Kindred in Christ,

It has been a gift to reflect with you and journey inward together this Lenten season. With the help of the Enneagram, we have connected in new ways though a small group and a worship series that will conclude this Sunday. As we have mentioned throughout the last several weeks, the Enneagram, while not perfect, is an ancient personality typing tool that helps us explore the ways we tend to get in our own way, and how to return to our rest in God. Along with mapping out the different personality types we tend to be dominant in, and the Passions we tend to lose ourselves by, it also maps out the Virtues we tend toward when we are healthy (see above). For example, as a TWO or The Advocate, I tend to lose myself through the Passion of Pride (chasing flattery). However, when I am healthy, I lean into the virtue of humility and experience the freedom to care for others out of pure love for God and neighbor.

Perhaps the greatest gift of the Enneagram is the reminder that the Passions and Virtues are not things that define us but rather spectrums within us. This helps us move away from the false certainty of categorizing people (including ourselves) as either good or bad, in or out. Rather, we are always ambiguously in-between. Indeed, this is why we need spiritual practices and the season of Lent which help us slow down, listen to the Holy Spirit, and reflect where we are at a given moment.

Join us this Sunday as we explore how to live in the ambiguity of life between Passion and Virtue, and how this ambiguity is a crack in the systems of certainty that allow the light of Christ to come in.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz