Bishops' Blog

Good Shepherd in Dallas Sermon

My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me

Three seconds. Count with me: a thousand and one, a thousand and two, a thousand and three. That is how long a recording Artificial Intelligence needs to create a perfect replica of your voice. By perfect I mean digitally precise, indistinguishable. Add some video and no one could, by eye and ear alone, know it wasn’t you! (Disclaimer- I am a tech simpleton, like many of my generation, needing help to work my phone, so what I say is limited to general public knowledge). That version of you could be a joke, or it could be something hurtful personally. But I want to focus on the bigger picture- in such a world, how do we really know who is who? What are we sure we can trust? When I was little my parents took me to the circus, which included the house of mirrors, a kind of maze with distorted versions of you the traveler throughout, taller shorter fatter thinner, making it difficult to find your way through.  Well, there is now an electronic house of mirrors in which many of us spend all too much time.  The circus version was for amusement. But social media are less benign. We come away with questions such as ‘who is it really who is speaking to me?’ can that person be trusted? And who are they saying that I am?

‘My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.” What is Jesus telling us here?  First of all, He can be recognized. It is Jesus, and not another. Second, He can be trusted. There is a personal relationship, so that we can speak, be heard, and also listen. We are known for who we really are, and welcomed, though we are also called to follow. Acceptance is paired with guidance.  And Jesus has said this, and continued to say this, though the Scripture, across centuries and continents, which means across a wide diversity of cultures too. And Jesus is confident that He can make himself heard, and can summon the hearers so that they obey. Nothing has the power to stop this hearing, ultimately and over time, no trauma, no human forgetfulness, nor our own willfulness. That voice makes itself heard!

But wait a minute, preacher! Don’t people debate over religion? Aren’t there a hundred churches relatively near my house? And don’t speakers pull Christians this way and that according to various agendas?  Now in many cases, it is a matter of both/add. That is why our service begins with the words from Ephesians 4: ‘one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.’ The emphasis of one Church has something to teach its neighbor Church, and we should be able to learn? Fair enough, but we remain with the question- how do I know that this is the true voice of Jesus that I can hear and trust? How can I have the confidence to follow this voice, and leave behind many other voices that want to lead me this way and that, the way the sirens meant to lead Homer’s Odysseus astray?  How can I be sure, be confident, trust? The answer to that question is how of faith is indeed confirmed, which after all is the main theme and task of this morning.

I want to give three answers to this question, how can I be sure it is the true voice of Jesus. In the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes we are told that a threefold cord is a knot that cannot readily be severed. It stays strong.  The same is true for these three reasons. The first is that you have heard this voice before. You have learned who he is by what he says. His actions fit his words. He has proved reliable. He has overcome the threats that you and others have faced. That is what the Bible is. It is the story of what God has done over a long period of time. We learn what God is really like by what he has done. And in the New Testament he can understand that Jesus is God Himself come along us.  Stories or voices that don’t line up with what he know of God in Jesus Christ are not to be trusted. You have there learned the tone and the spirit of His true call, You have learned to ‘hear that voice.”

As to the second way we are sure of the true voice, I want you to recognize that sometimes people who care for us tell us things we don’t immediately want to hear, but we know deeper within us that they are saying those words for our welfare. Sometimes people show ‘tough love’ for us, which challenges something we are saying or doing. Love for ourselves, others, and God is what matters, even when we resist it.  Now there was a great teacher of the faith in the fifth century A.D., St. Augustine, who was a bishop in northern Africa.  He offered what he called the ‘law of charity,’ which means the ‘law of Christian love.’ His point was this: right interpretations of the Bible always, ultimately, lead to the love of God and our neighbor.  Voices that claim to be Christian, but are full of anger or confusion, should not be trusted. So-the Word of God, and charity are standards one and two- what then is the third, to make the threefold cord strong?

It is a good thing to be honest about ourselves, to do what is sometimes called a ‘personal inventory.’ When I was confirmed many years ago, I was given a copy of the “St. Augustine prayer book,’ which had ways to do spiritual self-examination. But you don’t need that particular book- a regular moment to look at ourselves as others see us, is good. In self-examination I see a person who is impatient, who’s pretty sure my opinions are right! Maybe you’re like that too- I leave that question to you!  And so what I need is people I trust, who care about me, who will tell me the unvarnished truth. This is part of what we mean by ‘Church.’ For all its flaws, it is a people who mean to follow Jesus, also committed to one another, from among whom I can find people who care enough about me to challenge and test my opinions. And that community has survived for a long time, so that within its bounds, I can learn patience to grow, slowly, two steps forward one back, before God. Christianity is a team sport, even when its training in patience and self-correction make our spiritual muscles ache. Bible, charity, Church- these three together, give us confidence that we sheep, prone to wander on our own, hear his true voice, and he ours, so that where he leads we may follow. Amen. 

Bane of All Sermons

Maybe I am just a grumpy old man who can’t work his phone! (Comments not welcome!). But a senior priest told me recently that, on a lark, he asked for an AI generated sermon which was, frankly, pretty good. He opined that some of our clergy may have, in a pinch, used one. I put my fingers in my ears and made noise as he spoke.  Why so? what’s so bad about an AI-sermon? My friend was historically astute enough to remind me that, in the 16^th Century, Anglican clerics would read from the Book of Homilies in lieu of writing a sermon. My retort to him was that only clergy not deemed up to the task of writing their own were required to do this. Be that as it may, what is the case against technologically enhanced homiletics?

It is true that content matters in a sermon- some insight into the Biblical passage, an orthodox point, an apt illustration or application. These are necessary conditions for a good sermon, but not in themselves sufficient.  Here I make appeal to what the linguists call the ‘illocutionary sense.’ In addition to the meaning of the words themselves, there is also the context in which they were spoken, the intent of the speaker, and the effect on the lived situation into which the words were spoken. Furthermore, the sermon cannot be separated from a Christian understanding of witness and testimony. Professing the faith is itself an imperative of the Christian life. Like all his or her fellow Christians, the preacher is a dying sinner, saved by grace, who gives voice to what matters most before other dying sinners with their own distress and hope.

The preacher speaks then first to himself or herself. They give utterance to what they need to hear, the word of the grace of God. Only if it matters that much, and that way, to the speaker does it have a chance to matter urgently to the hearer. Of course preaching must not swerve into self-involvement or public rehash of therapy!  What I am describing is the x-factor beyond content alone- strain it out and you lose the ‘one thing needful.’ For this reason a sermon as testimony might be disorganized and struggling, but still be compelling spiritually.

There may be such a thing as ‘artificial intelligence,’ but it isn’t human, but rather is alien. In the same way, the cyber-sermon may eloquent, but can’t be ‘kerygmatic’ (conveying the Gospel). Heed St. Paul, my friend: ‘  When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn't use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God's secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. (I Corinthians 2:1). Amen!

 Peace,

+GRS