Mind that you start with something to part with;
Books that are silly, clothes outworn and chilly,
Whate’er to the furnace by nature calls ‘Burn us!’
Any old grudge that refuses to budge,
We’ll make it the tomb for all sorts of gloom,
We would not deceive you: the fire shall relieve you,
The world will feel better, and so be your debtor.
Be welcome then—very—and come and be merry!”
December 31, 1885, George and Louisa MacDonald sent this invitation to friends. The card noted: “Bonfire at 7 p.m. and Dancing at 8 p.m.” (“Discovering the Character of God” by George MacDonald – a man CS Lewis called his “father”).
Have you ever joined such New Year’s Eve festivities? What a spectacular idea! What appeal – particularly when compared to our tradition of drinking too much.
If we wanted to choose “something to part with,” wouldn’t our ritual misuse of alcohol top our list? According to the American Automobile Association, New Year’s Eve is the most dangerous time for drunk driving crashes: “When we looked at the national DUI (Driving Under Influence) statistics, we found that the New Year’s holiday consistently ranks as the year’s deadliest day for alcohol-related fatalities.”
Some who drink choose a designated driver – others call a shuttle or a cab for help. “In Billings, at City Cab dispatch, it’ll be a white-knuckle night for about six hours on New Year’s Eve. The company expects an average of one phone call every three seconds from about 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. that night.” New Year’s Eve drivers, watch out! Those who think they are only “buzzed” are at large.
Our DUI challenge in Montana continues long after New Year’s Eve. We rank among the worst states in the nation for annual DUI statistics.
Put heartache aside for a moment and consider the economic costs inflicted by alcohol abuse. From “two sources of data – death certificates, and motor vehicle crash reports — we find that early death due to alcohol imposes a cost of $312.2 million on the Montana economy each year in the loss of earnings due to excess mortality” (“The Economic Cost of Alcohol Abuse in Montana,” Patrick Barkey, 2009). Early death due to alcohol is the most significant part of at least $510 million that alcohol abuse assaults Montanans with each year.
Missoula County Sheriff Carl Ibsen observed: “We seem to worship drinking here in Montana. That’s got to change.”
Acclaimed author David Foster Wallace comments: “Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing … is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.” Indeed, worshiping alcohol leads to destruction.
John Underwood, an Olympic coach and exercise physiologist, cautioned student-athletes in Helena: “It takes two weeks for your body to get rid of the negative effects of getting drunk.” But, at a time when alcohol can do significant harm to their brains, nearly half of high school students in Helena report using alcohol. By college, too often, drinking becomes habitual. How many of our Carroll students binge? One of our sons, a Resident Assistant at MSU, lamented the slow descent of some classmates into alcoholism. Some ran into it headlong.
Today, drinking too much alcohol romances more and more women. In her 2013 book, “The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol – Drink,” Ann Dowsett Johnston combines in-depth research with her personal story of alcoholism and recovery. She raises hard questions about professional women today: “Is alcohol the modern woman’s steroid, enabling her to do the heavy lifting involved in a complex, demanding world? Amid a major social revolution still unfolding, is it the escape valve women need?” Johnston warns that “risky drinking has been normalized.” Women can turn to alcohol to calm anxiety and numb depression. In some places, women’s rates of alcohol abuse are equal to men’s.
Speaking of men, a friend accompanied his elderly father on a long trip: their destination – family members his father had not seen in decades. My friend’s brother came along. Several times, while the family was home sharing intriguing stories, the brother was at a bar – with strangers. My friend remembered his days as an alcoholic and grieved: “How can the call of drink be so strong?”
Will we continue to worship drinking? How can we face the grim realities of DUI and alcoholism? Can we find something or someone we worship more?
In Montana, that transformation can be a feat comparable to climbing the Himalayas. Judy Griffith, an addiction counselor and interventionist in Helena for 32 years, informed the Helena Ministerial Association that alcohol addiction is a medical illness. Like other diseases, it is a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Increasingly, neuroscience has found that alcohol and other drugs cause profound changes in the structure and function of the brain. For some, these changes result in addiction characterized by the inability to stop resorting to addictive behavior. Inappropriate behavior or severe consequences can make little difference. As a result, although some can use alcohol in moderation, others must stop, period.
Thankfully, most adults use alcohol socially and responsibly. However, alcohol is the most commonly abused addictive substance in the U.S. 18 million – one in every 12 adults – suffer from alcoholism, along with several million more who engage in risky drinking patterns that could lead to alcohol problems. In addition, more than half of all adults have a family history of alcoholism, and more than seven million children have at least one parent who abuses alcohol.
