The Theology of Mister Rogers: The Mad I Feel

Ephesians 4:26-32; James 1:19-20

On May 1, 1969, a relatively unknown Fred Rogers appeared before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications to speak in favor of funding for non-profit public broadcasting. Rogers had less than a year earlier launched a half-hour educational program for children called Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, televised nationally by National Educational Television which a year later became PBS. Rogers opened by noting that his program had a budget of $6000, the equal cost of not quite two minutes of animated cartoon time. Rogers shared his concern for the content of what was being delivered to children in this country and described his program this way. “We deal with such things as the inner drama of childhood. We don't have to bop somebody over the head to make drama on the screen. We deal with such things as getting a haircut, the feelings about brothers and sisters, and the kind of anger that arises in simple family situations. And we speak to it constructively. And this is what I give. I give an expression of care every day to each child, to help him realize that he is unique. I end the program by saying, ‘You've made this day a special day, by just being you. There's no person in the whole world like you, and I like you, just the way you are.’” Then Mr. Rogers shared the words of one of the songs featured on his program:

What do you do with the mad that you feel
When you feel so mad you could bite?
When the whole wide world seems oh so wrong
 And nothing you do seems very right?

What do you do? Do you punch a bag?
Do you pound some clay or some dough?
Do you round up friends for a game of tag?
 Or see how fast you go?

It's great to be able to stop
When you've planned a thing that's wrong
And be able to do something else instead
 And think this song:

I can stop when I want to
Can stop when I wish
I can stop, stop, stop any time
And what a good feeling to feel like this
 And know that the feeling is really mine

Know that there's something deep inside
That helps us become what we can
For a girl can be someday a woman
 And a boy can be someday a man. 

If you’re human, and I trust you are, you have anger issues. Mr. Rogers got angry. He once said, "If there's anything that bothers me, it's one person demeaning another. That really makes me mad!" It’s inevitable that the people we admire most get angry. Jesus got angry (remember that Temple scene when he flipped tables and drove people out with a whip?). But there are different kinds of anger. Anger can be a healthy and, at times perhaps, even a necessary emotion. In the Bible, God gets angry, but if you dig into it, God’s anger is always rooted in one thing: harm inflicted on His creation. The Bible doesn’t apologize for the anger of its author. Wherever there is violence, oppression, injustice, and mistreatment of those unable to stand up for themselves, God gets angry and so should we. Righteous anger plays an important role in bringing about positive change, the change for which we pray: “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done.”

But Mr. Rogers’ song speaks to a different kind of anger, the anger that makes us so mad that we lose control. It’s not anger that seeks good for others, but it often seeks harm to others. It comes from selfishness, an inability to listen, impulsiveness, and our reaction to an immediate circumstance. It’s the kind of anger that eats at us from the inside, then lashes out and erupts like a volcano or tsunami. Unfortunately, we know too well that this destructive anger is not limited to children. We see it in the news and in social media. We see it in our politics, our workplaces, our homes, and even in our churches. We are angry and as a society and a world, we seem to be getting angrier. It’s inside of each one of us. And this anger poses a threat to our faith. 

The Bible provides constructive advice when it comes to getting angry. Ephesians 4:26-32, as Lisa read for us, opens with two words: “Be angry….” So, obviously, there is no ban on anger. God gives us permission to be angry. Which, when you think about it, is great because we’re going to get angry anyway. Too often, as Christians, we think we’re never supposed to get angry – and so, when we get angry, we deny its very existence. What we really are doing is repressing it. According to one of my scientific surveys (AKA Google searches), “The average person feels some degree of anger or its lower-grade cousin, frustration, ten to fourteen times a day.” So, my question is, are you normal or above normal?

The ability to be angry is a God-given emotion. Florence Nightingale was known for her anger against inadequate hospital care. William Carey was angered by the inhumane slave trade in Africa. Gandhi was angry about how his people were mistreated by colonizing nations. Martin Luther King, Jr. was angry about segregated facilities and the slogan “separate but equal” when it was obvious nothing was equal. In each case, anger led to positive action. We should be angry about the violence in our own community, much of which is centered on the east side of our city. We should be angry about corruption and intolerance and abuse and so many other wrongs. So, like the Bible says, when circumstances justify it and when used to benefit others, “Be angry.”

Then we come to the next word in Ephesians 4:26. “Be angry, but….” I hate the word “but,” don’t you? Be angry but do not sin. It seems there is anger that is not sinful, but then there is anger that is sinful. The problem is that our anger often leads to a response from us that leads to sin in us. When it comes to the righteous anger of God, the good kind of anger, the Bible reminds us that God is slow to anger. That’s not the case too often with most of us. We are too quick to get angry and as the saying goes, “If you don’t talk it out, you’ll take it out.” 

Sinful anger is anger resulting in aggression. It finds expression in cutting remarks, pouting, silence, withdrawal, or attack. It’s the anger that bites. It’s verbalized in bumper sticker logic: “Don’t get mad — get even.” It retaliates and repays evil for evil when God said, “Vengeance is mine.” If your anger seeks a positive outcome for others, then be angry. If not, then give it to God and let it go. In Jewish teaching in the Talmud, it says a couple of things about sinful anger. First, when ungodly anger comes, wisdom flees. Secondly, when sinful anger strikes out at others and in the Hebrew “breaks” another person, it is a sin: the same as worshipping an idol such as the golden calf. Anger for the sake of anger most often comes from pride and pride is a form of self-worship in which we place ourselves, our feelings, and our status, above God. Ephesians 4:29 sums up the only acceptable anger this way: “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.” In short, if you’re going to be angry, be gracious about it just as God is gracious. And only be angry out of love. 

The Apostle James addresses anger in slightly different words, in James 1:19-20: “You must understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, for human anger does not produce God’s righteousness.” There are several questions we should ask ourselves when we feel angry. Is my anger rooted in justice or fear or pride? What is the root cause? Have I listened, thought it through, and taken time to process what I’m feeling? Is the way that I’m considering expressing my anger going to hurt others or myself? Am I able to be angry at the cause but remain gracious and loving toward the person or persons with whom I’m angry? Is my anger righteous, is it based on the harm being caused to others, is it looking out for the benefit of others, or is it about me? “Human anger does not produce God’s righteousness.”

A medieval Jewish text offers a solution that might not be very popular. I have my own concerns about it. The text says, “Decide on a sum of money that you will give away if you allow yourself to lose your temper. Be sure that the amount you designate is sufficient to force you to think twice before you lose your temper. And over the next month, every time you express anger that is out of proportion to an incident or does not align with God’s righteous anger, donate that amount to charity.” The text refers to this as a spiritual practice, which is to be repeated as often as necessary until the lesson is learned. I think if we did that in the churches, most of them would have balanced budgets by July. What do you think?

The most powerful thing Mister Rogers did with his anger was acknowledge it and give it purpose. He found God in the messiest of human emotions and made it his mission to teach us how to deal with them, both as children and as adults. Without preaching he shared the message of the Gospel. In the context of a secular television show, he shared God’s divine love. When he ended each episode by telling each child that they are special, he was telling them that God loves them. When he sang the words to “The Mad You Feel?” he was telling us that God understands our emotions and offers us a way to deal with them. Fred’s solutions: punch a bag, pound some clay, play a game of tag, or run as fast as you can go. Rogers once said that banging the lowest notes on his piano worked for him. The key he sang, is to remember that we can stop when we want to, stop when we wish, we can stop, stop, stop any time. It’s a simple message that the world needs to hear now more than ever, and we should be the voice for that message.