Good news of Jesus in a traumatized world
The way of the missional God is that the Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood, Elaine Heath told church leaders on June 28 at Gathering 2019’s Leadership Day. Heath is a former dean of Duke University Divinity School in Durham, N.C., and an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church. Much…
Breaking the silence
For Jaymie Friesen, responding to abuse and preventing it in communities of faith is a personal calling. As the abuse response and prevention coordinator at Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Manitoba, Friesen supports churches and individuals, and works to raise awareness of abuse and trauma. Prior to beginning her position with MCC, Friesen worked with survivors…
The Wounded Heart of God
“The Wounded Heart of God: The Asian Concept of Han and the Christian Doctrine of Sin” by Andrew Sung Park is not light bedtime reading. Yet, I think this is one of the most influential theological books that I have read. The thorough articulation of the concept of “han” fills the gap of what I…
Seeing the Other Side
How resilient are people? Do we really fall apart in every situation of grief? How is it that we can recover from horrendous trauma to life normal lives again? In his book The Other Side of Sadness, George A. Bonanno explores mourning and the nature of human resilience in the face of grief. He suggests…
Journeys of Healing and Wholeness
Thinking about trauma and how it impacts our lives, I begin to see it everywhere. Is everything a story of something whole becoming broken, and seeking to become whole again? Is this our human story? Taking STAR – Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience – with my colleagues from the Intensive English Program this spring…
