A Trauma Informed Pandemic Ministry

Post Author: Rev. Andrea Curry

Drawing close in the distance

When I modified the passing of the peace for worship on March 8, others in our county-seat town in Northwest Ohio didn’t seem concerned about the virus yet. I received some funny looks but mostly laughs, and the congregation went along with it. On the way out the door one of our oldest members came up to me and thanked me for changing the way we passed the peace. She explained that she too had been worrying about the virus since she was in the vulnerable population. I shared with her that I understood where she was coming from. I am immunocompromised and take immunosuppressant medications, so I too, am in the vulnerable population. This virus was on my radar, and I was prepared to do whatever I could to keep my people and myself safe. When our administrative council met later that same week in March and made the decision to worship via videos, a switch flipped inside me, and I became not only a pastor, wife, and follower of Jesus, but also a crisis manager.

In the early days of the pandemic I was running on pure adrenaline, waking up every day at 4:30am because I couldn’t sleep. I was filled with ideas about how to reach out and offer Christ to my people through the ingenuity of the internet. The Holy Spirit was working on overdrive in my life and I was pouring out peace, love, and mercy to my people in the name of Jesus. I was constantly texting to check on someone or calling to make sure one of our shut-ins was doing ok. I wanted to share God’s grace and love to try to help people get through this with their mental health intact. All my leftover energy was spent making sure our online Easter worship service was “special and meaningful.” The online service was beautiful and turned out so well. Then on Easter Monday, something in me clicked again. I was exhausted. I think for the first two months of the pandemic I had been so focused on making sure that others were ok that I had forgotten to care for myself.

I resolved to take my sabbath and take a Sunday off, but I realized that I was also experiencing trauma responses to the nightly news, and I saw my spouse, family, and friends were responding similarly. I am a certified Trauma Informed Care trainer and I knew this was community trauma we were experiencing. We were all being traumatized daily by news briefings, press conferences, and a continual reduction in our freedoms. Some would handle it differently than others. Some would soar, filled with ideas for how to “make the best out of this new reality”, and some would curl into a ball unable to function. I was somewhere in the middle, and mostly just needed some chocolate and a nap during our governor’s daily 2:00pm news briefing.

Trauma often includes a threat to life, bodily integrity, or sanity and/or the feeling of being overwhelmed and unable to cope. It can feel like the world “rushing” by even when we are sitting still. People who currently struggle with mental health issues are finding that these issues are being amplified by the pandemic, and people who have never had mental health symptoms are suddenly having panic attacks. Imagine experiencing a panic attack for the very first time, right now, in the middle of all of this chaos and discord!

Unfortunately, as we are coming to see, this collective trauma will continue as we continue to journey throughout this pandemic. As we arrive at each new stage of life in these new times we can expect to experience things we have never experienced. Some of these experiences may be traumatic. Simple activities that we used to take for granted may now be more jarring, like going to the grocery store, visiting the doctor, or when our children return to school (especially if they will return to face-to-face instruction) in the next few weeks. As we move further into the pandemic, returning to indoor worship may be traumatic for many churches and pastors.

As a pastor who is also immunocompromised I am taking extra steps to be cautious as we discern a pathway into this unknown future. For me, planning ahead as much as possible has been helpful. Yet I also know that realistically, we cannot possibly plan for everything that may happen. There may be more trauma around the corner, but that is where our faith in Christ comes in. We may not always know what will happen, but we can trust that Christ will be there with us always.

As we journey together through these times, this one line of encouragement helps me to persevere: we are responding normally to abnormal times. In the moments when we cry, in the moments when we are angry, in the moments when we toss up our hands at the sky and wonder how we will ever make it through this, we are responding normally to abnormal times. Siblings in Christ, know that no matter what decisions we make about the future, the God of the Universe loves us and is holding us. As we journey through these abnormal days, may we have peace for the journey.