All Saints 12 step Eucharist
Ecclesiasticus 44:1-15
St. Mark’s November 1, 2017
"Let us now sing the praises of famous men,
our ancestors in their generations…
they were wise in their words of instruction..
But these also were godly men,
whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten;
their wealth will remain with their descendants,
and their inheritance with their children’s children."
Today we celebrate the major feast day of All Saints, remembering those who have gone before us, known and unknown who have made a difference in so many other lives. I would like to tell you about my experience with two saints who do not yet have a feast day.
Eight years ago, I kept getting these calls from a radiologist in Akron, Ohio, to come and speak at their Children’s Hospital about work I have done in Sickle Cell Disease. I am trying to cut back on the busyness of my life (if you can believe that) and keep refusing. Akron? You must be kidding. Ten years earlier I became aware that alcohol was interfering with my life. A therapist introduces me to her neighbor in a 12-step program, and she introduces me to a new life. I often go to a 12-step meeting at noon at the Central Office where there is a picture of the home in Akron of Dr. Bob Smith, one of the founders of this recovery program. I keep seeing that small brick-fronted house every day as I keep getting calls from the physician in Akron. Finally, I realize this just may be a message to go to Akron. I call back and say I will go on the condition that they will take me to Dr. Bob’s house. Of course, none of my hosts have heard of Dr. Bob. After the lectures, I am taken to Dr. Bob’s house, 855 Admore Avenue, modest, easily missed, tucked away in a quiet neighborhood. I go upstairs to the bedroom where Dr. Bob met with Bill Wilson, a stock speculator from New York, on the day after Mother’s Day in 1935. In this small upper-room these two men eventually began a program, before I was born, to save my life and the lives of some of you present. These are two saints in my life and maybe yours. This is the God of my understanding: someone who loves us so dearly that there is a plan to care for and save us all before we are born. Sitting in that house was one of the most powerful spiritual experiences I have known. I have an overwhelming sense of God’s love for me and each of us manifested through two men I have never known but now want to remember. But…. don’t be like me and wait so long to take that trip to Akron to remember the saints who have saved your life and be empowered to continue their work. Dr. Bob Smith and Bill Wilson have not been named saints in our church calendar, but Dr. Bob’s house has been declared a National Historic Landmark. I have left some pictures for you.
Joanna joannaseibert.com