In light of the recent developments in Maryland, we need to remember to focus on wholeness and health in our lives. The Bishop's of CT have written on just this topic:
https://www.episcopalct.org/news/bishops39-letter-on-health-and-wholeness/
A small excerpt:
And yet the recent events in Maryland remind us that the illness of substance abuse and addiction can sometimes overwhelm our lives. Addictions affect all in a community; and as friends/colleagues/families of those struggling with addiction we sometimes sense something is wrong yet do not know how to intervene. It is then that we need help from others to recover health and wholeness for ourselves and for those we love. It is then that we need to put our trust in the truth that in the Resurrection of Jesus God continually offers us new life and new possibility.
As I think about such wholeness, I think of AA (and the role of the Rev. Samuel Shoemaker) had in its development to help alcholics regain such wholness in their lives. At the beginning of Alcoholics Anonymous was the Rev. Sam Shoemaker.
You can read about him here and here.
The prayer on the day we remember him (Jan.. 31):
Holy God, we thank you for the vision of Samuel Shoemaker, priest and co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous; and we pray that we may follow his example to help others find salvation through knowledge and love of Jesus Christ our Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
And here is a sermon (article) by the Rev. Shoemaker on
"WHAT THE CHURCH HAS TO LEARN FROM ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS"
A prayer from the BCP:
O blessed Lord, you ministered to all who came to you: Look with compassion upon all who through addiction have lost their health and freedom. Restore to them the assurance of your unfailing mercy; remove from them the fears that beset them; strengthen them in the work of their recovery; and to
those who care for them, give patient understanding and persevering love. Amen.
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