Church Supports Alcoholic On Christmas Eve

People came early one Christmas Eve for the 11pm service at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City. Among them was a recovering alcoholic, six months sober, who slipped into the eleventh row. This was his first Christmas since having lost his family. A family of four sat down two rows in front of him. Seeing them together was crushing. He decided he couldn't handle it - he had to have a drink.
As he moved from the sanctuary to the narthex, he ran into Pastor Thomas Tewell. "Jim, where are you going?" the pastor asked.
"Oh, I'm just going out for a Scotch," Jim replied.
"Jim, you can't do that," the pastor responded. He knew that Jim was a recovering alcoholic. "Is your sponsor available?"
Jim replied, "It's Christmas Eve. My sponsor is in Minnesota. There's nobody who can help me. I just came tonight for a word of hope, and I ended up sitting behind this family. If I had my life together, I'd be here with my wife and kids too."
Pastor Tewell took Jim into the vestry to talk with a couple of other pastors. Then he slipped into the auditorium, having no idea what to do. He whispered a prayer: "O God, could you give me a word of hope for Jim?" He welcomed everyone and told them about the church. Then he said, "I have one final announcement. If anyone here tonight is a friend of Bill Wilson - and if you are, you'll know it - could you step out for a moment and meet me in the vestry?" Bill Wilson, better known as Bill W., is a cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous.
From all over the sanctuary, women, men, and college students arose and made their way out. "And there while I was preaching in the sanctuary about incarnation," said Pastor Tewell, "the Word was becoming flesh in the vestry. Someone was experiencing hope."

adapted from Dr. Thomas Tewell, The Communicator's Companion