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22 November 2020 - Sunday Service - The Peacemaker

22/11/2020

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SERMON: Enneagram Type 9 The Peacemaker or Mediator


A FEW CLOSING THOUGHTS ON THE ENNEAGRAM
& THE COVID PANDEMIC. 

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Nine on the Enneagram – The Peacemaker / Mediator
Ephesians 2:13-17; 2 Cor 5:16-19


Friends, today we come to the end of our journey through the Enneagram as a tool for self knowledge and self growth, but also as a tool to explore and examine the wholeness of the person of Jesus. 

Type 9 on the Enneagram is often called the Peacemaker or Mediator, and as we explore this personality, before looking at the person of Jesus, we listen to the story of a fictitious person we shall name John. 

John’s biggest aim in life is for peace, inner peace and  outer peace. And the way he tries to achieve that peace is mostly through avoidance, which unfortunately does not always prove to be the best strategy to achieve that goal.  

John’s seeking of peace and his need to avoid difficult situations were evident very early on in his life. The world into which John was born was one that felt like it was defined by conflict.  Motivated by a desire for this conflict and tension to go away, John began to do everything in his power to resolve the conflict and trouble, but mostly by avoidance. 

Growing up, in order to keep the peace, John would very easily give in to the desires and plans of others. It was easier that way. When you just go along with what others want, you avoid the pain of conflicting opinions.  John has proved so effective in giving up his own opinions, desires and wants, that he has never really developed a very strong sense of self. He no longer really knows what it is that he wants in life and as a result can often be very indecisive when he is put on the spot and has to make a decision for himself. It is just so much easier to defer to others, even when deep down he also feels a certain amount of repressed anger as a result of never feeling like his own voice is ever listened to or heard. And in a way it is his own fault, because expressing his own opinions when with others is something he tries to avoid in case it puts him in conflict with others. 

As a result, John has sometimes felt a little bit like a ghost in the presence of others. Because he can be a little bit of a chameleon, blending into the background of any situation, and blending into the crowd, he also has an amazing ability of reflecting aspects of each of the other 8 personality types. As a result John’s own personality is a little difficult to pinpoint and pin down. 

Being driven by a desire for peace and a desire to avoid conflict, John has an ability to see and understand different points of view more than most, especially when the conflict exists outside himself between other people.  And seeing the validity of arguments on both sides of a conflict, John will often try and play a mediating role between two conflicting sides.  Sometimes it has got him into quite a bit of trouble because he can very easily get caught in the middle, with both sides accusing him of taking the other person's side, when he has in fact sincerely sought to find a middle way between them. 

These mediating and peacemaking qualities in John have served him well as an adult. As a lecturer in History, he constantly challenges his students to move beyond their own narrow opinions and perspectives, and constantly challenges them to not only look deeply at differing perspectives on history, but to put themselves in the shoes of people on both sides of a historical debate and to learn to argue from the other person's perspective.  His students also find themselves being deeply listened to by John, because he is always interested to hear their opinions and their own fresh perspectives. 

In his religious life, he has been motivated to try and resolve and transcend the differences between differing religious perspectives, wishing to learn from the best of each religious tradition, whether than be between fundamentalist and liberals, Protestantism and Catholicism, Christianity and other religions like Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. He is convinced that each of these traditions has something we can all learn and benefit from and feels that if we all had to approach things in this way, much of the religious conflict in the world would be unnecessary. While they may appreciate and enjoy John’s gentle and peaceful manner and approach to life, others think he may be a little bit of a dreamer and a little naive but he has a deep sense that God is big enough to embrace us all. 

While at his best, John can be present an aura of peace and calm, being accommodating, unpretentious, reassuring, tolerant, non-judgemental, gentle, patient and outwardly imperturbable, like all of us John has his shadow side.  In his less mature moments, John can very easily become lazy, forgetful, indecisive, apathetic, oblivious, overly accommodating, passive-aggressive, obsessive, spaced-out and self-annihilating. Under stress, John begins to take on the negative characteristics of the 6 on the Enneagram, the Guardian or Protector coming across as quite anxious and defensive.  In his less mature moments, it take an enormous amount of energy to get motivated to do anything and can very easily get lost in the details of life as a form of avoidance of tackling the things that really matter, but which require effort and energy. 

As John has grown and matured, he has unconsciously begun to adopt the characteristics of his neighbouring personality types. With his 8 wing, the Leader or Challenger, it has helped him to become more engaged in life, and with his 1 Wing, the Reformer or perfectionist, it has helped him to stand up a little more strongly for the things he really believes are right. And as he has begun to do so, he has begun more and more to accomplish things of significance in life, taking on the positive characteristics of the Three, the achiever. 

John has his good days and his bad days, but he is in good company. Many famous and successful people have been 9s on the Enneagram. Probably the most famous of all would be Winnie the Pooh, who in his own nondescript way seems to get on with everyone.  Other famous 9s would include great names in psychology like Carl Jung and Carl Rogers, Abraham Lincoln, Ringo Star of the Beatles, Audrey Hepburn, The Dalai Lama, Lady Margot Fonteyn, and Queen Elizabeth II has also been described as a 9 on the Enneagram and it is certainly true that her official role requires that she play the role of a 9, a mediating and peacemaking role as she seeks to be the Monarch of a diverse Kingdom, which in her earlier reign would have been a diverse Empire. The Commonwealth is the type of organisation that expresses the values of a Nine, and so it wouldn't be surprising if the Commonwealth was the brainchild of the Queen herself. 

As we consider the person of Jesus, we see many of the best traits of a Nine in the person and teachings of Jesus. 

Jesus clearly valued peace highly. In the beatitudes, he describes the peacemakers of the world as children of God. Even his description of God as making his sun to shine on good and evil alike and sending rain on the righteous and unrighteous points to an understanding of God that transcends our normal human distinctions and divisions. 

