July 30, 2023, column from the Amarillo Globe-News:

Chatbot sermons lack soul and heart

By Mike Haynes

                A preacher paces next to the front pew of a small church, alternating wide smiles and pauses with words of reminiscence. Tears aren’t quite visible, but his eyes look a little wet. He’s talking about the time three decades ago when he kneeled at the altar that now is just behind him and acknowledged the call he was receiving from God.

 

Thacker Haynes

               He recalls the personal support he had back then from members of the congregation that he now leads. People in the pews who remember those friends fondly nod their heads.

                It’s a story that reinforces this sermon on listening to God, committing to following Jesus Christ and loving others.

                On another Sunday, a different preacher talks about a photo on the screen behind him. It’s a picture of a simple wooden table, rough, clunky, almost 100 years old. The hands of the preacher’s grandfather had made it, and over decades, five generations of the speaker’s family have gathered around it in an old house in a small town.

                This preacher says the family table “has been surrounded primarily by laughter but also by tears. Jesus knew that tables and the things we taste there and talk about with those gathered together around them – these are the times, these are the things that we remember.”

                Those heartfelt words lead into the importance of the Lord’s supper – communion – where Jesus sat with his disciples and told them to remember him.

Jim Shelburne

                A third preacher, another day, tells a congregation about his conversion to Christ as a young man, in part through the influence of a good friend. The speaker’s experience then and his commitment to Christ since are effective examples of the kinds of changes God wants all of us to make.

                Finally, a nationally known preacher talks on video about good friends, a married couple whose 6-month-old child had passed away. The preacher and his wife had attended a memorial service where many in the church were sobbing, broken up about the little one and his grieving family.

Tommy Politz

                But when the slow cadence of the hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul,” filled the air, the preacher looked over at the parents. Their hands were raised in praise as they sang, “When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.”

  
               Those four brief examples from sermons that my wife and I have heard are answer enough to a question in this newspaper two weeks ago: “Can chatbots write inspirational and wise sermons?”

                The development of ever more sophisticated artificial intelligence, which basically is computers programmed to use information that humans have given them through the internet and other sources, is a hot topic. Chatbots are computer programs designed to mimic conversation with human users, and experiments show that they can write sermons. I suppose that yes, they can write “inspirational and wise” ones.

 

Francis Chan

               But the four preachers I mentioned – my cousin Thacker Haynes of McLean, Jim Shelburne and Tommy Politz of Amarillo and Francis Chan of Simi Valley, California, in that order – show something that I think takes “real,” rather than “artificial” intelligence – and that’s heart.

                The AI story two weeks ago by Joanne Pierce of “The Conversation” quoted Hershael York, a dean at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. York said the main failing of a sermon written by a chatbot is that it “lacks a soul.”

                 If you’ve attended a Walk to Emmaus retreat, you know what he’s talking about. For three days, clergy and lay people give talks on key aspects of the Christian faith. They aren’t technically sermons, but I don’t see much difference. The talks cover the basics of becoming a Christian and especially how to live the life God wants us to live. They get into some abstract concepts such as “prevenient grace” and “sanctifying grace.”

I believe the reason most of the listeners pay attention to and understand those ideas is because each talk also includes some of the speaker’s personal life journey.

                Talks can include dramatic conversion stories or just accounts of struggling to be consistent with the faith the speakers have held onto since childhood. Either way, the personal, relatable and sometimes emotional stories are the inspiration that makes listeners want to grasp the challenging concepts.

                Whether it’s an altar, a table, an encouraging friend or grieving parents, people relate to stories about slices of life. The Bible is full of them. God seeks out people, so the more genuine human experience in a message, the better.

 July 16, 2023, column  from the Amarillo Globe-News:

'Painted pages' in Canadian showcases biblical manuscripts

By Mike Haynes

                The Citadelle Art Museum in Canadian always is worth a visit with its permanent collection, regular traveling exhibits and the mansion itself, which houses most of the art and is a part of the city’s history.

                Kathy and I had a special reason for making the two-hour drive from Amarillo to Canadian, though.

Built in 1910 as First Baptist Church, the main building was a Church of Christ worship place from 1955 to 1975, then was turned into the home of Dr. Malouf and Therese Abraham and their family. After 30 years as their residence, the Abrahams made the Citadelle a public museum to showcase their extensive art collection that ranges from “Yo Aqui No Dire Nada” by concept artist Andres Martinez to the Norman Rockwell original, “First Day of School.”

