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I went to a giant meeting the other night at a church where we usually have a pretty sweet side room that accommodates what is always a big crowd of 75 men.
Well, as so often happens with busy churches, there was another event going on and the church asked us to use another room. In this case, we went into the main sanctuary.
I’d never been in that part of the church, so I was taken aback. It was beautiful, and massive, with high arching ceilings and dozens of pews and pillars. I got there right before the meeting began, so I was about 20 rows back, and almost immediately I realized that I was going to hear about 25 percent of the words said at this meeting.
Everybody in front of me was seated facing forward, so I was trying to hear them speak a different direction than I was sitting. There were fans going, and the high ceilings pretty much sucked up all the words. I found myself closing my eyes and tilting my head to the side to try to catch what people were saying.
None of it worked. In a 60-minute meeting, I probably heard about 15-20 minutes worth of actual sharing. The rest was muffled, confused, drowned out by laughter or a pew creaking.
But guess what? It was great. For people that I couldn’t hear at all, I closed my eyes and sat in silence. Sometimes I’d hear laughter about what was being said, and I’d open my eyes and see heads nodding even though I had no idea what they were agreeing with.
I ended up hearing all of the prayers, the guided meditation, many of the names of people as they introduced themselves and a few shares. But I was a little blown away how even though I couldn’t hear the specific words people were saying, I felt the vibe. The vibe was loving, supportive, fun, spiritual and sober. It was awesome.
When I got in the car to go home, I turned on the radio and the AC/DC song Back in Black was on. I cranked it and started to sing, and realized I know about 10 percent of the words. That made me laugh because just like the meeting I walked out of a few minutes earlier, I didn’t need to know the entire transcript of what was being said to be able to tap into the overall vibe. For the meeting, that was serenity and sobriety. For the drive home, that was going 10 mph over the speed limit and shrieking 70s rock. I love them both!
This newsletter is a place of joy and laughter about the deadly serious business of sobriety. So, as I will often do, let me close with a joke:
"In high school I used to write my own absenteeism notes. I did this so often I realized I had quit school—one day at a time."
(Credit: Grapevine, February 2008, by Michael K. of Haverhill, Maryland)
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Sometimes it's just the sober vibes