Word in the Hand

Gospel Matthew 6:7-15  Another Place - Anthony Gormley Jesus said to his disciples, ‘In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So you should pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be held holy, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us. And do not put us to the test, but save us from the evil one. ‘Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.’  Tradition Three - The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking I had intended to edit this tradition to create an apppropriate spiritual comparison. After all, the many hundreds of addi...

Gospel John 20:19-23  In the evening of the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. ‘As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’ After saying this he breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’ Tradition Two; For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience.  Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.  We live in a world that accepts hierarchy as a fact of life; a life that we often buy into. From the earliest of times we are encouraged to be aspirational; leaders are ...

Gospel John 16:29-33 His disciples said to Jesus, ‘Now you are speaking plainly and not using metaphors! Now we see that you know everything, and do not have to wait for questions to be put into words; because of this we believe that you came from God.’ Jesus answered them: ‘Do you believe at last? Listen; the time will come – in fact it has come already – when you will be scattered, each going his own way and leaving me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you may find peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but be brave: I have conquered the world.’ Tradition One: Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon Unit y Whilst most people may have heard of the Twelve Steps even if they don't know what they are- very few people outside a Twelve Step programme will have heard of the Twelve Traditions. The traditions are something like the Rule that is often followed in sp...