My wife and I were there last month to see about 35 colorful “Painted Pages,” an exhibit of illuminated manuscripts from the 1200s to the 1700s, ranging from a Bible page measuring 5 by 7½ inches with tiny Latin letters to a two-page spread of musical notes and words that’s 44 inches wide and 31 inches tall.

 The exhibit, on loan from the Reading, Pennsylvania, Public Museum, will run through Nov. 18. Check thecitadelle.org or call 806-323-8899 for opening dates and hours.

The miniature Bible leaf is from a book handwritten with an inked bird quill on vellum (treated animal skin) in France around the year 1240. The black letters are less than 1/16^th of an inch high. The transcriber of this document either used a magnifying glass or had superb eyesight.

The exhibit’s description says, “The precision and beauty of the text executed in so small a scale … are among the wonders in book history.” The small Bibles were created by young friars of the Dominican Order, and others were produced in Paris workshops.

On the other end of the size spectrum are two adjoining pages (a bifolio) from a Spanish choir book dating from 1400 to 1450. About the size of our flat-screen TV, it also was intended to be seen from a distance.

Exhibit information indicates the manuscript was part of a 125-pound choir book first used at a monastery in Granada, Spain. Its description reads, “The impressively large format was used because it needed to be seen by groups of singers during the church service.”

Both of those examples are relatively simple visually, but the exhibit includes spectacular artwork, such as a miniature portrait of the Virgin and Child that adorns a page from a Flemish Book of Hours, or devotional book. The page, created in Bruges, Belgium, between 1480 and 1490, includes elaborate vine-stem borders and is enhanced with gold leaf.

My only disappointment at the Citadelle was missing an Esther scroll from the 1700s. We toured the exhibit soon after it opened, and the scroll wasn’t on display yet.

The Hebrew scroll was done with ink on sheep or goat skin, and Rabbi Brian Michelson of Reading, Pennsylvania, wrote, “It is fairly certain this is Sephardic in origin, used in the Middle East, Northern Africa, or perhaps Spain. … The ink recipe used for this and other sacred scrolls was invented in the fifth century A.D.”

The ink provided at a table in the Citadelle’s exhibit room is more modern – in the form of Sharpie pens along with brushes and colorful paint. Visitors could sit down and create their own art on white note cards. Kathy did a fine job embellishing a black “H” with green, gold and red.

“Painted Pages” originated from the collection of Otto Ege (1888-1951) of Reading, who sold sets of manuscript leaves to universities and libraries, often breaking up books to sell or display individual leaves, a controversial practice. His justification:

“Surely to allow a thousand people ‘to have and to hold’ an original manuscript leaf, and to get a thrill and understanding that comes only from actual and frequent contact with these art heritages, is justification enough for the scattering of fragments. …”

That wish for as many people as possible to see his manuscripts mirrors the desire of the monks, scribes and others who spent years creating them hundreds of years ago. They wanted to spread God’s Word as far as possible. 

* * *

                I can’t end this column without acknowledging a number. My grandfather was big on calculations. He could do complicated math in his head, he told his grandkids the dates of important family milestones and, after his eyesight kept him from doing much work, he counted steps when out walking, long before watches that do it for you.

                So I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this is the 500^th “Faith” column I’ve written for this newspaper. The first one ran on June 26, 1997 – just 15 weeks and three days before Grandad John died at age 95.

July 2, 2023, column from the Amarillo Globe-News:

Finding refuge in God after tornadoes, tragedies strike

By Mike Haynes

                The “Verse of the Day” in this newspaper on June 16 was from one of the “minor prophets” of the Old Testament:

                “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.” (Nahum 1:7, English Standard Version)

                It was the day after a tornado struck Perryton, resulting in three deaths, more than 100 injuries and the loss of at least 150 homes in the northeast Texas Panhandle town of 8,100 people, according to local officials.

                Then on June 21, another tornado plowed through Matador, 180 miles straight south of Perryton. Four people died at Matador, whose population is just under 600. Fifteen injuries were reported, and the National Weather Service said 61 properties were hit, including 29 structures destroyed.

                Val Castor, a storm chaser from KWTV in Oklahoma, told The New York Times that half of Matador “was wiped out.” He talked to a man whose deceased wife remained in the rubble.

                Certainly, June 16 and June 21 were “days of trouble.” Many had followed the TV weather people’s advice to “take refuge” physically. Most also probably took refuge spiritually by praying. Some still are thanking God that the tornadoes bypassed them. Others who prayed just as hard either passed away or had to endure memorial services for family or friends.

