Faith and Technology

Mark 5:21-43

When [Jesus] had crossed again to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him and he was by the sea. Then a man named Jairus, a leader of the synagogue, came and fell before him and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live.” So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him.

Now, there was a woman who had suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians and was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him and touched his cloak, for she said, “If I but touch his clothes I will be made well.” Immediately her hemorrhage stopped and she felt, in her body, that she had been healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus said to the crowd, “Who touched my clothes?” His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you. How can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” But Jesus looked around to see who had done it. And the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came to him with fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease.”

While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house and said to him, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” Overhearing them, Jesus said to him, “Do not fear, only believe.” And he allowed only Peter, James, and John, the brother of James, to follow him. As he approached the leader’s house, he saw a great commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he entered the house, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead, only sleeping?” And they laughed at him. He put them all out of the house and took the child’s mother and father, and those who had come with him, into the place where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means “little girl, get up,” and the girl got up and began to walk about. (She was twelve years of age.) At this, they were filled with amazement and Jesus ordered them sternly that no one should know about this. Then he told them to give her something to eat.

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I heard an interview the other day with Ray Kurzweil. He’s a computer scientist, author, entrepreneur, inventor, and “futurist.” He was described as Google’s “main AI guy,” too, who lives and works and writes about a world that is relatively foreign to me, except for the fact that it impacts more aspects of my daily life – and yours – than I am often aware of. As a computer scientist, for example, he is involved with stuff like text-to-speech synthesis and speech recognition technology. Again, things I don’t understand and can’t comprehend the science behind, but that are part of my daily life in millions of ways. (For instance, I’m not there yet, but my wife Christa, has begun texting exclusively by simply speaking into her phone, rather than typing with her fingers and her phone’s tiny keypad.)

Anyway, according to Wikipedia, Ray Kurzweil writes books about health and technology, artificial intelligence, and transhumanism. From what I can tell, “transhumanism” has something to do with the notion – and likelihood – according to people like him, that in just the next twenty years, we will become something of a hybrid species, where our bodies and our brains will “merge,” as he puts it, with Artificial Intelligence and with the Cloud to the point that, not only will we have more direct access to a vast and growing amount of information, but we will get to a place where we simply have to think about some of the things we currently do – like sending a text message, I suppose – and those things will just happen for us.

This sounds crazy to me. And some of what he’s predicted about it all is downright scary, to be honest. But he’s apparently been studying and making predictions about such technological advances since the late 1990’s. And he’s been right. For instance, he predicted way back then – before the iPhone, before social media, and before Google, even, as we know it – that, by 2029, AI would achieve human level intelligence.

And, think about it, with five years still to go before that deadline … with the fact that you can this morning ask AI anything at all about philosophy, psychology, physics, and even theology, and get solid answers … and with the Cloud doubling its capacity for information every two years … it seems he might be right again, that human level intelligence in something other than human beings is likely – and coming soon.

And what in the world, you might be asking, does this have to do with Jesus – walking and boating and healing his way around Galilee – in First Century Palestine?

Well, I’ve been stewing, for quite some time now, about how surprisingly relevant and meaningful I find the Gospel to be, in general, in light of the way this kind of technology is advancing in the world and in our lives. All of this “Artificial Intelligence” is one piece of it, for sure. I also think about the way “virtual reality” and “remote working” and “distance learning” and “online worship” have become such necessary, meaningful, ordinary parts of our lives of late.

(How many of you – like me – have done any of those things in the last month or so – worshiped online, worked remotely, took a class or attended a meeting via Zoom or something like it? How many of us were doing that as frequently, if at all, just five years ago?)

Well today’s Gospel – and Ray Kurzweil’s predictions – had me thinking about all of this more deeply from a faith perspective.

Again, Jesus is doing his thing… preaching, teaching, healing … being followed around by disciples and throngs of curious, if not devoted, followers … being put upon by strangers to do their bidding … like the man whose daughter is dying and like the woman whose been sick and hemorrhaging for 12 years.

And what if those First Century followers represent a microcosm of the wants, needs, desires, and demands of humanity on the God of our creation. What if Jesus was like a walking, talking, living, moving, breathing manifestation of the hub for healing and hope and answers that God means to be for the world?

