A.A.’s
Eleventh Step Prayer and Meditation
The Opportunity, The Reward, A Guide
The Opportunity to Communicate with our
Creator and Know His Will
God either is, or He isn’t. In
its basic text, Alcoholics Anonymous,
Bill Wilson wrote: When
we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed
crisis we could not postpone or evade,
we had to fearlessly face the proposition
that either God is everything or else
He is nothing. God either is, or He isn’t.
What was our choice to be? (Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th ed. NY: Alcoholics Anonymous
World Services, Inc., 2001, p. 53, bold
face added). Bill
said that Rev. Sam Shoemaker, Rector of
Calvary Episcopal Church, was the well
spring of A.A. ideas, was a co-founder
of A.A., and that almost every one of
the Twelve Step ideas came directly from
the teaching of Shoemaker (Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age. NY: Alcoholics
Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1957,
pp. 38-40; The Language of the Heart.
NY: The AA Grapevine, Inc., 1988, pp 297-298).
And, in fact, Sam’s influence was so great
that we have the eye-witness account by
Rev. Garrett Stearly (friend of both Shoemaker
and Wilson) that Shoemaker told him (Stearly)
that Bill Wilson asked Sam to write the
Twelve Steps, but Shoemaker declined –
saying they should be written by an alcoholic,
namely Bill (See Dick B., New Light on
Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and A.A.,
2d ed. Kihei HI: Paradise Research Publications,
Inc., 1999, p. 374).
Students of A.A. history must therefore
look closely at what Sam Shoemaker said
and wrote over a period of some fifteen
years before Bill Wilson ever took pen
to paper. In 1932, Sam Shoemaker published
his book Confident Faith. A copy was owned
by Dr. Bob, was tucked into the copy of
Anne Smith’s Journal that I found at Stepping
Stones, and had language which seems to
have found its way into page 53 of Bill’s
Big Book – almost verbatim. Sam wrote:
Faith
is not sight; it is a high gamble. There
are only two alternatives here. God is,
or He isn’t. You leap one way or the other.
It is a risk to take to bet everything
you have on God. So it is a risk not to
(Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., Confident Faith.
NY: Fleming H. Revell, 1932, p. 187; Extraordinary
Living for Ordinary Men. Grand Rapids,
MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1965,
pp. 20-21, bold face added) Long
before these books were published, Sam
was quoting Hebrews 11:6: But
without faith, it is impossible to please
him: for he that cometh to God must believe
that he is, and that he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him (bold
face added. See Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr.,
Religion That Works. New York: Fleming
H. Revell, 1928, p. 88; The Gospel According
to You. NY: Fleming H. Revell, 1934, p.
47. That
God is our Creator, Yahweh—God as He specifically
names Himself in the Bible
Start with Genesis 1:1—the first verse
in the Good Book, as early AAs described
the Bible: In
the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth. The
Bible repeatedly speaks of God as our
Creator. For example, the New Jerusalem
Bible translates Isaiah 40:28:
Did
you not know? Had you not heard? Yahweh
is the everlasting God, he created the
remotest parts of the earth. He does not
grow tired or weary, his understanding
is beyond fathoming. And
Ecclesiastes 12:1: Remember
your Creator while you are still young,
before the bad days come, before the years
come which, you will say, give you no
pleasure. Though
hardly a Bible student, Bill Wilson explicitly
refers to God as “Creator” twelve times
(Big Book, pp. 13, 25, 28, 56, 68, 72,
75, 76, 80, 83, 158, 161).
And only a fool could read the Big Book,
discover its over 400 references to God
as Creator, Maker, Father of Light, Heavenly
Father, and God, and still conclude that
A.A.’s Eleventh Step discussion suggests
praying to some mysterious god of one’s
own making, rather than Yahweh, the Creator,
Maker, Father of Light, God of our fathers,
and Heavenly Father, to which Bill and
Bob so often referred.
The references were clearly to Yahweh,
the God of the Bible, as they understood
Him—as they sooner or later came to Him
through Jesus Christ
Bill Wilson and Sam Shoemaker both spoke
of a surrender to Yahweh our Creator.
They indicated that, for a start, you
need only surrender as much of yourself
as you understood to as much of God as
you understood. They said this long before
the Eleventh Step was written.
In his own personal story in the first
chapter of A.A.’s Big Book, Bill wrote
of his surrender: There
I humbly offered
myself to God, as I then understood Him,
to do with me as he would. I placed myself
unreservedly under his care and direction
(Big Book, p. 13, bold face added).
Explaining
that he (Bill) was then following the
instructions that his sponsor Edwin Thacher
(Ebby) had received from his Oxford Group
friends, Bill told his distinguished audience
at the Yale Summer School of Alcohol Studies:
Ebby
said, “Where does the religion come in?”
And his friends went on to say, “Ebby,
it is our experience that no one can carry
out such a program with enough thoroughness
and enough continuity on pure self-sufficiency.
