THROUGH PRAYER AND MEDITATION
Step Eleven
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our
conscious contact with God as we understood Him,
praying only for knowledge of His will for us
and the power to carry that out.
Suddenly the Twelve-Step Program opens out into a full-blown
religion. That’s ironic, since many people in AA hate that
word and even brag about how AA is a spiritual program but
not a religion, or even religious. Sorry, but religion is
what we do about our spiritual awareness. Religion is
when we move from theory to practice; from feeling to
commitment; from vision to establishment in the real world.
Such a move, in our kind of world, will be endlessly mixed
with errors, frustrations, misunderstandings, and
challenges. We never keep our commitments as purely
and powerfully and steadily as we intend to, as we long to,
or as we want to. These commitments are frequently tied in
with alliances and covenant bonds with others. How these
alliances are working can have a major impact on the
commitments. We are committed to the church of Jesus Christ,
and this is primarily between us and Jesus. I mean, it was
His idea: He’s the one who designed it; He’s the one who
calls us into it. Nevertheless, sometimes the way things are
going among ourselves has considerable impact on that
primary commitment to Christ. In theory, we know this
shouldn’t be so, but experience doesn’t always match theory.
Falling in love is a lot like a spiritual awakening. That
is, the emotional impact is powerful and beautiful. We sense
ourselves coming alive and awake in ways we had not been
before. Life looks different and we feel different, and all
things seem full of a new wonder. To our dismay, and
sometimes to our anger and frustration, the awakening does
not last on this level. One way or another, no matter how we
try to design or understand it, we either make a strong
commitment (often called “total commitment”) to this
relationship, or somehow it begins to wither, to shrink, to
dribble through our fingers. We cannot stay “in love” on a
feeling level. We have to do something about it:
build it into the pragmatic patterns of our days, our
schedules, our plans, our goals. In other words, one way or
another, we have to get married – that is, get “religious” –
or lose it. Religion is to spirituality what marriage is to
love.
No matter what we call it, if we introduce this Eleventh
Step it has turned into a religion. You intend to find and
do the will of God. To the best of your ability, of course.
Allowing for elements of confusion and uncertainty, of
course. With a certain amount of fear and trembling, of
course. Nevertheless: Sought through prayer and meditation
to improve our conscious contact with God as
we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will
for us and the power to carry that out.
Clearly this step is much too big for one little sermon. I
do have a perspective to highlight – a reminder, a gathering
of threads that we might all enjoy. But let me first mention
some of the things we will not have time to talk about, at
least not in any depth. I don’t want anyone walking out of
here thinking we have “covered” Step Eleven.
* * *
1.) There are many ways to seek conscious contact with God
– many ways to increase our awareness of God. Step Eleven
only mentions the ways of prayer and meditation.
• Some of you tell me that you feel “close to God” in
nature, especially on ski slopes and golf courses, but
also in boats and planes and while gardening, hiking,
fishing, hunting. I know people who have been profoundly
moved in each of these settings. I have been so moved
myself. For instance, I’ve had profound spiritual
experiences hunting deer near Pasamagammit Lake in northern
Maine. Times away in the wilderness, alone, may even lead to
a religious experience. Even if we didn’t know that,
our tradition makes it clear in the stories of Jacob, Moses,
Elijah, Jesus, Paul, and many others.
• Sometimes people are deeply moved and spiritually
awakened by art – dance, music, painting, poetry,
etc. Though often scorned today, architecture and the church
have had a love affair going for centuries. Art has a way of
reaching past normal defenses and framing things in new and
unexpected ways that carry us into new awareness, and
sometimes to new awareness of God. Recently I finished
reading The Heralds of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey. The majority
of people I know would call this neither art nor literature.
I have profound pity for them, because I found in that book
a deep and very moving experience of the reality of the
church and the Christian pilgrimage – a new level and a
different expression of John Bunyan’s
Pilgrim’s Progress.
It helped to clarify and encourage me in my own religious
walk.
• Everyone knows, and I think most are willing to admit,
that being in relationship with other people is one
of the ways that can improve our awareness and contact with
God. People sometimes inspire us with their faith or wisdom
or devotion. People sometimes “carry” the love, a message,
or the caring or forgiveness or encouragement of God to us.
We not only appreciate those people themselves, but we
sometimes actually feel the very presence of God with us
because of them.
• Exploring our heritage through history,
archaeology, going on pilgrimage – seeing where it happened,
contemplating what happened, putting ourselves back into the
tradition and drama of how it developed – is one of the
classic ways of drawing closer to God and improving our
conscious contact.
• One of the most famous and specialized ways of inviting
more conscious contact with God is to read and study the
Bible – inviting God to communicate with us as we ponder
and reflect on those whom God influenced most powerfully in
the past.
