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September Intergroup Fellowship NEWS 2009 Get the Latest Meeting Listings, Upcoming Events, and More At The Serenity Prayer Origin Shrouded in Mystery Page 2 Alkathons Coming Up Grab a spot now! Page 4 sonoma county September Intergroup Fellowship NEWS 2009 Get the latest meeting listings, upcoming events, and more at www.sonomacountyaa.org INSIDE THIS ISSUE Meeting Changes Page 2 SCIF Minutes Page 3 Bridging the Gap Page 4 Talent Show PICPC Page 4 Teleservice Page 4 September 11 General Service Page 5 Santa Rosa Vets Memorial H & I Report Page 5 Calendar Page 6 1351 Maple Ave. - 5 pm Upcoming Events Page 6 Soft Drinks and Snacks will be sold, donations taken at the door Financial Reports Page 7 We need volunteers to help! Contacts Page 8 If you missed the auditions call Wynny B. 206-9030 www.aa.org ☞www.aagrapevine.org www.sonomacountyaa.org SEMINAR BOOKSTORE DA Y Y SCIF CENTRAL OFFICE 750 Mendocino Ave., Suite 10 T 2 I Santa Rosa, CA 95401 0 Manager: Linda M. 0 N A WORKSHOP ON Phone: (707) 546-2066 9 Fax: (707) 566-9677 THE 12TH TRADITION U [email protected] Wednesday, September 30, 2009 • additional Our Augustyou seminar on the Ninth Hours: Mon-Fri 10-6 • Coffee cookiesStep wasyou’ great! likeAttendance was over Sat 11-3 October 17, 2009 30 people and the three speakers de- The bookstore is staffed by volunteers. Questions? Call Wynnylivered (707) good 206-9030 messages. Our host, the Occasionally it is closed for lack of staff. 9:00 am - 3:00 pm Santa Rosa Alano Club, did a great Call first! job and the facility worked out well Sebastopol Vets Building The Bookstore is closed 282 High Street Our next seminar is at the bookstore. on these Holidays (south of Bodega Ave) Tradition 12 Understanding Anonymity Memorial Day May 25th Volunteers needed Independence Day July 4th Wednesday, September 30. Labor Day September 7th John F. 322-5223 6:30 - 8 pm [email protected] Thanksgiving November 26th SCIF Central Office Christmas December 25th $5 donation requested 750 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa New Year’s Day January 1st Doug S. 477-6231 Disclaimer: The Fellowship News is the monthly newsletter of Sonoma County Intergroup Fellowship. Opinions contained herein are strictly those of the authors. Publication of opinions, articles, and announcements does not represent express or implied endorsement, approval, or affiliation by Intergroup. We reserve the right to edit submissions for clarity, language, length and content that violates AA Traditions. MEETING CHANGES THE ORIGIN OF OUR SERENITY PRAYER Petaluma As published in August/September 1992 BOX-459 Alano Club (Reprinted with permission) All meetings moving to new location at 1050 Petaluma Blvd. N. (Next to Lucky) For many years, long after the Serenity Prayer became attached to the very fabric of the Petaluma Fellowship Birthday Meeting Fellowship’s life and thought, its exact origin, its actual author, have played a tantalizing (last Tuesday of month) game of hide and seek with researchers, both in and out of A.A. The facts of how it came to Tuesday 7:30 pm be used by A.A. a half century ago are much easier to pinpoint. Moved to Alano Club Early in 1942, writes Bill W., in A.A. Comes of Age, a New York member, Jack, brought to everyone’s attention a caption in a routine New York Herald Tribune obituary that read: NO LONGER MEETING “God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, Santa Rosa courage to change the things we can, Manic Monday and wisdom to know the difference.” Monday 6:30 pm Everyone in A.A.’s burgeoning office on Manhattan’s Vesey Street was struck by the power Midweek Madness and wisdom contained in the prayer’s thoughts. “Never had we seen so much A.A. in so few Wednesday 6:30 pm words,” Bill writes. Someone suggested that the prayer be printed on a small, wallet-sized card, to be included in every piece of outgoing mail. Ruth Hock, the Fellowship’s first (and nonalcoholic) secretary, contacted Henry S., a Washington D.C. member, and a professional To report meeting changes printer, asking him what it would cost to order a bulk printing. contact Russell Henry’s enthusiastic response was to print 500 copies of the prayer, with the remark: 570-9268 “Incidentally, I am only a heel when I’m drunk .. so naturally, there could be no charge for anything of this nature.” “With amazing speed,” writes Bill, “the Serenity Prayer came into general use and took its place alongside our two other favorites, the Lord’s Prayer and the Prayer of St. Francis. Thus did the “accidental” noticing of an unattributed prayer, printed alongside a simple obituary of an unknown individual, open the way toward the prayer’s daily use by NOTES