Guest commentary by Krin Van Tatenhove
When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” – John 5:6
We’ve all heard someone make this claim about their church, business, or personal paradigm: “It’s part of our (my) DNA.”
I cringe at casual memes. When my special needs son was 2 years old, I saw a picture of his genes. The DNA helix, meant to be symmetrical, had one tiny flaw called a “chromosomal translocation.” That anomaly in his cellular script has made all the difference. All the difference!
Restructuring our DNA – as individuals and organizations – has lasting impact.
As both a teaching elder and a recovering alcoholic, I continue to embed a powerful code in my spiritual/emotional DNA. Its origin is the 12-step program, adopted by millions of recovery programs worldwide.
I also believe the 12 steps can assist congregations in their health and renewal. If you aren’t familiar with the steps, you can find multiple versions online (here is one example).
Letting go (steps 1-3) The first steps address our illusion of control. They help us diagnose recurring thoughts that lead to fruitless behaviors: fear, resentment, the seeking of external validation. Sadly, too many people take this self-limiting chatter to their graves.
Grooved patterns of thought and action can also be spiritual strongholds in congregations. Many churches obsess on images of their “golden age” – a former time when signs of growth were abundant. Others never heal from painful rifts with each other or former staff. Still others live in denial about seismic shifts in their neighborhoods or the culture at large, unwilling to embrace incarnational changes.
Seen from the vantage point of recovery, these are insane ways of acting and thinking. Yes, insane – spiritually and emotionally. Steps 1-3 offer a simple but powerful pattern for recovery: recognize the insanity; come to a belief that God can restore us; submit to God’s will, not ours.
This is hard for many of us, especially Presbyterians. Too often we make plans while perched in the silos of our willpower. Then we ask – almost as an afterthought – for God’s blessing on what we believe we can already accomplish by ourselves. Self-will runs rampant in our hearts and institutions.
To this insanity, recovery DNA whispers a well-known mantra – let go and let God. There are miracles that occur only as our creator works through yielded spirits, both personally and communally.
Rigorous honesty (steps 4-7) Confession is good for the soul. The “Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs” traces this well-known adage back to Scotland in the early 1600s. It applies not only to individuals, but to communities of faith.
This isn’t foreign to Christians. In the first century, Jesus’ brother James admonished us: Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.
We 12-step followers make detailed “inventories” of our character flaws, confess them to another person, then pray to have them lifted. This is not a solitary ritual, but an ongoing rhythm, a praxis.
Unison prayers of confession during Sunday worship are not enough. Recovering churches embed confession in their DNA through transparency and authenticity. From pulpits, in board meetings and small groups, we learn to take risks. We discover that the untested hypothesis of unconditional love can become a reality. Every time we are vulnerable, we live out the gospel in a world that idolizes bulletproof self-sufficiency.
Making peace with others (steps 8-10) Broken relationships cripple our world. We accept this as normal and regrettable. The steps, however, say that disunity with others is a disquieting factor for our souls. If unaddressed, it leads back to the same fears and resentments we have been trying to quell. We are asked to make amends whenever and wherever possible.
Reconciliation is what these steps are about. Jesus said, “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you … first go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24).
I say this from personal experience after three decades as a pastor. When reconciliation occurs in a congregation, it unleashes the power of the Spirit. We realize that above all things, we are called to the ministry of reconciliation in a fractured and troubled world.
Tuning in, turning outwards (steps 11-12) These steps are capstones in the archway to freedom. They ask us to continue in prayer/meditation, increasing our conscious contact with God. Then they call us to carry the message of spiritual awakening through acts of service. We are to become living letters of hope, testifying to the freedom and joy that are the birthrights of every human being.
There’s a reality that 12-step adherents hold dear about our fellowship. We strive to practice a “program of attraction.” If others do not want what they see, hear and experience in our midst, why would they ever return?
The same is true for our churches. I believe that as we let go of control, practice rigorous honesty, make peace whenever possible and authentically embrace prayer and service, growth happens organically. Cold travelers will want to warm their hands and hearts by the hearth of radiating grace they find in our fellowship.
KRIN VAN TATENHOVE lives, loves, writes and recovers in San Antonio, Texas. He serves as chair of the mission outreach and justice committee of Mission Presbytery. This a fleeting condensation from his upcoming book, “The Pattern.”
