More Than a Serenity Prayer
Picked up a book a couple months ago at a recovery bookstore run by the treatment center Hazelden. It is simply called, The Serenity Prayer. Since the prayer has become so identified with the 12-Step movement, that wasn't a surprise. I picked it up and realized immediately that this was not another sugary, schmaltzy, feel-good book on the prayer. First, was the subtitle:

Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War.

Then I read about the author, Elisabeth Sifton. She's the daughter of famous 20th Century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, the original author of the Serenity Prayer.

In essence she is writing the "back story" of the prayer- the background, history, and context of this truly great prayer. She does a wonderful job contrasting many of the paradoxes within the world of faith and politics of the first half of the 20th Century that pre-figure many of the conflicts and paradoxes of our time. No, perhaps it is better to say that we have just continued them.

To put the Serenity Prayer into its original context and to hear about the personal, religious, spiritual, and political struggles that its author found important is to give it newer and deeper meaning. It is to understand that all three of the wishes are equally important:

• Acceptance of the things I can't change;
• Courage to change what I can change;
• Wisdom to know the difference.

The result of THAT is serenity.

When you consider that the Prayer was written in the middle of World War II by a theologian known for his intense social involvement and political opinions, its ongoing power and relevance should come as no surprise.

I will write more after I have finished the book.