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Living Without Enemies: Being Present in the Midst of Violence by Samuel Wells, Marcia A. Owen
lukenotjohn's review
4.75
I have genuinely no recollection of purchasing this book (my guess is that I found it cheap at a thrift store and figured why not) and didn't have any sense of what it was about beyond the relatively vague title when I began. I was intrigued to learn that it was focused on a vigil ministry in Durham that went about working with families of victims of gun violence to organize commemorations of their loved one's life, typically at the site of their death. I'd never heard of a ministry dedicated to that, and as I read on found the book to be an immensely rich resource for what it means to care for people in the midst of violence, suffering, and grief.
The first chapter, which breaks down 4 modes of ministry as working for, working with, being with, and being for, was a bit clumsy for me. The book was written in 2011, and even just a decade later, I wonder if some of their assumptions around "with" may be found problematic or at least contentious. But it provides a helpful foundation for the rest of the book, which elaborates on pillars of the aforementioned "being with" ministry of vigils that Marcia Owen is involved in. These three chapters, Silence, Touch, and Words, are just terrific, to the point where I was taken off-guard by how much I appreciated them. It's not necessarily that any of the ideas felt groundbreaking or brand new, but it was powerful to see them contextualized within the concrete ministry they described and helped me to grasp some of the concepts more fully. The chapter on silence in particular stands out, elaborating on how it functions as a form of solidarity, listening, and prayer.
I happened to start the book the evening after I was offered an upcoming hospital chaplaincy internship opportunity, and I was struck by how deeply relevant the content here feels. There are obvious overlaps between the ministry of chaplaincy and vigils described here, both operating primarily in the "being with" capacity. I feel like it has the potential to be a valuable, grounding resource in the future for conceptualizing the challenges and gifts of the work ahead of me.
The first chapter, which breaks down 4 modes of ministry as working for, working with, being with, and being for, was a bit clumsy for me. The book was written in 2011, and even just a decade later, I wonder if some of their assumptions around "with" may be found problematic or at least contentious. But it provides a helpful foundation for the rest of the book, which elaborates on pillars of the aforementioned "being with" ministry of vigils that Marcia Owen is involved in. These three chapters, Silence, Touch, and Words, are just terrific, to the point where I was taken off-guard by how much I appreciated them. It's not necessarily that any of the ideas felt groundbreaking or brand new, but it was powerful to see them contextualized within the concrete ministry they described and helped me to grasp some of the concepts more fully. The chapter on silence in particular stands out, elaborating on how it functions as a form of solidarity, listening, and prayer.
I happened to start the book the evening after I was offered an upcoming hospital chaplaincy internship opportunity, and I was struck by how deeply relevant the content here feels. There are obvious overlaps between the ministry of chaplaincy and vigils described here, both operating primarily in the "being with" capacity. I feel like it has the potential to be a valuable, grounding resource in the future for conceptualizing the challenges and gifts of the work ahead of me.
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