The Pathfinder: March 7th, 2024
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
I received an email last week that stopped me in my tracks. It was from an All Soulsian, Charlie Myers, who has recently developed a side hustle learning about and working with AI. As a way to more efficiently make the YouTube recordings of our Sunday morning worship easier to access, he has been using ChatGPT to highlight different sections––the readings, the sermon, the announcements, the offertory, etc.
And, as a similar exercise in helping people understand what was preached that Sunday, he had ChatGPT distill the sermon into 500, 200, and 50 word synopses. Within minutes the AI tool had produced summaries of that Sunday’s sermon with stunning accuracy and clarity. And, for added fun, he asked the tool to provide a haiku of that sermon. Some of them were pedestrian. Others, in fact, were kind of compelling.
How is this possible, you might ask? Now that our worship services are being streamed on YouTube, there is a simultaneous transcription of what is said. From the transcription this AI tool is able to take in the stories, illustrations, exegesis, and intent of the preacher, and produce a synopsis of that sermon. In seconds. More on Charlie’s experimentation can be found below in today’s Pathfinder.
Here’s the 50-word ChatGPT distillation of my Ash Wednesday sermon:
The Ash Wednesday sermon emphasizes the importance of remembering our mortality and turning back to God. It calls for a Lent of genuine repentance, prayer, and love, urging believers to reflect on their lives and prioritize what truly matters. It's a call to live fully, aware of our finitude.
And here’s the AI generated haiku of that same sermon:
Ashes on foreheads,
Hearts turn back to God's embrace,
Love in finitude.
I must admit, I was set back on my heels a bit after reading Charlie’s description of what is now possible and becoming possible through artificial intelligence. In the days since, I’ve been sorting through feelings of surprise, curiosity, wonder, and apprehension.
Some of these feelings were presaged last Easter when a colleague (and former All Souls seminarian), the Rev. Stephen McHale, asked ChatGPT to produce three sermons using the Easter 2 readings, with quotes from Marcus Borg and Sandra Schneiders, two New Testament scholars. One of the sermons wasn’t very compelling, but the other two were clear and cogent sermons that you might hear in most Episcopal churches. Stephen used this experience to raise awareness with his congregation about what was possible with AI and even listed ChatGPT as the preacher in the bulletin.
Up to this point AI has drawn on what already exists, so this work of the distillation of our service and the sermon is a good use of this technology. For instance, this will allow us to easily and quickly give a summary of that week’s sermon on our website and Apple podcast feed so that people who are unfamiliar with the Christian tradition can more easily enter into practice. Rather than seeing simply, the Second Sunday of Lent, they will see a summary to orient them to the subject of the sermon.
And, it is very clear that the shift from simply re-working what has already existed, to the creation of new material by non-humans, is on the horizon. What does this mean for us as creative creatures? What does this mean for us as people of faith, who have often understood divine encounter to be part of the creative process?
This is a rapidly unfolding field, and you can learn more this Sunday as two All Soulsians, Raymond Yee and Jane Vandenburg, lead a discussion about AI and the creative process in the Community Room at Jordan Court from 12:30p to 2:30p.
For me as a preacher, this past week has been a reflective one. I’ve been reflecting on what preaching is, and what might be characteristically human about it. And I’ve returned to an answer I gave at a conference a year ago when asked about the likely effects of AI on preaching.
For me, the wonder experienced in good preaching is found in the encounter between the sacred text, the gathered community, and the life and person of the preacher. And it may be that AI will help me and other preachers hone our writing or discover resources heretofore untapped. But if the practice of preaching is a public and vulnerable wrestling with our sacred texts in light of the confusing, painful, surprising, and wondrous lives we lead, then I believe that humans will always need to preach. Until androids dream of electric sheep there will always be a need for a real, live human to wonder and wrestle with us about the radical nature of the Gospel of Jesus the Christ.
And, at the same time, I wonder how ChatGPT would distill and interpret this article. Or if it could have written it better.
Peace,
– Phil+
New Things in All Souls Streaming Video (including Chat GPT!)
