19C Welcoming Sinners and Lost Sheep, Luke 15:1-10 Recovery Sunday Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, Little Rock, September 14, 2025
“This fellow welcomes sinners and looks for lost sheep.”
Today is Recovery Sunday at St. Mark’s. Why does our church dedicate a Sunday to Recovery from the disease of addiction, which affects 10-17% of the people in this room?
The first reason is that the CDC reports that the excessive use of alcohol is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States,/ and the toll keeps rising each year. One in five households experiences alcoholism.1 /Also, the United States has the highest rate of drug overdose in the world. A significant decline has occurred with widespread availability of naloxone, which Saint Mark’s has been distributing,/ but drug overdose is still the leading cause of death in Americans 18 to 44.2/
The Episcopal Church was involved in 12-Step Recovery from its inception./ Listen to these stories.
1934 Calvary Episcopal Church, New York City
The Rev. Dr. Sam Shoemaker, rector of Calvary for the last 10 years, develops Calvary House, a hostel and center for ministry and small groups. He also runs Calvary Rescue Mission, where Bill Wilson,/ an alcoholic,/ New York stockbroker, visits during his last days of drinking. Bill is influenced by Ebby Thacher, a friend who is sober through a spiritual program called the Oxford Group led by Sam Shoemaker at Calvary House.
1935 Bill Wilson becomes sober and spends more time talking with Sam Shoemaker in his book-lined office and attending Oxford Group meetings,/ as well as visiting Calvary Mission and Calvary House.
What does Bill Wilson say about the Rev. Sam Shoemaker: “Every river has a wellspring at its source. AA is like that. In the beginning, there was a spring which poured out of a clergyman, Dr. Samuel Shoemaker. He channeled to the few of us/ the loving concern, the Grace, to walk in the Consciousness of God—to live and to love again, as never before. 3 Dr. Sam Shoemaker was one of AA’s indispensables. Had it not been for his ministry to us in our early days, our Fellowship would not exist today. Sam Shoemaker passed on the spiritual keys by which we were liberated. He was a co-founder of AA.” “The first three Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous were inspired in part by Shoemaker. (We are powerless over alcohol, there is a power greater than ourselves that can restore us,/ by turning our life and our will over to the care of God) “The early AA got its ideas of self-examination, acknowledgement of character defects, restitution for harm done, and working with others straight from the Oxford Groups and directly from Sam Shoemaker, the former leader of the Oxford Group in America,/ and from no one else.”3,4,5,
These are direct quotes from Bill Wilson.
Now, let’s hear from Dr. Shoemaker.
“I believe the church has a great deal to learn, not from any individual member of AA, but from the incredible collective experience of AA. I pray to God that what is happening pretty steadily and consistently throughout the fellowship could happen in every church. The AA fellowship is made up of people who are beginning to be changed, not saints, and not perfect. We in the church can all learn by this example, and if we think we’re above it, we are in real danger.”6,7///////
So, Next, let’s hear the story of one of my medical friends in recovery. She gave me permission to share her story. /She had her first drink as a junior in college on weekends at her aunt’s home at the cocktail hour. She finishes medical school and residency and perhaps has one drink a day, for relaxation. Then, with her first job, working 10 to 12-hour days, she develops a pattern where alcohol becomes a central part of her life. She returns home from the hospital after long hours, has two glasses of wine before dinner, two during dinner, and two after dinner. Then she goes to sleep to awaken the next day to the same routine. She achieves notable success in her profession, but the people she is not there for are her husband and children. When they ask questions about homework at night, she simply smiles. She is a quiet alcoholic. She knows if she speaks, people will know she has had too much to drink, so she becomes quieter and quieter. People begin to see her as a very spiritual person./ The lesson here is, if you want people to think you are spiritual, just don’t say much. She is filled with the spirit, but a very different spirit. She serves on vestries, keeping her mask of quietness, the perfect vestry member. She is cautious not to let her drinking interfere with her work. She never drinks when she is on call.
She starts seeing a therapist for “difficulties accepting life on life’s terms.” The therapist wonders if she might benefit from a 12-step group. No, AA is not for her. That is for people who live under the bridge and older men who smoke a lot. One work night, she breaks her work rule and drinks excessively. The next morning at the hospital is one of those days when she must be on her toes every second. She prays that if God keeps her from hurting anyone that day, she will never drink again. The next night, she is at her favorite restaurant, drinking champagne at a party honoring one of her partners. She is to give a speech, but instead, she just sits there, smiling at everyone. She knows if she speaks, everyone will know she has been drinking too much./
This night becomes a moment of clarity. She knows she is crossing the line from being a functional alcoholic. She knows she is powerless over alcohol and that her life is becoming unmanageable. Soon, her drinking will interfere with her work. Many alcoholic stories are similar. Work seems to be one of the last aspects of life to be compromised. Her therapist connects her to a member of AA. This woman graduated from high school. Our friend has many degrees, but this woman knows more about living. This sponsor keeps her sober, taking her to meetings every day./ Our friend soon learns that the answer to sobriety is a spiritual life, taking the second and third steps of AA, knowing that a power greater than herself can restore her to sanity and turning her life and her will over to God. When she hears this, she thinks it is hopeless. She is a spiritual person; everyone is aware of that. She is very involved in her church./ But what she learns in AA is something she heard in church, but forgot.
You have seen these bumper stickers: “God is my copilot.” That is true for her, but she is the pilot. Her relationship with God is that God is there to help her own flight plan take off the ground. She has not turned her life over to God for God’s purposes. She learns to live by the Serenity Prayer, speaking her truth, praying for the knowledge to discern which situations she can change, and accepting what she cannot change. She goes to AA meetings almost every day for 10 years, learning that staying sober is staying in community with a group of people/ trying to live their lives as honestly as possible with God at the center. Living the 12 steps involves taking an inventory daily, making amends to those she has harmed, and removing the mask of being the perfect person. She makes amends with her family, whom she harms the most. Two of her children are in college; one is in high school. She has not been there for them at crucial times. Is it hopeless? She talks about making amends to one of her sons at a local (Trios) Restaurant. She tells him she wants to change. His response is branded on her heart: “Mom, it is never too late to change.” Soon, all of her children leave home. Then,/ all return. Friends tell her how terrible this is. But she loves it. God gives her another chance to relate to her children and be a mom. She has now been sober for 34 years, 9 months, and 26 days. She still attends a 12-step meeting once a week. She has six grandchildren who are the light of her life. We often talk about what her life would be like without a 12-step group. She most probably would be dead. She would have missed the unbelievable joy of being a grandmother,/ an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church,/ and being here with you today/ to share MY story of how a power greater than myself/ that welcomes sinners and looks for lost sheep/ works in community,/ to save my life. Amen
Joanna Seibert
1Facts About U.S. Deaths from Excessive Alcohol Use, CDC, HHS.GOV, August 6, 2024.
2CDC Reports Nearly 24% Decline in Drug Overdose Deaths, CDC, HHS.GOV, February 25, 2025.
3Dick B, “Calvary House and the Oxford Group,” The Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous, A Design for Living that Works, p. 114.
4“A Biography of Sam Shoemaker,” AlcoholicAnonymous.org.
5“AA Tributes, Samuel Shoemaker, ‘Co-founder’ of AA,” Dickb.com
6 Karen Plavan, “A Talk on Samuel Moor Shoemaker,” Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, January 31, 2010
7 Michael Fitzpatrick, “Rev Sam Shoemaker, His Role in Early AA Part 11,” Recoveryspeakers.com