One must have help. Now we are willing
to help you, as individuals, but we think
you ought to call upon a power greater
than yourself, for your dilemma is well-nigh
insurmountable. So
call on God as you understand God. Try
prayer” (Lecture 29, The Fellowship of
Alcoholics Anonymous. W.W. Alcohol, Science
and Society: Twenty-nine Lectures with
Discussion as given at the Yale Summer
School of Alcohol Studies. New Haven:
Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol,
1945, p. 463) Thus
instructed by Ebby, and though he told
the following details in varying ways,
Bill, the conservative atheist (as he
then called himself), said in his 1954
autobiographical tape: “But
what of the Great Physician? For a brief
moment, I suppose, the last trace of my
obstinacy was crushed out as the abyss
yawned. I remember saying to myself, “I’ll
do anything, anything at all. If there
be a Great Physician, I’ll call on him.”
Then, with neither faith nor hope, I cried
out, “If there be a God, let him show
himself.” The effect was instant, electric.
Suddenly my room blazed with an indescribably
white light. . . . Then came the blazing
thought, “You are a free man”. . . . “This,”
I thought, “must be the great reality.
The God of the preachers” . . . . I’d
been incapable of faith and so, God’s
help. . . . Yet, out of no faith, faith
had suddenly appeared. No blind faith
either, for it was fortified by the consciousness
of the presence of God. . . . For sure
I’d been born again (Bill W. My First
40 Years: An Autobiography by the Co-Founder
of Alcoholics Anonymous. Center City,
MN: Hazelden, 2000, pp. 145-147).
Many
forget that only a few days before his
Towns Hospital appeal to our Creator,
as Bill then understood Him, Bill had
gone to Calvary Rescue Mission, the rescue
mission run by Sam Shoemaker’s Episcopal
Church. There Bill made a decision for
Christ at the altar or, as his wife Lois
put it, “He gave his life to Christ.”
And that trip to Calvary was made as the
result of Ebby’s first declaration to
Bill that it was there at the Mission
that he (Ebby) had “got religion.” It
was from that event at Calvary Mission
that Ebby was able to declare to Bill
that God had done for him what he could
not do for himself. And this challenge
was what propelled Bill to the altar at
Calvary.
After his Calvary Mission conversion,
Bill wandered around drunk. But he made
his way to Towns Hospital where Dr. William
D. Silkworth met him in the hall. Bill
shouted: “At last, Doc, I’ve found something!”
(Bill W., My First 40 Years, supra, pp.
137-140). And it was at Towns Hospital
that Bill, with coaching there by Ebby,
made—as a follow-through appeal of a newly
born again Christian (as Bill then thought
of himself)—to the Great Physician. That
Physician, as Jesus referred to himself
in Luke 4:23 (“Physician, heal thyself”)
and Luke 5:31 (“They that are whole need
not a physician: but they that are sick”).
This was the Great Physician, whose treatment
Dr. William Duncan Silkworth prescribed
for Charles, his alcoholic patient (Norman
Vincent Peale, The Positive Power of Jesus
Christ: Life Changing Adventures in Faith
(Pauling, NY: Foundation for Christian
Living, 1980, pp 59-63). This was the
Great Physician of whom Old-timer Clarence
Snyder spoke to the men he sponsored (Mitchell
K., How It Worked: The Story of Clarence
H. Snyder. NY: A.A. Big Book Study Group,
1997, p. 6). This was the Great Physician
spoken of by Earle M. in his Big Book
story when he said “I couldn’t practice
medicine without the Great Physician”
(Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed. NY: Alcoholics
Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1976,
p. 351).
Bill’s spiritual mentor, Rev. Sam Shoemaker,
had taught, since his first important
title, that the spiritually miserable
person needed to have a vital religious
experience, needed to find God, and needed
Jesus Christ. In Realizing Religion, Sam
wrote: What
you want is simply a vital religious experience.
You need to find God. You need Jesus Christ
(Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., Realizing Religion.
NY: Association Press, 1929, p. 9)
Could
the emerging Twelve Step path be any more
obvious, even considering Bill’s scanty
religious exposure and his own lack of
faith? 1.
Bill Wilson had characterized himself
as a conservative atheist. He had no faith.
2. His friend Ebby Thacher told Bill plainly
of the Oxford Group’s Christian program,
of how he had “got” religion through them
and his surrender to Jesus Christ at the
altar at Sam Shoemaker’s Calvary Rescue
Mission, and of Carl Jung’s advice to
Rowland Hazard that there would be no
cure without conversion – a religious
experience such as that of which Shoemaker
spoke.
3. Convinced, Bill sallied forth to Calvary
Rescue Mission as his first stop on the
way to a conversion and getting the religion
that Ebby said he had “got.”
4. There at the Rescue Mission altar,
Bill seems to have achieved salvation
by thus declaring his belief in God’s
only begotten son, the Great Physician,
Jesus Christ (John 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians
15:1-7; Romans 10:9-13)
5. Lois Wilson reports what really happened
there: Well,
people got up and went to the altar and
gave themselves to Christ. And the leader
of the meeting asked if there was anybody
that wanted to come up. And Bill started
up. . . . And he went up to the front,
and really, in very great sincerity, did
hand his life to Christ (Record of Lois
Wilson’s June 29, 1973 talk in Dallas,
Texas). 6.