• Some people seek conscious contact with God by
exploring God’s creation – giving themselves to
scientific study in honor of the Creator. Others study
creation and, with no intention of paying any attention to
the Creator, find that their studies draw them into profound
spiritual awareness. Any genuine search for truth – any
attempt to expand the realms of human knowing – can increase
our conscious contact with God.
• Work and service – deeds of compassion or caring,
efforts to make life better for others – have sometimes
turned into profound spiritual awakenings. Sometimes people
look back and realize that they didn’t design it at all but,
rather, have been instruments of God.
In no way have I exhausted the list, but it is long enough
to make the point. Step Eleven in no way implies that prayer
and meditation are the only ways to seek conscious contact
with God. Step Eleven is profound and startling because,
among the many ways there are to draw closer to God, it
singles out prayer and meditation. Among all the ways to
draw near and come close, this step says we will pray and
meditate. All those other approaches remain open to us. They
are not forbidden. But neither are they Step Eleven. We will
pray and meditate. It is necessary for us as Christians
to pray every day. We will allow additions, but we will
allow no substitutions. If we do not pray and meditate, we
are not working the Program. And if we do not pray and
meditate, we are not walking the Christian WAY.
As an aside, the Twelve Steps were developed in the 1930s,
not in the ’60s. The influence was from the Oxford Group
Movement, not from Eastern religions. In this context,
“meditate” does not mean yoga exercises. It means to ponder
something deeply. Especially, it means to listen for
God’s guidance.
* * *
2.) There are lots of ways to seek conscious contact with
God, but the Eleventh Step is interested in prayer and
meditation. Likewise, there are lots of things to pray
about, but the Eleventh Step has a very narrow focus. Just
for contrast, let’s name some things most all of us would
agree are fit and proper subjects for prayer.
• Thanksgiving is often taught as the first and
most important ingredient of any prayer or worship. Indeed,
any increase in our level of thanksgiving improves the
quality of our spiritual life across the board. Many have
made gratitude the key and cornerstone of the Christian WAY.
Nevertheless, the Eleventh Step is not about thankfulness.
• Praise and adoration are the favorite prayer
categories of many of the saints. Awareness of God’s glory,
and delight in the sheer perfection and majesty of God,
seemed more important to them than always reducing it down
to their needs or problems. Our current culture has
become too self-centered to understand such a perspective,
but at least we can identify with notions of appreciation.
Surely some of our prayers could include sheer appreciation
for who God is and what God is like. But having mentioned
it, we shall leave it for today, since it has nothing to do
with the Eleventh Step.
• Many people pray for discernment, or for wisdom.
It seems legitimate to ask God for some of the virtues
necessary for Christian living: patience, love, peace, joy,
compassion, and constancy. Requesting such gifts may be
among the higher requests we can and should make, but we
shall say no more about it today, since it has nothing to do
with the Eleventh Step.
• Many of us pray at times for other people – the whole
dimension of prayer called intercession. Sometimes we
pray for other people because they are sick or in trouble,
or we sense they are at a crossroads or at a standstill.
Sometimes we want special blessing for them. Sometimes we
simply love them and bring that into God’s presence because
it feels good to talk with the God of Love about the people
we love. Surely praying for other people is a fascinating
and important dimension of prayer, but we shall say no more
about it today because it has nothing to do with the
Eleventh Step.
• Lots of times we bring concerns to God – everything from
world peace to the injustice we feel we are suffering in
some specific area of our own life at the moment. Truly we
need to bring both our concerns and our heartaches to
God, on any level and at all levels that are troubling us.
But we shall say no more about that today because it has
nothing to do with the Eleventh Step.
None of these prayers are forbidden to us. None of them are
mocked or in any way denigrated. They simply are not the
prayers of the Eleventh Step. All of the other steps can be
done prayerfully. For instance, prayers for forgiveness may
accompany the Fourth and Fifth Steps. The Third Step is
truly a step of prayer – on a very different level from the
Eleventh Step, and for a very different purpose. All of
which brings us back to the clear realization that Step
Eleven is a step of great focus and purpose. It cuts to the
core and the quick of where we are heading and how. To get
to this focus, it intentionally and ruthlessly cuts away all
generalities and all other purposes, no matter how noble,
sentimental, commendable, true, or right. Step Eleven says
“only”: praying only for knowledge of God’s will for
us and the power to carry that out. Nothing about praying
for God’s will for others, for the country, for the company,
or for the world. We are down to it! There is no religion
until we get to “I” – the self that loses self to find the
self in God. “I am your servant. What do You
want me to do, in the here and now? I fully intend
(with Your help) to do it.”
That doesn’t cut through the religious, that cuts through
all the subterfuge to get to true religion. We aren’t
doing the cleanup from the past anymore. This isn’t about
our hangups or our character defects anymore, though we
surely have some left. This isn’t about our drinking, our
smoking, our weight problems, or our relationship problems.
