Aspiring to Virtue

 

 Virtues are intrinsically practical. They can only exist by being lived out. You can have an internal value and hope it finds expression, but the exciting thing about virtues is the sense that they’re collective and passed down through communities through traditions.

Good Faith Partnership Co-Founder David Barclay

Would you consider yourself a virtuous person? That's a challenging question, perhaps an "aw shucks' question where you would be reluctant to describe yourself as such. 

You might be afraid of what it sometimes called "virtue-signalling" which is associated with hypocrisy: 

he public expression of opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or social conscience or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue:"the act sounded more like virtue signaling than concrete action"

It would be tempting to simply shrug and say that aspiring to be virtuous is old-timey in an age of cynicism and moral ambiguity. But should that stop us from attempting to live by our moral and ethical lights?

The chart of virtues shown above comes from the Virtues of Faith research project which explored virtues valued by six faith groups. Intriguingly honesty is the virtue which showed up in all six traditions. 

I suppose we all far short when it comes to living out our faith virtues b


 It turns out that all faith groups emphasized moral virtues in common. That's good news. My faith assures me that in Christ I am loved, forgiven, and accepted despite my shortcomings and sins. Why wouldn't I do my best to live these virtues as I'm able, by the grace of God. The key findings of the study were these:

• All religious groups had at least three virtues in common in their respective top six selected virtues

• All religious groups had at least three virtues in common in their respective top six selected virtues
• Honesty was the only virtue in the top six across all belief strands
• Members of faith groups placed more emphasis on moral virtues than Humanists/those of no faith

Jewish Mr. Spock?

The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Numbers 6: 24-26

 Were you aware that Mr. Spock, the Vulcan/human officer on the Starship Enterprise was Jewish? Well, Leonard Nimoy, the actor who played Spock in the series and in films grew up Jewish. Nimoy was the child of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants in Boston where he went to synagogue and witnessed elders using what became his trademark Spock greeting as a symbol of blessing accompanying the verses from Numbers. 

In an interview Nimoy observed:  

'Spock is an alien, wherever he is. Because he's not human. He's not Vulcan. He's half and half — what we used to call a half-breed. ... He's not totally accepted in the Vulcan culture because he's not totally Vulcan. Certainly not totally accepted in the human culture because he's part Vulcan. And that alienation was something I learned in Boston. I knew what it meant to be a member of a minority — and in some cases, an outcast minority. So I understood that aspect of the character, and I think it was helpful in playing him.

In some respects Nimoy was Jew-ish, as one comedian described himself,. His son Adam, now 70, describes himself as a more observant Jew than his late father was. Still, Leonard was a benefactor of Jewish causes including the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, a childhood center at Temple Israel of Hollywood and the Susan and Leonard Nimoy Career Center at Beit T’Shuvah, a Jewish recovery house in Los Angeles.

It pleased Leonard that the gesture became so popular amongst Trekkies and non-Trekkies and was always willing to explain its origins. 

Live long and prosper!

Are Codfish Sacred?

 

Overlooking Massachusetts House members as they deliberate is the Sacred Cod, hung from the ceiling as a tribute to the state’s fishing industry. The solid-pine Cod has been in position for 232 years, first at the Old State House and then on Beacon Hill.

In years past I may have written about the Sacred Cod which hovers above Massachusetts legislators as they conduct their work. Describing a fish as sacred, and an ugly one at that may seem sacrilegious but it serves as a visual reminder of how important this species was to the regional economy. Iceland is a country that still harvests a lot of cod and while the industry doesn't rival tourism it is important to the economy.

Canada is notorious for allowing what seemed to be an infinite resource be depleted through the mismanagement of the vital cod fishery in Newfoundland. This led to a total closure of the commercial fishery for 30 years from 1992 onward putting tens of thousands out of work. Gradually a limited personal fishery was allowed.

We will return this summer to the outport area of Newfoundland where I served as I began my United Church ministry in 1980. A parishioner, a fisherman, told me then that the codfish collapse was imminent and he was correct. The factory trawler ships from Portugal and the large Canadian ships were scooping up the species in an unsustainable way. The days of a solitary fisher in a punt or dorry were long gone. 

                                                               David Blackwood Cod No.1 1995

Celebrated Newfoundland artist David Blackwood grew up in a fishing community and he appreciated the dark cloud that descended over the province.

I will be asking the fishers I know questions about the decision earlier this year to increase the cod catch quota substantially, opening it to larger vessels. Some scientists and those in the industry are sounding a note of caution given what happened in the past.

We will be able to purchase cod with the resultant chowder, fish cakes, burgers... my mouth is already watering. Hallelujah!

Of course, cod deserve to exist because they are the Creator's creatures and therefore sacred. I've never described them that way when I'm there, but surely it's true. In Cod we trust. 

The Gospel of Trees

 

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.” 