FROM thousands upon thousands of A.A.s worldwide. THE BOOKSTORE But despite years of research by numerous individuals, the exact origin of the prayer is I am constantly reminded that the Central shrouded in overlays of history, even mystery. Moreover, every time a researcher appears to Office and Bookstore would not have a uncover the definitive source, another one crops up to refute the former’s claim, at the same chance of being effective without the help time that it raises new, intriguing facts. What is undisputed is the claim of authorship by of many hands. My thanks go out to Lori the theologian Dr. Rheinhold Niebuhr, who recounted to interviewers on several occasions L., Patty G., and Steve B. for coming in on that he had written the prayer as a “tag line” to a sermon he had delivered on Practical the Sunday morning, August 2, to change Christianity. Yet even Dr. Niebuhr added at least a touch of doubt to his claim, when the labels on our AAWS publications before he told one interviewer, “Of course, it may have been spooking around for years, even the August 3 price changes went into effect. centuries, but I don’t think so. I honestly do believe that I wrote it myself.” As the saying goes “many hands make light Early in World War II, with Dr. Niebuhr’s permission, the prayer was printed on cards and work”. distributed to the troops by the U.S.O. By then it had also been reprinted by the National We will have a volunteer staff opening Council of Churches, as well as Alcoholics Anonymous. beginning Friday September 11th. After be- Dr. Niebuhr was quite accurate in suggesting that the prayer may have been “spooking ing trained this afternoon volunteer will be around” for centuries. “No one can tell for sure who first wrote the Serenity Prayer,” responsible for the Bookstore between the writes Bill in A.A. Comes of Age. “Some say it came from the early Greeks; others think hours of 2pm and 6pm and will be required it was from the pen of an anonymous English poet; still others claim it was written by an to make sales, answer phones, complete American Naval officer... .” Other attributions have gone as far afield as ancient Sanskrit occasional small projects and perform the texts, Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas and Spinoza. One A.A. member came store closing procedure. Bookstore volun- across the Roman philosopher Cicero’s Six Mistakes of Man, one of which reads: “The teers are required to have a minimum of 1 tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or corrected.” year sobriety and a working knowledge of the 12 Steps and the 12 Traditions. To apply No one has actually found the prayer’s text among the writings of these alleged, original for this volunteer opening please drop by sources. What are probably truly ancient, as with the above quote from Cicero, are the for an application, or for more information prayer’s themes of acceptance, courage to change what can be changed and the free letting call Linda at 546-2066. go of what is out of one’s ability to change. In service, The rest of the article is available online at www.aahistory.com/prayer.html Linda M. Page 2 Sonoma County Intergroup Fellowship News September 2009 SONOMA COUNTY INTERGROUP FELLOWSHIP GENERAL MEETING GENERAL MEETING – July 27, 2009 SEMINARS: Doug S. – The 9th Step Seminar will be held on July The meeting was opened with the Serenity Prayer 29 at the Alano Club. Seminar attendees will choose the topic for PREAMBLE: Karen M. TRADITION 7: Laurie E. CONCEPT the following seminar. VII: Rich S. TELESERVICE: Berrine D. – There is an open shift on Saturday INTRODUCTION OF NEW REPRESENTATIVES: overnight: 10pm – 8am. Berrine shared a story about a con artist Amber M. Drop the Rock Cotati using Teleservice to scam money, hotel room, etc. from those doing Eddie S. Sober Sunday Santa Rosa 12th-step calls. Beware of this type of scam. Teleservice does not Joan D. Growing Pains Santa Rosa give money or pay for rooms, meals, etc. Josh M. Promises Group Sebastopol UNITY DAY: David O. – (absent) Bob P. reported that Unity Day Karen M. Traditions Group Santa Rosa planning meetings take place the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each Kristen C. Thank God It’s Friday Petaluma month at 7pm at the bookstore. Volunteers are needed to help plan Kristen C. Thursday Book Study Cotati this important event. Lois M. Not Just Another Newcomer. Cotati LIAISON REPORTS: Rauchelle M. First Things First Santa Rosa BRIDGING THE GAP: Joe M. (absent – Tom filled in) BTG ar- Roger H. Just for Today Cotati ranges for AA members to take individuals newly released from jail, Shastl A. Big Book Review Santa Rosa rehab, etc.
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