by Sean Graham
I like words. Words have the power to kindle our imagination, confuse us and clarify for us. Words invite us into their meaning. They can also be a distraction. Words are powerful and easily misunderstood. A phrase like, “A growing spiritual recovery community, stumbling towards Christ” can be taken in many ways. Every community, for the sake of clarity, needs to attempt to clearly articulate what they mean by their words. For the purpose of this blog we will just parse the first portion of this statement: “A growing spiritual recovery community”.
This idea kindles hope inside my heart. Hope that, first of all, I’m not alone. Secondly, that everything in my life is a gift from God. Thirdly, recovery, that what death and decay and entropy have taken, God desires to restore, heal, redeem, quicken, ignite and rekindle. God desires that I, and we, recover. Recover what? Our full and beautiful humanity, experienced in relationship with ourselves, others and God. I think the word “recovery” allows us to reframe the Christian question of experiencing new and abundant life in Christ. The word “recovery” causes me to think about remembering what I have forgotten. It takes me back to the metaphor of the garden and walking with God in relationship with all of creation. And just how the illness we call “sin” has caused me and all of us on this rock to forget what it means to be fully human. What it means to be alive, to be present. It’s like being told your cancer is in remission and that you are going to live. You are going to survive. It reminds me of the power of being forgiven. The word “recovery” reminds me that I can also let go of those things I have done and no longer hold them against myself. It’s the difference between breathing in fumes and fresh air. It’s the realization that if I break a bone, and it gets set right, it will heal, as opposed to the anxieties of the “what ifs”. The worry that I am not good enough, restored or changed.
So my hope is that this phrase will invite those who have a desire to recover to imagine freedom in community. A community full of the presence and power of Christ where you could be as beautiful and ugly as you are, as busted up and as whole as you are, as individual and as common as you are. Take a deep breath of this: A growing spiritual recovery community, where everyone, including you, can belong, revealing hope in Jesus Christ, courageously becoming better neighbours.