Jesus is also constantly seen himself transcending the divisions of the society in which he lived.  Like a true Nine on the Enneagram, in many ways, Jesus lived as a friend of all and an enemy of none. As suggested in last week's sermon, even though he was bluntly direct with his opponents, the scribes and the Pharisees, it did not stop him from holding out a genuine hand of friendship to them as he ate at their tables and shared table fellowship with them. 

While some of his own disciples like Judas may have been from the radical political group called the sicarii who were politically engaged in wanting to overthrow their Roman oppressors by violent means, Jesus showed concern and compassion for a Roman centurion’s servant and even remarked how he had not seen such faith in Israel as he had in that Roman centurion. Like a 9, he was willing to see the best in people who were different from himself. 

We also see Jesus transcending the division between Jews and Samaritans and Jews and Gentiles.  Jesus has no qualms about travelling through Samaritan villages and engaging with them, even though it was not the done thing. He is willing to cross over the Sea of Galilee and engage with the Gentile population on the other side. He was even willing to make a hated and despised Samaritan the hero of one of his best known parables, the Good Samaritan.  Like a True Nine on the Enneagram, seeking and encouraging to bring peace between opponents, Jesus encourages his followers to pray for their enemies. For first century Jews, the thought of praying for Samaritans and their Roman Oppressors would have felt like an almost impossible task.

The apostle Paul reflects this reconciling, peacemaking dimension of Jesus when he says in 2 Cor 5 God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. And in Ephesians, in a cosmic view of Jesus' life and ministry, Paul asserts that in Jesus, God revealed his secret plan to being the whole universe to oneness and unity in him. 

But whereas the downfall of the Nine, is that in their less mature moments, they become avoiders of conflict rather than true peacemakers, Jesus greatest act of peacemaking according to scripture comes in the moment of his crucifixion. Jesus does the hard and painful work of making peace by bearing in his body the pain and conflict of the world, rather than simply sitting on a mountain-top lost in inward meditation.  Jesus engages with life and seeks to build a peace based on justice and fairness for the poor rather than in the words of Isaiah, crying peace peace when there is in truth no peace. 

In closing, a few helpful pointers for those of us who may identify as 9’s on the Enneagram: 
    • Every journey begins with the first step
    • Face the problems – the won’t go away
    • A stitch in time saves a Nine!
    • I  too am loved and worthwhile, and my opinion is valuable.
    • Every hair on your head is counted (Luke 12:7). 
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SERMON & SERVICE 15 Nov 2020 - The Leader and Protector

15/11/2020

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SERMON - VIDEO (also Audio Only version below)


SERMON TEXT - ENNEAGRAM TYPE 8
The Challenger, Leader Protector

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Enneagram Type 8 - The Leader, The Hero, The Challenger, The Protector
Matt 23:25-28

Friends, we have two weeks left looking at the last of the 9 personality types on the Enneagram and seeing how the best qualities of each are reflected in Jesus as a symbol of human wholeness. Just to say that some suggest each personality type has three subtypes making 27 personality types in total. In addition, each personality type obviously can display different qualities depending on whether they are a mature or a healthy personality or an immature or unhealthy personality.

Underlying each of the 9 personality types is an underlying need. Today, we look at Type 8 on the Enneagram, sometimes called The Leader, The Hero, The Challenger, The Protector. The need of the 8 is the need to be strong. Other’s suggest the need of the 8 is the need to stand against. The need to challenge.

As we explore this personality, yet again, we do so examine the story of a fictitious person we shall call Briana.

Briana can often come across as a bit intimidating. She has quite a tough exterior, and showing her weaker, more vulnerable side is not her thing. It has been like this since she was very young. For whatever reason, coming into this world, Briana had an instinctive need to present herself as strong. Maybe it was that her earliest experience in life told her that if you don’t stand up for yourself, then nobody else will. And so this soon became the motto by which she has lived almost her whole her life. Be strong, don’t give in. Don’t show any weakness.

As a little girl, it was therefore evident quite early on, that Briana was a force to be reckoned with. Parenting her was never easy, because it often became a battle of the wills as she could prove to be quite rebellious when she felt she was being told what to do by someone else. And it was not always clear on what basis Briana took a position on an issue. Sometimes it seems that she would take up a position simply because it was opposite to someone else's. And once she had taken her stand, she was not easily budged from there.

Briana also very early on began showing clear leadership abilities. On the school play-ground, Briana would quickly take charge as the leader of the pack organising her friends into teams or appointing herself as the final arbiter in setting the rules. And even though girls have been culturally trained to defer to boys or males, this was never the case with Briana. Even the boys knew that she was a force to be reckoned with, and it was not uncommon for them to run home to their mom’s for comfort after having been biffed on the head and put in their place by Briana. This was especially the case when she saw someone else being victimised and bullied. Then she would step in to help protect them.

Briana’s strength and her need to challenge have served her well as an adult as she has all the natural leadership skills and strength to be a very successful program manager. She is very good at giving out clear, decisive instructions and wipping her team into shape… keeping everyone right, as they say hear in Northern Ireland. And because she can also be a little intimidating, it is not often that she gets too much opposition from those working under her. It is much easier for everyone concerned just to carry out her plans and orders, which on the whole are fairly sensible anyway.

While at her best, Briana can be described as resourceful, earthy, decisive, self-confident, energetic, direct, fearless, just, powerful and passionate, like all of us, in her unhealthier moments she has her shadow side, meaning she can also be a little bossy, aggressive, domineering, insensitive, rebellious, confrontational, controlling, intimidating, vindictive and punitive. While she has no fear in standing up to a bully, in her worst moments, some have described her as a bit of a bully herself.

