One more post prior to beginning our consideration of the influence of the Book of James.

Often we find it difficult to know how to pray.  The Psalms offer excellent examples of prayers.  Dick B. in his book The Good Book and The Big Book* offers some wonderful insight concerning the role of The Psalms in the early days of A.A.:

“In a book read by many early AAs, Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick quoted Psalm 55:1-5 in describing man’s plight without God’s listening ear:

‘Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.  Attend unto me, and hear me:  I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise.  Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked:  for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.  My heart is sore pained within me; and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.  Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.” (136-137)

“Dr. Carl G. Jung eventually gave AAs an even more specific Biblical picture of their spiritual problem and the necessary spiritual solution.  Years after Bill Wilson had written the Big Book and the Twelve Steps, Jung responded to a letter from Bill and explained to Bill that he (Jung) had told one of Bill’s Oxford Group mentors, Rowland Hazard, the solution to the alcoholic’s spiritual problem.  To his spiritual restlessness and discontent.  And to his estrangement from God.  Jung wrote:

‘His [the alcoholic’s] craving for alcohol was the equivalent on a low level of the spiritual thirst of our being for wholeness, expressed in medieval language: the union with God.’

Jung then referred Bill to Psalm 42:1:

‘As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.'” (138)

*Dick B.  The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A’s Roots in the Bible.  Bridge Builders Edition.  Kihei, Hawaii:  Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1997.

Following is a Summary of Theology that I prepared for the conclusion of a seminary class on James in 2008.  I believe that it offers a good departure point for our continuing consideration of how the Big Book of A.A. reflects much of its foundational thinking in I Corinthians, James, and The Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew’s Gospel.

It is clear that the writer of James had a thorough understanding of Torah, both written and oral, and the Sermon on the Mount.  James offers a text that appears to be an interpretation of Torah as seen through the lens of the Jesus teachings, especially the Sermon on the Mount, for a latter time and a different place.  However the textual arguments in James, even though they often seem scattered and fragmentary, are built upon the roots of these solid and historical foundations.

The similarities between James and the Sermon on the Mount are striking.  Basic teachings are illuminated by illustrative examples and metaphors, and, very much like the Sermon, James offers a model to assist a person in sorting the complexities of Torah.   James 4:17 lends itself to an interpretation that allows it to function as a fulcrum point, similar to the ”Golden Rule” in the Sermon.  The construction of the text is very reminiscent of a traditional model of rabbinic teaching.  Even the seeming disconnects in the text appear to be in the style of this tradition.

Unlike the Pauline epistles, James is not addressed, at least in the text, to a specific community or group of people.  Perhaps this allows the text to speak to a wider constituency regardless of its unknown original intention or audience.  Like the Sermon, James provides an outline for proper living – Kingdom living.  James offers a sort of “Cliff’s Note” for life as God intends it to be lived.

The next post will begin a “step by step” study of the relationship between The Twelve Steps and the instructions for living as God’s people outlined by the writer of James.

About five years ago I discovered a book with the title The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible by Dick B. with a Foreword by Bob Smith, son of A.A. co-founder Dr. Bob and his wife, Anne.*  During my recent reading and study I am once again working my way through this volume that has been very helpful especially in helping people understand that many of the spiritual roots of the Anonymous family of fellowship programs are to be found in the Bible.

With gratitude to Dick B. and many others who have contributed to my continuing growth and understanding, this post begins a series of posts that will address this subject for the coming weeks.  It is my hope that you will make this blog a part of your regular reading and join in the conversation by offering your comments and thoughts.  I also encourage you to subscribe to this blog.

And now to begin:

“Dr. Bob had said in his last major address to AAs in Detroit that he and the older members of A.A. considered the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, the Book of James, and the Sermon on the Mount to be ‘absolutely essential’ to their successful recovery program.” (93)

The next several posts will consider the Book of James and the influence it had on the development of A.A. and The Twelve Steps.  Then time will be taken to study the considerable influence of The Sermon on the Mount and the chapter from Corinthians.

The Book of James “was much studied by A.A.’s co-founders.  Quotes and ideas from the Apostle James can be found throughout the Big Book and in A.A. literature.  The book was considered so important that many favored calling the A.A. fellowship the ‘James Club.’  And even the most fundamental phrases in A.A. such as ‘It Works; and Bill Wilson’s own ‘Works Publishing Company,’ which published the First Edition of the Big Book, may have had their origin in the ‘Faith without works is dead’ ideas in James.” (98-99)

*Dick B.  The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible.  Bridge Builders Edition.  Kihei, Hawaii: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1997.