In case you didn't know, All Souls has a YouTube channel with all of our services since February 2023 and old episodes of the Soulcast from back in Covid days.
And our new website has a page with all of the sermons.
We've started updating our online presence and we'd like to keep you in the loop. The first change we've made is to improve the usefulness of our videos. We now trim the video, removing the part between the start of the stream and the actual service. Please note that this process takes up to 24 hours after the video has gone live, so it should be completed by the following day, usually on Mondays. Furthermore, we are adding timestamps and chapters to our YouTube streams to help you find content more easily. These chapters will be visible on the YouTube timeline as well as in the description. Finally, YouTube generates an automatic transcript which will be available when you click on the "transcript" button at the end of the description. These transcripts will also be available on Mondays after the trimming process has been completed.
Now we get to some of the magic. YouTube uses text-to-speech technology to generate closed captions during live streams. Although it's not perfect and may occasionally confuse homophones, it's still very accurate. You can access the generated transcript by clicking the "show transcript" button at the end of the video description.
To create YouTube chapters for the service, I fed the transcript to ChatGPT and asked it to generate a set of timestamps. The AI-generated timestamps show all of the major sections of the service. It also generates the chapter, verse, and 3-4 word summary for each timestamp. While some cleanup is necessary, the accuracy is impressive.
Once I realized we had all the sermon's words, I tried another common AI task: creating summaries. Armed with the start and end of the sermon, ChatGPT could piece these into sentences and thoughts and generate the 50 and 200-word summaries you see in the description. These are close enough to the essence that I have not edited any of them. Just as a lark, I also asked ChatGPT to generate a Haiku. These are a bit of hit-or-miss, but they do get you thinking when they hit.
To make this more concrete for visual learners, here is a screenshot of YouTube, annotated to show the various features you can use.
We do have a few more changes coming, which will improve your experience. Some are in the YouTube experience, while others revolve around solving our audio and video glitches. You can expect new title screens as well as having the summaries appear in more places.
I've been working with computers for 55 years, and understand the technology behind all of this. It still seems like magic to me, though. Having a computer with AI doing much of my work makes my job so much easier.
Please subscribe to our YouTube channel and please share links of services (or sermons) to your family and friends. And give any feedback to me or the clergy.
– Charlie Myers
Holding Good Friday at All Souls
After the intimacy and homely beauty of Maundy Thursday, when we line up to wash each other’s feet and witness the stripping of the altar and chant our way to the flower-filled chapel. After we drift off into the night, chastened and solemn because we know Good Friday comes next. That’s when I long for a way to hold this sad and cosmically dark day.
I cannot do it on my own. I know I will be distracted, even oblivious, unless I have a container for all the feelings that rise up as I contemplate Jesus’s condemnation, pain, journey to the cross, and the life-altering meaning of it all.
Before I came to All Souls, I didn’t know about Good Friday, as someone who grew up in a tradition without liturgy or ritual or, perversely, the cross itself. The three hours of the All Souls Good Friday afternoon service draw me close, bring me in, teach me, shelter me. For almost twenty years, I listened to my fellow pew dwellers’ startling, profound reflections on the last words of Jesus or the Way of the Cross or whatever rubric is being used. I learn what brilliance and deep feeling and vulnerability reside in those I see every Sunday, and it humbles me, often to tears. I sing the beloved hymns (“Oh Sacred Head Sore Wounded”). I listen to the music of the choir or the Angel Band fill the warm air of the sanctuary. I hear the words of poets rise up, speaking a different vernacular that adds another layer as the hours unfold, stately and sweet and poignant. Sometimes I rise and inch my way around the dramatic stations of the Cross created by the people of All Souls. Sometimes I creep forward to venerate the cross, to sprinkle blood red rose petals on its wooden witness.