As Briana has grown and matured with age, she has perhaps unconscionably become aware that she can come across as a little domineering and so unconsciously she has begun to draw on the strengths of her neighbouring personalities. With her Seven Wing, the Adventurer, it has helped to make her a little more jovial and light-hearted, and with her Nine Wing, the Peacemaker, it has helped her to become a little more chilled and more willing to compromise for the sake of more harmonious relationships. As she has done so, she has done so, she has begun to display some of the qualities of a Two on the Enneagram, the helper, without the neediness that is normally characteristic of a Two.

Like all of us, Briana has her good days and her bad days, but she is in good company. A lot of famous and successful people have been 8s on the Enneagram. These would include people like: Winston Churchhill, Sean Connery, Indira Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jnr. , Rev. Ian Paisley, Germaine Greer, Emmeline Pankhurst the great leader of the suffragettes, John McEnroe, Rupert Murdoch, Margaret Thatcher, Jeremy Clarkson, and Simon Cowell (I think I got Simon wrong earlier in this preaching series). Most examples on the internet would be Americans, and so I have had to think carefully in trying to find UK examples, and have not always got them right.)

Looking at the person of Jesus, and his teachings, we see the best of the Eight as we examine the Gospels.

We see it firstly in Jesus’s assertiveness. Although there was clearly a wonderful gentleness in Jesus, the idea of Jesus being meek and mild is really quite contrary to the descriptions of him in the Gospels. When it came to his relationship with the Pharisees, who were one of his main sources of opposition, we see that Jesus could be very direct, calling a spade a spade, as is often the case with 8s on the Enneagram. No sugar coating of the truth as he called them out for their hypocrisy in Matthew 23:13-36, calling them hypocrites, blind guides, whitewashed tombs and snakes, the offspring of vipers.

In fact, Jesus pretty much took on the whole of the religious establishment motivated by his distaste for people ‘playing roles’ and pretending to be holy and just when in fact the very opposite was true. This is seen very powerfully and symbolically in Jesus turning over the tables of the money changers in the Temple, because they had turned the Jewish faith into a commercial venture and were ripping off the poor and the vulnerable. Like an eight, Jesus is spurred into action by a desire to protect those he saw as weak and vulnerable to the religious bullying of the religious elite.

Again, like a true Eight on the Enneagram, Jesus shows himself to be fearless when he is even willing to take on King Herod, despite all of Herod’s political power. When warned to leave a certain place being warned that Herod was wanting to kill him, Jesus replies, “"Go tell that fox, 'I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.'”

It is for all these reasons that in the 20th Century, Jesus has sometimes been portrayed in some quarters as a kind of political revolutionary, because it is clear from the Gospels that Jesus was willing to risk his own life in confronting the religious and political establishment of his day, and of siding with the poor, weak and vulnerable.

But, as any healthy and mature Eight on the Enneagram needs to do, despite the strength of Jesus’ personality, Jesus could also act with great gentleness and not only with confrontation. Jesus defends the adulterous woman from condemnation (John 8:10ff). Jesus acts with great sensitivity when visiting Zacchaeus the tac collector, who was clearly a bit of a swindler and who had cheated people out of their money. Rather than come down hard upon him with confrontation, in this instance, Jesus could clearly see that it was his friendship and compassion that Zacchaeus needed, and which when given, enabled Zacchaeus to let his guard down, and seek to make amends for the way in which he had cheated people. A mature Eight has to learn that some situations can’t be fixed with a hammer and require more subtle solutions and approaches. In fact, in Matthew 10:16, Jesus tells his disciples they need to be prudent like snakes and innocent like doves.

Despite being direct in his denunciation of the Pharisees, it did not mean that he dismissed them all out of hand. It did not stop him extending the hand of friendship to those who opposed him. In a number of places, Jesus is seen associating with the Pharisees, joining them at their meal tables in friendly conversation, and in the case of Nicodemus, seeking to help him come to a deeper knowledge and experience of God.

Lastly, despite his strength of character, Jesus was willing to make himself vulnerable, which is perhaps one of the hardest things for an Eight to learn to do. The apostle Paul in Philippians says that in taking on out human nature, Christ emptied himself and took on our weakness as the condition of being human. And in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see both the strength and vulnerability of Jesus together, as he voluntarily allows himself to be arrested and bound, “When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, he stood up before them and asked, “Who are you looking for?” And when they said “Jesus of Nazareth,” he said, “I am he”. And rather than defending himself with strength and violent means, he allows himself to be mocked, spat on, scourged and crucified, the ultimate act of vulnerability.

In Closing, some helpful pointers for those of us who might consider ourselves 8s on the Enneagram:
  • No man or woman is an island. It is ok to ask for help. A problem shared is a problem halved.
  • True strength comes from surrendering the need to have power and control.
  • Sensitivity to others and acknowledging your own tender emotions is a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness.
  • Cooperation is better than confrontation.
  • And as Jesus describes himself, “I am here as one who serves” (Luke 22:27)
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Remembrance Day Service - 8 Nov 2020

8/11/2020

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WELCOME, CALL TO WORSHIP & PRAYER


CHILDREN'S ADDRESS AND VIDEO'S


​READINGS & PRAYER


​
SHORT REFLECTION 

ACT OF REMEMBRANCE
​

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

A SONG FOR REFLECTION,
​FOLLOWED BY PRAYERS FOR OTHERS (Audio Only) 


CLOSING HYMN - MAKE ME A CHANNEL OF YOUR PEACE
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Communion Service 1 November 2020 6pm

1/11/2020

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Dear Friends

Welcome to our Online Communion Service in which we invite you to join in at home with bread and grape-juice or wine, as we do this in remembrance of Christ and symbolically join with him in his life, death and resurrection through these ordinary gifts that come to us from God's creation.

The first song is especially for any children who may be joining us tonight and expresses in a beautiful way the life and love of Christ we remember in Communion.

The second song reminds us of the words of Jesus "As the Father sent me, so I am sending you." (John 20:21).

