CCC 27-3

PASTORAL CARE seem contradictory. All of that is a part of the healing process. When we create space where the messy, confusing, and fragmented language is welcome and accepted, we establish a place for healing to occur. This requires not just love but humility as well. It takes humility to listen to a story of trauma and not offer pat responses. It takes humility to acknowledge we may not have all the answers. It takes humility to be willing to sit in the ashes with someone suffer ing and accept that we cannot fix it. Trusting that God is at work, even when we cannot see it, takes humility. A Place to Belong Trauma can be incredibly isolating. When our whole world falls apart, it can be disorienting and painful to see the rest of the world carry on as if nothing has happened. It can feel like no one understands… like we are all alone in our suffering. The Church can create a place where survivors belong and are embraced as part of the community, even in their pain, wounding, and doubts. We can create church communities where anger is allowed, sorrow is wel come, and people do not have to look good or impress others to fit in. As pas tors and church leaders, we can model lament as well as praise. We can honor endurance in pain as well as victory. We can make room at our table and in our sanctuary for the wounded and the healed. Trauma can be frightening for witnesses as well as survivors. As the Church, we can courageously embrace the fear that trauma instills in us and walk alongside survivors as they heal. Even in the ashes, dirt, and grime of someone’s deepest pain, we can be willing to sit beside them so no one suffers alone. Conclusion At the end of the book of Job, God shows up in a whirlwind and speaks with Job. One of the most powerful elements of this stunning conclusion is that God meets Job in the ash heap. Job does not have to get his life together or clean himself up before God is willing to meet with him. No, God shows up in the midst of the pain, in the middle of the ashes, and meets Job right where he is. As the Church, we are called to do the same. We can meet the wounded where they are. We can be the ones who point trauma survivors to the God who sees them and hears them, the God who has never left them and will never aban don them, the God who provides comfort in the ashes. ; Michelle Keener, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor of

The Church can create a place where survivors belong and are embraced as part of the community, even in their pain, wounding, and doubts. We can create church communities where anger is allowed, sorrow is welcome, and people do not have to look good or impress others to fit in.

Christianity at Houston Christian University and an asso ciate research fellow with the Kirby-Laing Centre for Public Theology. She serves as the director of discipleship for a growing church in Las Vegas. Michelle is also an award-winning novelist and devotional author.

Endnotes 1 Herman, J. (1997) Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence from domestic abuse to polit ical terror. Basic Books. 2 Keener, M. (2025). Comfort in the ashes: Explorations in the book of Job to support trauma survi vors. IVP Academic. 3 Porges, S.W., & Porges, S. (2023). Our polyvagal world: How safety and trauma change us. W.W. Norton & Company. 4 Garber, D. (2014). “I went in bitterness”: Theological implications of a trauma theory reading of Ezekiel. Review and Expositor, 111 (4), 346-357. https://doi.org/10.1177/0034637314557242.

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