The frailty of life is the fault line on which clergy work. Clergy witness trauma first-hand in the wake of death, disasters, and abuse. A trauma victim undergoes a serious threat to life and to self. A traumatic event can overwhelm a person or a community. It affects a person’s memory, ability to use language, sense of agency, level of anxiety, hope for the future and experience of God.

My research focuses on those who’ve felt silenced by trauma, particularly in their ability to use language, and to engage practices around silence and contemplation as a path to restoration. I will identify practices and theological language that spiritual leaders can offer those overwhelmed by trauma and its aftermath to experience grace in a way that is not overwhelming.

Through interviews with survivors and studies by neuroscientists, trauma researchers, disability theorists and theologians as well as my own experience as pastor in post 9/11 New York and as parent to a medically fragile child, I will share theological reflections and intentional healing practices through an interactive website, retreat for pastors, and book. With these, I hope to chart a path where the sinews between word and flesh regenerate and trauma articulates its place in a tradition that both fears and heralds it.