Lee Eclov tells the story of one such person. “People came early one Christmas Eve for the 11:00 pm service at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, in 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 made a few announcements. 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
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