May God bless you as you share with us in this special way.

Brian
Alternative Opening Song- Be Still for the Presence of the Lord
1 Corinthians 11:23-26. (ESV):
"For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.'
In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.'
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

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Sunday Service - 1st November 2020 - Enneagram Type 7          The Adventurer or The Enthusiast

1/11/2020

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​SERMON & PRAYER 
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Enneagram Type 7 – The Enthusiast, The Adventurer

Over the past two weeks we have been exploring the Enneagram as a tool for personal and spiritual growth. It is personality tool that presents 9 basic personality types. Each week, we are invited to learn more about ourselves and those around us. And each week, we are invited to see the best qualities of each personality type reflected in the person of Jesus, as well as in Scripture.

As we explore Type 7 the Enthusiast, also called the Adventurer I begin with a fictional story about a person we shall call Rob.

Rob is a fun loving guy. If you want to have a good party, Rob is your man. He knows how to have a good time, and he can bring a lightness and a brightness to even the most dull situation. Part of that fun-loving, enthusiastic energy that Rob brings with him is also a certain restlessness, busyness and unpredictability, always looking for the next thing to keep himself busy with.

It has been like this since Rob was a little boy. Always restless, with a constant busy energy, Rob was always a bit of a handful, and his parents always had to be on high alert because they didn't quite know what was going to happen next. It was a bit of a relief for them at night when an exhausted Rob would finally drop off to sleep, thoroughly exhausted by his own compulsive busyness.

It is difficult to know exactly why Rob has always been such a bundle of excited and restless energy, but Rob experience of the world into which he was born, for whatever reason, left him feeling the pain of emptiness on the inside. Even in his earliest months and years, most of Rob’s energy was spent trying to fill the emptiness he felt on the inside and to avoid or dull the pain.

A lot of people looking on at him when he was younger tended to label Rob as naughty and disobedient because he would often get himself into all sorts of trouble even through his teenage years and beyond. But if truth be told, it was not often that Rob was deliberately trying to be naughty or rebellious. In fact there was often a degree of innocence about him, and often that he himself would be surprised by the results of his actions. A large part of the problem was that Rob tended to operate on the basis if “act now and think later”.

As suggested earlier, much of Rob’s joking nature and lightheartedness is ultimately a tactic to avoid the painfulness of life. At times this gets him into trouble because at moments that are deserving of more seriousness, Rob will tend to crack a joke because the pain might be a little too unbearable for him. This can unfortunately often give the impression of superficiality, although, below the surface he does carry a fair amount of pain that he struggles to acknowledge even to himself.

But Rob’s lighthearted nature has served him well as an adult. His infectious enthusiasm for life has helped to make him a really good teacher. He is able to inspire interest and enthusiasm in his students, and time in his class can be really quite exciting because you never quite know where Rob is going to go next as he makes regular adventures outside of the set syllabus into interesting and unchartered territory, even to himself.

While at his best, Rob can be described as optimistic, gregarious, fun-loving, creative, child-like, joyful, imaginative, resilient and adventurous, Rob also has his shadow side. In his less mature moments, Rob can be escapist, distracted, unreliable, undisciplined, hedonistic, impulsive and superficial, while at his worst he can become narcissistic, addictive and even manic.

As Rob has matured in his later life, he has become a bit more disciplined and reliable, and as he has done so, he has drawn on some of the strengths of his neighbouring personality types. His six wing, the Loyal Skeptic has helped to temper his wilder moments and make him a little more responsible and dutiful, helping him to better predict the potential negative consequences of his impulsive actions. With his Eight Wing, it has helped him become a little more direct and self-assertive and develop a greater tolerance for pain. Drawing on both of these strengths Rob in fact begins to display some of the strengths of the Five, looking at things in more depth rather than just the surface, being a little more contemplative and appreciating moments of silence and stillness.

Like all of us, Rob has his good days and his bad days. But he is in good company. A lot of famous and successful people have been Sevens, Adventurers, Enthusiasts. These include people like Robbin Williams, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Collins, Sir Elton John, Mick Jagger, John F. Kennedy, Gordon Ramsey, Princess Margaret, and some would put Sir Richard Branson in this category, and not in the 3 Category as I did a few weeks ago which is the achiever. The countries of Ireland and Brazil in different ways capture something of the energy and spirit of the Seven.

In considering the person and teachings of Jesus, we see that Jesus captures and expresses some of the best qualities of the Seven in his own life.

Robert Nogosek writes that like all Sevens, Jesus was a jovial person. He knew that the Creator intended that life should be enjoyed. Early in his ministry according to John’s Gospel, we see Jesus going to parties such as the wedding reception at Cana. In the story, as Jesus turns the water for ceremonial washing into wine, it is a powerful symbol of how Jesus sought to bring life and joy where the dominant forms of Jewish religion of his day were primarily concerned with rules that hindered rather than enhanced life. Later in John’s Gospel, Jesus would say that his purpose and mission was to bring people “life in abundance”. “I have come that you might have life and that you might have life in abundance,” (John 10:10).

Many of Jesus parables, also emphasize the fact that life in God’s Kingdom is meant to express a sense of joy, much as one would find at a wedding feast. Matthew 22:2 “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a King who threw a wedding feast for his son.”

Jesus also seemed to have a particularly soft spot for those who tended to give themselves over to the excesses of life. The prodigal son who goes off on an enthusiastic adventurer and then returns home after he has impulsively squandered his inheritance, might be called the patron saint of Sevens. Jesus’ keen knowledge of human nature meant that Jesus was deeply aware that beneath the excesses and addictions of most people was a deep pain and a woundedness that they were desperately trying to cover over and it was for this reason that they more often drew Jesus compassion rather than his judgement.

