The Spirituality of Recovery

I have never considered myself a "Spiritual" person. Not sure why, maybe because as a youth I never heard people talking about spirituality. Not that the people I grew up weren't spiritual, they were, they just didn't go around talking about spending time with their Spiritual Guides or quoting Henri Nouwen all of the time. When I arrived at seminary I had classmates who were required to have a Spiritual Guide and to meet with them regularly. I wasn't, and wondered why, but was glad my synod didn't require me to have such a person. I can also remember talking with a couple of people who said there needed to be a new rostered position within the church, that of Spiritual Guide, because in their view, it took special training to be a Spiritual Guide.

In my first call I met some very spiritual people, mostly people in the GIFTS (Growing in Faith to Serve lay led ministry) program in my congregations and in the Eastern North Dakota Synod. The worked on their spirituality, they read books by authors they knew they would not agree with, the studied their Bible with a critical eye, never compromising their beliefs but never unwilling to stretch their mind and learn.

It wasn't until I started my call to Recovery Worship and my work with people in recovery that I really began to understand spirituality. To live a life of recovery a strong sense of spirituality is essential. Without a Higher Power you can't get beyond step two in the twelve step program. They might not consider themselves Christian, even when they are. Tthey will refer to God as their Higher Power more often than any other name for God. For a person in recovery, God reveals Him or Herself in many ways. At first, Higher Power might be their group, or maybe their sponsor. If it is the God of the Bible, recovery people will be reluctant to attend church because of the lack of understanding most churches have of addiction.

In the book The Spirituality of Imperfection by Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham the opening chapter starts with the header, "Religion is for people who don't want to go to Hell, Spirituality if for people who have already been there." In a recent The Lutheran magazine Bishop Mark Hanson pretty much pooh pooh'd this statement; this is a good example of the lack of understanding of addiction and people in recovery. People in recovery from addiction can describe to you what the gates of hell look like, some of them can show you the burn marks.

If you want to read a good Spirituality book, pick up a copy of the AA Big Book. You will read incredible stories of how God works in the recovery process. So put down Henri Nouwen and pick up Bill W. and Doctor Bob.

See you next week.