Page 184 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 5

Trauma Recovery Training at a Seminary? Introducing Global Trauma Recovery Institute

techniques, and the treatment there is a call to Word written and made flesh and its call to me
live out before a watching client the reality of to voluntary sacrifice governed by love, I find
the Word made flesh in such a way that, if not such a study has radically changed me.
by word then certainly by deed, the client can Finally, because of these three things – thinking
see a relatively accurate manifestation of the that is grounded in an understanding of the
character of God in the therapist. The thera- Person of Jesus Christ, practicing that is sacred
pist is called to incarnate the character of Jesus because it is a living out of the character of God
Christ in relationship to the client. Truly, our and sacrificing, growing in the love of the Lamb
clinical work will radically change. for the unfittest – I find then that my thera-
3. Third, our study of the Person of Jesus Christ peutic work has become devotional in nature.
will radically change us. It was an astounding It has become worship. The Person of the Son
thought for me to suddenly realize that every of Man is unfolding before me in my study, in
pain, every grief, every tragedy and every form my therapeutic work, in my clients and in me.
of suffering that presented itself in my office His beauty, his suffering and glimpses into the
was suffering born by my Savior. In entering power of redemption in both my own self and
in to the suffering of others we are participating the selves of my clients leads me to bow down
in the suffering of Christ. The more I plumb and worship the Lamb that was slain. He who
the depths of the Person of the Son of Man the opened the dawn of time with his voice, set hu-
more I find myself able to truly enter in to the mans in relationship to himself and each other,
sufferings of my clients. The more I enter into gave them power to impact and feelings to en-
their suffering the more I understand of the rich and facilitate empathy calls me to follow
Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the the Lamb whithersoever He goes. And follow
world. If He was slain before the foundation of I will – in my study of Christian psychology,
the world then it follows that sacrifice was part in my work as a Christian psychologist and in
of the purpose and design of creation. Sacrifice my own life and growth and understanding of
is woven into the fabric of this world. Its first suffering and sacrifice. Truly, a knowledge and
stone was laid with a view to the development understanding of the person of the Son of Man,
of the sacrificial life. My work as a therapist, my the Lamb that was slain, is a worthy study in-
life in this world and within the community of deed and ultimately it is a study that leads to a
the church is to involve progress in the power to worshipping creature.
sacrifice. I am learning through my work and
through my study of the Person of Christ that Diane Langberg, PhD
if sacrifice is the law of the Highest Being then is a psychologist whose
it is desirable to reach it. You can only reach clinical expertise inclu-
anything by a repeated experience of it. And so des 40 years of working
as I sit with clients and seek the path of volun- with trauma survivors
tary sacrifice on their behalf I begin to realize and clergy. She is the
that I am climbing to a goal by successive steps director of Diane Lang-
downward – it is a path that requires voluntary berg, Ph.D. & Asso-
limitations of my self, my power, my voice, my ciates and speaks inter-
emotions, governed by love. Natural love deems nationally on trauma,
fittest that which is nearest to or most like itself. ministry and the Chri-
The Lamb slain demonstrates a love that strives stian life. Dr. Langberg
for the survival of the “un-fittest”. It is that love is clinical faculty of Bi-
that Paul sought to describe in I Corinthians 13 blical Theological Se-
– a love that steps downward into hearts foreign minary and core facul-
to its own, believing against present facts, ho- ty with the seminary’s
ping against existing clouds and bearing against Global Trauma Recove-
daily disappointments, enduring against labor ry Institute. Her books
seemingly thrown away. Learning through the and many other resour-
ces can be found at
dianelangberg.com
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