Jesus himself is accused of being a person of excess as seen in Matthew 11:19 where Jesus says: “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

As Nogosek writes: “ In Matthew 9, when Matthew the tax-collector throws a farewell party for his friends to celebrate becoming a follower of Jesus, some people challenge Jesus about all this eating and drinking. Jesus responds by saying that as long as he his around, people would celebrate, because he was alike a bride-groom. When the bride-groom was taken away, then the people would fast,” (Mt 9:15).

There was clearly something infectious and attractive about the spirit of Jesus because, like a Seven who is often the life of the party, people felt drawn to Jesus.

In the Gospels, we also see something of the adventurous spirit of Jesus. He is most often pictured out-doors in the great wide-open, walking with his friends from place to place, moving from town to town, engaging and meeting new people. He is also not too concerned about his disciples colouring out of the lines when they pick heads of wheat on the Sabbath, because in Jesus mind, the Sabbath was made in service for the benefit of humanity, and not that humans had to become slaves to the Sabbath. In addition, just as Sevens can also have an endearing child-like quality about them, Jesus highlights the importance of maintaining this child-like spirit, that finds joy and wonder in the world, when he places a child in front of this disciples and tells them, "It is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs" (Luke 18:16b)

But while immature Sevens have a tendency to avoid and run away from pain and unpleasantness, like a mature Seven, Jesus is willing to look danger in the face and even move towards it if necessary. In Luke 9:51, at a pivotal moment in Luke’s Gospel, we read that Jesus resolutely set his face to Jerusalem, and he began to teach his disciples about his impending suffering and death in Jerusalem. He suggests in John 12:24, that unless we embrace the difficulty and pain of life, we will never truly know abundant life, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
In closing, some helpful hints for those of us who may identify as Sevens on the Enneagram:

  • A life worth living requires effort and discipline, for though we may sow in tears, we will reap with songs of joy.
  • The Kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21)... Happiness is an inside job and ultimately can’t be found in gluttony and excess.
  • Less is more, for a persons life does not consist of an abundance of things or even experiences (Luke 12:15)
  • When we stop trying to avoid our pain, we will discover that God’s grace is sufficient for us (2 Corinthians 12:9).
  • And when we do these things, the promise of Jesus is that “Your sorrow will turn to joy” (John 16:20).

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Sunday Service 25th October 2020 - Enneagram Type 6              - Loyal Guardian, Institutionalist, Devil's Advocate

24/10/2020

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SERMON TEXT
ENNEAGRAM TYPE 6 - Loyal Guardian, Loyal Skeptic Devil's Advocate

Today we come to explore Type 6 on the Enneagram. We are getting closer to completing our exploration of all 9 personality types. I am very conscious that it often feels like I am only enabling us to dip our toes into each personality. It is worth exploring further if you are able to. I do hope it has also been helpful so far to explore how each of these personality types is reflected in the wholeness of the person of Jesus. It is a gentle reminder that many of the traits of each of these nine personalities will be present to greater or lesser extents in each of us, although one will normally predominate and normally it has do do with the underlying woundedness we carry with us and the underlying need and motivation in life.

Today we come to type 6 on the Enneagram. Type 6 is sometimes called the Loyalist and perhaps more specifically, the Loyal Sceptic, the Loyal Realist and the Loyal Guardian. Other names of include, The Supporter, Vigilant Trouble-shooter, and the The Devil’s Advocate.

As we explore Type 6 on the Enneagram today, we do so by reflecting firstly on the fictitious story of Michele.
Michelle lives with a fairly constant underlying anxiety. She spends a fair amount of time worrying, and much of her energy constantly scanning for danger in her attempt to make herself feel safe and secure. It seems that it has always been this way for her. Even as a baby and a child, she was quite anxious. It is difficult to pin-point exactly why this was the case, but the world in which Michelle was born often felt unstable, insecure and a little unsafe to her. From very early on, her dominant need was for security.

Growing up, Michelle always felt a lot of self-doubt and an inner insecurity. For this reason, Michelle would often tend to gravitate towards anything that would act as a kind of authority and security, from religion, organisations and ideas, and clear rules, to authority figures who helped make her feel safe. Michelle’s self-doubt often gives her a very endearing and natural sense of humility and she can also be quite witty. Because of her self-doubt, while she likes to associate with others, she doesn’t really like to stand out too much in a crowd and prefers to keep her head down and remain a little unnoticed if she can. If truth be told, Michelle’s underlying sense of anxiety means that she is often a jumble of contradictions for although she needs authority, she can also at times be a little sceptical and suspicious of it. But once you have won Michelle over she turns out to be a very warm and loyal friend and supporter.

On the whole, her school career was a positive one. The structured nature of school life provided her with a secure predictability that enabled her to thrive. But when she felt threatened by others or the school system she could also become quite rigid, unpredictable and rebellious a little bit like a cornered animal. But on the whole, while the system helped to give her a sense of security, she was a very loyal, trustworthy and committed member of her school.

Fairly early on, Michelle found a helpful sense of security in her religion. In her earlier religious life, she was especially drawn to a more fundamentalist and literalist form of religion, because it provided the kind of neat and absolute answers that made her feel more secure. In her maturity, she finds herself a little more open to a sense of mystery and not-knowing.

Because, much of Michelle’s energy is spent scanning the horizon for possible danger, she has overtime developed very good problem solving skills that have become real assets in her adult life. She is a very helpful team player at work and can be relied on to be a very practical thinker who can very easily spot the pitfalls in people’s planning, especially when others get carried away with idealistic dreams and notions. Michelle finds great comfort in working in a team and a hierarchical organisation that gives her support, and helps her to know where she stands, and so it was quite natural after leaving school that she found a position in the civil service where she in turn can play her part and serve with loyalty and commitment.

