SPIRITUAL CONNECTIONS MEETING 

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INTRODUCTORY READINGS TO BE READ BY THE CHAIRPERSON OR A MEMBER WHO VOLUNTEERS

TO HELP OPEN THE MEETING

 

Will someone please read:

This is an open Universal 12 Step meeting focused on the spiritual solution to our addictions (whatever they may be). 

 

Would all who care to please join us in opening with a moment of silence for those who are still sick and suffering, both in and out of the rooms, followed by the WE version of the Serenity Prayer. 

 

“God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

 

Will someone please read: 

This is a fellowship of addicts who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from addiction. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using whether it be drugs, alcohol or other manifestations of our addiction. There are no dues or fees for membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. We are not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; we do not wish to engage in any controversy; we neither endorse nor oppose any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay clean and sober and help other addicts to achieve recovery.

 

Will someone please read:

How it Works—Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.

 

Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it- then you are ready to take certain steps.

 

At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.

 

Remember that we deal with ADDICTION—cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power—that one is God. May you find Him Now!

Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.

 

Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:

1. We admitted we were powerless over our addictions—that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood

Him.

4. Made a fearless and thorough moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings 

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people, wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts, and to practice these principles in all or affairs.

 

Many of us exclaimed, "What an order I can't go through with it." Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.

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Our description of the addict, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three personal ideas:

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(a) That we were addicts and could not manage our own lives.

(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our addiction.

(c) That God could and would if He were sought

 

Chairperson to Read

Please treat this as you would a face-to-face meeting. 

 

Please no cross talking. Please be respectful of others with a desire to share and limit your shares to 3-5 minutes (depending on how many are present)

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Please keep your mic muted while others are sharing as a means of reducing noise distraction. Thank You. If you forget (as we all do) the chairperson will kindly remind you to mute. 

 

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CHAIRPERSON TO ANNOUNCE AT THE END OF THE MEETING

We have reached the end of the meeting, would someone please read the 12th Tradition:

 

12th Tradition

 Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities. 

 

Just For Today

For those who care to, please join us in the addict’s virtual circle for JUST FOR TODAY: 

 

JUST FOR TODAY

 

Tell yourself: JUST FOR TODAY my thoughts will be on my recovery, living and enjoying life without the use of drugs. 

 

JUST FOR TODAY I will have faith in someone in the program who believes in me and wants to help me in my recovery. 

 

JUST FOR TODAY I will have a program. I will try to follow it to the best of my ability. 

 

JUST FOR TODAY, through the program, I will try to get a better perspective on my life. 

 

JUST FOR TODAY I will be unafraid. My thoughts will be on my new associations, people who are not using and who have found a new way of life. 

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So long as I follow that way, I have nothing to fear.

 

 

 

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