I always sit near the front, surrounded by dear friends, sharing the hours, grasping a hand, sharing tears, feeling the deep comfort of companions also seeking to hold this day. There is no other liturgy—not even the God-drenched beauty of Holy Saturday—that touches me this way. This service is always my favorite, not just for its fullness but also its way of calling me—us—into solidarity with one another and the suffering of Jesus on the cross
And something else. The All Souls Good Friday contemplative service is, so far as I’ve seen, unique, an expression of this parish’s charism and the people who live into it. It is not a performance to be witnessed, like a sung passion, but a holy time we can all participate in. In my new life, nothing like it is offered at any Episcopal church in my town. Each Good Friday that passes without it feels like an inconsolable loss. I miss the hours, the music, the poetry, the place, the silence, the feelings that help me hold this tragic day, enter it with others, live into it. Because when it is over, as we silently make our way out into the sun-filled world going about its fractious business, we are changed, filled, tender, ready to endure the darkness for the joy to come.
– Sheryl Fullerton (former parishioner, now residing in Oregon)
Living Waters Update, March 7th
Notes from a construction project moving closer to starting
Construction Finishes - On March 3rd, the Property Committee reviewed HY’s recommended finishes––the tile for the bathrooms, carpet for the undercroft rooms, paint colors, etc.––the most outward face of the construction work. HY was working from the “warm” palette chosen earlier and offered materials with gray, blue, green and terracotta accents. Soon the Property Committee will be conferring with the Kitchen and Undercroft user groups to consider the options. Special consideration is being given to the look and feel of the materials used in the Chapel as a holy space to make sure it offers an inviting interior.
+++
Some big milestones are coming up:
March 19th - Plan comments are due. The City of Berkeley is expected to offer its 1st set of
comments on our construction permit application on March 19th. This will be the first indication of whether Berkeley will require sprinklers as part of the Living Waters work and a first chance for the building department to comment generally about other changes they may require. Sprinklers are not currently in the budget and could cost between $250,000 and $400,000. Incorporating their cost would require rebalancing the financial equation. The permit application can be a back and forth dialog at this stage. The construction permit could be approved as early as the end of April.
April 4 - Subcontractor bids are due. Over the next few weeks subcontractors will be visiting the site and preparing their bids. Until now the budgets have been based on Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) estimates that are industry estimates, but not from the subcontractor who will do the actual work and not based on the actual space. Starting on April 4th, we will have much firmer numbers. During the week of April 8th the Property Committee will sit down with WCI and work through the bids and scope one line at a time to create a firm construction budget. This is the moment when we see how close our previous cost estimates have been and whether the work we have anticipated fits within our financial resources.
In late April, the Vestry will consider a Property Committee recommendation on the budget and scope of the Living Waters projects. This will be the final pre-construction approval and will define the path we take moving forward.
+++
Living Waters has always promised there will be disruption in the process of renewing the space. And disruption is on the horizon! At the moment, WCI is scheduled to begin mobilization and demolition around late May or early June. They need a clear work space to do that efficiently and our stuff needs to be out. We are targeting being cleared out of the Undercroft by mid-May.
All Souls is close to announcing the Almost Annual Parish Workday to make this move-out easy and smooth. Soon there will be a call for volunteers who can come together at church to tend to the building. We will need people to help sort, pack and move boxes in the undercroft and kitchen to temporary storage and clean and rearrange in the Parish Hall and other spaces. This can be an easy and hands-on way to prepare for the renewal of construction.
Look for more details soon!
– Richard Lynch
Announcements & Events
Happening This Week
Worship This Sunday
8:00am, Holy Eucharist in Chapel
10:30am, sung Eucharist (click here to access the live stream)
Wednesday 9am Service. Join the Zoom call here, or join us in person in the Nave. Password: 520218.
Reading Between the Lines Bible Study, Sunday @ 7:00a. Click here to join by Zoom, or join them in-person in the Common Room.
Youth Group is happening this Sunday, March 10th, 7-8:30p. This week, we’ll join the Catechumenate class downstairs for a lesson on the structure and governance of The Episcopal Church as we prepare to attend the ordination of our new Bishop in May. (We promise— the class will be fun, and there will be great snacks!).