At her best, Michelle can be described as loyal, dutiful, warm & hospitable, witty, caring, realistic, practical, respectful, humble, trustworthy and courageous. But Michelle also has her shadow side which is primarily characterised by an underlying fear and anxiety that has a tendency to make her a little controlling, suspicious, indecisive, and defensive. But when under particular stress, she can become a little authoritarian, aggressive and even paranoid, quite easily falling into the trap of living in a world of “us and them” as an attempt to pinpoint where the dangers and enemies are in life.

As Michelle has grown to greater maturity, she has begun to trust more deeply in her inner authority, her inner voice of wisdom, rather than relying on an external authority. She has become a little more relaxed and at ease with herself which helps to bring out her witty side. She has also unconsciously begun to draw on the strengths of her neighbouring personality types on the Enneagram. With her Five Wing, the Observer, it has helped her to develop her knowledge about life and herself, while her Seven Wing, the Adventurer, that we will look at next week, has helped her to lighten up and find a bit more joy in life.

Like all of us, Michelle has her good days and her bad days. But she is in good company. A lot of successful people have been Sixes on the Enneagram. Teresa May, George W. Bush (and his father, George Bush snr.), Ellen DeGeneres, Jennifer Anniston, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Judi Dench, Christopher Hitchens, the previous Pope Benedict 16th, J. R. R. Tolkien, and finally, some would include Princess Diana, although others have labelled her as a Two, the Helper. The country of Germany embodies something of the spirit of the Six.
When considering the Gospel Stories about the person of Jesus, we see some of the best qualities of the Six in Jesus.

Firstly, like many sixes on the Enneagram, Jesus is presented as having a dutiful side to him. This came up in last weeks reading when the 12 year old Jesus, after having been found in the Temple, returns obediently to Nazareth with his parents.

Like any Six, Jesus has an interesting relationship with authority. In a number of places, Jesus affirms some of the authority structures of his day. Early on in Luke’s Gospel, we see Jesus being loyal and dutiful and committed to attending the weekly Synagogue service. “...As was his custom, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Luke 4:16” And when Jesus reaches out to touch and heal the leper, he affirms the authority of the priests in Jerusalem as he tells the man, “...go, and show yourself to the priests and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing.” He also affirms the duty of his followers to pay their taxes, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” (Mark 12:17).

In his own relationship with God, who he called his Father, Jesus describes himself as a person under authority as most Sixes would prefer. In John 5:19 “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” This is the kind of security relationship that a Six would thrive on.

But it is also true that Jesus lived in an ambiguous relationship with authority, as many sixes on the Enneagram do. Just as a six might rebel against authority when a sense of security is threatened, Jesus was also willing to rebel against authority, not because he felt threatened, but rather because his allegiance was ultimately to a higher authority, and to higher principles of justice and compassion.


But perhaps more than anything, some of the best qualities of the Six can be seen in Jesus’s sense of loyalty. Jesus shows loyalty to his Mother in John’s Gospel when in his dying moments on the cross, he seeks to make provision for her protection by giving her into the care of one of his disciples, “Woman, here is your son!” he says to her, and to the disciple, “Here is your Mother” (John 19:26). And his loyalty and duty to his Heavenly Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not my will but yours be done.” (Mark 14:36).

Lastly, in that passage where Jesus stands before Pilate, the representative of the Empire, we see the fearful, and authoritarian servant of the Empire, an unhealthy loyalist, sentencing Jesus to death even though he could find nothing wrong in Jesus, out of a desire to protect his own position and the countries security and stability by preventing a riot. In contrast, we see Jesus standing courageously in the face of danger before Pilate, and like a healthy and mature Six, drawing on his own inner sense of authority as he affirms before Pilate that he is a King, although his kingdom is not of this world, (John 18:36).
​

In closing, some helpful pointers for those of us who may identify as a Six on the Enneagram:
  • Since I am loved, there is no reason to fear, for God’s perfect love casts out all fear.
  • May I light a candle rather than curse the darkness and pray for those I regard as my enemies.
  • My authority comes from within, and ultimately that inner authority comes from the inner presence of Christ, for “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Phil 4:13.
  • Lastly, the words of assurance of the Risen Christ, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20).


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Sunday Service - Enneagram Type 5 - 18th October 2020

17/10/2020

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Ennegram Type 5  The Observer, The Thinker,  The Investigator, the Loner

Over the past 5 weeks we have been exploring the Enneagram as a tool for personal and spiritual growth. It is personality tool that presents 9 basic personality types. Each week, we are invited to learn more about ourselves and those around us. And each week, we are invited to see the best qualities of each personality type reflected in the person of Jesus, as well as in Scripture. 

As we explore Type 5, The Observer, The Thinker,  The Investigator, the Loner I begin with a fictional story about a person we shall call Gary: 

Gary loves to understand things. From the meaning of life and theology, to the way cultures and countries have developed and changed through history, to what motivates human behaviour, and even quantum physics.  Observing, investigating and thinking are Gary’s most dominant ways of relating to the world, all to satisfy this deep desire to know and understand. 

The tendencies of a Five were observable very early on in Gary. From the time he was a baby, he was always a lot quieter and more reserved than most other children. But in his quietness, he would keenly observe everything that was happening around him including noticing when the adults around him were happy, sad or angry.  From very early on, Gary would get very absorbed in investigating some particular thing and could get lost in fascination for hours on end, sometimes also lost in his imagination. In this sense, he was a very low maintenance child. 

But the truth behind much of this observing and investigating was that he always felt a little less adequate and less competent than others. He had a deep need to feel capable and competent. Observing, investigating and learning, were a defence mechanism in order to try and equip himself as best as possible to engage with the outside world. 

As Gary grew older, his shyness became more apparent. Being with other people for any length of time would be very draining to him, taking a lot of emotional energy. As a result, he would avoid parties and large gatherings, preferring to spend his time with just a few friends, mostly one-on-one who he could trust and feel relaxed around. 