Mrs. Samuel Shoemaker told me personally
on the telephone that she was present
at the Rescue Mission and that Bill there
made his “decision for Christ.” And that,
of course, was precisely the intended
purpose of the altar calls. Though some
might dispute the new birth, and though
only Yahweh knows for certain, Bill wrote,
said, and concluded: “For sure, I had
been born again” (Bill W., My First 40
Years, supra, p. 147).
7. But the Oxford Group had taught that
still more was involved in the new design
for living and being changed, through
the “vital religious experience” of which
Shoemaker was speaking. They believed
and taught that it was necessary to cut
out or clean out sin by their “soul surgery”
process of inventory, and the Five C’s—
Confidence, Confession, Conviction, Conversion,
and Continuance. And that aspect was involved
in the coaching from Ebby at Towns Hospital
(See Big Book, pp. 12- 15).
8. Having been indoctrinated in the life-change
requirement, then the born again Bill
believed it was time to “find” God through
an actual experience. And he underwent
the experience by crying out to the Great
Physician and asking that, if he existed,
he then and there show himself. It was
at that point that Bill said he actually
experienced his “hot flash” and believed
he had gone through the requisite vital
religious experience (the kind he felt
he quickly validated through the findings
of Professor William James). Bill’s conclusion:
“So this is the God of the Preachers.”
He had, he believed, “found God” (Bill
W., My First 40 Years, supra, pp. 145-147).
And, in finding Him, been cured of his
alcoholism (Big Book, p. 191). Hence in
his famous Big Book Chapter Five, Bill
expressed the need for all to find God
and urged: “May you find Him now!” (Big
Book, p. 59).
9. Jung had taught that a conversion was
necessary. Bill received that at the Rescue
Mission. Shoemaker had taught that one
needed a “vital religious experience.”
To receive that, you needed Jesus Christ,
taught Shoemaker. If you became born again
of God’s spirit by accepting Christ, you
would then have the power to change by
cutting out sin, making restitution, and
continuing your relationship with the
Creator you had found. That process of
“finding God” and “continuing” the relationship
through the practice of Steps Ten, Eleven,
and Twelve is the heart of the program
of recovery Bill fashioned and suggested
in the Big Book. There
is nothing that establishes that Bill
had given his life to a radiator, a light
bulb, a group, a chair, a table, or Santa
Claus—as many have since chosen to characterize
their “higher power.”
Bill had been a conservative atheist.
Yet his grandfather had been an alcoholic
who had been relieved of his alcoholism
in a mountain-top experience much like
that which Bill was to have many years
later. Bill had never studied the Bible.
He had not been a church member. He quite
simply did not believe in God. But as
Ebby witnessed to him and told him what
he (Ebby) had done, and Bill perceived
what he felt was a cure, Bill became willing
to believe and to act. This, of course,
is what Sam Shoemaker was teaching and
writing in his oft-quoted and favorite
verse, John 7:17 (See references in Dick
B., New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam
Shoemaker, and A.A., 2d ed. Kihei, HI:
Paradise Research Publications, Inc.,
1999, p. 89). It is what Bill was seeking.
And there is not a scintilla of evidence
that suggests Bill thought he went to
Calvary Mission to surrender to a radiator;
nor to Towns Hospital to find a light
bulb, nor that he ever believed Ebby had
surrendered to a chair; nor that Santa
Claus was in any way involved.
No!
Consider Bill’s plain language as he wrote
the Big Book. He spoke of the Creator.
He spoke of his Maker. He spoke of the
Father of Light. He spoke of God. Never,
ever, did the strange concepts that emerged
in A.A. in later years appear during the
formative A.A. events of 1934 to 1939.
No Big Book talk about making the “group”
your god. No Oxford Group talk about humbly
surrendering to chairs or radiators. No
Bible endorsement of “other gods” or idolatry.
No Shoemaker teachings intended to establish
an understanding of light bulbs or Santa
Claus. Not even talk of a “higher power”
until perhaps Bill heard the expression
later on from or through the teachings
of Emmet Fox.
Shoemaker explicitly suggested that one
could “surrender as much of himself as
he understood to as much of God as he
understood”—the very God of the Bible
about whom Shoemaker regularly and consistently
taught.
In 1936, Sam Shoemaker published National
Awakening (NY: Harper and Brothers, 1936),
where he spelled out some critical ideas
that must have been part of what Bill
and Lois Wilson heard. Sam wrote:
One
argument in religion is about as good
as another; but an experience beats an
argument. Men run from your arguments
about God, they will not listen to your
elaborate explanations; but when you tell
them what it is with Him, their hearts,
as John Wesley said, are “strangely warmed,”
and their minds are strangely persuaded
. . . . Jesus gave His answer to John.
