February 2015 Tomes - Me and Myers Briggs

Parson Tom’s Tomes 

In January the Vestry of All Saints met for our retreat and one of the things on our agenda is to see how we, as people of different temperaments, get along to work together. We used an instrument called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator which uses a psychology based on the work of G.J. Jung and suggests that people have different orientations to life and we need to understand that we are different from each other and we may have to learn the differences in order to communicate and work together. I use this MBTI with couples in pre-marital counseling so they can learn how to make decision together and learn how to have productive fights instead of keep having more rounds of the same fight. As the French say, “Viva la difference!”, because we are unconsciously attracted to people who are different but then we try to change them after we are married.  

This is from Sheryl O'Bryan at http://www.sherylobryan.com

 at In this diocese the month of February starts off with Diocesan Convention. And I look forward to it as a mixed blessing. Here are the negatives; 1) Lots of noise. I am an introvert, so I do better in quiet situations but here people are running into old friends that they have not seen since the last convention and out come the pictures of the kids, grandkids, dogs, rectors, etc. with all the news and gossip. Then there is the laughter, oh the laughter. If there are hundreds of people all speaking at once and I start to get overwhelmed- it is like a big cocktail party. And yet, it is so good to see these people of whom I am so fond and after a while it becomes a positive. I still have to leave the room to regain sanity every so often but it is good. 2) Business. I am an intuitive feeler who likes freedom so the idea of droning on and on about resolutions and budget items just wears out my limits that I want to stand up and exclaim; “What the heck does any of this have to do with Jesus or loving my neighbor?” 

Actually I have done variations of that line at different conventions.  Yet, we belong to a much larger church that has to have some organization and I need to go through all this organization so I can have freedom. None of us are “pure” in our types and we are each a combination of types held in tension with its opposite.   Each year I am part of the Diocesan Finance Committee because  I am appreciative of those other people on the committee who bring things to my attention that I would have overlooked about “dollars and cents” and I point out different “sense” that a budget should also reflect besides numbers they might have overlooked. 

Every positive has a negative, every negative has a blessing. I am looking forward to convention. I am looking forward to working with this new vestry.  

SHALOM 

tom+