Friday, 18 March 2016

I don't claim to be an Enneagram expect but while preparing for Holy Week it occurred to me that each of the Nine personality types of the Enneagram would approach the journey of the holy week in a different manner.  Each might be stuck in one part of the journey and avoid other parts.  Here is my reflection on this idea.


If you know your type let me know if my description connects with your approach.



Holy Week and the Nine spiritual personality types of the Ennegram


1.     The Perfectionist
Easter Sunday when all is right is the most comfortable place for the one personality.  But an ONE needs to remember the chaos and joy of the Palm Sunday parade.  Let go it doesn’t have to be perfect and let the celebration on the parade creep into the Easter perfection.
2.     The Helper
       Maundy Thursday’s as Jesus washes the feet of the disciples would appeal to the TWO personality type.   The love of the family gathering is a great temptation.  They would see themselves in the beloved Disciple.  Let it go, go into the morning darkness of Good Friday and discover that love is deeper than simple appreciation and that even in the abandonment of the Cross love still has power.
3.     The Achiever
      The THREE personality type can be stuck in Easter Saturday.  Never satisfied with accepting the Resurrection of new life always hoping for something better, always worrying about Good Friday undermining their self worth.  Let it go, on Resurrection day, accept that is all grace, you don’t have earn your place at the table, the stone rolled away without you.  Look at the resurrected one, transformed but still carrying the wounds and scars. 
4.     The Individualist
      The great temptation for the FOUR type is to stay in the Good Friday melancholy.  Bleak and sorrowful but so alive. No one feels this more than the FOUR, and no one can understand.   The Four wants to stay in the brokenness but the call is to Resurrection into a world and life that is already perfect.  Why do you look for the living among the dead?
5.     The Investigator
      Someplace between Sunday morning and Sunday night, like Thomas the FIVE won’t trust the witness of others, he or she keeps seeking more evidence.   Let it go, trust and become the one who speaks the truth.  On Easter Morning proclaim with hope and confidence “He is Risen”.  Do not remove yourself from the story and the feelings it invokes with analyses and theories on resurrection, instead use the story and the feelings to become an advocate for justice and hope in the world.
6.     The Loyalist.
      On Maundy Thursday  The SIX know that he or she would not have been like Peter and denied him.  Yet Peter was a six personality type, loyal, committed to the master, the first to understand who he was and he failed so completely on that fateful night.   You will fear what the world thinks of your trust in Resurrection?   You will speak boldly in Easter worship: “He is Risen” and quickly melt in with the crowd later in the day.  Stop trying to fix the world and keep it all in it’s proper place.  When you hear the news of hope in the world, nurture that hope, lift it up, be the bearer of good news to the world.  Be loyal  beyond death into new life.
7.     The Enthusiast
     The SEVEN type loves the party of Palm Sunday, the parade, the singing, the dancing.  Lets stay here and party.  Yet the week continues.  Good Friday must come to every life.  The Seven needs to let go of the shallow celebration and go into deep reflection of the sorrow of Holy Week.   There is wisdom to be found in the journey.  It is only by passing through the shadows that Resurrection understood.  When a Seven Cries out “he is Risen” on Easter Sunday it will come from a deeper place if the Holy Reflection is part of the journey.
8.      The Challenger
      Sometime early Friday morning Judas arrives to betray Jesus, his master.  The EIGHT-personality type would have known what to do.  Challenge, take out the swords, and strike down the offender.  O how you hate Judas for his betrayal yet Judas was the challenger of the group. He is the EIGHT-personality type.  Was it self-protection he sought?  Did he think he knew better than any other?   The EIGHT type would be wise to return to the Passover meal and remember the deep love of the family, remember Jesus serving the others, washing their feet even and remember that is was God who saved the people.   Remember the love Jesus gave even his enemies. Let go of the need to win, to overcome and to be the wise one.  You can’t understand it. Wisdom comes in the love.  He is risen and that is enough reason to love.
9.     The Peacemaker
       On the way to Emmaus.  The NINE has hung out with the others for Holy Week but now it is time to avoid further complications.  It was fun while it lasted but now it time for the peace of home.   Some of the others have been talking about Resurrections but that is just disturbing.  There is no peace in the midst of the chaos.  The whole week has been disturbing.   Let it go: Stay in the game, stay loyal to the cause.  The two disciples walk home to Emmaus and encounter the Risen Christ.  When Christ breaks the bread at the table they are reminded of the act of love that binds them to the community and they immediately return. 




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