Adult Formation
Is THIS Anglican Music? with Dr. Anne Yardley
Just as the Book of Common Prayer has changed and adapted, so too has the musical repertoire in churches of the Anglican Communion grown. In this three-part class we will look at the development of English hymnody and choral music and the subsequent movement of that repertoire around the globe as the Anglican church expanded. We will then try to answer the question “what is Anglican music?” Parish Hall, 9:15a (February 25, March 3 &10)
Book Club: The Confessions by St. Augustine with Jack Shoemaker
Saint Augustine’s Confessions, written in the fourth century, is among the first autobiographies ever composed. It has been extraordinarily influential, and yet it may now be one of the least read of the Christian classics. Whether this is your first time reading it or your tenth, you are invited to join in lively discussion with small reading group. Please read any translation you like — we’ll share and compare. Three sessions: Week 1 chapters 1-6; Week 2 chapters 7-10; Week 3 chapters 11-13. Common Room, 9:15a (February 25, March 3, 10)
Coming Up: Holy Week Intro
All are welcome to join in an informational session about Holy Week on March 17th at 9:15a. The Revs. Phil and Emily Boring will lead us in a Q&A style class on the origins, meanings, and practices of Holy Week leading up to Easter Sunday. Join us in the Parish Hall for this class.
Children & Family
Nursery The downstairs nursery is open and available to you for your use whenever you’re at All Souls. This is not a staffed nursery, so an adult must be there with your child, but if you need a quiet place to take a time out, change a diaper, let your child play or take a rest, the nursery is open for you to do all of those things. If there is a service going on that’s being livestreamed, you will be able to watch the livestream on the computer in the nursery as well.
Children’s Ministry Sunday School continues each week during the 10:30 a.m. service for children from pre-K through 5th grade. Children head downstairs at the start of the service, then return after the “Peace.” See an usher if you need directions.
All ages attend a shared Godly Play “Storytime.” Then, our youngest kids (pre-K to 1st grade) remain in the Godly Play classroom for “wondering” and “work” time, while our older kids (grades 2-5) split off for deeper investigation and exploration.
Note to Parents: We encourage all kids to return to the sanctuary after Sunday School and save outdoor playground time for later. In the Godly Play curriculum, we view the Eucharist as an important extension of Sunday School; the sacred space that we create downstairs continues and expands as we join the whole congregation upstairs. We appreciate your help reinforcing this norm!
Read more about our Sunday School program here.
Save the Date - Holy Week for Kids service, 4p on March 29th. Join us for a Godly Play Passion story, prayer practices, and Stations of the Cross.
Youth Program - Youth Group happens weekly on Sundays from 7-8:30 in the Parish Hall. If you are not receiving weekly Youth Program updates but would like to, please reach out to Emily B to be added to our mailing list.
Godly Play & Faith Explorers Teachers We are actively seeking teachers and/or alternates to add to our Sunday School team for all ages. If you are interested, please reach out to Emily B. (All teachers will go through SAFE Church training and background checks).
Justice & Peace
All Souls Parish Movie Night, March 14th: American Fiction
The Racial Justice Committee is hosting a movie night featuring American Fiction, a hilarious comedy-drama film written and directed by Cord Jefferson, and based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett. It features a frustrated novelist-professor who writes an outlandish satire of stereotypical "Black" books, only for it to be mistaken by the liberal elite for serious literature and published to both high sales and critical praise. The movie offers a critical and satirical view of racial tropes and stereotypes.
The event is open to all congregants of All Souls and residents of Jordan Court. We have also invited members of Congregation Beth El and St. Paul AME church as co-collaborators in the Building Interfaith Bridges program.
Thursday, March 14th in the Parish Hall
6.30 pm: Nosh and socialize; Please bring an already prepared dish to share.
7.00 pm: Movie
Following the movie, all are welcome to stay for an informal small group discussion on the movie.
Got Questions? Contact Paul Mathew at pmathew1000@gmail.com
Interfaith Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage: Saturday, March 23rd
Our longtime partners at Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity have extended an invitation to an interfaith pilgrimage dedicated to calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The 22-mile walk begins in Berkeley and is broken into five segments. You can join for the whole march, or just part, and they are also seeking volunteers to help run the event. Find more information and register here.
