Dear Congregation,

With many of you, I have been puzzling through the effects of the past three years.  What has emerged from my reading has resonated with my own experience and with conversations we have been having? 

It was traumatic.

The most helpful book I’ve found for understanding the effects of trauma is Bessel A. Vander Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score (New York: Penguin Random House, 2015). Vander Kolk says, 

Being traumatized means continuing to organize your life as if the trauma were still ongoing–unchanged and immutable–as every new encounter or event is contaminated by the past. 53

Vander Kolk describes the science of how trauma alters brain functioning in ways that register in the body–the body keeps score:

After trauma, the world is experienced with a different nervous system.  The survivor’s energy now becomes focused on the inner chaos, at the expense of spontaneous involvement in their life.  53

In Chapter 13, “Healing from Trauma: Owning Yourself,” Vander Kolk says:

Trauma robs you of the feeling you are in charge of yourself….  The challenge of recovery is to reestablish ownership of your body and mind–of yourself.  This means feeling free to know what you know and feel what you feel without being overwhelmed, enraged, ashamed, or collapsed.  For most people this involves (1) finding a way to become calm and focused, (2) learning to maintain that calm in response to images, thoughts, sounds or physical sensations that remind you of the past, (3) finding ways to be fully alive in the present and engage with people around you, (4) not having to keep secrets from yourself, including secrets about ways you have managed
to survive. 205-06

A recent article written by Rev. Libby Howe for the Wisconsin Council of Churches focuses on another piece of the puzzle.  How does the body of Christ respond to trauma? This article is important for us to consider as a church body made up of people like you and me.

We find healing as a body of believers when we work through our own, individual traumas. The hard part is that healing is not easy; faith offers no magic solution. Our faith holds together for the work we are called to do, assuring us we are safe even when fear courses through our bodies, especially even then.  

Peace, 
Pr. Craig