Once Gary learned to read, it was as though he was never seen without a book. He could lose himself for hours in books, especially those which helped him learn about life and the world, whether that was through the medium of stories that had thought provoking plots with interesting characters, or non-fictional books that enabled him to learn about life and the world. 

Even though Gary could spend hours in books, and probably knew more than most people about a given subject, he would never feel like an expert. It was thus always with difficulty that he would share of his great knowledge in case there were chinks and gaps in his understanding. 

Growing older, these observing, investigating and learning gifts have served him well. He thrived not just at school, but at University as well where he always got good grades. It was perhaps inevitable that Gary would end up being employed at a University as a medical researcher where he would often be able to spend hours on his own engrossed in work that he found meaningful.

While at his best, Gary can be described as observant, perceptive, reflective, self-contained, analytical,  wise, objective and sensitive, Gary also has his shadow side, which is normally characterised by becoming withdrawn. Even when he is operating from a healthy place, Gary regularly needs time out to be alone where he can process his thoughts before re-engaging with the world. But when he is under stress and operates from an unhealthy place, Gary can very easily become remote, uninvolved, non-assertive and at his worst he can seem stingy, cerebral (lost in his head), unfeeling, arrogant and superior. 

As Gary has grown to more maturity, unconsciously he has begun to adopt some of the qualities of his neighbouring personality types on the enneagram. What can be described as his 4 wing, the artist or romantic, has helped him to become more expressive and more in touch with his feelings with a greater balance between his head and his heart, making him warmer and more empathetic.  When he draws on the strengths of what can be described as his Six wing, he has tended to become more dutiful and involved in life, even finding joy in being part of a group, although he is still very easily overwhelmed even in the company of friends and family and continues to need to carve out time just to be alone, to catch up with himself and have time to think and process life.  His Six Wing helps him to become a very effective problem solver. 

Like all of us, Gary has his good days and his bad days. But he is in good company. A lot of famous and successful people have been Fives. These include people like: Albert Einstein,  David Attenborough, Stephen Hawking, Jane Goodall, Alfred Hitchcock, Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, Marie Curie, J.K. Rowling and Stephen King. 

As we explore the Gospel stories, we discover in Jesus some of the best qualities of the Five in the person and teachings of Jesus.  Jesus was a great observer of the world and people around him. We see him observing nature “...Look at the lilies of the field how they grow...” He is also a great observer of human behaviour. In John 2:24 we read that “...Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.” In other words, he was very aware of the hidden motivations within people’s hearts.  Robert Nogosek writes that to see the Five in Jesus we need to notice his great concern for wisdom. Like all Fives, it was clearly important to Jesus to be wise and not foolish. He describes those who are wise as those who build their homes on a rock and those who are foolish as those who build on sand. Wise people don’t just let life happen, but try to build their lives in chosen values and goals. 

This search for wisdom and understanding is seen in the only Biblical record of his childhood, where Jesus is seen as a boy, on a trip to Jerusalem at the Temple, learning from and debating with the teachers of the law.  He is clearly so absorbed in this activity, that he misses the train back to Nazareth with his parents, and they have to come back looking for him. In verse 52 at the end of this episode, we read, “...Jesus grew in wisdom and stature...”. 

Again, as Robert Nogosek puts it, “Jesus own quest for Wisdom involved thinking things out for himself. He often sought out lonely places for such reflection on the scriptures, on his life, and on the will of God. As is characteristic of a wise person, he knew more than he said, or at least waited for the right moment to share his truth”. As we read in John’s Gospel, 16:12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”

As Nogosek continues, because Jesus thought things out for himself, the crowds found a freshness in his teachings in contrast to the rabbis who could only quote other people.  Like a healthy and mature Five, Jesus put himself out on the life by speaking out of his own reflections. And for this reason, Jesus gained the reputation of teaching with authority (Matthew 7:29).  The parables Jesus told show how good Jesus was at communicating truth and wisdom to those around them, not just as a list of facts, but rather as an invitation that got others thinking more deeply about life, themselves and God. 

But while Jesus clearly took time out alone, to think and reflect deeply, Jesus avoided the trap of the Five by not becoming aloof or a loner.  While Jesus was a keen observer of life and people, he was not simply an observer, but was engaged in life, as any Five needs to do on the journey towards wholeness and maturity. 

So much of an impact did the wisdom of Jesus make on his earliest followers, that in the opening verses of John’s Gospel, Jesus is described as the Wisdom, or Logos of God incarnate. Or from a different perspective, the Wisdom or Logos of God was made flesh in the person of Jesus. 

Some helpful helping cues for those of us who may be Fives on the Enneagram: 
    • You are still lovable and safe in God’s love, even when you don’t have all the answers or if you feel incompetent. 
    • The head doesn't have all the answers. 
    • The heart is also important.
    • Looking after the body is as important as feeding one’s mind. Like Jesus in our passage today, we need to grow in both body & wisdom. 
    • The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14) and we too need to become flesh (not just a mind), and engage meaningfully with the world. 
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Sunday Service - Enneagram Type 4 - The Artist/Romantic           11th October 2020.

11/10/2020

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Ennegram Type 4- The Artist, Romantic, Individualist, Non-Conformist
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Today we continue with our journey through the Enneagram as we use it to help us explore various personality types, how these personality types are reflected in the person of Jesus, and how each of these nine personality types can be an invitation to self-reflection and personal growth.

Today we explore type 4 on the Enneagram which is sometimes called the Artist, the Romantic, or the Non-conformist. As I do so, I tel the fictitious story of Janine.

Janine is wonderfully creative. She loves to express herself through art, the way she decorates her home and her garden often using the most interesting and original ideas that not many others would even think of. Janine often reflects that if this creativity in her were robbed from her or if she was prevented from using it, her life would become meaningless and as dry as dust.

