Transformation in 12 steps

I thought I would tell you, briefly, about a night I had earlier in the month like no other I’ve ever had before. Firstly, I went along to the Healing Service at St Andrew’s Cathedral. I had no advance knowledge of this but the “guest preacher” was Phillip Jensen, preaching on James 5 and particularly verse 16, on confessing your sins to one another. That could be a whole other blog post and unfortunately it didn’t look to me like it was recorded (though I could be wrong, and it may be coming to the website).

The Healing Service has an interesting history, and one of the things they do as part of their tradition is that at the end of the service everyone in the Cathedral joins hands (which must have been in the order of 200 people) and sings the doxology that goes:

Now unto Him, who is able to keep

able to keep you from falling

and present you faultless

before the presence of his glory,

with exceeding joy.

To the only wise God, our Saviour,

be glory and majesty,

dominion and power, both now and forever,

Amen

That probably sounds weird and old-school to some, but being there I thought it was a beautiful thing and I was moved anew by the words of that doxology, even moreso because I was surrounded by people who live in very real daily dependence on God in a way that sets me an example. That's because afterwards I went along to Overcomers Outreach (which I have mentioned previously here), a twelve-step Christian program for recovering addicts, at the invitation of my friend Penny who runs it (because I am helping out with aspects of this ministry).

Obviously I am not going to blog any details of what was said there, because that’s page one: who you see here and what you hear here stays here. But like all anonymous meetings it started with “My name is ____ and I am addicted to _____ and I have been clean/sober/other for _____ long” and by the end of the introductions I thought they were the bravest people in the world. We went through some of the regular 12-step process, which this night was Step 5 “We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs”, which tied in so perfectly with the sermon (I don't think that was a coincidence). Then Phillip (who is also an occasional visitor at OO) gave a short bible talk looking at James again and also Psalm 32, and here again this was noteworthy.

Following this we went round the room again and everyone was to give a praise point and a petition point. During this part of the evening it was all I could do not to completely dissolve. One fellow in particular broke down as he tried to tell us how Christ had turned his life around, and I had to stare at the floor and blink furiously. Then there was a further time of sharing for those who were nominated or volunteered to do so. Phillip then prayed individually for everyone in the room, based on the points above, with care and understanding - all 25 of them. I'm telling blogdom this because I reckon it is a side of Phillip that is rarely seen (I think some perceive him as upfront preacher guy who doesn’t do pastoral guy, which is not true). All that said I should tip my hat in the direction of Chris Allen, who usually preaches at the Healing Service and does the bible presentation at Overcomer’s Outreach, and who Penny thinks is terrific. He was just stepping back this particular evening and I haven’t really seen him in action yet.

Afterwards there was a birthday cake and I stayed around talking to some of the group members, mostly a woman whose addiction I didn't even understand when she'd said it earlier. I found the whole night so incredibly moving and came away feeling quite amazed and encouraged by the way people’s lives had been so notably changed. As Penny wrote to me later: “I’m so excited for the joy you are going to experience as you watch some of the people I work with get well”. I am too.

The other thing that struck me is how helpful the twelve step process, originally invented by Christians, is. I think it’s a tool for personal change and growth that you certainly don’t need to be an addict to benefit from. Penny ran me through a the table she uses for step four "making a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves" - wow! In time I might blog more as I learn more of the steps as I go along.

Picture from: www.home-decorating-reviews.com