On this Easter Sunday, remembering the magnificent talents of Natalie Sleeth, her lyrics about God’s promise:

In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree; in cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!  In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be, unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

There’s a song in every silence, seeking word and melody; there’s a dawn in every darkness bringing hope to you and me.  From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery, unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity; in our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity; in our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory, unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

Alleluia!  Amen!

“Hymn of Promise” – words and music copyright 1986 by Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, IL.

An interesting perspective from Richard R. Gaillardetz*:

“Hans Bernard Meyer claims that the clock may be the most important machine of modern technology.  The influence of the clock in Western civilization is, ironically, closely tied to the monastery and the calling of monks to work and prayers.  Until the late thirteenth century, the principal clocks in the monastery were either sundials or water clocks, both of which kept time by careful alignment with the rhythms of the natural order.  With the advent of the mechanical clock in the fourteenth century time became separated from both the internal and external rhythms to which those in premodern times had to align themselves.

Add to the mechanical clock the advent of satellites, the telephone, and supersonic travel and we can see how dramatically modern technology has transformed our experience of time.  Once time can be measured in independent units apart from the consideration of internal or external rhythms, it appears to be ‘under our control.’  We are encouraged to ‘make the most of our time,’ or to ‘use time wisely’ as if it were one more commodity.  As a commodity, time becomes something that must be managed and not wasted . . . we no longer know how to luxuriate in the present because we are obsessed with technologically ‘banking’ our time for some never quite realized future ‘time of enjoyment’ . . . computer technology has given us the notion of ‘multitasking’ . . . what it does not do is force us to consider the real relationships that obtain among the various tasks being undertaken.  In multitasking we become better ‘jugglers,’ but we do not thereby achieve the wisdom that comes from a grasp of the whole.” (28-30)

More thoughts on time in the future.

*Gaillardetz, Richard R. Transforming Our Days: Spirituality, Community and Liturgy in a Technological Culture.  New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2000.

With profound gratitude to Father Richard Rohr*:

I thank you, Lord Jesus, for becoming a human being

        so I do not have to pretend or try to be God.

I thank you, Lord Jesus, for becoming finite and limited

        so I do not have to pretend that I am infinite and limitless.

I thank you, crucified God, for becoming mortal

        so I do not have to try to make myself immortal.

I thank you, Lord Jesus, for becoming inferior

        so I do not have to pretend that I am superior to anyone.

I thank you for being crucified outside the walls,

        for being expelled and excluded

               like the sinners and the outcast,

        so you can meet me where I feel that I am,

        always outside the walls of worthiness.

* – http://cacradicalgrace.org/

This weekend we celebrated the birth of our sixth grandchild, and as I sat in the rocker holding her last night all I could think was:  This is a miracle!  All six of them – now three girls and three boys – are miraculous gifts from God.

As I was reading this morning the following – from Wayne Muller’s Sabbath* seemed appropriate for this post:

“My friend Janie was visiting the home of an old potter at Canta Clara pueblo.  She was admiring the enormous collection of pots her host had on display throughout his home.  ‘How many do you have?’ my friend innocently inquired.  Her host lowered his eyes. ‘We do not count such things,’ he replied quietly.

During Sabbath we stop counting.  How do we count friendship or laughter?  How do we count the value of honesty, or bread from the oven?  How can we count the sunrise, the trusting clasp of a child’s hand, a melody, a tear, a lover’s touch?  So many truly precious things grow only in the soil of time; and we can only begin to know their value when we stop counting.” (112)

*Muller, Wayne.  Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives.  New York: Bantam Books, 1999.

My wife recently got very excited about a book she was reading and asked that I read it as soon as possible.  What a gift!  It was one of the most meaningful and useful things that I have read in a long time.  The book is by Wayne Muller and the title is Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives (New York: Bantam Books, 1999).  I wish I could make this book required reading for everyone I know – we would all be better for having read and taking Muller’s advice to heart – making it a part of our daily living.

Here are some excerpts from the opening section:

In the relentless busyness of modern life, we have lost the rhythm between work and rest.

All life requires a rhythm of rest . . . we have lost this essential rhythm . . . and for want of rest, our lives are in danger.

In our drive for success we are seduced by the promises of more: more money, more recognition, more satisfaction, more love, more information, more influence, more possessions, more security.  Even when our intentions are noble and our efforts sincere – even when we dedicate our lives to the service of other – the corrosive pressure of frantic overactivity can nontheless cause suffering in ourselves and others.

