AI

DALL·E 2 is a new AI system that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language (https://openai.com/dall-e-2/). I typed in something like “Paint a picture of a choir singing carols in church on Christmas Eve in the style of David Hockney” and got this. Obviously it’s highly derivative from other artwork and information it has acquired in general from the web, but it’s still a big step beyond the application of a filter or algorithm

Then look at gpt-3, the engine that’s driving the AI chatbot revolution (https://chat.openai.com/chat). Type in something in plain langauge, like “Create a sermon for the feast of the circumcision of Christ” and you might get this (it’s different every time because it’s created on the fly):

Dear friends, Today we celebrate the feast of the circumcision of Christ, also known as the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. This is a day when we reflect on the great mystery of the Incarnation, and the tremendous love that God has for each and every one of us. On this feast day, we remember that Jesus, the Son of God, was born into this world as a human being, subject to the same trials and challenges that we all face. He was circumcised according to Jewish law, just as every male child was at the time.

But this simple act of obedience took on a much deeper meaning when it was performed on Jesus. For through his circumcision, Jesus was fully and truly made one of us, taking on our humanity in all its fullness. He became fully human, fully God, and through his death and resurrection, he reconciled us to the Father and opened the way for us to share in his life and love.

As we celebrate the circumcision of Christ, let us remember the great love that God has for us. Let us give thanks for the gift of the Incarnation and for the gift of Jesus, who willingly took on our humanity and suffered and died for us. Let us also remember that through our own baptism, we are called to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and to share in his mission of love and reconciliation. May the feast of the circumcision of Christ fill our hearts with joy and gratitude, and may it inspire us to live our lives in a way that reflects the love and self-sacrifice of Jesus. Amen.

Now that’s clever. But also, typically of the AI, it is not correct. The incarnation not the circumcision establishes Christ’s identity with us (or goodbye half of humanity – which means it also dangerous in the wrong hands). The programs are very explicit that they way they create means that they are plausible not accurate. That is SO typical of the world we are starting to inhabit.

So I decided to have a pop at it in a magazine article for St Weonard’s this February(https://www.stw.org.uk) and stick up for real humanity. We had a rather good attendance by the way!

Hello fellow churchgoers!

I hope this magazine finds you well and that you had a wonderful Christmas season. Can you believe it’s already February and Candlemas is upon us? Time sure does fly, doesn’t it?

It’s all right: don’t have a heart attack! That wasn’t really me speaking but an Artificial Intelligence program following my instructions to write a chatty magazine article for Candlemas… It’s scary how much these programs can do now. An average student essay is within their grasp for instance. But the truth is, they often don’t pass the “sniff test”. They just aren’t really human, however clever they are at feeding the internet back to us.

Which takes me back to Candlemas, because Candlemas – the Feasts of the Presentation of Jesus Christ in the Temple and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary – is our yearly celebration of a very real baby and a very real mother going to a very real Temple to perform the rituals their religion required: presenting sacrifices to God and praying for purification for Mary (as recorded in Luke chapter 2), 33 days after the equally physical circumcision and 40 days after the birth.

This is no escapist world of twinkling candles and chatty platitudes, but the real world full of joys and sorrows that we know today. And it celebrates, as you well know, not a mythical God but a God who has become fully one with us, blood and gore included. God with us in both our joys and sorrows. God with us a New Year unfolds.

Ritual sacrifices and cleansings are no longer part of our religion. Nor do we bring our stock of candles to church for blessing (made from the tallow of the slaughtered pigs …). What the Feast does offer is the opportunity to take a deep breath of God’s Spirit and turn bravely from the cosiness of Christmas to face the more challenging days of Good Friday and Easter and all they represent, taking with us not a just a candle in our hands but the light of Christ in our hearts. That’s what we’ll be doing at Tretire on Sunday 5th February at 10am if you’re free to join us.