The Sweet Pleasures of Reopening Our Spiritual Communities
Over the Fourth of July weekend, 2021, the club where I attend twelve-step meetings held its first large gathering since the COVID shutdown.
The parking lot was full. There were hot dogs. People sat on lawn chairs in the sun and renewed old acquaintances. Dogs frolicked. Gossip was exchanged. Old rivalries were renewed.
For nearly three decades, my spiritual community has been where people recovering from alcoholism and drug addiction gather. The buildings that house their meetings are my church. When among my people, I renew my commitment to honesty, humility, and not taking myself too seriously, commitments I find easy to forget when tested by the stresses of the work-a-day world. My spiritual community brings me back to my roots and reminds me what is important.
As a member of this community I do more than tend to my soul. I contribute to potlucks, join softball teams, plan road trips, and hang out with the old men solving all the world’s problems. It is a place where kindness, integrity and sobriety are goals — goals not always achieved, but goals nonetheless — a place where people play and laugh together without the lubricant of alcohol. I need a place like that.
I don’t do spirituality well on my own. I know of people who find spiritual renewal in nature, or in…