                After the Perryton storm, my sister checked on her good friends there and found out they were safe. After Matador, I asked about a family friend there and was told she had moved to another state a month ago. So those tragedies didn’t directly affect us. But day by day, nothing is guaranteed.

                The five men who descended toward the Titanic’s resting place on the ocean floor on June 18 knew there was risk in approaching the infamous ship in their submersible vehicle, but because many others had preceded them in viewing it at 12,500 feet, I’m sure they were confident they would return to the surface as planned.

                Instead, they joined about 1,500 passengers and crew who died when Titanic sank in 1912.

                Scripture doesn’t promise good times. That Nahum verse doesn’t say the Lord withholds days of trouble but that he is our stronghold when they occur.

                Every one of us has those bad days – or years – sometimes terrible times when we lose a loved one or when we face seemingly insurmountable suffering. In addition to the troubles of our own lives, we see it daily in the news and, if we pay attention to history as we should, in the past.

                The excellent, eight-part TV series, “A Small Light,” reminds us of one of the worst “days of trouble” in the world as it shows the heroic efforts of Miep Gies, a young woman who helped hide Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis for two years. We know the horrible outcome of that true World War II story. As I watched it play out on a screen, I dreaded the day when the eight Jews in their hidden refuge would be arrested and sent to concentration camps.

                Such sorrow prompts many to question the existence of God. Why would he allow such pain? Why can’t Perryton and Matador and so many other communities that suffer be allowed to just exist in peace and harmony?

                The short answer is that humans rejected God from the beginning, setting into motion the corrupted world we live in. The sweeping scope of the Old and New Testaments shows the good and the bad that have resulted and that continue to please and to plague us.

                When the Son of God was on Earth, he healed “multitudes” of people of physical and other ailments. But he didn’t heal everybody. The apostle Paul apparently never got rid of his “thorn in the flesh.” Jesus did, though, promise eternal healing for those who believe in him.

                As Nahum declared, “he knows those who take refuge in him.” Maybe that’s all the reassurance we need.

 June 18, 2023, column from the Amarillo Globe-News:

Wondering about Michelangelo, Lewis and post-truth

By Mike Haynes

Just wondering …

                … whether you knew that before painting his famous Sistine Chapel ceiling in Rome from 1508 to 1512, Michelangelo primarily was a sculptor, having done the Pieta – Mary holding the body of Jesus – in 1498 and his David statue in 1501.

He had little experience with frescoes – paint on wet plaster – but he created some of the best of those in history on the chapel ceiling, lying on his back on a scaffold.

                That’s what Mark White told people attending a June 8 preview reception for “Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition,” which began June 9 at Amarillo’s Arts in the Sunset and is open for 38 days through July 23. White is one of the organizers who helped bring the colorful, remarkable exhibit to Amarillo although it has visited mostly larger cities such as Dallas, Oklahoma City, New York and London.

                The display lets you see 34 separate images as close as you want to stand. If you were in the chapel at the Vatican in Rome, they would be 66 feet above you, and you would be crammed into the room with scores of other tourists.

                This way, you can study that short space between the famous fingers of Adam and God or the troubled face of the prophet Jeremiah from a foot away if you want.

                My wife, Kathy, and I have recommended the Amarillo exhibit to several people. I even suggested to a friend in Lubbock that it’s worth a drive from the Hub City. Anyone with an interest in art, history or religion should go to https://chapelsistine.com/exhibits/amarillo and reserve their tickets. Arts in the Sunset is at 3701 Plains Blvd.

* * *

Just wondering …

… how familiar Sam Heughan is with Christian writer C.S. Lewis.

                It seems that Lewis, who died in 1963 and whose best-known works probably are “Mere Christianity” and “The Chronicles of Narnia,” shows up everywhere, including in the 2022 book by “Outlander” actor Heughan called, “Waypoints: My Scottish Journey.”

                Heughan plays Scottish Highland fighter and lover Jamie Fraser in the immensely popular novels and TV series, “Outlander” (which will begin its Season 7 on Starz tonight). Apparently, he read the Narnia stories as a kid or just knows about Lewis from growing up in the United Kingdom, because I noticed three references to the British author in Heughan’s book.

                The actor intersperses elements of his life story with accounts of a recent 96-mile hike along the West Highland Way in Scotland. Twice, in describing the beauty of the Highland forests, lochs and mountains, he writes that it’s as if he had stepped out of a wardrobe into a marvelous new land – an obvious reference to Lewis’ “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”

                Then Heughan reflects on how, during part of his multi-day hike, “I’ve been in such a hurry to get there that I’ve missed out on the pleasure of the journey.” And he includes a quote from “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”: “Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different?”

