Sunday, January 17, 2010
Sunday Reflection: Spirits
The most moving part of my week was reading the comments to my Wednesday post on alcohol. If you have not read through the comments (all 45 of them!) I encourage you to do so. I so much appreciate everyone who took the time to write, and especially those who revealed hard and sad experiences.
When I was in college and forming my ideas about both faith and drinking, one of my primary mentors was Craig Anderson, who was my boss when I was a Head Resident in the dorms. Craig had a calm, holistic, and wise approach to many things, and I probably learned more from him than I did in any of my classes. Some of the conversations I had with him I still remember nearly verbatim. For example, we once were discussing people who drink too much, and he noted that sometimes it seemed like they were people who were looking for something in their life-- something they couldn't quite define.
I asked Craig if he was talking about faith.
"Well," he said, "there probably is a reason they call liquor 'spirits.'"
I have pondered that ever since. I do think there is a relationship in some people (not all) between faith and substance abuse. Let me clarify: I don't mean that substance abuse is directly caused by a lack of faith. After all, I accept that alcoholism, for example, is a disease that some people have to deal with and others do not, a disease that exists independent of faith. Further, I have known many people (including the acquaintance I mentioned) who are faithful churchgoing alcoholics, and even Southern Baptists. Church does not immunize anyone (including ministers and priests) from alcoholism.
That said, though, I think that for some people who are prone to alcoholism, faith is a way of staving it off. For some people, perhaps, it fills up the part of the soul that one might be tempted to fill up with wine.
Either way, we desire the Spirit.
But what of the spiritual crisis of those who love someone who is an alcoholic, perhaps even a parent? Ginger Hunter, in her comment, perfectly expressed the pain of being in that position:
Life with an alcoholic is both predictable and completely unknown. You can predict the patterns of abuse, gleeful productivity and joy, violence, sadness, regret, repentance, abstinence, and abuse...like a sad, scratched record. But you cannot predict the phone calls in the middle of the night, the hospital visits, wondering just how bad it will be this time, wondering when it will be the last time. How bad they look, poisoning themselves, how much you miss them because 99% of the time they are just not there. The anger.
What should a Christian do when dealing with an alcoholic they love? Separate? Engage and pay the emotional price? Some combination of the two?
When I was in college and forming my ideas about both faith and drinking, one of my primary mentors was Craig Anderson, who was my boss when I was a Head Resident in the dorms. Craig had a calm, holistic, and wise approach to many things, and I probably learned more from him than I did in any of my classes. Some of the conversations I had with him I still remember nearly verbatim. For example, we once were discussing people who drink too much, and he noted that sometimes it seemed like they were people who were looking for something in their life-- something they couldn't quite define.
I asked Craig if he was talking about faith.
"Well," he said, "there probably is a reason they call liquor 'spirits.'"
I have pondered that ever since. I do think there is a relationship in some people (not all) between faith and substance abuse. Let me clarify: I don't mean that substance abuse is directly caused by a lack of faith. After all, I accept that alcoholism, for example, is a disease that some people have to deal with and others do not, a disease that exists independent of faith. Further, I have known many people (including the acquaintance I mentioned) who are faithful churchgoing alcoholics, and even Southern Baptists. Church does not immunize anyone (including ministers and priests) from alcoholism.
That said, though, I think that for some people who are prone to alcoholism, faith is a way of staving it off. For some people, perhaps, it fills up the part of the soul that one might be tempted to fill up with wine.
Either way, we desire the Spirit.
But what of the spiritual crisis of those who love someone who is an alcoholic, perhaps even a parent? Ginger Hunter, in her comment, perfectly expressed the pain of being in that position:
Life with an alcoholic is both predictable and completely unknown. You can predict the patterns of abuse, gleeful productivity and joy, violence, sadness, regret, repentance, abstinence, and abuse...like a sad, scratched record. But you cannot predict the phone calls in the middle of the night, the hospital visits, wondering just how bad it will be this time, wondering when it will be the last time. How bad they look, poisoning themselves, how much you miss them because 99% of the time they are just not there. The anger.
What should a Christian do when dealing with an alcoholic they love? Separate? Engage and pay the emotional price? Some combination of the two?
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Genial dispatch and this enter helped me alot in my college assignement. Say thank you you on your information.
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