When I was a kid, the last day of school was always an exciting time. I looked forward to all the things I was going to do when I didn't have to go to school. Then by the end of August, the summer became boring and I looked forward to the start of the new school year. Well, those feeling don't just happen when you are a child. I am feeling the same feelings now in seminary as well. At the end of last semester, I was ready for classes to end. The stress of final exams and papers had taken its toll, and I was crispy. Now I have had about six weeks off and I am ready to begin again. Luckily, I don't have to wait too long, as classes begin tomorrow.
This term my schedule is pretty busy. I am taking 12 credit hours plus auditing an additional 4. So my schedule looks like this:
Monday
9:40 - 12:30 Preaching the New Common Lectionary
Tuesday
9:40 - 11:00 am Intro to Worship
2:10 - 5:00 pm. Intro to Pastoral Theology
6:30 - 9:30 pm Intro to New Testament
Wednesday
1:00 - 2:00 Fundamentals of Music
Thursday
9:40 - 12:30 History of Christianity II
Friday
9:40 - 11:00 Intro to Worship
This schedule is a pretty tough schedule. For Tuesday's classes, I have already had to write two one page papers, and read about 150 pages. Oh the joys of seminary, I wouldn't trade it for anything!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
The 12 Steps, Addictions and the Church
I'm not sure where to begin with this one. If you have heard me speak about seminary (or read my blog for that matter), you know that I go on and on about how CDSP and my seminary experience has stretched me and my current intersession class is no exception.
For my intersession class, I am staking The 12 steps, Addictions and the Church. The class is a week long exploration of addiction, the AA program and many other issues surrounding substance abuse. Today was only the second day and I can see how this class will impact my life and ministry for years to come. The person teaching the class is a retired MD who spent the majority of his career working with addiction. He is a wealth of knowledge on the subject and gives real life examples of many of the addiction subjects we are discussing.
Of course pretty much any class can give you that information, but the challenging part of this class is that we are required to attend at least three different meetings at night after the class is over. There is the challenge. I am not an alcoholic and I was intimidated walking into my first meeting last night. I have heard people before say that the hardest part is walking into the meeting and I can now say it is true. BUT, I can also say that once you walk into the room, everyone in the room will make you feel welcome and encourage you to stay and feel comfortable.
Last night, two of us attended an Al-anon meeting near campus. This meeting was specifically for people that have been effected by alcoholism, not necessarily that they were alcoholics. We walked in and there were 18 people in the meeting. After reciting the serenity prayer, reading a welcome and the 12 steps, each of us took turns reading from a book titled, From Survival to Recovery: Growing up in an Alcoholic Home. After the reading, which was incredibly moving and thought provoking, each member had three minutes to share a piece of their own story. I found it amazing how each person could relate a portion of the story we had just read to a specific time in their lives. In that instant, as each person shared, you could see how by sharing their story each person began to heal. Not major healing but small pieces of their life being put back together. Then it was time to close, a member of the group came over to us and asked us if we had any questions and we left.
Tonight, we chose to attend an AA meeting. This meeting was located in Downtown San Francisco. We arrived and their were probably 40 people in attendance. It started with the usual welcome, serenity prayer, 12 steps, and then a speaker started speaking. This was a young man, let's call him John, was in his twenties and told his story. He grew up in a middle class suburban family, not really concerned about his needs and did well in school. By looking at him you would never know that he is an addict. (He self labelled as an addict so please don't think I'm judging him.) He started drinking at the age of fifteen and by the time he was eighteen he was fully addicted to alcohol. After his parents divorce at the age of 16, he got involved with pills and became addicted to them as well. Even while his addictions were going on, he still had a 3.8 GPA in high school and was elected the vice president of his class. People didn't see his addictions. He didn't drink daily, but when he did he couldn't stop himself. He graduated from high school and went to college. In college, his addictions only got worse and he started stealing to get money for the drugs and alcohol. Finally, his family held an intervention. He said he was happy to not hide his addiction anymore and he went into outpatient rehab for 30 days. It didn't work and he relapsed. He found a job, and started stealing money from his employer. When they caught him, they fired him, paid him severance pay, and he went into rehab again. Again rehab didn't work. Finally he was arrested, and now is in a in-patient rehab center here in San Francisco and has been clean and sober for six months.
