Recovering from Un-Natural Disasters

A Guide for Pastors and Congregations after Violence and Trauma

Laurie Kraus, David Holyan, Bruce Wismer

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780664262150
• eBook ISBN: 9781611647907
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Recovering from Un-Natural Disasters is a must-read handbook for pastors and church leaders of communities who could or perhaps already have experienced an un-natural disaster, such as gun violence, suicides, or sexual abuse.

Unlike natural disasters, un-natural disasters deal with the concept of sin and require a different recovery strategy. In this book, readers will explore the four phases of human-caused disaster Devastation and Heroism, Disillusionment, Reforming, and Wisdom and receive step-by-step suggestions to use with their faith community during the recovery process. Example worship resources, including prayers, music suggestions, and sermons that are appropriate to use during periods of trauma and recovery, are included.

1

Phase One: Devastation and Heroism

A pastor in a community in the Midwest was having dinner with his family when his son called and said, “Turn on the television, something’s happening at City Hall.” What was happening was a mass shooting that took the lives of several citizens and gravely injured many, including the mayor. Though he did not know it at the time, some of those killed or injured were members of his congregation. The pastor left the restaurant and went over to City Hall, which was quite near the church. Panicked people were milling around. The EMTs, police, and other first responders were doing their thing. The press with their cameras were shining bright lights into the darkness, speaking excitedly into microphones.

The pastor walked over to the welcome center of his church, and found the entire staff gathered around a small television, watching what the reporters were saying right outside their doors. He later said that as he looked around at his staff and the familiar surroundings in that terrible, strange moment, an inner voice addressed him: “This changes everything.” He said to his colleagues, “Let’s meet in the morning and begin to figure this out.”

When a violent event shatters the normal life of a community, the “voice” that addresses us is the event itself, changing everything, challenging us to stop, to notice everything, to pay attention, to be in the moment. What just happened? What do we do now? Violence and trauma can devastate a congregation. In the first hours and days, regardless of training and experience, people feel powerlessness, shock, denial, or disbelief. Whatever was scheduled in the life of the community shockingly is no longer the business for the day (or the many days ahead). In the chart on page xiv, this shock is signified by a disconnected, sudden drop from “normal” to the onset of the disaster cycle that began with the incident. After a traumatic event, the primary goal for the pastoral leaders and congregation is the stabilization of the ministry in that place.

Usually, an insistent internal pressure to act and respond in a helpful way emerges in the immediate aftermath of violence. These valiant attempts to fix what has shattered—prayer chains, casserole assembly lines, child-care routines and carpools, grocery runs, vigils, memorials, worship planning, and an endless array of crafted gifts, cards, donations, and well-wishes—consume the first hours and days of response. The label for the common external reaction to the devastation is “Heroism.” Heroism can have a positive quality. In those first hours and days, many logistics must be accomplished to get out of harm’s way, gather people, communicate and inform, feed and shelter those in need, provide for worship, and express the presence of divine love in a tangible way. As people of faith, these heroic acts are part of who we are and what we do.

Heroism also has a negative quality. As long as we are acting we do not have to feel. Heroism can serve to distract us from the immeasurable pain of loss, which means it can also distract us from healing. As much as heroic acts are a part of who we are and what we do as a faithful people, slowing down and walking through the valley of the shadow of death with one another also shapes our significant character as children of God. Faith communities are natural places for people to gather to safely express devastation, to feel the pain of loss, and to talk about what has happened with others.

PASTORAL LEADERSHIP

“How the leader leads will influence how the community follows.” A violent incident disrupts normal life. The phone rings and a distraught mother’s voice stammers that her daughter, one of the girls in the youth group, is at the hospital because she was sexually assaulted at the local county fair. Or, there is breaking news streaming across the TV of a hostage incident occurring at your church, resulting in a double murder and suicide in the sanctuary. The news is devastating, and you feel a sense of shock, disbelief, and deep pain. It is common to feel a complete sense of incomprehension and paralysis. You may not know what to say or do. Traumatic events often overwhelm our usual ability to cope and respond. Ordination to ministry does not shield one from the effects of a traumatic incident. The impact experienced after trauma cannot be generalized or discounted. A traumatic event is shattering. It destabilizes one’s sense of balance. It scrambles the brain. Trauma cannot be intellectualized away, no matter how much one may wish to do so. Dismissing the impact the event has on you will not be helpful to you or to those who need you. As counterintuitive as it may feel, best practices have shown that moving through this devastation phase is more helpful than trying to avoid it.

