ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
August 25, 2026
Is change good? Is change bad? Are there times when it is to be celebrated and other times when it is to be met with caution? To that latter question, I would probably answer YES and YES. Now it is important for me to say that I am not an expert nor even a somewhat knowledgeable person in the area of AI, but I have tried to listen and read and approach with an open mind. I was sort of sitting in the middle, not necessarily feeling the good outweighed the bad or the bad outweighed the good. The progress in the area of medicine has already been extraordinary, and it’s just getting started. But in recent weeks, I have become more concerned in regard to what economists are seeing with the AI boom. Over the last decade or so, people have been calling AI an equalizing force, creating access and opportunity for those who previously would have been left behind. My ears enjoyed those words, but recently, researchers are discovering that AI has in fact supercharged the disparity gap between rich and poor. It is one of many forces growing the imbalance. Now to be clear, I am not opposed to people making money and living comfortable lives, but there is a breaking point within a society, especially one that claims to have some basic moral compass. Jesus provided a number of sayings that did not depict the wealthy well, and even in Mary’s song, before the birth of Jesus, she offered the words, “He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty-handed.” Yet when Jesus appeared to call out the rich, I don’t believe it was a generic term. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the father in that story was wealthy, but he was presented in a very positive way. The rich who appear to be on the receiving end of Jesus’ outrage are those who fail to be just, good, and compassionate. It falls in line with the prophets, who called out the rich who did not treat their employees well, who showed no compassion to the orphan or widow, and took advantage of the most vulnerable. And I’m not an alarmist, yet I know just enough economy theory and history to know there is a breaking point in any system, whether it be economic collapse or revolution. I’m looking to Jesus for another option, one that allows all to live with economic security.
We ask a lot of you, Holy God, and you simply ask us to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with you. We’ll try to improve our task. Amen.
