Eastertide
April 6, 2015

Scripture Reading: Acts 4:32-35

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Our immediate reactions to radical changes in our lives whether it is a disaster or the blessings of a new child, often is to just respond in any way that might help. This is what Jesus’ followers did following the resurrection. The results are often two much of one thing, like infant size onesies, and too little of other things like clothing for a six month old or a nine month old. Babies do grow fast and new ways of following God move from the exuberance of the change itself to the planning and work necessary to make a new beginning a lasting one. In the Book of Acts we have the history of the initiation of the Kingdom of God that Jesus taught. It is a history of people, like you and me, stumbling at times, but ever moving forward toward the purpose Jesus set out for all of us.

God created all of us with differing skills and talents because the world needs all those skills and talents, but it requires a level of interdependence that can sometimes be challenging because of our diversity in ways of being. The creation of the Myers Briggs* personality types is an attempt to categorize the various combinations of traits that people have and how they fit together. I have found it helpful in my understanding of working with people.

Beyond these pyscho-social aspects of personal interchange we also must deal with interacting within the framework of our own wholeness and the wholeness of others. We do live in a world of fragmented people and thus we live in a fragmented world. John Ortberg in his book Soul Keeping encourages us to care of the most important part of our being, our soul. I think that is good advice. Because unless we can get pasts the hurts that have engrained themselves into our souls we will not be whole and we will be less successful in helping others become whole.

Prayer: Lord, help me to be sensitive to the differences in personalities that my hamper quality communications but more importantly, heal my soul, Lord, heal my soul. Amen.

*http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.