Western Hills United Methodist Church, El Paso Texas

Big Green Men
Anyone who grew up in the television era in which I did will recognize the name Lou Ferrigno.  Lou was a body builder, one of the first to have a role as an actor.  The part he played, of course, was that of the Incredible Hulk. Hollywood took an adaptation of a favorite Marvel Comics character and turned it into a television series that ran for a long period.  Each week, both I and friends of mine would tune in to see what the Hulk was going to do that week.
Ferrigno’s character was the representation of the angry side of the lab-accident prone scientist portrayed by Bill Bixby.  No one can forget the simple line of warning each time The Hulk emerged from the shadows of the patient and usually mild mannered scientist:  ”Don’t make me angry!  You won’t like me when I am angry!”  Warnings went unheeded by unsuspecting bad guys who would then experience the Hulk in all of his destructive, green bodied, ripped-muscle glory.
If I remember correctly, the violence was always directed at the bad guys or at a bad situation of injustice that needed some sort of correction.  By the end of the TV hour, bad guys were taken care of, injustice had been righted, and the Hulk disappeared from view until the next episode.  We all felt good that a green-bodied, muscle-ripped and angry Hulk could right all the wrongs with angry and violent power.
We all wondered (and may still) what it would be like to be able to have that kind of angry power, and to be able to use that power for good, didn’t we?  We all wished, at times, that we could take angry power over the bad guys and situations in our lives, only to find ourselves fearful and frustrated that we could not.  We knew there was a price to pay that the Hulk always seemed to escape – no jail, no detention, no reimbursement for damages done – all because those means used by us to right the wrongs in our lives could never be justified by the end result.
I sometimes wonder if we all need a disclaimer for our anger too.  Do we need to be able to express to people, “Don’t make me angry.  You won’t like me when I am angry!?”  I am sure there are times I need that.  There are times when one of two courses seem to be the only courses available – retaliation or retreat.  But is there another way?  Most of us know that the energy and emotion created in anger can be destructive in retaliation and retreat.  Retaliation may get my emotion out and give me an outlet to vent the energy of it, but eventually regret brought about by my conscience or the Spirit of God will settle into my Christian soul.  Retreat can be just as destructive to our souls, since retreat gives little outlet to the energy.  The emotion turned into ourselves becomes depression.
Well handled, anger can, of course, serve as a positive force and energy for good. It can serve as a positive force for change. Retaliation and retreat cannot, and they are often used as a quick fix for problems that require longer term solutions that the violence of the Hulk cannot change.  Martin Luther King, Jr. understood this better than almost anyone and his challenge to his most bitter enemies in Strength to Love proves it:
“One day, we shall win freedom, but not only for ourselves. We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory shall be a double victory. “Is it possible to win over anger?  I believe it is.  I believe we can learn to be neither retaliatory victors, nor repressed victims. See you soon in the place where One took our anger into Himself and gave us victory.
Pastor Mark