Greetings Salt Lake Central Office! Amazing to think that this little venture, AA, continues to thrive and sustain us, long after the first meeting of Bill and Bob. We got to relive that meeting a couple of Saturdays ago at the annual Chili Cook-off while watching “My Name is Bill W.”, and eating some fabulous chili. What a great event that was, thanks to Joel and Penny for being such good party hosts. And thanks to those who brought delicious chili, can’t wait until next year.
It’s November and voting is in the air. On November 11 at the CO Committee meeting, we’ll be electing a new Chair, Co-Chair and one Trustee to serve for the next 2 years. It’s been an honor and quite a lot of fun this last year, thank you for the opportunity to serve. If you’ve been around for a while and want to step up your service game, I encourage you to read our bylaws and stand for one of these positions. It is a wonderful thing to be a part of.
The November election will be a rehearsal for December when we elect 13 new Committee Chairs. That’s right, 13 new Chairs will be serving our community in a wide variety of roles, from ordering books for the bookshelves to educating professionals about our program. The only requirement is 2 years of sobriety and a desire to have the best time of your life in service.
The excerpt below is from a talk by Harry Tiebout, MD, one of AA’s first non-alcoholic professional friends. The italics are mine, but the message is clear, faith without works is dead, and what better place than the Central Office to carry on the work?
“When I made my first acquaintance with AA, I rode the pink cloud with most of its members. I, too, went through a period of disillusionment and, fortunately for me, I came out with a faith far stronger than anything a pink cloud can supply. Only through hard toil and labor can lasting results be obtained.
As a consequence of the need for work to supplement any miracle, my interest in the non-miracle features has grown. I can accept more truly the necessity of organization, of structure which curbs as well as guides. I believe there must be meetings like this one [the 1955 AA International Conference, St Louis MO] to provide the sense of belonging to a big working organization of which each individual is but a part. And I believe that any group or individual who fails to participate in the enterprises of the organization is rendering himself and his group a disservice by not submitting to the disciplinary values inherent in those activities. He may be keeping his ego free of entanglements but he is also keeping it unstopped. His chances of remaining sober are not of a high order.” Harry M. Tiebout, M.D.
In loving service, Wendy
Oct 20, 2014