Recovery Advocates

O blessed Lord, you ministered to all who came to you: Look with compassion upon all who through addiction have lost their health and freedom. Restore to them the assurance of your unfailing mercy; remove from them the fears that beset them; strengthen them in the work of their recovery; and to those who care for them, give patient understanding and persevering love. Amen.
–Prayer 56, Book of Common Prayer

Hickory Neck Church has two Recovery Advocates who coordinate biannual "Recovery Sunday" services. The liturgy for these services incorporates prayers from AA's "Big Book" and the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, which emphasize our powerlessness over alcohol and our need to turn our will and our lives over to the care of our Higher Power.

The Episcopal Church practices open communion; all are welcome at the altar for Holy Communion. Please note that the communion cup contains real wine. For those who prefer not to drink from the chalice, we ask that you receive in one kind only, through the bread, which is a rubrically-authorized and canonically-allowed way of receiving communion.

Alison Bailes is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous and Laurie Brown is a member of Al-Anon. (As recovery advocates Alison and Laurie willingly and gratefully relenquish their anonymity on this Web page to be accessible to friends in need of the 12 Steps.)

Recovery Ministries is an independent, nationwide network of Episcopal laity and clergy, dioceses and parishes, schools, agencies, and other institutions - all with a common commitment to address the use and misuse of alcohol and other drugs in relation to the church's mission.

Recovery Ministries' network serves as a voice of conscience to Episcopalians throughout the United States, building awareness of pastoral and spiritual dimensions of alcohol and drug usage. Recovery Ministries grew out of the efforts of Province III diocesan commissions to implement the landmark 1979 General Convention Resolution on Alcohol.



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