Jeremiah 1: 11-12 NRSVue 

Overview of The Gospel of Trees

What is it about trees? These creatures, so vital to our survival, have followed human beings since we first sprung from this earth. The Gospel of Trees is an essay about a wooded landscape where all sorts of limbs move around, a landscape that is at once well-known and wondrous. Church historian Thomas Arentzen wanders through forests, reads poetry, climbs trees, explores leaves of scripture, and revisits the boughs of his own Norwegian childhood. In this learned but also personal journey through history, he meets beings drawn to trees and trees in prayer for other beings. The understory of the book asks, "What is the religion of the more-than-human?"

A few years ago I made the difficult decision to cease posting on my Groundling blog and to continue solely with Lion Lamb. I just couldn't keep up with writing two posts on a regular basis even though I have a passion, even an evangelical zeal, for Creation and Creator. Of course, if you are a longer term reader you'll know that many of my posts reflect who we are as "groundlings" the adamahs" formed of the soil, called to celebrate the goodness of Creation and the joy of following an earthy Jesus.

I am drawn to the book by church historian Thomas Arentzen, pictured above, but I have so many not yet explored already. I love the overview of its contents and perhaps I'll have to be content with the way it has stimulated my imagination once again. In this dystopian age when vast areas of forest are consumed by fire around the planet we may need this discussion more than ever. 

I was able to read a sample of the book online and I appreciate Arentzen's reminder that the word origin for the English words "tree" and "true" and "troth" are the same, meaning faithful. I had never noticed before  that the prophet Jeremiah's first vision is tree related, a pun because the word almond means vigilant. 

Once again I'll note that trees are mentioned more often than any other creature in the bible, other than humans. If scripture and the Creator have a heart for trees, surely we can as well. I'm taking that as gospel. Of course, the Tree of Life is a powerful symbol in different religions. 

I suppose I can be vigilant in reading the trees around me as best I can and treat them with faith-full respect. 

“Rejoice, tree of leafy branches,
under which believers are sheltered …
Rejoice, O wood most blessed!”

Akathist to the Cross, Oikos 7

 

An Artificial Intelligence Pastor?

 

                                        

                                            Justin Lester preaching at a Sunday service in June.

 He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 

We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming;  but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,  from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

                                            Ephesians 4: 11-16 NRSVue 

During my very busy years of ministry serving a congregation in Sudbury, Ontario, the chairperson of our Ministry and Personnel Committee advised me, wisely, that I could clone myself and still have enough work for the second person, so I needed to pace myself.  This was true, although he didn't suggest how I was supposed to develop a work/personal life balance when the pastoral needs of a large congregations were often overwhelming. 

Enter Justin Lester, a 30-something pastor in California who has been instrumental in resurrecting am older, staid congregation using technology as his BFF. According to the New York Times: 

 Now the church was using artificial intelligence to answer emails and plan Bible studies. It had doors equipped with facial recognition, podcasts with A.I.-generated biblical figures, and a robot dog named Theo who talked to children and recited sermons.

The latest frontier for this Pastor Tech is the creation of an Artificial Intelligence twin who can "chat" with parishioners and anyone else at any time of the day or night, no appointment necessary:  

Lester cloned his voice and trained his digital twin using almost two million words of his sermons, podcasts, books, text messages and emails. For the last several months, it had been publicly available on his website and Facebook page for online chats or phone calls. It had learned to mimic his bent toward optimism, his obsession with the Green Bay Packers and his casual slang, but it did more than just regurgitate what he had already said. It mapped his thinking onto new conversations to provide advice around the clock for people he’d never met who had questions he’d never been asked.

At the risk of sounding like a Luddite, this creeps me out. What is this guy's trained and accredited skill set to be doing this? Where is the follow-up and the professional accountability? 

 I see the value of AI in many settings, including the church. Son Isaac uses it for practical applications including writing minutes for meetings in this day when no one wants to be a committee secretary. He just makes sure that the chairs agree on content. He employs it for images on Sundays as well.

 I imagine that there are unscrupulous clergy who are using Chat GPT to write sermons, since there is a sorry history of pastor plagarism. 

I have the feeling that Lester may be suffering from an advanced case of Messiah Syndrome, a condition that can be fatal to ministries. There are concerns that AI therapy can either lean toward the wishes of the client or, worse, go rogue and counsel them toward self-harm. Who's to say that this can't happen with priests and pastors? How do we "build up the body of Christ", develop the authentic connective tissue of a healthy congregation through A!? What about those shifting winds of trickery and craftiness and scheming? 

I listened to a CBC Radio The Current interview with deepfake expert Hany Farid who says that if you think you can still spot AI-generated images and video, you're kidding yourself. He went so far as to say that the negatives of social media now outweigh the positives. He's convinced that it's eroding our common bonds and democracy, although he believes we can still fight back. Shouldn't the Christian community be at the forefront of that resistance, or at least of sober second thought, rather that leaping in without serious and prayerful conversation?