling, making music, etc), talking with a trusted confidant, writing a cathartic letter (that will not be delivered) to the person/ issue with whom we are upset, attending an anger management or other support group, processing the experience in therapy, confronting the person with whom you are upset, establishing healthier boundaries (to what we say “yes” and “no” in our lives), or creating (painting, dancing, acting, etc.).

Read through the lesson before your time with the children. Decide which Activity Exploration will work best for your class (There are usually two options; choose one). Just below the heading, “Children’s Lesson and Story” you will find the preparations checklist for this lesson so you can collect any needed materials or make arrangements to support your selected activity.