WHAT’S ON YOUR BOOKSHELF?

Elizabeth Wood, what’s on your bookshelf?

Why Can’t Church be More Like an AA Meeting?: And Other Questions Christians Ask About Recovery by Stephen Haynes (Eerdmans, 2021)

How did you hear about this book?

In my time at Rhodes College, I had the pleasure of taking two religious studies classes with Dr. Stephen Haynes. After taking “Bible and Mass Incarceration,” a course that greatly deepened my faith and understanding of myself (and which may be the subject of an adult education course I teach at Saint Mary’s in the coming year), I knew I had to take his “Addiction, Recovery, and Spirituality” course. I know, thank you liberal arts education! In this class, we studied the ways that the history of addiction and recovery in America is inextricably tied to spirituality and religion. Addiction is largely understood as a disease with physical, mental, social, and spiritual components. Al-Anon groups, the most successful and popular treatment methods for addiction and the focus of this class, ground their approach to recovery in faith and prayer. Our course readings included 12-step literature, scientific and sociological research papers, books like Anna Lembke’s Dopamine Nation and Samuel Perry’s Addicted to Lust, and, of course, Dr. Haynes’ Why Can’t Church be More Like an AA Meeting? Though initially nervous about reading and analyzing my professor’s work in his own classroom, I found this book to be incredibly educational, engaging, and relevant to Christians today.

What’s this book about?

Dr. Haynes is not only a Presbyterian theologian-in-residence and religious studies professor, but he also identifies as a recovering addict. Through his time both “in the rooms” (12-step meetings) and researching the field of addiction, he observed that “12-step meetings are routinely visited by the Holy Spirit.” People who work the 12-steps, attend Al-Anon meetings, and achieve sobriety through these methods report extraordinary feelings of connection, faith, redemption, autonomy, well-being, and purpose, most of which they attribute to the program. Haynes traces this phenomenon through recovery memoirs, Al-Anon meetings and conferences, secular addiction groups, and his own experience to determine how and why these programs foster such impressive fellowship, faith, and fulfillment. Assuming that these are the goals of the Church, he explores how the worlds of addiction and Christianity have intersected, complemented each other, and even clashed to determine what churches can learn from AA’s proven methods.

What’s the connection to the Episcopal Church?

Dr. Samuel Shoemaker, one of the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, was an Episcopal priest and rector of New York’s own Calvary Episcopal Church. There, he founded Calvary Mission, a haven for the “down-and-outs” where many key figures in early AA history met to recover and determine the group’s spiritual framework. Shoemaker characterized the connection between the Episcopal Church and AA as symbiotic, wherein AA relied on the Church for “personal stabilization and growth” and the Church needed AA “as a continuous spur to greater aliveness and expectation and power.” The Episcopal Church remains active in the recovery world, from organizing conferences and compiling resources through Recovery Ministries of the Episcopal Church, to loaning out our basements for meetings. Dr. Haynes details specific ways that the Episcopal Church forms and interacts with the world of recovery in his book!

Why do you think other Saint Marians might be interested in reading it?

One of AA’s greatest strengths is the space it provides for quiet, vulnerable, and honest connection with God, ourselves, and each other. In Times Square especially, a microcosm of an American culture that promises fulfillment through hustle and consumerism, spaces like this are in more demand than ever. Many of the practices the Church can learn from AA are already alive and well at Saint Mary’s, from inviting people to bring their authentic selves to church, to frequently admitting our sins and seeking grace, to centering a “suffering God,” a God who knows firsthand the ache of human life and death. Not only is this book a helpful tool for examining and expanding on areas of church life where we already excel, but it also challenges us to examine our spiritual health by asking ourselves whether we have truly turned our life over to God, been honest with ourselves and others about our shortcomings, or engaged in prayer and meditation to connect with God as we know him (Steps 3, 5, and 11).

PARISH PRAYERS

We pray for the people and clergy of our sister parish, the Church of All Saints, Margaret Street, London, and for the Episcopal Church in the Philippines, in the Anglican cycle of prayer.

We pray for those who have asked us for our prayers, for Randall, Sarah, Luis, Phoebe, Peter, Pat, Jennifer, Allen, Claudia, Melvin, Vicki, Bella, Valdez, Helen, Fanny, Brendon, Nadia, Christian, Carol, Giovanna, Mary, Yuri, Priya, Wally, Donald, Ronald, Jose, Behnam, Russell, Duncan, Robert, Sandy, Orham, Marty, Lexi, Georgia, Desarae, David, Claudia, Nettie, Chrissy, Tony, Rick, Jan, June, Carlos, Liduvina, Quincy, Leroy, Margaret, and Robert; Suzanne Elizabeth and Laura Katherine, religious; Lind, deacon; and Jay and Stephen, priests.

We pray for the repose of the souls of those who have died, especially Lane, Michelle, and those who were killed in the recent shooting in midtown, and for those whose year’s mind is on August 3: Jessie Allen Henshaw (1886), Frank Ludwig Hoffman (1900), Madeline Estelle Lightbourne (1949), and Mary Campbell (1969).

AROUND THE PARISH

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary . . . Mark your calendars for Friday, August 15, at 6:00 PM, when the full choir returns for our Solemn Mass on the Assumption. Father John Shirley will be the preacher.

The Rosary Guild . . . Many Saint Marians gathered last Sunday to pray the rosary. Join us next on Sunday, August 24, after Solemn Mass. The guild meets on the fourth Sunday of each month to pray the rosary together.

