This was Recovery Sunday, so I spoke about the way that addictions and recovery can be”harsh and unrelenting teachers” of spiritual lessons.  What do you think …?

By What Authority?

Philippians 2:1-13; Matthew 21:23-32

Ever since the Faith Partners group began its work and ministry in our congregation, we have set aside a Sunday to mark as Recovery Sunday. That seems especially appropriate this year, when there has been so much spoken, written, and debated about the extent of substance abuse in Northfield, about its causes, and about the ways it might be reduced in the present and prevented in the future.

I will not try to answer any of the painful questions that have been raised, nor pretend that I have any special insights into the social, medical, and legal issues that are involved. What I will try to do this morning is to reflect with you about some of the spiritual issues that are involved.

I must begin by reminding us all that “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.” I say that because it would be easy to think that a church that celebrates “Recovery Sunday” is somehow not a place for those who are not sober and not in recovery. It would be easy to think that “Recovery Sunday” somehow scolds those who have lapsed in their sobriety, or chides those who are only beginning to understand and confront their own addictions. It would be easy to forget that God’s love and compassion are poured out on all people, not just on those who are doing well and have it together. Precisely because it is so easy to slip into these errors, let us be clear about these two things: first, that God’s love is not compromised by addictions nor enhanced by sobriety and recovery; and second, that our congregation welcomes everyone – including those afflicted by addictions and those affected by them – wherever they are on their life’s journey.

Addictions – whether to alcohol, prescription drugs, street drugs, gambling, food, shopping, or whatever – addictions are harsh and unrelenting spiritual teachers for those who are afflicted by them, and by those who are affected by them (that is, their family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors). In the struggle for freedom from addiction, one of the lessons that they teach us is the paradoxical relationship between helplessness and power.

When a person begins a 12-step program of recovery (such as Alcoholics Anonymous), the first step is “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol..” (or other substance or activity). In a culture where individual freedom and responsibility are central, this is a difficult admission to make.

But what follows that admission is often remarkable. Once the individual has given up her/his own power over the addictive substance or activity, new sources of power become apparent. First, of course, is God. Along with divine power, however, participants in 12-step recovery programs discover the power of the healing community. That community surrounds and supports each newcomer with care and concern, and shares with the person the wisdom and warnings that have been acquired through experience. Within that community, one person often takes on the sponsorship role, speaking hard truths in tempting times, and holding out the promise of a better, healthier, more sober way of living.

All of this is profoundly counter-cultural. The power that invites and supports sobriety and recovery is not based in physical strength, economic power, political connections, or emotional coercion. None of the sources of power we encounter in our daily lives is found here. Instead, the power that invites and supports sobriety and recovery is based on love, honesty, mutual concern, and on the conviction that only by helping others can a person be truly whole and healthy.

On what authority do I make these claims for the process of recovery? On grounds that should sound both familiar and biblical: “Love one another as I have loved you.” “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” “If you have two cloaks, give one away.” “Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for another.” “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.”

The process of recovery calls upon all of us – the wider community as well as the individual and his/her family – to take seriously these counter-cultural tenets of our faith, and to give them much more than lip service. The process of recovery – whether we are experiencing it directly or indirectly – requires faithful living of the kind that is so easy to avoid in a nation where earning, excelling, and winning –and sometimes cheating – are publicly praised and rewarded. The process of recovery demonstrates that these are short term, unworthy goals, and it insists that to get what we most deeply and urgently want, we must choose another way

The news this week has been full of stories of individuals and institutions whose choice of short term, unworthy, and greedy goals are wrecking havoc on our nation’s economic health and well being. The decline of Washington Mutual (WaMu) was especially poignant for me since I banked there when I lived in Seattle. There is no shortage of criticism of the credit and banking practices that have contributed to the collapse.

Most of the voices that are speaking and writing are worried about recovering the prosperity of our nation and the rigor of our economy. While those are compelling needs, especially for the economically vulnerable persons in America who are caught in a fix that is only partly of their own making, I can’t help but wonder if we ought to be thinking about recovery in more spiritual terms.

If we did that, we might notice that physical strength, economic power, political connections, and emotional coercion are not likely to dam up the cascading financial disasters that have been reported nearly every day. And we might begin to ask whether there is another kind of recovery that we should be seeking.

How about love, honesty, mutual concern, and the conviction that only by helping others can a person be truly whole and healthy? Jim Wallis wrote a powerful editorial about the nation’s economic ills in Sojourner’s Magazine this week, and though he did not equate the financial problems of Wall Street and Washington with addictions, he did make a suggestion that sounds very much like a program of recovery from an addiction: “A healthy, balanced relationship between free enterprise on the one hand, and public accountability and regulation, on the other, is morally and practically essential. Government should encourage innovation, but it must also limit greed.”

Wallis is talking about re-establishing what a relational theology would call “right relationships,” – right relationships between business and government, but also right relationship between institutions and individuals, and between individuals and their money. Right relationships demonstrate respectful consideration of the needs of all the parties concerned; right relationships are sustainable; right relationships nurture, support, and encourage other relationships.

Which brings us back to the question of authority: By what authority do we define right relationships? By the authority of the one who lived among us and showed us and taught us what the kingdom of heaven is like – that it is a place in which love, honesty, mutual concern, and self-giving service are the rule.

I said at the outset that addiction and recovery are harsh and unrelenting spiritual teachers. I would not want my appreciation of their lessons to leave the impression that I am unaware of the profound suffering that they bring. Indeed, hardly a week goes by that Cathy and Cher and I do not confer about a family we know that is struggling in one way or another with addiction and recovery. Please do not imagine that I think that addictions are somehow sent from God with the purpose of teaching us these lessons. On the contrary, I believe that no one is more grieved than God at the suffering that addictions bring to us. But I also believe that one of the ways we experience the grace of God is in God’s ability to transform even the most profound suffering into new life. And for that, we give thanks.

Amen.

Prayer for September 28, 2008

Almighty and everlasting God, creator of all things seen and unseen, hear now our silent prayers, as we open our hearts to you in the sacred quietness.

God of faith and hope, we bring before you our prayers for those we have named this morning – we especially remember … Bring to each of them the gifts of mercy and grace that are most needed, according to your wisdom and love.

God of our hearts, we offer our prayers today for those heartaches and concerns that we usually do not speak aloud.

We pray for those who are afflicted and affected by addictions. Forgive us for the jokes we make about alcohol and drugs, and for the carelessness with which we sometimes use the language of addiction. Forgive us, too, for our ignorance about the causes and suffering of addictions, and for the harsh judgments we often make. Have mercy on us for the ways in which we play a role in substance abuse, and for our reluctance to look at our contributions to the problem. Fill us, we pray, with understanding and resolve, and support us as we support one another in seeking sobriety and recovery.

We pray for those who are struggling with their sexuality. We confess our complicity in a culture with such tightly defined gender roles that sexual minorities are marginalized and sometimes persecuted. Help us, we pray, to extend our extravagant hospitality to those whose sexuality may make us uneasy, and to offer support to those who are seeking clarity about their own orientation.

We pray for those whose burdens are private: those with broken hearts, those who grieve, those who are filled with despair, those who are haunted by memories, those who are disappointed and disillusioned. We know you are present with these sorrows, Lord, and we ask you to help us be present, too, even without knowing the specifics.

And we pray for ourselves – for our failure to follow Christ as we have promised to do, and for our failures to care for one another as you commanded us to do, and for our failures to reshape the world into your vision of shalom.

All these things we pray, in the name of the one who enters all of our sorrows and sinfulness, and all of our healing and joy, even Jesus the Christ, and we pray together now in the words that he taught us ….