GBOD and Ministry Matters Websites Offer Wide and Varied Resources to Help Congregations Cope with Tragedy
There are numerous resources are available from the General Board of Discipleship (GBOD) to help congregations deal with the aftermath following the bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday. The resources include:
- Articles on how to deal with trauma, including how talk with children about the events in Boston
- Listing of hymns and songs in response to terrorism from The United Methodist Hymnal and other church songbooks
- Appropriate calls to worship
- Music for an offertory prayer song and a special hymn about coping with terrorist bombings
- Act of praise response to terrorism
Click on the following links to access resources on Talking With Children and Dealing with Terrorism and Violence.
The April 15 bombings at the Boston Marathon bring grief to many and revive perennial questions of "why?" The following articles and blog posts from Ministry Matters offer insights that may help you and your congregation in the wake of tragedy.
o By Adam Thomas
o Posted on April 16th, 2013
They call it Heartbreak Hill. It rises between the twentieth and twenty-first miles of the route of the Boston Marathon. It’s not much of a hill, unless…
Posted on April 15th, 2013
Here we are again at a place where we need to reassure children that they are safe even when we may not feel safe ourselves.
Posted on April 16th, 2013
April 16 is not my favorite day of the year. This is the day that I remember the power of evil and sin to destroy lives. And it’s the day that reminds of pain…
By FaithLink
Posted on April 15th, 2013
The tragedy in Boston, Massachusetts, seems so near to me this morning. My daughter went to Berklee College of Music in Boston, and we have many good memories of the city.
By Dan R. Dick
Posted on November 1st, 2008
Terror and tragedy gripped the churchgoing population of Knoxville, Tennessee and rippled across the country on July 27, 2008 as reports spread of a violent shotgun attack.
o By Reggie Tuck
o Posted on August 1st, 2008
On April 16, 2007, thirty-three lives were violently lost on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, where as I serve as a United Methodist pastor.
Posted on August 1st, 2008
What do you say or do when people's lives are falling apart? Feeling put on the spot may be uncomfortable, but as clergy and leaders, it is our role to have words and actions at the ready.
Posted on April 11th, 2011
The images of devastation coming to us from Japan raise once again the question of why. Why would a just and loving God allow–or worse yet, cause–such human suffering? …
Posted on September 5th, 2011
A month ago my wife and I were in New York City and went to the World Trade Center site. Standing there and contemplating what happened made the hair on my neck and arms stand up.
Posted on August 1st, 2011
I once heard a conversation in which two individuals, one who had been assaulted and raped and the other who had been wrongly accused and convicted of a horrible crime
Posted on November 4th, 2011
Last month two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon died in a sudden, horrible 15-car crash during the IZOD IndyCar World Championships at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Why?
Posted on January 3rd, 2011
Job's dialogue with God (Job 38:1-42:6) stands as one of Scripture's most vivid depictions of the struggle to understand and respond to suffering and evil.
Posted on April 30th, 2011
The devastation left in the wake of last Wednesday night’s tornadoes is mind numbing. Mile after mile of homes, businesses, and schools obliterated;
By Randy Horick
Posted on June 17th, 2011
Even for people familiar with the destruction tornados can inflict, the images from Joplin, Missouri, were horrific.
Posted on June 3rd, 2011
Does God hate Joplin? Maybe the whole of Missouri, or the USA, or perhaps the whole world? There have been earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan, volcanoes erupting in Iceland…
Posted on April 25th, 2011
Early one morning I was awakened at sunrise by someone pounding on my door. I was at the Methodist Seminary in San Jose, Costa Rica, on a mission trip, and I expected this day…
Posted on January 3rd, 2011
One does not have to look any further than the events of the day to conclude that there is evil in the world. Evil's influence and hand are seen every day in terrorist attacks, in …