Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. ~Hebrews 2:11 (NIV)
We are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck when camaraderie, joyousness and democracy pervade the vessel from steerage to Captain’s table. Unlike the feelings of the ship’s passengers, however, our joy in escape from disaster does not subside as we go our individual ways. The feeling of having shared in a common peril is one element in the powerful cement which binds us.~Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 17
Powerful cement,
brothers bound,
family forged,
made holy —
outside in, inside out —
holiness from horrible,
friends and family
from fiends and foes.
Peril perishes,
a coterie congeals.
Unashamed of ghastly pasts
we revel in wretchedness
remembered,
made powerful cement.
Hallelujah for the disease,
the dis-ease,
that propelled me
to your loving arms
and my fellows hurled here, too.
