We didn’t get to see an actual meeting. I was under the impression that those are for
alcoholics only and besides, missionaries have other obligations during the day
than to crash one of those meetings. The
building was locked but Bro. B— had been in AA so long that he had some
leadership position and thus, keys to the building. We got to visit the place an hour before
their next meeting of the day, and I’ll admit, it was not anything near what I
expected.
The AA building was in sort of a strip mall towards
the back, brick building with lots of different colored plastic chairs and
tables outside, set up for the smokers who needed to take a cigarette
break. Inside, my impressions was that
it was mix between a chapel and an elementary school classroom.
The classroom portion came from the walls. There were posters everywhere, each with the
12 Steps written on them or with inspirational quotations, pictures of famous
people or otherwise encouraging portraits.
The walls had activities and shelves of books, including different
published editions of The Book.
But the whole center of the room was designed like a
chapel. There weren’t pews or a rostrum
or anything like that. There were
cushioned chairs and couches, and they were generally worn out pieces of furniture. There was a pulpit off to the side and at the
very front was a table, and the most significant thing on the table were sets
of different colored poker chips. Each
had measurements of time: 1 Day, 1 Week, 1 Month, 3 Months, 1 Year, 2 Years, 5
Years, 10 Years, 25 Years, and various times in between. All of these signified how long a person had
been sober.
Bro. B— told us how meetings would often go. There was somebody, often a leader I guess,
who would speak some minutes to the group, and then they would have an open
discussion with each other. The
conversations were confidential; what happens in AA stays in AA. He let us know that the people were often
pretty rough. There was lots of swearing
and sharing of horrible tragedies that had taken place in their lives.
In my two years in Texas, with the exception of a
couple temple trips and one night in my apartment, I never felt the Spirit
stronger than I did in that building at that time.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that
experience, trying to understand why, of all the places I visited, this
building would leave such an impression on me, and the only answer I can come
up with was that this was a genuine house of repentance.
Since 1935, this program and the Twelve Steps they
follow has been the pattern for millions to overcome their addiction to alcohol
and to stay sober for years afterwards.
It is a wonderful model of how to repent, from recognizing their
weakness to supplicating for a higher power to save and aid them, to taking
specific actions for making restitution, and finally living their lives in such
a way that they continually guard themselves from falling back and carrying the
message to others who suffer from the same addiction. I’ve found it to be a beautiful and inspired
model to get away from the pain and shame alcoholism caused them and return to
a more fulfilling and healthy lifestyle.
Well, my church seems to have felt the same way I
did when I toured the building. I
discovered shortly afterwards that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints has formed its own Twelve Step Program for Addiction Recovery. The Church’s 12 Step Program is modeled off
of Alcoholics Anonymous’ Twelve Steps, although with some subtle changes to be
more compatible with the gospel.
The biggest change I am aware of is in Step 2: AA’s second step is to believe in a power
greater than themselves to restore them.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be God that they choose to believe in
(although it can be.) But they are
required to find and recognize a higher power to help them through their
journey to sobriety. The Church, on the
other hand, specifically teaches with its second step to believe in Heavenly
Father and Jesus Christ and to trust them to help and save you from your
addiction that afflicts you.
The focus is different but the gears are the
same. And I’ve gotten to see this
firsthand these past two weeks. My mom
was recently called to be the coordinator for her stake’s 12 Step Program (for
those unaware, a stake in our church
is a geographical boundary consisting of several church congregations that meet
in different buildings on Sunday.)
The addiction isn’t limited to alcoholism. It can be an addiction to anything: drugs, pornography, gambling, eating
disorders, and any other what-have-you.
The past couple of weeks, my mom invited me to attend their meetings. It’s a pretty new calling for her and she
essentially has launched the program in her stake, so naturally, I came to
support her.
And I came away impressed with their meetings. Because of the confidentiality of this
program, I can’t get too specific about the people who attended or what they
shared, but what I loved was the sheer honesty of these people and the general
goodwill all around.
The trouble with sin is that the sinner wants to
hide what they’ve done and who they are from others. Addiction especially makes the addict feel
that they don’t belong and end up feeling like they are alone in their battle
to get better. The beauty of the 12 Step
Program is that it tears away that wall of solitude and fear. Being able to see that there are others, many
others, who are either struggling now or are recovering brings a support and
reassuring influence that may not have ever been there before.
This program is not just for members of my church (although
they’re probably the ones who’ll here the most about them) but they are open
for any and all people struggling with addiction and need help to
overcome. If anybody is interested or knows
anybody with addiction and could use this type of resource, check out addictionrecovery.lds.org. There’s further information about the program
as well as meeting times and places for wherever you happen to live.
I truly believe that this has the ability to bless
many lives and help them change into the best people that they can be.
