A Labyrinthine Journey

Somehow our conversation turned to the history of movements of God within the church. Seemingly out of nowhere a fresh outpouring of the energy of God’s Spirit and Grace will change the terrain of the church. Yet it doesn’t energize and capture the imagination and support of everybody. Some would jump on board and be a part of that emerging gift of God, yet some would strongly resist any change in what they believed and how they expressed their faith. Each group would be convinced that they were a part of what God was doing and each would be convinced that the other is no longer with God’s program.

The history of Israel, the prophets, Jesus and his ongoing challenges to the Pharisees and Scribes, the desert mystics and the growing institutions, the split between Eastern and Western Church, the emergence of Luther, Calvin, Wesley, and the Anabaptists as parts of the Reformation movements, the Social Gospel movement, the Tent Revivals, the mission movement, and now the liturgical/spirituality/postmodern emergent church movements followed by whatever is next.

It seems like each one of those movements of God within the church go through the same cycle: breakthrough, energizing renewal, triggering resistance, then establishment and incorporation, only to have a new movement breakthrough in that stream and repeat the same pattern.

What is going on with that?

As our discussion continued, I had the image of the videos I had seen of the Hawaiian lava flows (someday I hope to actually witness this). Beneath the surface of the earth the liquid core of the earth is moving and keeping this planet alive mostly unseen. yet from time to time that molten energy would breakthrough the surface, cutting through the crust of the rock and want/need to go somewhere. If there was great resistance, then we had a volcanic eruption with widespread affect not only at the site of the explosion but through the ash cloud and the accompanying earthquake would have an affect beyond that locality. If the resistance was low (resistance is never absent) then a new river of lava would break out and run toward the sea. Along the way, this living river of energy would swallow up and transform everything it touched. Old structures would be overcome by what will become a new ground of being for those who live in that place. As the liquid rock pursues its course it would cool and new rock would remain and especially if it made it to the sea new land would be created. With more cooling houses and businesses would be built not on the sand but now on new rock. When one flow plays itself out, new ones would spring up in new places and the cycle would continue.

So how might this help us as we care for and seek the welfare of the Church of God?

In our discussion, we found it offering a longer view of what God might be doing among us, inviting us to appreciate and to trust in God’s grace in newer ways. I believe in both scenarios the gifts of God are real: the fresh energy of the outpouring breakthroughs as well as the solid grounding of the existing structures and ground. For the planet as well as the church to be alive we need both the solid forms upon which to stand and build our lives and faith as well as the indwelling fire of God to give those forms vitality. God’s Spirit is present in each of those gifts.

Where we get stuck is when we get overly attached to either the existing structure of rock or institutional form that we do not recognize and celebrate God’s new work to keep the Church alive. So the institutions we live within are not wrong in and of themselves, but when we turn our structures and forms into idols they become barriers in our lives and in other’s lives to the Living God. The idolatry pendulum swings the other way, too. We can become so enamored by the freshness and excitement of each emerging movement of the Spirit that we can forget that God’s grace is just as present in the lives of those who resist as that Love is present in us who are doing the pushing.

What is essential for each one in this great living work of God is that God is present working in both God’s patient way and in God’s expanding work.

Can it happen? One can only hope.

Well, that is what I am hoping to come up with as I go through all this preparation.

As I first tried to chart my course for digging deep into the Enneagram I looked for a conference or some sort of training to go to as my Continuing Education for the year. I found a couple interesting trainings out there and decided that I was interested in Helen Palmer’s Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition training (still am actually). However, the cost was beyond what my budget would allow me to consider at this time. Actually, the cost of any of the training courses was beyond my budget.

So that meant Independent Research (translated: read a bunch of books).

One thing I noticed as I researched what books to use for research was that there were some pretty distinct schools of thought amongst Enneagram authors and teachers. And amongst those schools of thought there was little love lost. I actually found that somewhat ironic (and familiar). Amongst authors and teachers of a tool that is meant to help guide us beyond the pettiness of the personality and a limited view of reality, I saw the power of pride and prejudice that led to factions and animosity (and lawsuits). I had to laugh: where else in my life have I experienced people who seek to gather together for the betterment of the world and people in the world descending to petty battles and entrenched attitudes that detract from and almost nullify the source of the movement? Anyone? You in the back-yes, the Christian Church is the correct answer … sadly.

Well, I am a bit of an ecumenical Christian having lived and been influenced by major schools of Christian thought: Baptist, Calvinist, Wesleyan, Quaker, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, contemplative, socially active, spirituality based, even a touch of pentacostal. So I have been trying to gather from the wide variety of perspectives on the Enneagram that I can. Many of those are listed on my blogroll in the sidebar. Soon I will post a list of the major sources just to help me keep track.

