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Using the Enneagram to help understand ourselves and others

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Who are we? Who am I? These are questions that we wrestle with from time to time, perhaps never more than in this time of pandemic. We seek ways understand our behavior and motivation because in all of creation there is little more fascinating than the human. We desire deeply to know what makes people tick, what makes us tick. Why can some people easily solve a complex problem, and others are paralyzed by decision-making? Why can some people access their feelings so quickly, and others seem to not show emotions? Recently, the Enneagram has had a resurgence in popularity. The Enneagram is an ancient tool, thought to have been around since the desert fathers. It is a model for understanding the variety of motivations and fears of the human soul. Unlike other personality-typing systems, the Enneagram’s focus is less on behavior and more on the desires and motivations that compel behavior. Some in Christian circles have been skeptical of the Enneagram. Perhaps some dismiss it as vanity, … [Read more...]

Tagged With: enneagram

Combating COVID-19 in rural Haiti

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As COVID-19 quickly spread from Asia to Europe and across the ocean to the United States, worldwide concern over the impact of the global pandemic grew. Concern was greatest for countries like Haiti that have few healthcare facilities, poorly functioning governments and long struggling economies. Paul Farmer, physician and co-founder of the Boston-based healthcare organization Partners in Health, said in a March interview with National Public Radio that Haiti probably had less than 30 ICU beds. Haiti Liberté, the country’s largest weekly newspaper, reported on March 30 that there were an estimated 64 ventilators in the country, with many not working. On March 30, Haitian president Jovenel Moïse announced the closure of the border shared with the Dominican Republic and suspended all commercial flights into the country. To further contain the virus, schools and churches were closed by decree and citizens were asked to stay at home. The Haitian people were left on their own to fight … [Read more...]

Tagged With: COVID19 • global church

Yearning to sing, yearning to breathe

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Selah. This mysterious little word is sprinkled throughout the psalms. My colleagues tell me that its origin and translation are uncertain and cryptic. Likely it is a kind of marker, delineating thought and suggesting performance, like a poetic or musical caesura — a pause, a connective suspension, an in-between place, a breath. One of my favorite six minutes of music is a recording by Duke Ellington called “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue.” It launches out of the gate, hurling spectacular blues choruses with blistering energy. As it travels, it sobers — instruments fall by the wayside, texture and dynamics recede, reaching a nadir: the briefest of piano solos by Ellington himself is suspenseful, eerie, strange. It fades… the moment is held… and then music is back, gathering strength, unbelievably vital, teeming, almost delirious with ideas and voices. But at the center, that mysterious piano solo and pause. Selah. There is a dramatic and painful selah in our worship life … [Read more...]

Tagged With: COVID19 • music

Your place at the table

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“I have a dream that one day … the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” — Martin Luther King Jr. If we are lucky, we all can retrieve a memory of sitting at the supper table on Sunday in anticipation of a hot delicious meal. With napkins in our laps and forks at the ready, we would be fed a healthy helping of our favorite something, and over that plate of heartwarming food, we would also share more than the aromas revealed — stories were passed along the table, news and current events, ideas, hopes and dreams and the wisdom from one generation to the next. Miraculously, without a hint, we were all being fed more than was on the menu. The stories shared at the table made us family. They schooled us on how to build relationships and connect with others. The sharing of our experiences became blueprints for ideas and visions for our future, prompting us to action. And incredibly, the stories we shared … [Read more...]

Practicing stewardship in a difficult year

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“God’s love never dies.” These words were spoken by a church elder, to fellow elders, in a time of crisis. The context was November 2008. The stock market was taking a beating. The housing market, banks, for-profits, nonprofits and church communities were all in the path of this historic economic implosion. As these church leaders gathered for this urgent conversation in Memphis, Tennessee, discernment was mandatory. Topics of discussion were annual budget adjustments and whether to continue with plans to launch a major capital campaign. The budget would be adjusted. And the capital campaign was ended. But God’s love was not ended. “The abundant grace of God never fails, never dies.” This was the prophetic wisdom one church elder shared with others in this pivotal discussion. He agreed with the decision to reevaluate the path forward — though only if it was informed and compelled by the love of God for the city of Memphis. I was in this meeting. I was there to listen and … [Read more...]

Tagged With: stewardship

The unfolding of an assembly:  An examination of privilege, power and procedure

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The last two hours of the 2020 General Assembly tell a story of their own – a story about the nature of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), beyond the budgets and resolutions approved. A series of events during that time, starting just before 6:30 p.m. EDT on June 27, have shaped the analysis of this assembly’s legacy, igniting reflection and lamentation about the future and ethos and challenges of the 90%-white PC(USA) — particularly about white privilege. On June 30, three days after the assembly adjourned, a group of 16 former assembly moderators and co-moderators released a statement saying that “what occurred at the 224th General Assembly was nothing short of white supremacy, white privilege, misogyny, and hypocrisy expressed as indifference, apathy, and outright inaction.” An open letter released by a group of Presbyterian leaders of color July 2 said, in part, “People are lamenting, living with fear, and you galloped past into hope and celebration with condescension — and … [Read more...]

Tagged With: GA224

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