Moving Forward

Previously I have written on this blog and elsewhere about the influence of AA on our local community, The Well. Both the steps (as a means for spiritual transformation) and traditions (as a means for keeping ourselves centered on that transformation) have been extremely helpful for imagining what a Jesus-led underground movement looks like in Jupiter, Florida. But what about supporting a larger community of allies, a community of communities that have the kingdom of God as their primary concern? What can AA teach us about initiating and sustaining a network such as this?

In a follow-up post to the discussion that has been taking place over the past week, Mark van Steenwyk asks an important question:

"In these times of transition, really cool things happen. But at these times of transition it is just as likely that misguided attempts at cool things can happen. So, where do we go from here?"

As I said in my last post, our experience of this transition has been anything but cool. We have met some cool people and simple community can be a wonderfully cool breath of fresh air, but we have also had to endure quite a bit of pain, loss, and confusion. We've struggled with vocational issues, raising families in a climate of uncertainty, and this general gnawing sense that we just aren't quite where we want to be yet. For many of us, we've been reluctant to try anything significant because...well, honestly...this transition has been keeping us pretty busy. Recovering from a life filled with cultural addictions is not something that happens overnight. In fact, it seems the farther I go, the more I see that needs to change in me and in our way of life.

AA's steps one and two go hand in hand:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

I believe where we go from here is to begin articulating for ourselves and the church that our lives have become unmanageable, that by ourselves we are powerless over the kingdom of 'me' and all of the cultural realities that kingdom has produced. We can practice step one in a variety of ways - by continuing to nurture simple communities of faith that have a vision of God's kingdom, through art, through being with the unwanted or ignored, through love rather than becoming another brand of entrepreneur. We must see those things not as ends in themselves, as if they were what God was wanting us to do all along instead of planting churches or saving the world. Rather, they are spiritual disciplines - avenues of God's grace - to get us out of the way. Within AA, there is no recovery without step one. We'll never move through transition without it.

The second step is learning how to express that there is no future without God's provision. Our addictions will kill us, literally. I am just beginning to come to terms with this reality myself. For example, questions about the sustainability of our economics are not just a way to keep coffee-shop conversations entertaining. When the bank takes your house, there's not much to debate anymore. Drastic change is required. "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Not just something cute to put on your refrigerator door. Those are revolutionary words and if we took them seriously, it would turn the world upside down.

AA's fifth tradition reads, "Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers." If we become people who acknowledge that we are powerless over our cultural addictions without Jesus and the authority of his kingdom, I believe it opens the door wide open for God to move among the suffering around us. Excuse me, but when did 'missional' become a new organizational strategy? Go read your Newbigin people. It's God's mission. Can you picture a group of alcoholics organizing a slick promotional campaign to convince new members into their society? That's why tradition eleven exists - "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion." In other words, alcoholics just go tell their story to other addicts and let God take care of the rest. Anything else would be a disaster.

Voicing our addictions to culture (what Bruggeman describes as confronting 'numbness'), giving our allegiance to God's kingdom and learning how to rest in his provision, and witnessing to God's transformative power among our suffering friends and neighbors are a few of the lessons we can learn from AA as we move forward. This has been brewing in me for a long time. I would appreciate any feedback as well as any further insights as we explore what God is doing.