                The “Outlander” star ends his wilderness journey with the opinion that walking and noticing the details of nature – such as mushrooms – are preferable to driving a car or riding his motorcycle.

C.S. Lewis

                C.S. Lewis, known to walk for pleasure around Oxford, England, expressed the same sentiment about taking the slow route through the countryside.

                Heughan also includes a quote from “The Lord of the Rings,” by Lewis’ Christian friend, J.R.R. Tolkien. Heughan’s dad even named the actor’s brother Cirdan after a Tolkien elf. And Sam Heughan’s first name must have come from one of Tolkien’s hobbit characters, because he says his father sometimes called him “Samwise.”

* * *

Just wondering …

                … whether most people missed an astute comment that Icelandic entrepreneur Haraldur Thorleifsson made in a Twitter exchange with Elon Musk. The tweets were about Thorleifsson being let go from Twitter’s payroll without notification, but I’m more interested in this observation by the Icelander:

                “A lot of people on the left don’t seem to realize that the US is living in a post-truth, post-reason, post-ethics world. Reality doesn’t matter anymore, right and wrong don’t matter, facts are no longer a thing.

"It’s all gone. Act accordingly.”

                For Christians, the way to act is made clear in the God-inspired book known as the Bible.

 June 4, 2023, column from the Amarillo Globe-News:

Sistine Chapel exhibition gives a view like no other

By Mike Haynes

                I was 19 when I walked with a travel group into the Sistine Chapel, and I remember the shoulder-to-shoulder tourists almost as much as I remember the wondrous ceiling and walls, painted by Michelangelo and a few other Renaissance artists.

The chapel is almost the size of a typical small-town gym. Trying to appreciate what I was seeing during a three-week, whirlwind tour of Europe with a flock of Texas Panhandle high school and college students and our teacher sponsors, I exited the famous site at the Vatican in Rome after half an hour with one more check mark on my mental “been there” list.

                I certainly am grateful that I stood in that historic room, but now I have a chance to see Michelangelo’s work without having to risk a crick in my neck, without binoculars to view artistic details and with fascinating descriptions in my ear.

                As you read this column, “Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition” is being set up at Arts in the Sunset at 3701 Plains Blvd. in Amarillo. It will be open to the public for 38 days between this June 9 and July 23. 

                The celebrated ceiling art that Michelangelo painted from 1508 to 1512 and his dramatic “Last Judgment,” which he created from 1536 to 1541 on the chapel’s tall west wall, feature so many scenes and human figures that it’s no easy task to understand what you’re seeing.

                Books and websites are available that allow you to view the individual paintings and read about them. But what if you could stand just a few feet from those outstretched fingers of God and man that the great artist crafted to show “The Creation of Adam” – in the actual size that they exist on that 66-foot-high ceiling?

                You can with a ticket to the exhibit that will visit Amarillo, which features digitally reproduced images printed on canvas panels. A ticket includes an audio guide app for your smartphone.

                “Download the app, choose which language you want, type in the number of the panel, and there’s a narration that tells you exactly what you’re looking at,” said Beth Duke, executive director of Center City, which helped bring the Sistine Chapel to town.

                Center City oversees the Amarillo Cultural District, which includes downtown but also other areas, including Arts in the Sunset.

                Duke said Dean Frigo, a former assistant city manager, saw the exhibit in Albuquerque. Frigo returned and told Father Tony Neusch at St. Mary’s Cathedral about it, then called Duke and said, “We need to bring this to Amarillo.” Frigo and Father Tony both helped make that happen although the exhibit usually appears in larger cities.

                Duke, who has been to the Sistine Chapel in Rome twice, and her husband, Ralph Duke, checked out the exhibit in Oklahoma City to confirm that it’s up to Center City standards. “I wanted to be sure it was something I’d be proud to put our name on,” she said.

                “I believe the audiences are going to be faith-based, people who love art, people who love history and people who travel,” Duke said. “A lot of people have been to the Sistine Chapel; a lot of people have it on their bucket list; but this is a way to see it up close and personal, at your own pace, with a narrative.

                “Even if you are in the Sistine Chapel, you don’t see it like this.”

                Standard admission to the Amarillo exhibit, which includes an audio guide, costs $22.50 (much less than flying to Italy to see the original). Senior, child and group discounts are available as well as a souvenir package that includes a keepsake guidebook. Duke said she hopes people in Amarillo and the area will take advantage of the group rate. “I’m thinking Sunday school groups, book clubs, travel study groups,” she said.

