Trauma, Fear, and Faith

I had the opportunity to attend a training event where one of the topics was how trauma impacts our lives. It got me to thinking about issues of faith, trust, the ability to live beyond the damaging consequences of our past experiences.
One of the TV shows my sons introduced me to is Arrow. There is a lot of violence and glorying in violence, force, and death as the path to accomplish justice. It is a theme the show wrestles with over and over again. At one point, however, one of the characters makes the following comment: “We are afraid of things we don’t know. Especially when we have been living in pain this long, it’s hard to even accept the idea of being happy” (Thea Queen, Arrow S5, E7).
That is a very fitting response to repeated trauma. It has to do with the way trauma teaches us to respond to the world around us. It has to do with our struggle to learn to trust others. It has to do with the way trauma interferes with that trust and our need to trust and live with the vulnerability of being in community with others who do not always measure up, even as we also are wont to be found lacking.
Our church has suffered a lot of trauma in remembered history. The sanctuary burned down in a fire. Gibson Mill began a series of layoffs resulting in the plant shutting down. Membership moved out of the community seeking employment. The community changed in character and composition. Five neighbor churches closed their doors or moved out of the community. A pastor committed suicide. There was a major disaster with the sewage system at a cost of $400K. The church received a proposal that included closing its doors. The church sold its parsonage to help pay down debt. Our long-time organist moved to a nursing home without a replacement.
That is a lot for any church to process. The accumulation of the trauma makes it hard to return to a life of trust in the future. It makes it hard to accept that God is truly faithful and present with us in all the turmoil of life we experience.
And yet, that is the good news. Despite overwhelming odds, God remains faithful. That is the story of Abraham and Sarah’s barrenness. It is the story of the Hebrew bondage and exodus. It is the story of Joshua, Gideon, David, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, Lazarus, Peter, John, Paul, and so many others. It is the story of the crucifixion and the resurrection. It is the faith we proclaim in the midst of our trauma, fears, doubts, and uncertainties.
Faith requires courage. It requires facing down the traumas of our past. It requires denying them the power to control our future. It requires that we learn to trust God to be faithful in the midst of our pain, suffering, and sense of loss. The last word will be the word of God, after all. We can live in the hope of Christ despite the traumas of our past because Christ Jesus travels that road with us.
—©Copyright 2018, Christopher B. Harbin  
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/ 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Gospel Is Not Conservative

Image
Fundamentalism and conservativism are intrinsically averse to change. They are tied with conserving a status quo or moving back to a former era. They seek a safe place, a respite from change and transformation in the world around them. They are threatened by new ideas. They fear that the foundations on which they base their lives will be uprooted, causing their view of reality to fall apart. Growth depends on change. Life requires change. Survival depends on responding to changes in our environment. It requires new ideas. It requires new answers to old questions, as well as new questions with even newer answers. Jesus was by no means conservative. Jesus challenged the status quo. He fought against the groundwork of much of the religious thought around him, as well as the structures erected to empower its values. He called out those who benefited from social, religious, and political power. He demonstrated God's love, forgiveness and grace to those deemed una...
Read more

God in the Hands of Angry Sinners

Image
Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” set a very poor direction for much of Christianity in the Colonies. His Puritan tradition presented God as an essentially angry deity whose desire was to condemn and torture. Grace or mercy existed simply in regard to how long God waited until calling down judgment upon sinners. That is not good news. It never was. Such is not the message of Jesus whom the gospel writers claim as good news. They echo the words of the celestial messengers declaring Jesus’ birth as good news of great joy to all peoples. Rather than look to Jesus as the clearest example of God’s identity, character, and will, that tradition surrounding Edwards began with an altogether different understanding that could not account for what Jesus actually taught. The Puritan perspective began with angry sinners and projected that upon God. Anger begins with fear, uncertainty, discomfort, and the inability to control one’s environment, ot...
Read more

Our Language of Choice

Image
I woke up this morning and decided to be a woman. I really like the idea of earning less money on the job. I like the idea of being passed over for promotions. I like that I will be held more accountable for the care of my home and familial responsibilities than any of the men around me. I’m looking forward to having my expertise ignored. I like that I’ll more likely be treated as a lower-level assistant to male colleagues than an actual colleague. It should be a good experience to live as more of a target for domestic violence and abuse. It will be so freeing to let go of my bodily autonomy and place it in the hands of men who will not understand me. With so many voices in our society shifting back toward the attitudes of 70 years ago, I am really looking forward to setting aside all trappings of male privilege and power to live as a second class citizen whose voice and opinions are essentially irrelevant. Just look at all the advantages women have! They get t...
Read more