. . . He just gathered up in a cascade
of living words the living deeds He and
they had been seeing, and said, “Go your
way, and tell John what things ye have
seen and heard: how that the blind see,
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to
the poor the gospel is preached.” It was
proof by evidence (p. 28) Speaking
of real security, Sam added: And
where is it? It lies in a faith in God
which includes an experiment. It lies
in believing that God is, that He has
a plan, and that He will reveal that plan
to us. It lies in fitting in with that
plan ourselves, and finding that God will
take care of us when we dare to make that
experiment (p. 40). Further:
We
hear him saying to us (about Psalm 46:10),
“Give in, admit that God is, and that
He is the great Answer to your life, and
that your life never is nor will be complete
without Him.. . . .” We want God because
He created the hunger within us for Him.
We want Him from dependence, from fear,
from loneliness, from the craving for
perfection in our souls. We want Him from
bewilderment, confusion, and darkness.
We want Him from innate love for Him,
for insatiable preoccupation with the
invisible Reality of the world (p. 47)
Finally:
A
man is born again when the control of
his life, its center and its direction
pass from himself to God. You can go to
church for years without having that happen.
. . . We shall begin by knowing the need
of a new birth when we begin knowing that
it is the sins of people like you and
me that have made the world into the hell
it is today. And the thing to do with
sin is to do what Nicodemus did: go and
search out someone with whom we can talk
privately and frankly. Tell them of these
things, and, with them as witness, give
these sins and our old selves to God.
. . . I said I was going to do that for
years, but it never happened until I let
a human witness come in on my decision.
That is the “how” of getting rid of sin
if you are in earnest about doing it at
all: face it, share it, surrender it.
Hate it, forsake it, confess it, and restore
for it (pp. 57-58) You
can find this obvious “12 Step” material
in the first few pages of the Big Book.
They describe what Ebby Thacher had done
and experienced. They describe how he
had sought out Bill. They describe how
Ebby proclaimed his victory. And they
describe the facing, sharing, surrendering,
forsaking, and restitution that Ebby said
were required for Bill to make what AAs
were later to call a “real” surrender.
Bill said: My
friend (Ebby) promised when these things
were done I would enter upon a new relationship
with my Creator, that I would have the
elements of a way of living which answered
all my problems. . . . It meant destruction
of self-centeredness. I must turn in all
things to the Father of Light who presides
over us all (Big Book, pp. 13-14)
When
Bill was telling his story, whenever and
wherever, whether in the Big Book, or
at Yale, or in his 1954 taping, or at
St. Louis, you can be sure he was talking
about Yahweh, our Creator, “the Father
of Light who presides over us all.”
Just God as Bill understood Him
This talk of God as we understood Him
was as old as the teachings of Rev. Sam
Shoemaker in the 1920’s, and of many before
him.
Sam published Children of the Second Birth
(NY: Fleming H. Revell, 1927), and elaborated
on a well-known Oxford Group idea that
even Anne Smith included in her spiritual
journal (Dick B., Anne Smith’s Journal,
1933-1939, 3rd ed., Kihei, HI: Paradise
Research Publications, Inc., 1998, pp.
24-29; Stephen Foot, Life Began Yesterday.
NY: Harper and Brothers, 1935, pp. 12-13,
175; James D. Newton, Uncommon Friends.
NY Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1953, p.
72).
That idea was to “surrender as much of
yourself as you know to as much of God
as you know.”
Sam phrased it this way in Children of
the Second Birth. He described sin as
“anything , and the only thing, that walled
men away from God.” And see Dick B. The
Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous,
pp. 130-133.
In Children, Sam told of a man that, at
the beginning of his surrender, he simply
needed to “surrender as much of himself
as he could, to as much of Christ as he
understood” (p. 25). Of the man, Shoemaker
said he knelt in prayer and dedicated
his life not only to belief in Jesus Christ,
but also to His life and work. The man
recorded in his diary: “I do feel reborn,
born of the Spirit” (Children, pp. 33-34).
Telling in another story of a group which
had prayed together to help a man find
the man find the “Power,” Shoemaker said
they prayed as follows: Opening
their minds to as much of God as he [the
man] understood, removing first the hindrance
of self-will allowing the Spirit to focus
an impression upon the mind, like light
upon a camera exposed (p. 47) Shoemaker
reported that the man lifted his own life
to God; the everlasting miracle of second
birth happened; and the man experienced
a sense of liberty, of peace, an inward
glow, and a sense of rightness.
Compare the Big Book’s description of
what happened when the early AAs took
their Third Step: As
we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed
peace of mind, as we discovered we could
face life successfully, as we became conscious
of His presence, we began to lose our
fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter.
We were reborn (p. 63) Quite
plainly, neither Sam Shoemaker nor Bill
Wilson was talking about a surrender to
some illusory chair or table. They were
talking about a new birth that comes from
belief in God and what His Son accomplished
(John 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:1-7; Romans
10:9). For these same ideas and verses
were quoted by Shoemaker himself.
