Smithsonian Magazine describes 1968 as "the year that shattered America." In the midst of this shattering - only weeks after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s murder - The United Methodist Church emerged from the rich traditions of the Evangelical United Brethren and Methodist churches. At that time (like today) unprecedented divisions and cultural crises faced our nation. The tectonic plates of race, poverty, nationalism, war/peace, and the nation's master narrative itself were seismically reshaping both public and private life. In the midst of this chaos, everyday people continued to strive for a better life, and pastors and leaders worked to be channels of grace and care in the chaos. In this issue of Circuit Rider, pastors, theologians, and counselors offer insight into the work of pastoral care in the context of trauma, crisis, and societal change. Recurring throughout these articles is a strong conviction that the trauma and pain of our time call for the good news of grace that promises a better life. How? By providing a ministry of pastoral and prophetic presence, honestly naming wounds (received and inflicted), refusing to rush to closure, and lingering with the losses that register in all our resonant efforts to respond to the chaos.