Put aside all bitterness, losing your temper, anger, shouting, and slander, along with every other evil. Be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to each other, in the same way God forgave you in Christ. Ephesians 4:31-32
I tried some AI yesterday for the first time. AI refers to Artificial Intelligence, and it is quite the fad right now. I wanted to take a walk for some exercise, but I needed to work on my sermon, which I usually do sitting down at a computer. I decided to write my sermon while I was walking by recording myself talking. Then I put the recording into AI to transcribe it for me.
It worked! Mostly. I was reading through the transcript, and I got to the sentence: “He certainly then put a sock in mirror halls.”
I have no idea what I said that made the AI think we should be putting socks into mirror halls. Maybe it was something Louis XIV did in the Palace at Versailles. I don’t know.
This is a funny misunderstanding, and one that I can go back and listen to the recording and figure out what I really said. Most importantly, the AI doesn’t have emotions that will be hurt when I fix the misunderstanding.
Other misunderstandings are more painful. Yesterday I read about a misunderstanding between two legislators in the Vermont State House. (Read more here.) They represent the same district, and five months ago one of them started pouring a cup of water into the tote bag of the other one on a regular basis. We don’t know why she was pouring the water into the bag. She has apologized.
What really struck me about this story is that Vermont is a small state, and these two legislators have known each other their whole lives, and need to continue to work together. They are working toward reconciliation, although they recognize there will be awkward and difficult moments as they work to repair their relationship.
How many of us are willing to work toward reconciliation in our relationships? Maybe it is a small misunderstanding, or maybe a big issue. The current trend is to “ghost” people, or just ignore them and stop talking and seeing them. Hard to do in a place like Vermont.
Paul writes to the people at the church in the city of Ephesus, encouraging them to set aside conflicts and work toward forgiveness and reconciliation. The verse above makes the process seem easy, but we all know that it involves vulnerability, awkwardness and difficult moments. Stuff that we like to avoid.
It seems like the culture around us has a message of division and separation – of ghosting each other – instead of building up community through relationships. In the coming months, as we consider ways to show kindness to each other during a tough election season, let’s see if there are ways that we can work on reconciliation. Ways that we can bring people together, even if we don’t agree on everything or we misunderstand each other. Ways to make our community a better place. Let’s focus on kindness and compassion, and see if we can all feel better and live together in peace. Amen.
Pastor Anna-Lisa Hunter
June 19, 2024