Never mind the hypothetical nature of that … Jesus shows today that he WAS and IS the walking, talking, living, moving, breathing manifestation of the healing and hope and answers and salvation God means to be for the world. It’s the theology of the incarnation, after all. Emmanuel … God with us… God among us… On earth as it is in heaven…if you will.

And Jesus does his thing – not from a distance, not remotely, not “virtually” in any way. That bleeding woman knew it. She just needed to get close enough to touch the hem of his robe. And she felt, in her body, that something had changed because of it. And Jairus knew it, too. He approached Jesus, asked him to lay hands on his little girl, and brought him to his home. And Jesus didn’t phone it in. He found the girl, took her by the hand, spoke to her, and told the onlookers to give her something eat, in the end. All of this was as up close and as personal as God’s love always was, is, and promises to be.

Now, at the risk of sounding like a “get off my lawn,” anti-technology, grumpy old man, I find great hope and challenge and call in this, for those of us who want to follow Jesus. For me, it’s why the Gospel is as relevant and as radical and as counter-cultural, for our day and age, as it always has been.

It’s why what we do here together in worship matters – choosing to gather as the body of Christ in a world that is fractured and divided in so many ways, I mean. In spite of our differences, we sing songs, we pray prayers, we make our confession and hear very real words of forgiveness, and we touch the common waters of the baptism that binds us together in the same name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There’s nothing “virtual” about what takes place for and among us here.

It’s why eating bread and drinking wine as part of this worship matters, too. We are fed and nourished in physical, tangible, bodily ways that fill and change us by grace, from the inside out. There’s nothing artificial about the way God’s love comes to us through the sharing of Holy Communion.

It’s why our Stephen Ministry program is such a faithful, powerful expression of care and compassion for those who engage it. It’s one-on-one, face-to-face, in-person sharing, listening, loving companionship for people who need it. You can’t Google that.

It’s why building actual houses that provide real shelter for families in Haiti… It’s why providing actual food that feeds hungry people through our Groceries of Grace food pantry… It’s why crying real tears at a funeral… laughing with real joy at a wedding… offering a hand and a smile when we share the peace… sharing a “Mom Hug” at the PRIDE parade… all of that matters for real.

I’m not saying there isn’t value and promise to be found in all the technological advances coming our way. I’m just saying our faith – and the human love and connection we know in Jesus still matters – and matters more than all of that, in the end. Even Ray Kurzweil, the futurist with all the predictions I mentioned before, acknowledges that AI will never be able to create art, for instance, the way a master artist would do.

I would add, that nothing artificial, inhuman, or disembodied – no matter how full of information it may be – will ever be able to replace the forgiveness, love, mercy, and grace offered by the God we know in Jesus, which means to inspire and compel more of the same from each us …

… you and I, who are called to let ourselves be touched, like that woman who touched Jesus, by the very real needs of our neighbors.

… you and I, who are called to hear the good news of our own salvation – and find ways to share it, out loud and by our actions, with others who need to hear it, too.

…you and I, who are called to be fed and to feed the needs of those around us with very real food and drink, very real love and forgiveness, very real grace and mercy … by our very real presence … living and moving and breathing … as nothing less than the body of Christ … in and for the sake of the world.

Amen

"Vines and Branches: The Low-Tech Outreach of the Church" – John 15:1-8

John 15:1-8

[Jesus said,] “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch from in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.

“Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them will bear much fruit because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

I’m a little worried about this seeming a bit cliché, because I suspect many of you have seen this, or other videos like it, before. And even if you haven’t, I suspect you’ve at least heard the message or the sentiment, right? That we’re too tied to our phones and our devices… That the connections we pretend are real, aren’t all they’re cracked up to be… That we’re missing out on so much and so many real relationships because we’re bound, in too many ways, to the phones and tablets and social media technologies that have changed the way we experience one another even and the world, itself.

Well, I’ve heard all of that stuff before, too. And, while I think it’s true in too many ways, the last thing I want to do is sound like that crotchety old-fogey, yelling at “the kids these days” to put down their phones and “get off of my lawn.” I’m not that old, yet. And I’m a big fan of my phone and Facebook and my Kindle and all the rest, for lots of reasons.