Janine’s creativity and expressiveness were visible from very early on in her life. She always had an interesting take on life. Even when she was learning to speak she would come out with the most interesting and expressive words that she made up herself when she couldn't quite remember what the proper word was. In her growing up, it became apparent very early on that she had a deep need to be different and therefore special. Somehow she felt that in order to attract others to herself, she needed to stand out in some way.

Throughout her life she has given expression to her uniqueness. At school she thrived in art class, learning to play the piano and participating in the annual school play. It didn't matter whether she was on stage or behind the scenes helping to paint and create stage props. Give her any means of expressing herself and she was in her element.

As she grew as a teenager her sense of fashion could only be described as unique and different with each outfit making a statement whether it was the bright colours or strange and contrasting combinations. Janine was normally quite easy to spot in a crowd. She was also often in the kitchen, making the most interesting meals, unafraid to experiment and try strange combinations.

This creative expressive side to her has served her well as an adult, and she has tried her hand at a number of different things. Working for a time as an art teacher, doing a little bit of fine art and even graphic design on the side. She is also into a bit of alternative medicine and therapies, although her formal training has been as a psychologist and counsellor. Her own emotional life is rich and varied and she is familiar with surfing the waves of her own moods, which makes her quite an empathetic and sensitive listener, resonating and feeling very deeply with the emotional struggles and journey of her clients.

While at her best, Janine can be described as intuitive, creative, sensitive, expressive, cultured, stylish, original, artistic and empathetic, Jim also has his dark side which is normally expressed through her moodiness, which can change quite rapidly, a bit like the Northern Irish weather, four seasons in one day. She can also very easily become over-dramatic, possessive, depressed, guilt ridden, obstinate, hypersensitive, spiteful, self-absorbed and masochistic.

As Janine has grown more mature with time, unconsciously, she has begun to adopt some of the qualities of her neighbouring personality types on the Enneagram. What can be described as her three wing, the achiever, has helped give her life a bit more focus and drive, that has helped to keep her from floundering in the sea of her own feelings and emotions. It was this achiever in her that helped her to knuckle down and study for her Masters in Psychology. It was also the Five wing (which we will look at next week), that helped her savour the experience of learning about human behaviour, the mind and what makes people tick.

Like all of us, Janine has her good days and her bad days. But she is in good company. A lot of famous and successful people have been Fours on the Enneagram. Jeremy Irons, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Shirley Bassey, Meryl Streep, Liam Neeson, Prince Charles, Kate Winslet, Virginia Woolf, Paloma Faith, & Annie Lennox. The country of France which has that certain Je ne sais quoi, embodies something of the spirit of the Four. Janine loves spending holidays in France, where she feels right at home.
As we consider some of the characteristics of Janine and all individualists or romantics on the Enneagram, some of the best qualities of a Four can be discerned in the person of Jesus. Probably what stands out most is what can be described as the sensitivity of Jesus. As Robert Nogosek puts it, Jesus could well be called “the patron saint of misunderstood people. He frequently complained that his closest friends did not understand him.

But a scene where Jesus is understood is in Matthew 26 with what was probably a fellow four on the Enneagram, the woman who annointed Jesus feet with oil before his crucifixion. For the woman in the story (according to John it was Mary of Bethany, although some think it was Mary Magdalene), while all Jesus male disciples were out of touch with what was happening in Jesus life, and what was coming up ahead in terms of his arrest, torture and crucifixion, this unnamed women proves to intuitively perceive what is happening. In an extravagant display of her devotion to Jesus, she pours out an enormously expensive jar of alabaster oil upon him. One of the practically minded disciples, (Judas according to John’s version), thinks that it is a waste. But Jesus resonates with the sensitivity of the woman. He absorbs and affirms her extravagant expression of love. He is not afraid of this display of emotion, whereas one imagines that some of the disciples were probably feeling decidedly uncomfortable. Jesus describes what she has done as a beautiful thing.

Throughout the Gospels, like any Four on the Enneagram, Jesus is not afraid to stand out from the crowd. Conforming just for the sake of conforming does not seem to be in the nature of Jesus. He is his own person, even if he must stand alone, or potentially end up dying alone. He is also highly intuitive. Again and again, Jesus has a knack of knowing what people are thinking even without them expressing themselves verbally. “Knowing what they were thinking...” we often read, Jesus spoke to them.

In one of the most moving moments of scripture, we see the sensitive, empathetic side of Jesus, standing outside the tomb of Lazarus. And as he is met with the grief and emotion of Mary and Martha, Jesus resonates with their grief and pain. In what is the shortest verse in the Bible, we read these simple words, “And Jesus wept.”

And then lastly, In the Garden of Gethsemane, we encounter a Jesus who is also comfortable with his own emotions. As he prays, he fully expresses himself in anguish. It seems that Jesus does not hold back in some kind of reserved stiff upper lip way. He is described as sweating blood. He bares his heart as he prays to “Father, it it is your will, let this cup pass from me. But not my will but yours be done.”
But whereas Fours on the Ennegram have a tendency towards envy and self-pity, according to the Gospel stories, Jesus doesn't fall into this trap. When his captors come for him after he has prayed, he meets them with a peace and a confidence that was unnerving to to the soldiers. Even after having poured out his heart in prayer, Jesus seems to be able to maintain his centre and his inner compass as he faces his captors and his coming death with equanimity, a sign of a Four who has grown to full maturity.

In closing, a few helpful cues for those of us who may be Fours on the Enneagram would include the following:

  • Even ordinary moments contain the extra-ordinary if we have eyes to see.
  • I am not my feelings. Beneath the raging sea of emotions the peace of God is always present.
  • You are loved by God, even when it feels like you don't stand out at all.
  • The grass is not always greener on the other-side. Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the LORD leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble.
  • When you find yourself downcast, as the Psalmist reminds us, put your trust in God. (Psalm 42:5)
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