12-step Eucharist, Mark 9:38-50, 21B October 2, 2024, Images of Sponsorship, Evangelism, Edge of Adventure
We know that the 12 steps have saved our lives, but we, like Jesus’ disciples, see others who are healed by the 12 steps, not working the steps the same way we do. Jesus warns us not to be a stumbling block to any of his children but to be well-seasoned, salty, and at peace with one another. How do we lead others from the edge of this adventure into the adventure of recovery and not be a stumbling block to them? How do we also live totally into the 12 steps, staying immersed in the adventure and not just living superficially on the edge of this adventure?
The Edge of Adventure is a book by Bruce Larson and Keith Miller in the 90s about the Christian life as an adventure. This book changed my life just as AA did almost 34 years ago./ Recently, I see a metaphor of our 12-step adventure, of intervention, a 12-step call, sponsorship as I watch from a balcony on the Gulf Coast while an evening’s pageant plays out at the water’s edge.
A sleek young couple drives to the beach at sunset with their young daughter. The barefoot darling cannot be more than two as she holds her father’s hand. They walk to the ocean’s edge, but she will go no farther. Her parents coax her to put her tiny feet into the surf, but the little one refuses to get her feet wet. The father goes into the surf, picks out beautiful shells, and places them in her hands, but she still will not budge into the water. It is evident that her parents love the sea, and they want their daughter to experience it. Finally, her parents walk into the surf together, and the daughter plays and runs about the dry sand in front of them.
Just a few feet away, a shirtless grandfather comes to the surf with his grandson, perhaps 4 or 5 years old. The grandfather strokes his white beard, shows the grandson how to bait his hook, and casts a line into the surf for his grandson on the surf’s edge while the grandfather ventures into the salty blue-green ocean just a few feet in front of his grandson. He constantly looks back to check on him. The grandson is less interested in fishing and more interested in the rise and fall of the surf. The young boy playfully goes to the edge of an oncoming wave but awkwardly runs away from the rising surf. He decides the surf is too scary. Then something happens. Either he does not move fast enough, the foaming white breakers come in as a larger wave, or he takes a chance and gets his feet wet. He quickly runs away from the water, but with the next wave, he ventures slightly into the water’s edge. Finally, he stays beside his grandfather, getting more than his feet wet with each wave.//
The young parents try to entice their toddler to the adventure, but she is not ready. The grandfather lets the older child venture alone while the grandfather stays close by. The grandson finally leaves the edge and ventures into the sea. We wonder how often he has been by his grandfather at the gulf’s edge and not gone in. Perhaps as they go deeper into the waves together, the grandfather will give him a life jacket in case he slips and loses his grip on his grandfather’s hand.
This is sponsorship, intervention, the 12th step, and what it is like to share the good news of Alcoholics Anonymous.
We tell our story about this new adventure, as vast as the ocean, something they have never experienced,/ but sometimes they are not ready. They may be too early in their addiction. Their old life is safe, a known quantity. Recovery is an unknown. When we get a hint that they are ready to walk to the edge of this new adventure, we go with them, but we have to let them decide when to go.
As we go with others to the edge of the recovery adventure, we take their hand and slowly go deeper into the salty water. We tell them about a new blue life jacket, the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Joanna Seibert joannaseibert.com