Step 1: Powerlessness

The gift of powerlessness

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

AA first step

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. 

Luke 18:9-14

(C) Freedom's just another word, for (G) nothing left to lose 

(D) Nothing ain't worth nothing but it's (G) free 

(C) Feeling good was easy Lord when (G) Bobby sang the blues 

(D) Feeling good was good enough for me 

Good enough for me and Bobby Mc(G)Gee

Me and Bobby McGee

Lyrics  Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster

Powerlessness and pain.  A normal human condition that is for some the beginning of the journey of hope which is the gospel, the good news.  Indeed this powerlessness becomes the start of our desperate search for salvation.  

Consider the beatitudes:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Out of our desperate spiritual poverty, we cry out, and God hears.