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“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18: 15-20) Reflection A few years ago, I took a weeklong course on conflict resolution from the Lombard Mennonite Peace Institute. We looked at this verse and used it as a framework for our work of learning to better handle the disputes that come up in the life of church. At camp, we’ve been practicing what we call HOT Communication for a long time now. It started as “Clean Communication” and has morphed int “HOT Communication” standing for honest, open, and transparent communication. When we have an issue with someone, we go talk to them. We try to resolve the problem face-to-face, not talking behind others’ backs. If we need help, we engage a mediator to help us talk through the problem. The staff and I had conversations this summer about how our world needs more HOT Communication. We need to have the difficult conversations and come to win-win agreements. We need to be open to listening and understanding another’s point of view. And we need to find common ground. How might you practice HOT Communications in your life? How might those changes make your life better? Is there someone who you have a conflict with right now? Make a point to go talk to them and try to resolve it. --Chad Hershberger Prayer Be with us in conflict, Lord, and help us to speak love in truth. May we learn to speak more honestly, more opening, and more transparent with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.
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