But I couldn’t read this Gospel this time around without thinking about what it means to “be connected” in our day and age – and about how dramatically that has changed since Jesus was around. And I kind of think Jesus was hip to all of this, in his own way back in the day, when he was talking about what it means for us to be branches, connected to the vine; and about how, apart from that vine – apart from each other, really – we can do nothing.

My point is, I think we kid ourselves about the value of our “connections” to one another and to the world around us, because we are easily tricked and manipulated – intentionally or not – by experiences that take place from the distance we put between ourselves. And technology is only one of the more obvious ways we create that distance it seems to me. I think we put distance between ourselves and others when we pick our political parties; when we refuse to forgive someone we love; when we ignore or deny the needs of others in the world; and even when we choose our churches, or stake a claim with our theology, some of the time.

There are all kinds of ways – known and unknown to us – that we build walls and that create distance and that keep us further apart from our brothers and sisters in this world than God ever intended for us to be.

And I think what Jesus is calling us to – just like he was calling those first disciples, back in the day – is a way of living and moving and being in the world that is counter-culturally different; that is diametrically opposed to; that is profoundly distinct from the way so much of the world finds itself living. And I think it’s one of the highest callings of the Church, in our day and age.

Because Jesus is calling us to abide. That’s the word he uses today, anyway. And if abide means (as my dictionary tells me it does) “to endure without yielding” or “to bear patiently,” or to “remain in a place,” that’s stuff that is really hard to do. And it’s something so many are missing in the world as they know it – the sense that anything or anyone can or will or does abide with them, in any real, meaningful, lasting way.

As cool as it is to carry around 12,000 songs in your pocket, nothing beats a live performance by your favorite musician. (Especially, if that means KISS, or the Indigo Girls, or Mumford and Sons, or Bruce Springsteen.) As convenient as it is to SKYPE your way through a business meeting, there’s nothing like a handshake to close the deal. As lovely as it is to FACE TIME with the grandkids, it will never compare to sitting on Grandpa’s lap or holding Grandma’s hand at the dinner table. As easy as it is to text or tweet our opinion about something, we never get the full story without looking into each others' eyes and hearing the voice of another.

And I hope we see the Church – that we experience Cross of Grace – as an antidote to all of this disconnection and distance. Here is a place where we are called to be connected, one to another, and all of us to the vine of God’s love and grace and mercy through Jesus Christ. We gather here to be fed and nourished and even pruned, from time to time – challenged and changed, I mean, even when that’s hard – by the worship and fellowship and teaching that finds us here.

This place means to be the root system from which the body of Christ that is you and me – grows and goes into the world. And I hope we all realize what a special blessing we have here. …

This place isn’t perfect – no church ever can be, being made up of people, such as they are. But Cross of Grace, as a church in this community, is a place of uncommon welcome and grace and acceptance and openness and hospitality that is unique and needed in our neck of the woods.

So, I realize that for too many of us, especially those of us who’ve been around Cross of Grace for awhile, another round of General Fund commitments and another pile of Time and Talent Sheets to be completed can feel like another way of going through the motions; another way of taking care of business; another way of being asked to “give this” or “do that” or add “one more thing” to our already busy, stretched-thin lives and wallets. But it really is about more than that.

I hope, as we make our commitments to the General Fund, as we make our offerings to worship and learn and serve around here, we see all of that as a commitment to abide in as many ways as this congregation does that in the world. Our presence here is a counter-cultural way of living and moving and breathing, every time we gather to do what we do:

to confess our sins, in community, and to receive our forgiveness;

to share the peace, in worship, with a handshake or a hug;

to touch the waters of baptism and to cross ourselves in celebration of what those promises mean for us;

to break and take the bread, to sip and swallow the wine of holy communion and receive, weekly, our fullness of our salvation;

and even to drop our commitment cards and our offerings into the offering plate, too.

All of that is the holy stuff of what it means to be the Church in the world; to make deliberate, faithful choices to be connected as the body of Christ; to be the abiding, real presence of God’s grace for the sake of a world – a world that may only receive and experience it, when we become like so many branches, reaching out – extending ourselves – to share what has first been shared with us in more ways than we can count.

Amen