Ways to help with the Israel-Hamas War, from Episcopal Relief & Development
Since the start of the current Israel-Hamas war, Episcopal Relief & Development has been supporting long-time partners in the Holy Land including Al Ahli Hospital, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, to provide emergency medical support in Gaza. Despite being hit by two explosions that damaged buildings and claimed hundreds of lives, the hospital is still serving those who are in need of care. Episcopal Relief & Development stands with the brave staff of Al Ahli Hospital as they risk their lives to help others.
Please pray for peace in the Holy Land and consider making a contribution to the Episcopal Relief & Development Middle East Fund to help meet the growing needs of all people in the region.
Stay informed about the Episcopal Relief & Development response at episcopalrelief.org.
Needs of the Community
Meal Train: Do you ever wonder how you can help out your fellow parishioners? Join the Meal Train team and provide meals for those parishioners in need. Or would you like meals for you and your family during a difficult time? You can have a Meal Train set up and have folks from ASP bring you meals. Email Emily B to be added to the list of Meal Train volunteers (or confirm that you are already part of it!).
Everything Else
Second Thursday Lunch, March 14th Join us in the Parish Hall from noon-2p for a potluck lunch. Bring a dish to share! This gathering happens every second Thursday.
Easter Sunday Service Schedule In order to accommodate the higher numbers of folks on Easter Sunday, we are moving our worship schedule to a 9a and 11:15a service. Both services will be held upstairs in the church and there will be no early morning service in the Chapel that day.
Daytime Soup & Story Group It’s not too late to join a Soup + Story group, and in fact, a new group just opened up on Saturday mornings or afternoons at Elena Ramirez’s home. Please see Emily Hansen Curran if you are interested in joining this group.
AI for Writers Workshop: This Sunday! Curious about the impact of artificial intelligence on writing and spirituality? Join our hands-on AI for Writers Workshop in the Community Room at Jordan Court this Sunday, March 10, 2024, 12:30-2:30 pm.
Open to the spiritual autobiography writing group members, to the broader church and Jordan Court communities, this session dives into AI with a focus on Large Language Models like ChatGPT. And yes, we’ll define what a “Large Language Model” actually is!
Bring your devices to explore AI tools practically, addressing topics from environmental concerns to data privacy. Tailored discussions and activities await, based on your pre-submitted questions and interests.
More info? Contact Raymond Yee (raymond.yee@gmail.com) for details. Let's explore the creative and ethical dimensions of AI together.
Online Premiere of The Philadelphia Eleven The feature documentary film that tells the story of the women ordained as priests in Philadelphia in 1974 is having its online premiere on International Women's Day, March 8th at 5 p.m. PT.
After the screening, there will be a live panel discussion with these esteemed panelists: The Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward, the Rt. Rev. Nedi Rivera, the Rev. Nancy Wittig, and filmmaker Margo Guernsey. The panel will be moderated by Katie Sherrod. There will be time at the end for audience questions.
The discussion will include topics such as:
How do we equip and empower voices on the margins to be agents of change?
How do we build movements of solidarity to continue to bend the arc of history toward equity?
What do we learn from the Philadelphia Eleven story that informs the ongoing story of resisting the trend toward autocracy and Christian Nationalism?
Reserve tickets or learn more here.
Summer 2024 Book Group Suggestions The Adult Formation committee welcomes your suggestions of books for our summer reading groups. Is there a book you’ve read that you would like to share? Please send any suggestions to Anne Yardley at ayardley@drew.edu.
Adult Formation 2024-2025 The Adult Formation committee has started planning our 2024-2025 season! The advisory panel will be meeting with the committee once in March and once in April to brainstorm ideas and get a rough outline in place. This is the time to reach out to the committee with any ideas and suggestions you have for classes for next year. We welcome your thoughts and ideas. Please send them to Anne Yardley at ayardley@drew.edu
Return Your Easter Eggs On Easter Sunday, we’ll hold our annual egg hunt for children! If you took home some plastic eggs last year— or if you have extra eggs you’d like to donate—please bring them to church and/or contact Emily B. As the day approaches, we’ll ask for help from community members to fill these eggs with candy. Stay tuned!
