Preaching We Don't Need. . .

SOME YEARS AGO, a middle-aged priest slowly came to in a large hospital. A psychiatrist, a physician, and the chaplain were trying to talk quietly to him. But the priest's mind seemed very cobwebby, and he just couldn't understand the words spoken. Five days later, he shakily went home. This was the fourth time the alcoholic minister of God had been found unconscious from taking alcohol and pills. On another occasion, two alert policemen had kept him from leaping off a high bridge in drunken despair. Sanitariums, several psychiatrists, and the loss of five positions had not been enough to halt his destructive drinking. But this time he fell to his knees, finally admitted that he was totally powerless over the bottle, and cried out, "Oh dear God, please help me!" He then fell confidently and tranquilly asleep.