Welcome to the
North Wiltshire Methodist Circuit
The British writer Arthur C.
Clarke once said
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
magic.”
We seem to be living in a time of
“magic”. Science and technology are awash in magic things.
But some of the biggest “magic”
around is voice recognition. Voice recognition is
the ability of a machine or program to receive and interpret dictation or to
understand and carry out spoken commands.
We “speak,” and our devices turn
on and do our bidding. Maybe you’ve seen one of these electronic devices such
as “Alexa”. Speak to it and it will connect you to the internet or even switch
on electrical devices in your home if they are connected. It’s all “magic” to
me. But to our kids, it’s not magic, it’s normality.
But Voice Recognition didn’t
begin as magic, or as science. It began with Jesus. In some of the most
defining words of discipleship Jesus ever spoke, he said: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John
10:27).
A disciple is defined by Voice
Recognition. A disciple is one who recognizes “The Voice,” and follows Jesus
wherever “The Voice” leads.
In the
Easter Day story Mary Magdalene made her early morning visit to Christ’s tomb.
She did not recognize the risen Jesus until he spoke to her and called her by
name. When Jesus spoke the word “Mary,” suddenly her “voice recognition” kicked
in and she realized who was standing before her. When she recognized the voice,
she also recognized the miracle that was the resurrection. Jesus
instructed Mary to tell them that she had encountered the resurrected Christ,
making her the “apostle to the apostles,”
as she is often called.
It is Jesus’ voice we are created
to hear, and that is the voice we are called to speak in. Jesus’ voice can be a
voice of comfort to those in need of comfort. And that’s the voice we speak as
purely as possible to the world.
But it’s not always a comforting
voice. Jesus appeared and spoke to his disciples in the Upper Room after his
resurrection not just so they could be comforted, but so that they could take
that “Jesus-voice” outside that safe haven. We are now Jesus’ voice in this
world. And the best voices, the best prophets are not boom-boxes of doom but
bearers of hope and comfort.
Revd David Gray
Welcome to the
North Wiltshire Methodist Circuit
The British writer Arthur C. Clarke once said
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
We seem to be living in a time of “magic”. Science and technology are awash in magic things.
But some of the biggest “magic” around is voice recognition. Voice recognition is the ability of a machine or program to receive and interpret dictation or to understand and carry out spoken commands.
We “speak,” and our devices turn on and do our bidding. Maybe you’ve seen one of these electronic devices such as “Alexa”. Speak to it and it will connect you to the internet or even switch on electrical devices in your home if they are connected. It’s all “magic” to me. But to our kids, it’s not magic, it’s normality.
But Voice Recognition didn’t begin as magic, or as science. It began with Jesus. In some of the most defining words of discipleship Jesus ever spoke, he said: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).
A disciple is defined by Voice Recognition. A disciple is one who recognizes “The Voice,” and follows Jesus wherever “The Voice” leads.
In the Easter Day story Mary Magdalene made her early morning visit to Christ’s tomb. She did not recognize the risen Jesus until he spoke to her and called her by name. When Jesus spoke the word “Mary,” suddenly her “voice recognition” kicked in and she realized who was standing before her. When she recognized the voice, she also recognized the miracle that was the resurrection. Jesus instructed Mary to tell them that she had encountered the resurrected Christ, making her the “apostle to the apostles,” as she is often called.
It is Jesus’ voice we are created to hear, and that is the voice we are called to speak in. Jesus’ voice can be a voice of comfort to those in need of comfort. And that’s the voice we speak as purely as possible to the world.
But it’s not always a comforting voice. Jesus appeared and spoke to his disciples in the Upper Room after his resurrection not just so they could be comforted, but so that they could take that “Jesus-voice” outside that safe haven. We are now Jesus’ voice in this world. And the best voices, the best prophets are not boom-boxes of doom but bearers of hope and comfort.
Revd David Gray