                “Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel” will be open from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sundays with last entry 1½ hours before closing. It will be closed on July 4.

                Tickets can be booked for specific times at https://chapelsistine.com/exhibits/amarillo.

                Duke said she estimates that most people will spend an hour to 90 minutes perusing the exhibit.

“When I saw it, one thing that stood out to me was realizing how many individual faces were in those huge panels. Each one is a portrait. In one panel is an unflattering depiction of the pope at that time. I feel sure Michelangelo had some fun with that.

“I found it very moving. I’m hopeful that people will take advantage of this. I don’t want people to say, ‘Oh, I wish I’d known it was here.’

In case you wonder, the chapel’s name stems from Pope Sixtus IV, who had an older chapel restored between 1477 and 1480, resulting in the current architecture. Later popes commissioned Michelangelo to create the frescoes – paintings on wet plaster – on the ceiling and west wall along with paintings on the side walls by Botticelli and other artists.

                 The exhibit includes only Michelangelo’s contributions – certainly 34 images by the genius are enough – and when I go, I’ll see them in much more detail than I did when I was a teenager. I’ll appreciate them more than I did then, too – for their art and historical value as well as their spiritual messages.

                Rumor has it that the artist included at least one self-portrait in his Sistine Chapel frescoes. I’ll be looking for him, and I hope you will, too.

May 21, 2023, column in the Amarillo Globe-News:

Giving thanks for Chesterton, Shelburne, blessings

By Mike Haynes

                G.K. Chesterton is one of those writers I’ve been vaguely aware of for decades, but I still have not read one of his books. Sometimes he’s mentioned in the same breath as C.S. Lewis, who is much more familiar to me.

                Chesterton (1874-1936) was a British social and literary critic and a Christian writer. He also is well known as the author of the Father Brown detective stories.

                I attend a monthly meeting where fans of Lewis read and discuss short portions of his books, and some of the more well-read members of the group occasionally throw Chesterton into the discussion. I’ve intended to read some of the renowned English intellectual’s Christian writing, but my serious introduction to him keeps being put off by more immediate interests.

                I did finally get around to a more recent book that’s been on my shelf for eight years and that I heartily recommend: “The Key Place,” by fellow Faith section columnist Gene Shelburne. It’s about a family home place in Coke County, Texas, where Shelburne and his three fellow preacher brothers still return to read, study, rest and fix up the old house.

                Shelburne skillfully uses items from his past – such as the gates on the property – to illustrate biblical truths. “The Key Place” and other books by one of Amarillo’s treasures were available on Amazon when I looked this week.

                While enjoying West Texas wisdom from possibly the region’s most talented writer, I also came across a snippet of Chesterton’s insights that Shelburne quoted:

You say grace before meals.

All right.

But I say grace before the play and the opera,

And grace before the concert and the pantomime,

And grace before I open a book,

And grace before sketching, painting,

Swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing;

And grace before I dip the pen in the ink.

                First, that little passage told me, “I really need to read one of Chesterton’s books.” And second, as I equate saying grace to thanks, it echoed recent thoughts of my own that everything we enjoy in this world – unless God clearly tells us to stay away from it – is from above. We should thank the Creator for every good thing as both the Old Testament psalmist and the New Testament apostle Paul encouraged us to do.

                I have many more significant blessings to thank God for, but following Chesterton’s pattern above, I give thanks for Amarillo Little Theatre and the 2022 “Elvis” movie (I’m not an opera fan.); for the 2014 Paul McCartney concert in Lubbock and “The Andy Griffith Show”; for John Burke’s book, “Imagine Heaven”; for the chances I have had to take travel photos, to edit family photos with Photoshop, to swim, to play tennis, to attend hometown basketball games, to walk on a treadmill, to play Catch Phrase with family and to dance to Jackson Haney’s oldies band at a class reunion.

                I thank God for the opportunity to use my keyboard to write about things I notice as I advance through life – using those observations to present Christianity in a positive light.

I’m still no Chesterton scholar or even a Chesterton reader. I can Google with the best of them, though, and I love this guy’s thoughts on thanks:

                “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”

                “When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”

                And I’ll bet you’ve heard this one. I had but didn’t remember who said it. It’s attributed to Chesterton:

                “The worst moment for an atheist is when he feels a profound sense of gratitude and has no one to thank.”

Thank you, G.K. Chesterton. Thank you, Gene Shelburne. And for everything, thanks to God.