Well, now that the dust has settled on our Anger Royal Rumble debate, it is time to dig into the emotion of anger. This Sunday we will explore the positives of anger, its dangers, and why we should maybe question some of the dogmas surrounding this complicated emotion. We have a lot of stops to make along the way: from my deviled egg debacle to the 18,000 angry people of Greenfield, Massachusetts, the psychological sophistication of Scripture when it comes to emotions, and of course, why being angry like Jesus is much more complex than we realize. The intricacies of anger mean there is no "one size fits all" approach to the emotion. Given that, I want to conclude the sermon with my own personal convictions about anger, fully realizing that what may work or be "right" for me may not be so for others. I hope to see you Sunday for An Exploration of Anger.

Friends, it is time to mix things up a little this Sunday. You see, as Jesus heads into the meat of his Sermon on the Mount, first up is our inner worlds and what to do with an emotion like anger. We know, of course, that Jesus himself got angry on several occasions. And yet, here in the sermon, Jesus seems to strongly caution against being angry at all. For Jesus Path people, this can be a little confusing. Now, there are various schools of thought around what to do with an emotion like anger. I could just describe them to you on Sunday, but that sounds a little boring. I think a better (and more fun) approach would be to just host a Royal Rumble debate on anger! So, this Sunday morning after a brief introduction to the subject, you will be presented with six cases about anger from six very different people. Let me introduce you to our debaters. First up, we will have @AngryTwitterTina1234, followed by the Apostle Paul, then Brené Brown, Jordan Peterson, Ichiro Kishimi, and finally, the philosopher king himself, Marcus Aurelius, on behalf of the Stoics. So, they make their case on anger, then we will discuss together which vision of anger we found most compelling. I hope this will set us up well for the weeks to come.

We continue our search for The Good Life by delving deeper into Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. This week we find Jesus making a remark that will certainly give us pause. According to Jesus, his path is only accessible to those who are more righteous than the Pharisees! That seems like cause for concern. First, isn’t the Jesus Path radically inclusive? Why the barrier to entry now? Second, and even more concerning, weren’t the Pharisees well known for being super-duper righteous? If we must surpass that, well, it sounds like trouble. Ah, something must be afoot here! This passage, in my estimation, holds the interpretive key for all that follows in the Sermon on the Mount. So, on another journey we go: from traveling three hours only to find out your destination is closed, to Jesus' “anti-beatitudes” (his “woes” in Matthew 23), from why my dentist rubs me the wrong way, to the science of self-awareness, from the practice of hiddenness and introspection, to hosting a “Dinner of Truth,” we are off to explore why Jesus’ comments about the Pharisees might unlock the secret ingredient to living the Good Life.