My grandfather was a travelling minister many years in the old tent meetings and he built the community church. It was a Gospel Hall and very simple, just chairs, no pew; no stained glass windows, just opaque; no fancy trappings, just a plain wooden pew, a plan wooden cross at the front, a piano and an organ (very old even at that time, which my mother played), wainscotting around the walls, with a oblong iron stove for heating. At the breaking of bread service, the chairs were set up around the stove. Very simple, very plain, no minister, just a group of deacons, run on the same principle of AA. There was a community center built beside it, and it made me very sad to hear it had burnt down many years ago over 50 years ago. It was the foundation of my life. It was good, and yet the spirituality that I found in AA, enhance the spirituality of those beliefs, which opened me up to a wider understanding of my God, and I realized that I had been limiting my God, by my narrow mindedness, and my rebellion against rules and regulations (Don't tell me, watch me).
I still have my Bible, but I find that my God isn't just within it's pages, but His spirit and Good Orderly Direction is everywhere if I am willing to look around and accept it. To me, it is all God given. No matter what your religious beliefs, there is always room for one more, don't leave anyone outside of the circle. We all can recover.
