Why AI can’t write sermons

Well, of course you could use AI to write a sermon, and it would probably produce something that was a clear summary of thought about the particular passage you wanted to preach on.

But a summary of what other people think about a passage is not a sermon. And a summary stolen from other people’s ideas and words is, actually, unethical!

A sermon, in my opinion, shouldn’t be a summary but rather an unveiling of the Word. And unveiling the Word requires listening on a spiritual level to the Spirit speaking to me (as writer) about the passage.

And the Spirit speaks to me about a passage, not to educate me about what others say about the passage, but what the Spirit wants me to say about that particular passage to the particular congregation to whom I am preaching. (Readings commentaries are a useful means of preparing for a sermon, but they are a first step before the serious praying step!)

An effective sermon should not simply rehearse the literal meaning if the passage. The reading and preaching of Scripture is, ultimately, a sacrament. And a sacrament is a making holy of a human with God.

And that needs a human and God! AI may be useful in many ways, but it is no substitute for a human engagement with the Word. Scripture is infused with the Spirit of God, is written by God to unveil himself to his followers. It is the difference between reading about love and actually being in love. Being in love requires a relationship, and preaching is the relationship of God and preacher in love.

Scripture is the story of God becoming human so that humans can participate in his divine love. The very nature of that exchange involves two sentient human beings. AI is not doing the work of a human being who is exploring and listening for the voice of God or for the spirit to guide and feed the particular needs of a particular congregation.

Only the preacher in front of those people can do that. The living sermon emerges from the prayers of the preacher for the people, for herself, and for the will of God to be done. Yes, I know some people read other people’s sermons, and that is not always bad. But these sermons have, or had, always been done by a human in the first place.

But if the reader takes on the prepared sermon, prays over it, and over the people to whom she is preaching, then I believe that the Spirit can work through those words to the hearts of the people.

And that is because preaching is about Spirit reaching hearts, not providing a neat summary for the purely rational part of the brain to absorb. Sermons are not recipes or instructions. Do this. This way.

Sermons, if they are unveiling the Word, call the listeners to take into their life experiences the wisdom of God, to change perhaps, or to be affirmed in their life path. They should help educate people about life, but they are not engineering textbooks.

There is not one single ‘correct’ distillation of a Scriptural passage. Any preacher knows that people hear what they need to hear, or what they want to hear. And it is not unusual for someone to say, I really liked your sermon. What you said about X was spot on for me. And we know that we didn’t even mention X but instead said Y! But the person needed to hear X, that was what God was doing in the sermon.

So, I hear you say, God could work through an AI sermon to touch a parishioner? Yes, of course he could. But has the preacher grown in love of God and parishioners through this process? Has the preacher, the leader of that group in their spiritual walk, spent the time with God to hear his plans for this group of people? Sermon writing is not so much an academic exercise as part of the shaping of the Body of Christ into the Kingdom.

One of the reasons that the Church is declining is because, I believe, that we have forgotten the sacredness of our calling, that we are to have cure of souls. And cure of souls is the divine healing of the lives of the people God has brought before us. Preaching can be a sacrament.

Does this mean that Spirit-lead sermons are always great? Plenty of sermons will win no awards for brilliance or clarity. Yes, the Spirit can bring, at times, the flow of words, but when it seems the words are failing there is still the intention of the preacher which is the vehicle of grace. Sometimes we can only offer what we know is, at best, mediocre. The week has been frantic, we are distracted, rushed, overwhelmed. But if we off this up, with ourselves to God, for him to work with, for the spiritual well-being of the congregation, inevitably I find that the Spirit will reach into lives in ways of which I are not aware at the time of preaching.

The confidence in preaching comes not from our own talents, but from ever deeper trust in the sacredness of our vocation. My words are inadequate, but God can and wants to fill the gaps. But he needs an offering to start with, something that is put up with the intention for it to build a little piece of his Kingdom, so that God can work in the lives of those who hear.

We have outsourced our spirituality too much, and it will be worse if the spirituality is outsourced to a machine that does not pray, think or feel for others. Our humanity is precious; we have divine dignity through the Incarnation. Jesus honoured all humans when he took on flesh.

And he communicates with us through His Word, through his lived fleshly experiences in the Gospels, and we can meet him in the reality of our lives.

But when a sermon really works, it is not because of the eloquence of the preacher, but it is the power of God. For a while there is a rush of wind that seems to circle the room, an intense concentration and silence that is shared by preacher and congregation. For a moment, there is one heart, but there are different lives starting to be tuned into a harmony they seek but cannot find alone.

And when that harmony of particular and individual lives sings in the silence, there is a holiness. A sacredness that cannot be written down, formalized, summarised or packaged to be replayed for commercial benefit. It is a one off. But it is a part of a wholeness.

Sermons are something both uniquely human and divine. The Word interpenetrates, weaving between the speaker and the hearer and the scripture.

I have given lectures at university, and sermons in churches. They are very different species. My earlier sermons were more like lectures, I think. But with God’s help I hope they are evolving into sermons.

Of course, the notion of preaching as a sacrament is nonsense to someone who doesn’t believe. But sermons are powerful instruments of God. When St Augustine heard Ambrose preach, his life was turned around and there are countless other stories of lives changed by sermons. Something more than words is happening.

For the power of the Word, for the love of God and his desire to reach into lives for our well-being, I surely give God thanks and ask for the blessing of the Holy Spirit on you all!