Attending to Cracks in the Universe

I'm enjoying and learning a lot from Susi Pangerl's "Introduction to Pastoral Ministry," the last course she will teach at Meadville. She is an extraordinary teacher and will be sorely missed.

There are a number of striking images that she employs to describe the process of pastoral care. One that especially stands out is that of cracks in the universe. When such cracks open up is when we, as givers of pastoral care, come into play. Most of the time, people are able to make meaning of their lives and of the world. But when that ability is compromised, when trauma or something else gets in the way of this meaning-making ability, people need some help.

And the help that's needed most often comes in the form of a living, breathing person who can walk or stand with the person whose world is shattered as we, together, reconstruct meaning. The process involves working with trauma, which can be defined as the inability to tell one's own story, in such a way that it becomes a part of that story.

It occurs to me that what's involved in this process is also what's involved in the best poetry: taking that which keeps us from seeing clearly and incorporating it into something larger that allows us to spiral outward and upward toward a kind of understanding that would not have been possible otherwise.

People are really amazing in their ability to right themselves after being knocked over by the awfulness of life. But most of us need someone next to us while we work our way toward a new center of balance. Fortunately, some of us are willing to step forward to be that someone. We bless each other when we are able to recognize, together, not just the brokenness, but also the light, that is revealed through the cracks in our shattered world.