This isn’t about our success or failure in the society
around us. This isn’t about our resentments or appreciation
for whatever situations the world has handed us, or about
how we feel we have been treated.
At Step Eleven, we pray and meditate for one reason, for one
purpose only: “Okay Lord, what do You want from me? Anything
You want, You’ve got it – only, help me to hear clearly, and
give me the strength to do whatever You ask.” Of course, our
prayers about the “power to carry that out” will get far
more specific each time we know what each new task is.
* * *
Truly the Eleventh Step is the Pentecost of the Twelve-Step
Program. Just as truly, many will spend more energy trying
to misunderstand it than they will trying to work the step.
We have to be careful and constant or we will be among them.
At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descends upon the followers.
It is the birth of the church. That means no more sitting
around mourning the Crucifixion or cheering about the
Resurrection. The Holy Spirit descends – the Holy Spirit
comes personally to each believer. And that means it’s time
to get to work – time for the followers to carry on, each in
his or her own way and setting, what Jesus started and
taught and showed. At Pentecost, we move beyond the
spiritual and get religious – we start to build it into
reality, live for it, really mean it, bet our very lives on
it.
On the other hand, we can debate what is meant by “tongues
of fire,” or argue about speaking in tongues, or stick our
tongues out at each other, or wonder who was there, or try
to make up some new creed about what we all have to believe
– until by chance, or subconscious design, we have lost the
whole point. But Pentecost and actually working the Eleventh
Step are synonymous: each one of us guided by the Holy
Spirit; each one of us doing what the Spirit is asking of
us – not of anybody else, not of everybody else, and
not on the condition that anybody or everybody else does
what they are supposed to. Praying only for knowledge of
His will for us and the power to carry that out.
We read today from the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel.
John pictures a conversation between Jesus and His disciples
on the last night of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Jesus is
trying to tell them He has to go away in order to send the
Paraclete – the Holy Spirit – and He will then guide and
direct each one of them, if they will cooperate. In other
words, Jesus is trying to talk to them about the coming
Pentecost – the time, very soon now, when He will be with
each one of them personally as Holy Spirit. I will not
leave you bereft; I am coming back to you. (John 14:18)
Jesus, in turn, is fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah, who
had predicted Pentecost six hundred years earlier: The
days are coming, says the Lord, when I shall establish a new
covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. It will not be
like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took
them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt.... For this is
the covenant I shall establish with the Israelites after
those days, says the Lord: I shall set my law within them,
writing it on their hearts; I shall be their God, and they
will be my people. No longer need they teach one another,
neighbor or brother, to know the Lord; all of them, high and
low alike, will know me, says the Lord, for I shall forgive
their wrongdoing, and their sin I shall call to mind no
more. (Jeremiah 31:31-34) What can we possibly imagine
fulfilling this vision except Pentecost – the coming of the
Holy Spirit to be with each one of us, as close as our own
minds, guiding and directing each one of us through each and
every day?
Jeremiah, Pentecost, Eleventh Step, John’s Gospel – all are
giving us exactly the same picture: the New Testament, the
New Covenant. If you love me you will obey my commands.
What commands? Over and over we go back to the old
commands. Or we try to get new ones out of the Sermon on the
Mount. Or we jump down to the new commandment to “love one
another.” Phooey! Jesus is talking about the New Covenant –
the new time of the Holy Spirit He is promising. If you
love me you will obey my commands. What commands? The
guidance of the Holy Spirit, of course! The commands you get
when you are in prayer – when you are working the Eleventh
Step. The commands that come to you personally as you wait
upon the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, in prayer, on a daily
basis. Not the commands of the Old Covenant. Not the
commands you get from me or your parents or even from
reading the Bible. This is a New Covenant, written on
the heart – the Holy Spirit present and with you, alive and
real on a daily basis, offering guidance. Those are the
commands we obey if we love Him, because Jesus lived and
died to bring us – to introduce upon the earth – this
new WAY and LIFE. Try to hear it:
If you love me you will obey my commands; and I will ask
the Father, and he will give you another to be your
advocate, who will be with you for ever – the Spirit of
Truth [the Holy Spirit of the resurrected Jesus].
Peace is my parting gift to you, my own peace, such as the
world cannot give. Set your troubled hearts at rest, and
banish your fears. You heard me say, “I am going away, and I
am coming back to you.” If you loved me you would be glad
that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater
than I am. I have told you now, before it happens, so that
when it does happen, you may be part of it.
We don’t have to understand all of this. It’s just fun to
see how the Eleventh Step and Pentecost and the promises of
Jesus and the power of the New Covenant are all linked
together, and are part and parcel of the same Message and
Purpose of God. We don’t have to understand it; we just need
to keep working the Eleventh Step, and the rest will take
care of itself.
Copyright 1993-2012 by
Bruce Van Blair. All rights reserved.