One thing I have found is that while I have a number of books and articles that lay out the personality traits and activities associated with each Enneagram type (Riso and Hudson, Rohr), I am most drawn to those books and authors that go down to the roots of the Enneagram and the development of the personality fractures and traps (Almaas and Maitri). The value is that I don’t have to focus on memorizing a lot of lists and ideas without a context to put them in. What I find myself doing is finding the bedrock and laying the foundations that will make it easier to remember the details and even go beyond anyone’s lists to see type and then to respond to type.

This is parallel to my work with spirituality. With my wide experience with different families in the Christian tradition it would be so easy to get lost in the detail and I think the church has truly got lost in the details substituting a focus on the form of our faith while losing sight of the substance of our faith. Spirituality is one of those foundational and ecumenical activities that can (if we can let go of the schools of thought divisions) provide a path to be a part of God’s healing the church (mission and service are another one of those foundational and ecumenical activities that can unite).

Well, enough behind the scenes posting. My next one will begin to focus on the bedrock I am building my foundations on.

Sorry to have dropped off the face of the Blogosphere, I have been occupied in a big endeavor: digging into the Enneagram. The presenting reason for that immersion in the 9 types, the circle, the triads, the lines of interconnection, and a tool for spiritual discernment is that I am going to lead a Day Apart with the Enneagram for our Annual Conference in November. Before, I was a beginning student of the Enneagram, but to teach? I realized I needed to be more than a beginning student. So I have been reading and sifting and considering and wrestling and whatever else one does with new typologies. It has been a good thing. Now I am more into the sifting and percolating process of understanding things so I have some time. Besides what better place to let ideas steep is to write for an audience. I keep seeking a way to find my blogging niche and this might be a place to start.

But before I get into what I am learning about myself and others through the enneagram, I wanted to tell my story of the Enneagram.

It started about 6 years ago while going to our Conference’s Pastoral Counselor to try to deal with a long term depression that both became part of the reason for a divorce and was also triggered by that event. At one point she mentioned that I might get something out of the Enneagram. She didn’t know a lot about it at the time, but had this intuitive idea that it would help me. So I stopped at a bookstore on the way out of town and bought a book on the Enneagram. I did the test that was included and thought I would be a Type 9: a Peacemaker. I liked that, it helped me some, but I didn’t find it all that earthshaking, just interesting.

A year or so later, I had remarried and we were moved by the Bishop to a new parish. Also at the time, I followed the sensed call of God to begin training as a Spiritual Director. I found a training program within an hour of my house in association with Creighton University in Omaha. Dr. Wendy Wright was the teacher for the first year as we looked at the history of Christian Spirituality. I loved it. Two characters in that history really stirred things within me: Ignatius of Loyola (on spiritual discernment) and Evagrius of Pontus. With Evagrius I also captured a deep appreciation for the Desert Mystics. I found in their writings a resonance with the process of spiritual growth and formation that I was sensing and observing. Now 4 years later I still feel that.

I wrote a research paper on Evagrius and his schema of Eight Thoughts. Those thoughts became the seed that eventually became the Seven Deadly Sins and their associated Seven Christian Virtues. But for Evagrius those Eight Thoughts were traps for anyone who sought to develop a Christian Spiritual relationship with God.

After that first year, I kept reflecting on both Evagrius and Ignatius as I began to try out Spiritual Direction. They are still very helpful. Then in the third year of the course, we had a Spiritual Director couple lead a class session on the Enneagram. I still typed myself as a Type 9 and still found it interesting.

However, what really got me interested in the Enneagram at this time was the correspondence between the Nine types of the Enneagram and Evagrius’ Eight Thoughts. They were the same, plus one. So I started paying more attention to the Enneagram and seeing how it might help.

Right after that class and for a few months before we were moved again by the Bishop, I went to one of them for Spiritual Direction. We had more in depth conversations about my Ennea-type. We came to the conclusion that I had mistyped myself. I liked the idea of being the Type 9, but we agreed that I was actually a Type 8 with a strong Type 9 wing. (If you don’t understand that, don’t worry, it is only marginally important for this post).

I did not like that at all. (Which is actually important, because that is a sign that we were probably right on). The Type 8 is the Challenger, the Dictator, the one who needs to be in Control. I did not like that because I knew a couple pastor’s growing up who would fit that description and I endeavored my whole life to not be like them at all (another clue that this typing was right). This triggered a major crisis in my spiritual life as I wrestled with the idea of accepting who I really was and what my traps and strengths were. It took quite a bit of time for me to get to that point. Once I did, that freed up a lot of spiritual energy. I found myself coming back to the Enneagram information again and again going deeper each time into my own type.

That continued for a year or so. Then, at a Spiritual Direction Retreat I kept bringing up thoughts and insights from my reading and reflections on the Enneagram. Out of that retreat, our Conference’s Pastoral Counselor asked me if I wanted to share those insights at a workshop on the Enneagram for the conference. In a moment of weakness/faith I said yes. Then I started digging into the reading.

That is my story, now to start sifting through all those ideas and lets see what I can share with you all as I practice and prepare.