For more information on the roots of Big
Book prayer and meditation, see Dick B.,
New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker,
and A.A., supra. The
Reward: A Rebirth and New Life
Bill
opened his Eleventh Step discussion in
the Big Book by insisting on the importance
of prayer and meditation. First, he mentioned
the Oxford Group idea that his program
of recovery was a “design for living”
(p. 81) He was discussing the Ninth Step
and the last phase of clearing away the
wreckage of the past. He then promised
that if AAs were painstaking about this
phase of their development, they would
know a new freedom and a new happiness.
They would realize “that God is doing
for us what we could not do for ourselves”
(pp. 83-84)—using a phrase that Ebby had
used in his witness to Bill. After discussing
the Tenth Step, Bill turned to the action
he said was required to receive strength,
inspiration, and direction from God “who
has all knowledge and power” (p. 85).
Bill said we shouldn’t be shy on the matter
of prayer. He said it works if we have
the proper attitude and work at it. And
then he lays out what I call the four
parts of the Eleventh Step: (1) What you
constructively review on retiring at night—how
well you practiced the Tenth Step. (2)
How to ask God for direction in the twenty-four
hours ahead. (3) He then turns to the
actual dealing with the day. He speaks
of prayer and meditation, suggesting that
there are many helpful books, which may
be obtained from one’s priest, minister,
or rabbi. He adds: “Be quick to see where
religious people are right. Make use of
what they offer” (4) Finally, he covers
the means of dealing with agitation and
doubt.
And what is the purpose of all this “conscious
contact” with God? Bill does not really
dive into the subject, but rather turns
to “working with others” as his presentation
of the Twelfth Step.
And yet, the bonus, the prize, the fruit
of practicing the new design for living
is a solid and rewarding relationship
with God. One that needs continuing study,
prayer, nurture, fellowship, and witness.
Fortunately, the Bible—with which Bill
had little familiarity—points up the purposes.
And most certainly Dr. Bob, his wife Anne,
and the Akron pioneers pointed up the
Biblical points quite well.
Bob said that the oldtimers felt that
the answer to all their problems was in
the Bible. He suggested that the Book
of James, the Sermon on the Mount, and
1 Corinthians 13 contained the absolute
essentials. Anne Smith said the Bible
was the main source book of all and that
not a day should pass without reading
it. Bob, Anne, and many old timers pointed
to the Four Absolute Standards of Jesus
that the Oxford Group had appropriated
from two books: (1) Robert E. Speer’s
The Principles of Jesus. (2) Henry B.
Wright. The Will of God and a Man’s Life
Work.
The standards, known in A.A. usually as
the “Four Absolutes,” were Absolute Honesty,
Absolute Purity, Absolute Unselfishness,
and Absolute Love. And these absolute
standards could, they seemed strongly
to believe, provide the guide to obedience
to God and His Will.
The reward?
First, there was the assurance of Jesus
Christ that he had come that believers
might have life and have it more abundantly
(John 10:10).
Second, there was the assurance that those
who were born again of the Spirit of God
would be saved, have everlasting life,
and be free from condemnation (John 3:1-8,16-17;
Romans 8:1; 1 Peter 1:23-25)
Third, there were—among many others—four
Biblical assurances that captured the
enthusiasm and repetitive statements of
Dr. Bob, Anne Smith, and Cleveland Old-timer
Clarence Snyder. They were: “But
seek ye first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness; and all these things shall
be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33) – First
things first, as explained by Dr. Bob.
“And now abideth, faith, hope, charity
[love]; but the greatest of these is charity”
[love] (1 Corinthians 13:13). The entire
chapter on love is the subject of Drummond’s
widely read The Greatest Thing in the
World—a book strongly recommended by Dr.
Bob.
“Beloved, I wish above all things that
thou mayest prosper and be in health,
even as thy soul prospereth” (3 John 2)
– a verse that especially captivated the
interest of Dr.Bob’s wife and is quoted
in Anne Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939. See
Dick B., Anne Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939.
3rd ed. Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications,
Inc., 1998, p. 71.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed
away; behold, all things are become new”
(2 Corinthians 5:17) – a verse that was
specifically recommended by A.A. pioneer
Bill Van Horn and became a favorite quote
and tool used by A.A. pioneer Clarence
Snyder. See Our A.A. Legacy to the Faith
Community by Three Clarence Snyder Sponsee
Old-timer and Their Wives, Compiled and
Edited by Dick B. FL: Came To Believe
Publications, 2005, p. 28; Dick B., That
Amazing Grace: The Role of Clarence and
Grace S. in Alcoholics Anonymous. San
Rafael, CA: Paradise Research Publications,
1996, pp. 33-34. Fourth,
the alcoholic was given the specific instruction
to obey, do, and conform requests for
help to, the will of God: “Not
every one that saith unto me [Jesus],
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven; but he that doeth the will
of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew
7:21).
“But be ye doers of the word, and not
hearers only, deceiving your own selves”
(James 1:22).