What can help? Judy pointed out that specialized treatment might be necessary for some. Others may find the answer in Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.). The most successful approach combines both. In our beloved Helena, there are over 70 meetings of A.A. each week. When a newcomer braves attending an A.A. meeting, he or she will find a warm welcome and a cross-section of the entire community. Judy estimated that smaller meetings might have 8 or 10 attendees. The largest gatherings range from 40 to 60. Note: we have about the same number of churches in the Helena area. How does Helena’s church attendance in a given week compare with attendance at A.A.?
What else can help? While A.A. is not a religious organization and requires no one to have certain beliefs, some begin their faith journey in A.A. Founder, Bill W, counseled: “The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power.”
Those are humbling words for overconfident people like us.
Let’s turn a page and humbly consider one verse from the Bible. Solomon – and, about a thousand years later – James and Peter wrote: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble” (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). When God speaks, we need to listen. When God repeats himself, let us doubly prick up our ears. When God says something three times, let us ask him to write these words on our hearts.
“God ‘opposes.'” Peter and James use a military term for organized resistance – an army bringing all its resources to repel an opponent. Imagine the omnipotent God of the universe marshaling his breathtaking power and mighty angelic forces against one foe – the proud. The moneychangers provoked Jesus’ zeal. Do you want God to get his battle armor? Be proud—attack in pride. Be “sweet” in pride. Hide or indulge your alcoholism in pride. Get drunk and drive in pride.
When Peter and James warn us about being “proud,” they use a word that includes self-deception – trying to be “more” than we are. In the 2009 movie “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Mr. Fox expresses our natural arrogance: “I think I have this thing where Everybody has to think I’m the greatest. And if they aren’t completely knocked out and dazzled and slightly intimidated by me, I don’t feel good about myself.”
And “drink” can have the power to deepen our pride. Under the influence, we sense we are braver, sexier, more loquacious – and certainly capable of driving. We are worse than we think we are. Our delusions are in for a head-on collision. “God opposes the proud.”
Mercy. Severe mercy. Some survive those collisions and get low. They hear more than the warning; they hear this promise: “But (God) shows favor to the humble.” To the One who knows them better than they know themselves, the humble admit: “My problems are too big for me to handle. I’ve done wrong. My behavior leaves far too many victims. God, will you forgive me?”
The “low” find that God’s grace flows downhill. “Christianity is for people who have the particular kind of strength to admit their flaws are not superficial, their heart is deeply disordered. It is for those who can see they need Jesus Christ dying on the cross, to put them right with God” (Tim Keller, “Encounters with Jesus”).
Those of you who are desperately searching for relief, do you hear the hope offered? Christian, and those yet to believe, cheer up; you are loved more than you can imagine. God’s grace is greater than your sin!
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), author of the incomparable “Dictionary of the English Language,” knew that grace. After finding he drank too much, he quit. Then, when he was 48, at the beginning of another year, he soberly prayed: “Almighty and most merciful Father, by Whose providence my life has been prolonged, and Who has granted me now to begin another year of probation, by Your grace grant me such assistance of Your Holy Spirit, that the continuance of my life may not add to the measure of my guilt, but that I may so repent of the days and years passed in neglect of the duties which You have set before me, in vain thoughts, in sloth, and in folly, that I may apply my heart to true wisdom, by diligence redeem the time lost, and by repentance, obtain pardon, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen” (revised).
Like Johnson, let us personally begin this New Year by humbly asking God for his sustaining grace.
Will we continue to worship alcohol instead?
Let us also pray for our neighbors. One long-time member of our community emailed me: “Steve. I have wanted to write you…to share my daily prayer book: the Helena Independent Record. Every day the headlines evoke prayers; sometimes ones that I carry in my heart throughout the day.”
Jesus calls such praying people “the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden” (Mt. 5:14). May the “lights” of Helena sparkle and dance.
But, if we give way to DUI and alcoholism, what will keep our city from being disgraced?
Detroit, once a mighty city, surrendered to corruption and hopelessness. With less than half its former population, 90,000 homes are vacant, trashed. Bring on the bulldozers before the city burns. Detroit is a question begging to be answered. But let’s press on beyond our typical economic questions. Where were the pastors of Detroit? Where were the sermons calling for repentance and faith? Where were the churches at prayer? Had the people of Detroit abandoned the worship of God only to be slowly seduced by idols for destruction?
We were made to question, made to choose. This New Year, the choice is clear. We will not find what we need in a bottle. We need more. And we need more than a place with incredible natural beauty, a place that values community, education, and the arts, a place with a sturdy economy, and even winning sports teams. These do not speak to the deepest needs of our hearts. We were made for more; we were made for true friendship and genuine worship. This New Year, the Friend worth worshipping is asking us to choose. “Bonfire at 7 p.m. and Dancing at 8 p.m.”
