Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting Analysis

The Alcoholics Anonymous meeting I attended was on Wednesday July 15th 2015. It was held at Get It Together 8:00am 393 W. Warner Rd #105 & 106 Chandler, AZ 85225.
The meeting was assigned an open meeting designation with the format being a discussion group. Other formats include Big Book study, newcomers, candlelight, meditation, literature study, closed and gender specific meetings. Closed meetings are for A.A. members only, or for those who have a drinking problem and "have a desire to stop drinking”. Open meetings are available to anyone interested in Alcoholics Anonymous’ program of recovery from alcoholism. Nonalcoholics may attend open meetings as observers. People who attend meetings are free to attend at any location internationally.
Chairing a meeting is voluntary and is looked upon as an excellent way for a member to serve the fellowship. The chairman announced that the meeting would be opened with the Serenity Prayer and asked members to pray for the addicts still suffering. The Serenity Prayer is one that is most well known and associated with AA meetings. It reads, “Lord, grant the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.” Two other prayers practiced among the fellowship, but not included in the meeting I attended are the 3rd Step prayer and the 7th Step
The Chairman asked if there were any out of town visitors and announced that chips were to be given out at this meeting to celebrate sobriety dates. Anyone within their first 24 hours of sobriety was given a chip and the sobriety dates from there increased to 3 months, 9 months, 1 years and 1 year or more. When a person came forward they announced themselves to the group by saying, “I am an alcoholic” and the group then says, “Hello, _____”. The chairman asked if there was anyone in their first 24 hours of sobriety who needed a sponsor and if there were any members who would volunteer to be a sponsor. A sponsor is another individual in the fellowship who takes you through each of the 12 steps and serves as a guide, friend and confidant (Krentzman et al., 2010). Next, announcements of upcoming fellowship activities and opportunities for volunteer service were read and the fellowship was invited to share any AA announcements if they had any. What is known as the 7th tradition was then explained to the group. The 7th tradition states that all fellowships should be self-supporting and a collection box would be passed for members to place monetary donations. The money collected is used for renting the meeting space, paying bills, providing free literature to members and having a kitchen supplied with coffee and