“And this is the confidence that we have
in him [God], that, if we ask any thing
according to his will, he heareth us:
And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever
we ask, we know that we have the petitions
that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14-15)
As
a prelude to embarking on the Eleventh
Step, a newcomer who had “found” God and
become one of God’s kids, could know he
or she was a new creature in Christ, assured
of eternal life; and assured, in the latter
case, of an abundant, healthy, and prosperous
life, conditioned upon doing the will
of the Father, and walking in love. To
this end, the Eleventh Step is the most
profound, continuing duty of members of
the fellowship. It’s one thing to “find
God.” It’s another to learn about, understand,
and obey God—a process that the Eleventh
Step lays out.
You cannot read about pioneer A.A. without
realizing what the drunks—long despairing,
lonely, selfish, frightened, confused,
and at the bottom of the well—were expecting.
They didn’t want to be just dry. They
didn’t want to be just “sober”—whatever
that means. They didn’t want to be perpetual
members of a sick society. They wanted
a new life, a design for living, and a
purpose that conformed to God’s will,
not their own.
That is why the Eleventh Step opportunity
is so challenging. Take God out of A.A.,
and you have nothing but good deeds and
congenial meetings. Take God out of the
Eleventh Step and you merely have a plan
for “doing good.” Take God out of the
primary purpose of the Twelve Steps (which
was to enable you to find God and establish
a relationship with Him), and you merely
have what Bill was later to call “a personality
change sufficient to overcome the disease
of alcoholism.” But none of these holds
a candle to Dr. Bob’s promise to those
who really trusted in God, cleaned house,
and helped others: “Your Heavenly Father
will never let you down!” (Big Book, p.
181). Never! Ever! A
Guide to Eleventh Step Prayer and Meditation
the “Old School” Way There
is plenty of authority in the Bible for
what some have called “the Morning Watch.”
On the back cover of my prayer and meditation
history title, I’ve listed some helpful
sources: (1) In the morning, we will direct
our prayers to God—Psalm 5:1-3. (2) We
can meditate in God’s Word (the Bible)
day and night—Psalm 1:2. (3) Study to
show yourself approved of God—2 Timothy
2:15. (4) We must look to God to teach
us His will—Psalm 143:10. (5) When we
trust God, rely not merely on our own
understanding, and acknowledge Him in
all our ways, He will direct our paths—Proverbs
3:5-6. See Dick B. Good Morning! Quiet
Time, Morning Watch, Meditation, and Early
A.A., 2d ed. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research
Publications, Inc., 1998.
How simply it can be described:
1.
Heed God’s commands, and it will go well
with you:
“Obey my voice, and I will be your God,
and ye shall be my people: and walk ye
in all the ways that I have commanded
you, that it may be well unto you” (Jeremiah
7:23).
2. God our Saviour wants you to become
His kids and know learn His will:
“Who will have all men to be saved, and
to come unto the knowledge of the truth”
(1 Timothy 2:4)
3. The prophet Samuel got the message:
Tell God to speak, and that you are listening:
“And the Lord [Yahweh] came, and stood,
and called as at other times, Samuel,
Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak: for
thy servant heareth” (1 Samuel 3:10)
4. Saul, later to be Apostle Paul, heard
Jesus and asked what Jesus wanted him
to do:
“And he [Saul] trembling and astonished
said, Lord [Jesus], what wilt thou have
me to do? And the Lord said unto him,
Arise, and go into the city, and it shall
be told thee what thou must do” (Acts
9:6)
5. In a morning worship, George Washington
thanked the Creator for His many mercies,
asked a blessing on the house, and concluded
his prayer as follows::
“Grant the petition of Thy servant for
the sake of Him whom Thou has called Thy
Beloved Son; nevertheless, not by will,
but Thine be done. Amen” (William J. Johnson,
George Washington the Christian. TX: Accelerated
Christian Education, Inc., 1986, p. 127)
6. In the middle of confused debate, Benjamin
Franklin suggested asking God for light:
“humbly applying to the Father of Lights
to illuminate our understandings” (Samuel
M. Shoemaker, Jr., Freedom and Faith,
NY: Fleming H. Revell, 1949, pp. 70, 71)
7. Oxford Group writer Victor Kitchen
told how very very simple it could be:
“Where I used to plan the day, making
a list of all the jobs I thought I had
to finish, all the people I thought I
had to see, all ‘phone calls I thought
I had to make and all the letters I thought
I had to write, I now simply ask God’s
guidance for the day (Victor C. Kitchen,
I Was a Pagan. NY: Harper and Brothers,
1934, p. 122).
8. In his very first radio broadcast,
Sam Shoemaker explained laying out the
day:
“May I tell you what we do in our house?
When my wife and I get up, the first thing
we reach for is our Bible—not a cigarette,
nor a drink, nor the morning paper—but
our Bibles. We read a chapter or two.
Then we get quiet and spend some time
in prayer. . . . In quietness we pray
for the people, the causes, the immediate
responsibilities of the day, and ask God
to direct us. . . . We ask Him for direction.
. . . Bring the family and business problems
before Him, ask Him about them, and trust
Him to tell you” (Dick B., Good Morning,
supra, p. 3).