I tell you John's story because he could be any of our friends, neighbors, co-workers or even sons. He was a typical twenty-something young man by all appearances, yet he is definitely not typical. By listening to him speak tonight, I see how easy it is for people to become addicted to things and how the addiction takes over the persons life. John was not a bad person. He was just making bad decisions.
So why is the study of addictions important to a seminarian you may ask?
In short, by attending these meetings, I have another tool in my tool belt to help people n their own recovery. I also have the ability to talk about AA from the first person, I can say that I have attended a meeting and that I will be comfortable walking with someone as they accept their own sobriety one day at a time.
If you know someone struggling with an addiction or would just like some more information about AA, please visit their website: www.aa.org.
The Serenity Prayer spoken at the beginning and end of each meeting. I have gained new insight into this prayer after attending the meetings.
God Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the Wisdom to know the difference.
Attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr
For my intersession class, I am staking The 12 steps, Addictions and the Church. The class is a week long exploration of addiction, the AA program and many other issues surrounding substance abuse. Today was only the second day and I can see how this class will impact my life and ministry for years to come. The person teaching the class is a retired MD who spent the majority of his career working with addiction. He is a wealth of knowledge on the subject and gives real life examples of many of the addiction subjects we are discussing.
Of course pretty much any class can give you that information, but the challenging part of this class is that we are required to attend at least three different meetings at night after the class is over. There is the challenge. I am not an alcoholic and I was intimidated walking into my first meeting last night. I have heard people before say that the hardest part is walking into the meeting and I can now say it is true. BUT, I can also say that once you walk into the room, everyone in the room will make you feel welcome and encourage you to stay and feel comfortable.
Last night, two of us attended an Al-anon meeting near campus. This meeting was specifically for people that have been effected by alcoholism, not necessarily that they were alcoholics. We walked in and there were 18 people in the meeting. After reciting the serenity prayer, reading a welcome and the 12 steps, each of us took turns reading from a book titled, From Survival to Recovery: Growing up in an Alcoholic Home. After the reading, which was incredibly moving and thought provoking, each member had three minutes to share a piece of their own story. I found it amazing how each person could relate a portion of the story we had just read to a specific time in their lives. In that instant, as each person shared, you could see how by sharing their story each person began to heal. Not major healing but small pieces of their life being put back together. Then it was time to close, a member of the group came over to us and asked us if we had any questions and we left.
Tonight, we chose to attend an AA meeting. This meeting was located in Downtown San Francisco. We arrived and their were probably 40 people in attendance. It started with the usual welcome, serenity prayer, 12 steps, and then a speaker started speaking. This was a young man, let's call him John, was in his twenties and told his story. He grew up in a middle class suburban family, not really concerned about his needs and did well in school. By looking at him you would never know that he is an addict. (He self labelled as an addict so please don't think I'm judging him.) He started drinking at the age of fifteen and by the time he was eighteen he was fully addicted to alcohol. After his parents divorce at the age of 16, he got involved with pills and became addicted to them as well. Even while his addictions were going on, he still had a 3.8 GPA in high school and was elected the vice president of his class. People didn't see his addictions. He didn't drink daily, but when he did he couldn't stop himself. He graduated from high school and went to college. In college, his addictions only got worse and he started stealing to get money for the drugs and alcohol. Finally, his family held an intervention. He said he was happy to not hide his addiction anymore and he went into outpatient rehab for 30 days. It didn't work and he relapsed. He found a job, and started stealing money from his employer. When they caught him, they fired him, paid him severance pay, and he went into rehab again. Again rehab didn't work. Finally he was arrested, and now is in a in-patient rehab center here in San Francisco and has been clean and sober for six months.
I tell you John's story because he could be any of our friends, neighbors, co-workers or even sons. He was a typical twenty-something young man by all appearances, yet he is definitely not typical. By listening to him speak tonight, I see how easy it is for people to become addicted to things and how the addiction takes over the persons life. John was not a bad person. He was just making bad decisions.
So why is the study of addictions important to a seminarian you may ask?
In short, by attending these meetings, I have another tool in my tool belt to help people n their own recovery. I also have the ability to talk about AA from the first person, I can say that I have attended a meeting and that I will be comfortable walking with someone as they accept their own sobriety one day at a time.
If you know someone struggling with an addiction or would just like some more information about AA, please visit their website: www.aa.org.
The Serenity Prayer spoken at the beginning and end of each meeting. I have gained new insight into this prayer after attending the meetings.
God Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the Wisdom to know the difference.
Attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr
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