The first phase of response after violence is devastation, partly because there is no preparation. It blindsides everyone, and yet, leaders of a beloved faith community, whatever they may be feeling personally, are forced to deal with the impact of the event and shepherd the people through chaos.

Congregations that eventually thrive beyond a trauma incident have pastors who respond to what is now in their path. A leader who can be present immediately is extremely helpful: one who is willing to enter and stand with others in the most difficult of situations where shock and disbelief are raw and the pain is disturbing.

The art of pastoring in post-trauma situations is to be present to the volatility of the circumstances and the people in them while not over-functioning. It is vital to neither overreact nor rush heedlessly into the pain and devastation without emotional and spiritual preparation. Intuitively, a leader will want to just get in the car and go, but this is not very helpful. First, find a place where the tears can well up in your own eyes, where you can express your own hurt and be impacted by what has happened. Then breathe. Breathe for however long it takes. Find that place where the sense of inadequacy and uncertainty can be revealed—then breathe some more. Breathe and listen for the comforting words from within. As you listen, those words will come. Breathe, listen, breathe, and trust when choosing to enter the pain of devastation. Though it may not seem so, it is a kind of holy ground. Truthfully, ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes will not change the outcome of a situation; but those minutes of breathing and listening will change how you enter the event. A spiritual leader is a representative of something vast and mysterious. That leader needs to be completely present because, when the cameras begin clicking or when the piercing cries of a father are heard throughout hospital corridors, the pastor will be expected to respond. How one walks into that moment will make a difference and influence others. Pastoral leaders have an important shepherding role. Pastors are in the position to offer the best leadership and guidance under these conditions. Their influence greatly determines whether the people most impacted have the space and safety to be honest. Answers are not needed. What is needed most is an honest and caring presence.

The etymology of the word devastation suggests an emptying. Trauma takes life and takes the life out of survivors and those who lead them. It empties you. Spiritual leaders stand in that moment of devastation, offering a sense of stability and providing assurance. That’s an important realization. Be intentional about entering the devastation as an assuring presence.

EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL CARE NEEDS FOLLOWING TRAUMA

On the first Sunday of Advent in a small town in the Northeast, the congregation and choir were singing the opening hymn, “My Lord, What a Morning!” The pastor was singing from the pulpit when she noticed out of the corner of her eye the door behind the choir loft opening. As she was wondering who was late to worship, an armed man stepped through the door and opened fire on his former wife, the church organist. As she fell to the floor and choir members rushed to help her, the man strode down the center aisle and out the sanctuary doors. Several minutes later, he returned “to finish the task,” and though church members blocked the door, they yielded when he threatened to shoot them. He returned to the organ, fired again into the prone body of the organist, and was then tackled, disarmed, and subdued by the pastor and members of the choir. Though it seemed like hours, the pastor said later, it was only ten minutes before emergency responders and police arrived and took the man into custody. The thirty or so congregants were separated and interviewed for hours following the service. The organist, a longtime church member and friend of the pastor, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A couple of days later, the entire congregation was invited to participate in a conversation and share a fellowship meal with the pastor and a professional disaster responder. During that event, church members, ranging in age from fourteen to eighty-four, wept and struggled to re-create, remember, and make sense of what had happened to them. Again and again they compared memories, corrected each other, then lapsed into confused silence when the time and event sequences didn’t—couldn’t add up to a coherent narrative. Several spoke with naked anguish of their sense of shame and guilt that they hadn’t been able to stop the shooter from re-entering the sanctuary and killing their friend. Others cringed visibly while the story was retold.

Two members of the congregation who were present that Sunday had said they would be there that night, but did not show up: one forgot, another accepted an out-of-town assignment. Several reported sleeplessness and nightmares. A memorial of candles had been established on the steps of the sanctuary; several members went by daily to sit and look at the light, or to tend the memorial and make sure it remained intact. Some weeks later, the pastor reported that a couple of members had quit attending after becoming angry about issues unrelated to the shooting. The congregation did not return to their sanctuary until after Epiphany, six weeks later. Although they held a ritual cleansing and rededication of the sanctuary, many members continued to feel uncomfortable there.

Common reactions to trauma may include: fear, anxiety, numbness, sadness, depression, anger and rage, negativity, moodiness, impatience or irritability, changes in appetite, nightmares or flashbacks, increased use of alcohol/drugs, avoidance, difficulty in sleeping, and loss of interest in previous activities. For most people, these effects dissipate in time, without outside intervention. Extreme or extended expression of these reactions in an individual may signify that that person is not naturally healing from the impact of the event and may need additional attention or therapeutic intervention.