9. Nan Robertson summarized the simple,
take it or leave it approach by Dr. Bob:
“Beginning in 1935, Dr. Bob quickly became
an extraordinarily effective worker with
active alcoholics. He was tough. He was
inflexible. He told his prospects: “Do
you want to surrender to God? Take it
or leave it” Soon, carloads of drunks
were coming to Akron from as far away
as Cleveland to meet in his house. Recently,
Young Bob tried to explain why his father
had been so successful at “fixing” drunks:
. . . . “He knew that a drunk coming out
of an alcoholic haze would be absolutely
overwhelmed by anything but a straightforward
program that anyone could understand.
It wasn’t aimed at college grads—he kept
it simple so that anyone was capable of
grasping it.” The doctor was authoritative,
and he was impressive” Nan Robertson,
Getting Better Inside Alcoholics Anonymous.
NY: Fawcett Crest, 1988, p. 48)
10. And Dr. Bob practiced the very simplicity
he “preached” when it came to Quiet Time:
“Prayer, of course, was an important part
of Dr. Bob’s faith. According to Paul
S., ‘Dr. Bob’s morning devotion consisted
of a short prayer, a 20-minutes study
of a familiar verse from the Bible, and
a quiet period of waiting for directions
as to where he, that day, should find
use for his talent. Having heard, he would
religiously go about his Father’s business,
as he put it’.” ( DR. BOB and the Good
Oldtimers. NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World
Services, Inc., p. 314)
“Elgie R. recalled, ‘Doc told me that
when he had an operation and wasn’t sure,
he would pray before he started. He said,
‘When I operated under those conditions,
I never made a move that wasn’t right’.”
(DR. BOB, supra, p. 314) There
have been many approaches within the A.A.
umbrella: 1.
Anne Smith conducted a Quiet Time at the
Smith home every single morning at the
crack of dawn. Alcoholics and family members
gathered for what some joshingly called
“spiritual pablum.” But the meetings were
simple. First, came the Bible. Then came
prayer. Then came a quiet period where
God’s direction was sought. And then came
a discussion from Anne’s own spiritual
journal or from a devotional like the
Upper Room. Coffee and stale doughnuts
were part of the scene.
2. Oxford Group people often described
a more elaborate process for their Quiet
Times. There was Bible. There was prayer.
But the main emphasis was on “listening”
and “writing down thoughts” and then “checking
them.” “Journaling,” as some liked to
call it was the focus. “The palest ink
is better than the strongest memory,”
they often suggested. First came “listening.”
Then came the flood of thoughts with every
item being “journaled” or written down.
It was conceded that not all thoughts
had come from God. Therefore “checking”
was the next step. You checked to see
if the thoughts conformed to Scripture.
You checked to see if they conformed to
the teachings of Jesus Christ and to the
“Four Absolutes.” You checked “circumstances.”
And you frequently checked with other
Oxford Group people for their view. There
were also topical discussions if there
was a group. And some devotionals like
My Utmost for His Highest were read as
well.
3. As time went by, still more elaborate
guides became popular. There were a host
of devotionals in use. There were a host
of prayer books in use. There were a host
of Quiet Time guides in use—guides that
elaborated on “two-way” prayer, on “how
to listen to God,” on how to study the
Bible, and on “meditation.” In the latter
case, the comment of one observer seems
right: There are not only many meditation
books. There are too many. Nonetheless,
when A.A. left the Bible and the Oxford
Group and Sam Shoemaker and Anne Smith
behind, meditation became a wandering
field of confusion. Bill Wilson said that
considerable study was required for “guidance”
to be effective. Several Roman Catholic
critics said that lay people were ill-equipped
to receive guidance without the assistance
of clergy and without the infallible guidance
of the Church. And then the publishers
joined the game. The Twenty Four Hour
book was widely sold and used. It was
often given to everyone who entered a
treatment program. But apparently not
content with the vast number of Hazelden
meditation efforts, A.A. itself finally
published Daily Reflections which contains
a wild assortment of opinions and statements
that were allegedly the result of the
combined views of AAs.
4. How, then, could one “take” and continue
to “practice” the Eleventh Step? One method
was to take Bill’s self-made set of instructions
at Big Book pages 85 to 88 and follow
them. They amount to four ideas: (a) Before
you retire at night, take a l look at
your day, see how well you practiced the
Tenth Step, and ask for forgiveness and
corrective measures where there was failure.
That’s not Biblical, but it has merit
and simplicity. (b) When you awake in
the morning, tender your day and plans
to God for guidance. Here the language
is not Biblical; and some of the theology
is just plan wild – with talk of “inspiration,”
“intuitive thought.” a “hunch,” “absurd
actions and ideas.” Nonetheless the Shoemaker
idea of laying out your day before God
and asking direction seems at the heart.
(c) Growth factors which might be achieved
through religious bodies, a few set prayers,
and “helpful books.” No mention of the
Bible or of any of the early literature.
Just a bow to “one’s priest, minister,
or rabbi.” Here can be seen Bill’s efforts
to secularize and universalize his program.
