The Meeting

Last night I did something I have never done before. I went to an AA meeting. My wife Karen is taking a class about substance abuse and this was one of the assignments. It was held in a bingo parlor. As we pulled up we could see a few men huddled outside the dimly lit building smoking. We parked, got out of our car, and walked toward the building. Two of the men standing outside greeted us and welcomed us to Alcoholics Anonymous. They seemed very genuine with their welcome. We went in and found some seats and looked around. It was an interesting group of people. There were several older men who looked like they had spent most of their lives in a bottle. There was a very athletic looking young man in a sweatshirt over in the corner, a woman with a tattoo on her neck was behind me. A preppy looking kid who looked barely in his twenties sat in front of me. No one was putting on any airs. No one seemed to be concerned with the way they looked or what others thought of them. They were there for one reason and one reason only...to get healed. It was very profound. I had an inkling before I went that it might be a place where Jesus would hang out. I was right. There was the hardness of the bottle that had broken every life in there. There was a softness of grace spoken over and over again. Everyone is accepted. Everyone is the same. Everyone is welcomed and loved. And finally there was the unwavering commitment to truth. From the beginning of the meeting there was a single theme. You cannot get well unless you are brutally honest with yourself. So, everyone who spoke would stand and begin by saying, "Hello, my name is ___ and I am an alcoholic." There were no exceptions. There was no one who said, "I used to be". I wondered how different church would be if we started like that, "Good morning, my name is Joe, and I am a sinner. Welcome to Hudson Community Chapel." I was reminded of what I read years ago, that most of us only pretend to be sinners so we can only pretend to be forgiven. We ended the night by gathering in a circle, holding hands, and reciting the Lord's Prayer together. In that room, no one was pretending.