Therapists who treat trauma identify three things that support healing and recovery for those who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event: connection or relationship, narrative (a way to tell their story), and relaxation. For most people and communities, this means finding ways (verbal and symbolic) to tell the story and unpack the impact of the event in the presence of a trusted friend or spiritual guide; beginning to integrate the event with others in community; and embracing moments of relaxation and grace.

Faith communities, by nature, are uniquely well equipped to support these basic, life-giving practices, especially in the wake of a violent event. The rituals of worship provide a reliable and familiar path through the valley of the shadow. The community’s sacred text and salvation story offer the “bones” of a transformative narrative to be adapted and adopted as survivors and witnesses begin to tell their own stories. A congregation’s fellowship practices and sustaining belief in the importance of connection between and among people as a channel of divine presence and blessing are avenues for the deepening of connectedness. They extend an invitation to reach out for support and relationship that will not require extraordinary effort for persons whose spiritual and emotional resources have been strained by the impact of the event on their lives. People who live alone or who lack strong primary relationships, as well as those with families and friends, can find solace, support, and a place to tell their story when the faith community gathers in the wake of violence.

STAFF AND LAY EXPERIENCES

After violence or trauma, members of the church staff need attention and assurance as well. Attentiveness, assessment, and assurance are constant themes in trauma response. Staff members have a vital role to play throughout the recovery and healing process. In the immediate aftermath, they answer the phones, run interference, disburse information, provide comfort and care, support youth group members, shepherd the Sunday school teachers, control access, deal with insurance companies, and clean up the mess. They have deep relationships with members and are leaders in the core ministries of the congregation. They are important in helping to stabilize the ministry of a traumatized congregation.

Depending on the size of a congregation, staff may include a youth director, musicians, school staff, administrative and building/maintenance personnel. Each one needs someone to stand with them as they experience the impact of the incident. Staff members are not immune, and even if they appear to be “handling things well” and getting their work done, they are affected physically, emotionally, and spiritually. They may be experiencing social or even financial consequences as a result of trauma, which complicate their response to this incident. Trauma disrupts the survivor’s normal state of balance, wellness, and safety. Like the pastoral leaders, staff members are trying to cope. They have their “normal” job responsibilities and are expected to shoulder these along with the extraordinary stuff that violence and trauma brings.

A pastor has the responsibility to tend to the church staff, to be attentive, and to remember that each one has a life outside the office, a life that may become more vulnerable in the wake of trauma. As staff members are well supported by leaders, they will be better equipped, in turn, to care for the congregation and community. Help them be attentive to the most critical next steps, staying focused on what is more pressing. Designing the poster for next month’s all-church picnic can be delayed! Provide leadership and compassion. Be present and honest, and communicate clearly. This will help alleviate problems and decrease anxiety.

Lay leaders will also need and expect attentiveness. For the pastor, there is no dimension where leadership energy will not be required. The pastoral leader has a daunting task and will be seen as the head by those in the congregation and beyond it—regardless of whether he or she feels adequate to the task. Among these important congregational leaders, some may be directly affected, others indirectly, and a few may seem not bothered at all. Because of these varying degrees of distress, it is important not to generalize in planning and providing pastoral care. Don’t spend a lot of energy assessing who falls into what category. Trust yourself and the Spirit’s working in you and them. Their impact will be revealed through the course of moving forward in ways that encourage honest expression and constructive care.

As noted above, successful therapeutic interventions typically share three common characteristics: the expression of narrative (telling the story), the experience of trusted connection or relationship, and relaxation, or self-regulation. Among people of faith, these same characteristics apply. First, staff and lay leaders need opportunities to express what happened—how they were affected or not. Second, they need connection, to get together. They need to be offered opportunities to tell their story or express their distress in a safe environment and to be reassured that trauma-related symptoms are normal reactions to the event. Pastors and others who listen to and support these persons need to do so in a relaxed body; further, they need to model a calm presence that can be mirrored by those who are talking about what has happened and what is happening to them. If someone does not have words, create opportunities for nonverbal expressions as well.

Accurate communication is essential. Staff, along with people in the congregation (especially lay ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Advance Praise
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Phase One: Devastation and Heroism
• 2. Worship and Theology after Trauma
• 3. Transitions
• 4. Phase Two: Disillusionment
• 5. Worship and Wondering in the Wilderness
• 6. Phase Three: Reforming toward Wisdom
• 7. Phase Four: Wisdom
• Appendixes: Worship Resources
• Notes
• Suggested Readings
• Excerpt from Trauma and Grace, by Serene Jones