This past summer I read an article that caused me to make a significant change from my usual practice of preaching from the lectionary. The article, titled, "Coming to Grips with Drug Abuse," made the point that neither clergy nor parents need to be experts on drug dependency, though we do need to be well informed. We need to understand what it means to describe chemical dependency as a disease. Therefore I am going to talk about addiction for a time before I talk about today's Scripture readings.

But what is most important for the church to understand is that the Christian faith is the spiritual foundation on which recovery is built. The Christian faith is the source of strength and self-esteem which will help keep us from self-destructive behavior. There are 12 steps commonly used in th…