By: Pastor Manisha Dostert
Have you experienced trauma? Have you ever felt your body react to a shock you couldn’t explain? Your heart began racing, or maybe your cheeks flushed, and you wondered, “What’s happening to me?”
You are not alone. If you answered yes, you’ve likely experienced trauma. Trauma is any experience of extreme stress, shock, or suffering that overwhelms our ability to cope. It is deeply personal, and yet universal.
Today, the rapid pace of world events and our constant access to them through technology magnify our stress. We not only carry our own trauma but also witness the suffering of others in real time. As humans, we all share the reality of carrying trauma.
Thanks to breakthroughs in science and medicine, such as MRIs and other testing advances, we now understand better what happens in the brain and body during trauma. The more we learn, the more we see that trauma is real, it leaves an imprint on us, and we are not alone in experiencing it. This knowledge helps us care for ourselves more wisely and compassionately.
At the same time, scripture offers centuries of wisdom on trauma. God meets us in our suffering, especially when we cannot take care of ourselves. This is where God resides: walking beside us in the struggle. Scripture itself can become a tool for resilience as we learn from those who came before us.
Thanks to both faith and science, we are learning ways to process, understand, and manage trauma, building resilience and finding a way forward.
This Sunday, October 5, we begin a two-week Sunday forum series on Trauma.
Part One – Your Body and Brain on Trauma – October 5
We will learn from fellow parishioners Dr. Felix Rogers and Dr. Steven Huprich, who will present an overview of the physiology and psychology of trauma. Steven will share insights from the world of mental health, while Felix will focus on its impact on the body.
Part Two – The Bible and Trauma – October 12
The following week, Fr. Bill will take a Bible-centered approach, exploring scripture and how it can be a resource for resilience. Much of the Bible evokes trauma directly or indirectly, including stories of exile and destruction, violence and loss, even passages where God seems angry and frightening. These texts can be difficult, even retraumatizing. So what do we do with them? How can they become “good news”?
Drawing on 20 years of study in trauma theory and biblical interpretation, Fr. Bill will explore how we might read these difficult texts in ways that foster connection, resilience, and healing.
Together, these two forums offer two essential perspectives: body and Bible, which build on and inform one another. By pairing the knowledge of science with the wisdom of scripture, we find a way forward in the mystery of becoming whole again after trauma. Both sessions speak to the human experience of extreme suffering and the possibility of extreme grace.