Summer donations for Neighbors in Need . . . Thanks to generous cash donations, we are able to purchase toiletries and underwear for our guests. Our clothing room depends on your gifts of lightly-used clothing. Right now, our biggest needs are shoes (sneakers, sandals and other practical shoes, but not high heels), jeans and khakis. Please speak to MaryJane Boland or Marie Rosseels for more information. Note that the August Drop-by day will be on August 22 and not on the third Friday (August 15) due to the Assumption.

Cookie donations needed for September . . . During the summer months, we have lemonade and cookies at Coffee Hour and are looking for cookie donors. All the Sundays in September are currently available for donation. Please get in touch with Father Sammy Wood if you are able to help with a Sunday in September.

Summer Reading . . . Dr. James Como will teach the first block of Adult Formation in the fall, a five-week class on C.S. Lewis. We begin on September 21, though we thought that some might want to use the summer to work through the reading list. Please click here for the reading list and for more details.

THE DIOCESE AND WIDER CHURCH

Message from Bishops Heyd and Shin on Gaza . . . with our Cathedral we are calling on everyone in the Diocese of New York to act now to relieve suffering in Gaza. We can support World Central Kitchen’s daily offering of meals through this humanitarian catastrophe. We are all made in the image of God. Our care for each other offers a central expression of our Christian faith. Scripture reminds us to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Jesus teaches us to feed the hungry. We’re inviting you to sign onto a statement that calls for more aid—and to share online and with friends. Sign here. We’re also inviting you to contribute funds equal to what you spend on one day’s food to the efforts of World Central Kitchen in Gaza. Donate here.

Book Signing and Conversation with Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin . . . On Saturday, August 2, at 5:00 PM, the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine will host a discussion with Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin about her new book “The Girl From Montego Bay,” an autobiography of Britain’s first Black woman Bishop. Join the Cathedral for a lively conversation which will be followed by a reception and book signing. Click here for more details.

Installation and Institution of the new Dean of the Cathedral . . . Join the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine to celebrate the installation of the 12th Dean, the Very Reverend Winnie Varghese, on Saturday, September 27, at 10:30 AM. You can read here about the dean elect’s vision for the Cathedral.

ABOUT THE MUSIC AT SOLEMN MASS ON THE EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Sunday’s organ voluntaries are two of the Eight Little Preludes and Fugues, a set of concise organ pieces traditionally attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). More recent scholarship suggests that they might actually have been composed by a Bach pupil, very likely Johann Tobias Krebs (1690–1762), or his son, Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713–1780). The uncertainty of the origin of these works notwithstanding, these well-known eight Preludes and Fugues have figured largely in the instruction of generations of organists and are very suitable as voluntaries in liturgical settings. BWV 555 in E minor, played for the Prelude, is the third of the set of eight. It begins in a rather introspective mood. The fugue subject skillfully employs chromaticism. BWV 557 in the relative major key of G, played for the Postlude, is a more extroverted work and is the fifth of the set of eight. It begins grandly and then takes on the free spirit of the keyboard toccatas of its time. The fugue is stately and is a study in melodic suspensions. The remaining six of the Eight Little Preludes and Fugues will be offered as voluntaries on subsequent Sundays in pairings by relative major and minor keys.

The musical setting of the Mass is New Plainsong, by David Hurd. This setting was composed in 1978 at the request of the Standing Commission on Church Music of the Episcopal Church as the revision of The Hymnal 1940 was gaining momentum. The Commission desired a setting which would be for the “Contemporary” Eucharistic texts what John Merbecke’s 1550 setting had been for the “Traditional” English words, that is, it would express the liturgical texts with simplicity and naturalness. As such, New Plainsong, like Merbecke’s setting, is chant-like and almost entirely syllabic, that is, only one pitch is sung per syllable. Although modest keyboard accompaniments are provided, New Plainsong’s movements may be sung unaccompanied when desired. Since its first publication in Congregational Music for Eucharist—Church Hymnal Series V in 1980, New Plainsong has been published in The Hymnal 1982 and in the worship resources of several other denominations. A revised edition of New Plainsong issued in 2018 also accommodates more recently revised Roman Catholic liturgical texts.

During communion, this week’s cantor, soprano Charlotte Mundy, will sing Laudate Dominum by the great Italian madrigalist Claudio Monteverdi. Monteverdi was one of the most important composers to flourish at the juncture of European Renaissance music and the emergence of the baroque musical art. He was one of the legendary musicians to have directed music at San Marco, Venice, and later in his life was ordained a priest.  Considered a founder of opera as we know it today with his L’Orfeo (1609), his Vespro della Beata Vergine of 1610 may well have provided model and inspiration for the great Passions and oratorios of the later Baroque composers—notably Bach and Handel—which would also stand as monumental pillars of sacred music even to our own day. Laudate Dominum is a setting of Psalm 150 for soprano or tenor voice and continuo. It was first published as No. 36 in his 1641 Selva morale e spirituale and, the following year, in the third part of his Geistlicher Concerten. 

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Saint Mary’s is a vibrant Anglo-Catholic witness in the heart of NYC. With our identity in Christ and a preference for the poor, we are an inclusive, diverse community called to love God and each other for the life of the world.

This edition of The Angelus was written and edited by Father Matt Jacobson, except as noted. Father Matt is also responsible for formatting it on the parish website and distributing it via mail and e-mail, with the assistance of Christopher Howatt, parish administrator, and parish volunteer, Clint Best. If you have an idea for an article that you would like to publish in an upcoming issue of The Angelus, Father Matt would be happy to discuss it with you.