| The spirituality of
the Twelve Steps is another important part of my wisdom lineage. Although I
have never formally belonged to a Twelve Step group, I have learned much from
people who are in recovery. I truly believe that the Twelve Step program
(also known as Alcoholics Anonymous or A.A.) will go down in history as
America's greatest and unique contribution to the history of spirituality. It
represents what is good about American pragmatism. There's something in the
American psyche that becomes mistrustful and impatient with anything that's
too abstract, theoretical, or distant. Americans want a spirituality that is
relevant, that changes people, and that really makes a difference in this
world. For many, the Twelve Steps do just that. They make the Gospel
believable, practical, and even programmatic for many people. [1]
My first eight years
in Albuquerque, beginning in the late 1980s, I lived downtown, next door to a
little church where Twelve Step meetings were held. As the members gathered
right outside my back door almost every other evening, we became friends.
They invited me to join them in their closed meetings. [2] I felt very
privileged. It was like being welcomed into a sacred sanctuary of people who
weren't afraid to openly admit they were "sinners." [3] I'd go home
afterward thinking this felt more like church than the liturgy on Sunday
morning. It was as if each person was a priest, and they were all healing one
another. The God-talk was honest and experience-based, not
"belief"-based. There was no hesitancy for each person to describe
their history of failure and recovery--or death and resurrection, if you
prefer Christian vocabulary.
Opening with
"Hi, I'm Joe, and I'm an alcoholic" is a humble and honest admission
of deep need, which is what the Catholic penitential rite, "Lord have
mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy," is supposed to be. Jesus
taught us that God's love is not dependent on our "worthiness." He
healed and ate with sinners and outcasts when he was on earth. He told
parables, like those about the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18: 9-14)
and the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), where the one who did it wrong ended up
being right and the one who seemingly did it right ended up being wrong. The entrance
requirement for an A.A. meeting is not worthiness, but unworthiness, not
capacity, but deep need--just as it should be.
Worthiness is not
the issue; the issue is trust and surrender. As Thérèse of Lisieux said,
"Jesus does not demand great actions from us but simply surrender and
gratitude."[4] Let's resolve this once and for all: You're not
worthy! None of us are. Don't even go down that worthiness road. It's a
game of denial and pretend. We're all saved by grace. We're all being loved
in spite of ourselves. A.A. had the courage to recognize that you don't come
to God by doing it right; you come to God by doing it wrong, and then falling
into an infinite mercy. [5] The Twelve Steps wisely call such mercy
"Your Higher Power."
I also want to add what
only the Gospel is fully prepared to proclaim: You're absolutely worthy
of love! Yet this has nothing to do with any earned worthiness on your
part. God does not love you because you are good. God loves you because God
is good!
And thus, A.A. and the
Gospel fit together like hand in glove.
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References:
[1] Adapted from Richard Rohr's Lineage, https://cac.org/rohr-inst/ls-program-details/ls-lineage.
[2] Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Authority of Those Who
Have Suffered (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2005), MP3 download.
[3] Adapted from Richard Rohr, How Do We Breathe Under
Water?: The Gospel and 12-Step Spirituality (Center for Action and
Contemplation: 2005), CD, DVD, MP3 download.
[4] Adapted from Richard Rohr, Eucharist as Touchstone
(Center for Action and Contemplation: 2000), CD, MP3 download.
[5] Adapted from Rohr, The Authority of Those Who Have
Suffered.
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