Without the essential nutrients of rest, wisdom, and delight embedded in the problem-solving process itself, the solution we patch together is likely to be an obstacle to genuine relief.  Born of desperation, it often contains enough fundamental inaccurary to guarantee an equally perplexing problem will emerge as soon as it is put into place.  In the soil of the quick fix is the seed of a new problem, becauase our quiet wisdom is unavailable.

We have forgotten the Sabbath . . . Sabbath time – effortless, nourishing rest – can invite a healing . . . without rest, we respond from a survival mode, where everything we meet assumes a terrifying prominence . . . so, when we are movning faster and faster, every encounter, every detail inflates in importance, everything seems more urgent than it really is, and we react with sloppy desperation.

Sabbath honors the necessary wisdom of dormancy.” (1-7)

Amen and Amen!

Profound insight and wisdom from the Big Book*:

“The first requirement is that you see that any life run on self-will can hardly be a success.  On that basis we are almost always in collision with something or somebody, even though our motives may be good.  Most people try to live by self-propulsion.  Each person is like an actor who wants to run the whole show: is forever trying to arrange the lights, the ballet, the scenery and the rest of the players in his own way.  If his arrangements would only stay put, if only people would do as he wishes, the show would be great.  Everybody, including himself, would be pleased.  Life would be wonderful.  In trying to make these arrangements our actor may sometimes by quite virtuous.  He may be kind, considerate, patient, generous; even modest and self-sacrificing.  On the other hand, he may be mean, egotistical, selfish and dishonest.  But, as with most humans, he is more likely to have varied traits.

What usually happens?  The show doesn’t come off very well.  He begins to think life doesn’t treat him right.  He decides to exert himself some more.  He becomes, on the next occasion, still more demanding or gracious, as the case may be.  Still the play does not suit him.  Admitting he may be somewhat at fault, he is sure that other people are more to blame.  He becomes angry, indignant, self-pitying.  What is his basic trouble?  Is he not really a self-seeker even when trying to be kind?  Is he not a victim of the delusion that he can wrest satisfaction and happiness out of this world if he only manages well?  Is it not evident to all the rest of the players that these are the things he wants?  And do not his actions make each of them wish to retaliate, snatching all they can get out of the show?  Is he not, even in his best moments, a producer of confusion rather than harmony?” (60-61)

To be continued in the next post . . .

*This quotation is from the chapter, “How It Works,” from The Original Manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous.  It was this version that was distributed to friends and clleauges of The Fellowship’s founders to get comments and suggestions on what to change before sending it to the printer.” (58) – The Anonymous Press Mini Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous http://anonpress.org/

What does it mean to be part of the human beings anonymous?

For the coming weeks this blog will be devoted to beginning the process of answering that question.  I owe much in the development of my early thinking on this to Gerald G. May, M.D., and his superior book Addiction and Grace.*  Early in his book he offers these thought provoking words:

“I am not being flippant when I say that all of us suffer from addiction.  Nor am I reducing the meaning of addiction.  I mean in all truth that the psychological, neurological, and spiritual dynamics of full-fledged addiction are actively at work within every human being.  The same processes that are responsible for addiction to alcohol and narcotics are also responsible for addiction to ideas, work, relationships, power, moods, fantasies, and an endless variety of other things.  We are all addicts in every sense of the word.  Moreover, our addictions are our own worst enemies.  They enslave us with chains that are of our own making and yet that, paradoxically, are vitually beyond our control . . . addiction, then, is at once an inherent part of our nature and an antagonist of our nature.  It is the absolute enemy of human freedom, the antipathy of love.  Yet, in still another paradox, our addictions can lead us to a deep appreciation of grace.  They can bring us to our knees.” (3-4)

It all started when I felt a call some three years ago to prepare and lead a series of sessions about Twelve Steps living for people who believe that they do not have any addictions.  The original working title was “Living as Mustard Seeds in Cracked Clay Pots” – the title that has emerged is Human Beings Anonymous.  The coming weeks of this blog will be part of the process of my book writing – something I very much need to do along my own journey of faith and life.

I invite you to join the journey, to participate in the conversation, and to surrender to a Higher Power that is able to restore sanity to our day to day living.

*May, Gerald G., M.D.  Addiction and Grace.  San Francisco:  Harper and Row, Publishers, 1988.