Certainly a far cry from Dr. Bob’s take
it or leave it approach. Yet probably
a mouthful that even a tenacious believer
can swallow by going to church, reading
the Bible, consulting with clergy, and
absorbing religious literature. Essentially,
that’s what I did—much to the displeasure
of my sponsor, and his sponsor! (d) The
idea of dealing with agitation and doubt
by proclaiming that God is in charge also
has merit. But it is small advice when
compared to what one can gain from the
early Christian concepts of healing, forgiveness,
kindness, tolerance, peace, revelation,
deliverance, and a renewed mind that casts
out negatives and replaces them with the
word of God. How
can you use the Eleventh Step as an A.A.
today and still further your fellowship
with Yahweh, our Creator?
The first suggestion is that you learn
the Big Book and the Twelve Steps, get
instruction from teachers or seminars,
steep yourself in our real religious history,
and recognize that the Big Book is not
the Bible, nor is it even a book that
incorporated the Biblical ideas or the
principles and practices of the early
A.A. Christian Fellowship in Akron. When
in Rome, do what the Romans do!
The second suggestion is that you make
up your mind to brave the storm, stay
the course, hold your nose, and keep your
mouth shut when the atheists, intimidators,
pseudo-control people, and purported “Tradition”
proponents make their remarks against
God, the Bible, Jesus Christ, the Holy
Spirit, Church, and religion. You have
a choice. You can fight them or ignore
them. And, though it’s hard to ignore
an engine putting out hot air and steam,
it may seem very wise to move away and
go about your own business. But not to
surrender your beliefs and practices!
Any AA today has as much right as the
next person to believe what he or she
wants, to read what he or she wants, and
to say what he or she wants. Though it
may look like it at times, there are no
A.A. police, no sergeants-at-arms, no
kangaroo courts, no censors, and no governors
who have any right or opportunity to change
your views. Hold your A.A. membership
high. Wave your A.A. banner, and don’t
shrink under fire. Believe in God if you
want to. Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord
and Saviour if you want to. Read the Bible
all you wish. Read any religious literature
you choose to read if you like. Rely on
the gift of the Holy Spirit to the utmost
if you want to. Go to a Bible fellowship,
a church, or a religious meeting any time
you want to. And accept the fact that
whether A.A. is “spiritual” or “religious”
doesn’t matter a fig to you.
A.A. today is what it is. It isn’t what
it was. But it can be what it can be—an
immeasurably valuable support factor if
you decide to quit drinking for good,
to abstain, to resist temptation, to accept
the helping hands of other AAs, to learn
and apply the principles of the Steps,
and to help others at every opportunity.
Practicing the Eleventh Step is your privilege
and your own business. It’s not subject
to the dictated interpretation of some
bigot, nor to someone else’s mandate.
The Big Book was written to guide you.
By its own statement, its contents are
meant to be suggestive only. It should
not be the vehicle that drives you away
from A.A., your church, your Bible, or
Almighty God, our Creator. And how you
practice it can most assuredly be based
on your belief in Almighty God, in the
accomplishments of His son Jesus Christ,
in the truth of the Bible, in your personal
religious convictions, in your church
or Bible fellowship’s position, and in
the religious literature of your choice.
Bill Wilson wrote in connection with the
Tenth Step that “love and tolerance” is
our code. Dr. Bob said in his final address
to AAs that the whole show could be simmered
to “love and service.” Both expressions
bring to mind the basic Biblical ideas
A.A. borrowed from the Sermon on the Mount,
the Book of James, and 1 Corinthians 13.
And I can’t think of any greater application
of the A.A. Biblical principles than to
adhere to God’s commandments that you
love God with all your heart, soul, mind,
and strength, and love your neighbor as
yourself (Matthew 22:26-40).
And for a Biblical perspective on Quiet
Time, Morning Watch, and Meditation as
they relate to Alcoholics Anonymous and
its program of recovery and spiritual
history, I strongly recommend you obtain
and read the details in my title, Good
Morning! Quiet Time, Morning Watch, Meditation,
and Early A.A., supra. See the description
on
http://www.dickb.com/goodmorn.shtml.
In case the reader might ask, What do
you do? The answers are that I am a long-time
active, sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous.
I haven’t left, and I’m not going to.
I read and study the Big Book and Twelve
Steps very very often. I believe they
have helped me to emphasize love instead
of anger, trust instead of fear, honesty
in place of deceit, unselfishness in place
of self-centered living, and Godly thinking
and actions in place of transgressions
against God’s will. I believe in Almighty
God, Yahweh our Creator. I am born again
of His spirit by reason of believing in
Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. I
try to read the Bible or listen to Bible
tapes every single day. I try to pray
to God every single day—offering thanksgiving,
praise, petitions, requests for forgiveness
and guidance, requests for protection,
strength, and healing, and requests for
His care of me, my family, others, my
possessions, and activities. I ask Him
for revelation and frequently receive
it as and when He chooses to provide it.
I know that He is my refuge and my fortress
and in Him I should place my trust. I
also know that obedience to His will is
sometimes the most difficult challenge
of all, yet an indispensable part of fellowship
with Him as one of His loving sons. All
these I do to His glory in the name of
Jesus Christ.
::
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