AI and the Sermon Revisited

About two years ago I wrote a piece on the use of Artificial Intelligence in sermons by preachers.  It was published in the Huron Church News, our diocesan publication, under the title, AI and the Preacher: A stranger in the strange land.  It can be found at https://diohuron.org/news/ai-and-the-preacher-a-stranger-in-the-strange-land.

A few days ago, I was contacted by Matthew Puddister, the editor of the Anglican Journal, the national publication of the Anglican Church of Canada.  He is researching an article on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to write sermons and wanted to interview me for the article.  As a result, I reread the piece that I wrote and reflected on my thoughts and feelings about this issue. 

Two years is a long time in the world of the internet and particularly the world of AI.  At the time of writing the article, I had just started to experiment with AI, using ChatGPT, so it was a brave new world which I was just beginning to explore.  The bottom line for me in my piece was that AI was opening many possibilities for preachers which had great potential to be used and misused.  It provides a too easy way for a busy or even a lazy preacher to turn to for a sermon.  As I noted in the article, “Perhaps if Jesus was to be tempted by Satan today, this would be one of the temptations.” 

Well, what is the situation now two years later – an eternity in AI terms?  It is worming its way into many if not most aspects of our lives.  It is beginning to be used for many occupations and used for many of the tasks which It can do much more efficiently and effectively than humans.  The impact on education is far reaching and an immense challenge to educators.  It is leading to a new industrial revolution at speeds even the most imaginative science fiction writer would have had difficulty imagining. 

With all that, what is happening in the area of preaching and sermon preparation?  Well, I have no doubt it has taken up the place as an integral part of the toolbox of many preachers.  It is something which is too good to be ignored by many preachers.  With that said, how and to what extent should it be used in this sacred endeavor?  Reflecting on this after the incentive of the interview with Matthew Puddister, I am confirmed in my belief that it needs to be used in an ethical manner as would any resource which a preacher might use.  Resources such as biblical commentaries, concordances, dictionaries of biblical terms, which are now available on-line have been and are common resources in sermon preparation.  Publications of sermons by famous or infamous theologians have been available before the development of the printing press.  AI is just another tool which can be used.  However, it needs to be used with caution as AI is apparently known for creating facts and sources.  When such source material is used, it needs to be cited as the source as part of the sermon material. 

Are there any circumstances in which a preacher should use AI to write a sermon?  I won’t say never – rather perhaps hardly ever in my opinion.  There may be circumstances where a preacher has been overwhelmed by other duties – of which a parish priest or minister has many – and there has been literally no time to prepare a sermon.  If AI is used to write the sermon, this should be acknowledged by the preacher.  One downside to this is if this happens too frequently, the preacher runs the risk  of the congregation preferring the AI sermon to the sermons of the preacher (only partially joking). 

The temptation is that AI is so easy to use that it can become the fall-back position and an easy out if the preacher is not feeling particularly creative or inspired and thinks, well, what is the harm as I need to have something inspiring to say to the people in the pews (if the church still uses pews).  However, the sermon needs to be considered a sacred privilege and opportunity to proclaim the word.  The preacher has the responsibility to share his or her understanding of what the scripture is saying with those who hear it.  Using AI may short circuit this and not allow the Word of Holy Scripture to inspire the preacher and to be proclaimed.  The sermon is a sacred opportunity to do just that.  It is too easy for it to be something which is assembled and manufactured. 

In effect, as with many things, we have a spectrum of possibilities.  At one end of that spectrum, we have the, no AI ever position.  Matthew Puddister, in our conversation, mentioned the pledge that is being offered to preachers, The Saint Dunstan Pledge, in which the signatory pledges not to use AI in any way in sermon prep.  I had not heard of this and was able to find the details of it very easily with an AI Google search (score one for AI).  Here is the St. Dunstan Pledge according to AI:

"At no point in the brainstorming, planning, drafting, or writing of my sermons will I use ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, or any other generative AI of any type available to me. I will use my own words. I will quote words written or spoken by other people, not produced by generative AI.”

The other extreme would be to use AI without limitation and without citation.  I believe that in the good Anglican tradition most of us will come down somewhere along that spectrum probably tending to be somewhere in the less  well defined middle.  We can always meet to discuss it as Anglicans are well known for doing.    

It is my hope and prayer that preachers and all Anglicans can seek to be open to the Holy Spirit and be inspired when attempting to discern where the Holy Spirit is leading us today and in the challenging days ahead.  The article is planned to be available in the November edition of the Anglican Journal.  I look forward with anticipation to reading it.