Algorithm of Love

Mark 9:38-50

38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us. 41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

42 “If any of you cause one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.

49 “For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good, but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Does anyone know what an algorithm is? It is a series of rules used to solve specific problems, perform certain tasks or make certain decisions. In today’s world we see algorithms at work in our social media platforms, X (twitter), Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube. Here, algorithms act as the rules that govern the platform’s operation, determining how content is filtered, ranked, selected and recommended to users. If you’ve ever watched a silly cat video and then scrolled on to see several other silly cat videos suggested to you, this is not a coincidence, it is the algorithm performing according to its rules. We might not really think too much about algorithms, seeing them as simply functions in the background of our online interactions, but algorithms actually have tremendous influence over us because they determine what we see and interact with before we do.

One way algorithms determine what we see is by those three magical buttons: follow, like, subscribe. Any time you like a post, any time you choose to follow or subscribe to a content provider the algorithm has taken note and will continue to provide you with even more options that resemble it. Now this isn’t entirely bad, after liking one video about the behind-the-scenes filming of Game of Thrones I am happy that YouTube suggests another one to me. Or after following one LGBTQ+ activist’s channel I am happy that other activists in the same movement are shown to me. But what seems to be helpful can become a slippery slope to being unhelpful, because if this type of filtering leads only to ever seeing things that I like and want, then slowly what the algorithm is really doing, is building a chamber that locks me into patterns of thought that reflect and affirm my own mind and those of a similar mind to me. And this becomes extremely problematic because the algorithm is doing this to other people as well, people with completely dissimilar thoughts to me, so that their chambers are filled with nothing but what they like and want. By putting us in chambers, algorithms create tribes for us that are determined by who and what we follow, and on the internet we can remain separate so it doesn’t always have such great consequences, but we don’t live on the internet, we live in this physical world where we have to physically interact with people. In this world we see that the separations that the algorithms created for us cannot be kept separate in our in-person interactions, eventually we will encounter someone who is from another tribe living in a different chamber, and when they speak to us we can be confounded as to how they act and think like they do. The algorithms online divide us so effectively that our in-person interactions can end up breaking us so deeply. But ultimately, all this online algorithm phenomena that we are experiencing in the 21st century really highlights is a struggle that has always existed amongst humans: that of our ability to interact with those don’t follow the same things that we do. Even without the internet, there has always been a challenge to handle these divides.

So, what does all of this have to do with Jesus? Well, algorithms are nothing new to humanity, even if the word is a more recent one. Humans have always been making calculations according to a set of rules. ‘Jesus, Jesus, someone’s casting out demons in your name, you haven’t asked them to follow you, they aren’t even following us, that’s against the rules, what should we do to stop them?’ John in our gospel reading is upset because a person who did not hit the follow button to his group is doing work in the name of the group. John has done the calculations and this is against the rules, there are certain criteria it takes to be a Jesus follower, and you have to follow Jesus like the disciples do if you want to be considered part of the group. John is trying to stop this person from casting out demons, from doing the work of God, because he’s not doing it the way John’s group does it, because he’s not following them, because his content is not the same as theirs.

This type of calculating, this developing of algorithms (rules) that determine who is in and who is out based on who you’re following has been a part of the church for its entire existence. For centuries we have seen churches in the name of God develop algorithms that determine how followers of God should speak, worship, and be. And from these algorithms people have been either included or excluded, considered to be in communion or excommunicated. History shows us that those who were excluded from church groups often went on to found other church groups that then developed their own algorithms that either included or excluded people as well, and so on and so on. Church history has evolved to the point that under this umbrella of Christianity today we have thousands of chambers with our own church algorithms. This can in some ways be positive and reflect the rich diversity of how we all worship God, but it can be detrimental when these chambers are so firmly built and so comfortable to stay in that we find it difficult to tolerate or understand any expressions of faith and spirit that differ from it, when it causes us to turn away from Christ’s call to be one in his body.

‘We tried to stop him because he was not following us’. These words from John echo throughout the entire history of the church, revealing categories that have been erected to calculate whether people were followers of the ‘us’ group or not. Yet as Jesus reminds John, and as the Holy Spirit has been trying to remind all of us since that time, there is only one algorithm that serves as the rule of God, only one algorithm that we are asked to follow and build our churches with: love God, love your neighbour, love yourself. Love God, neighbour and yourself, these are the only calculations that God wants us to live by, everything else, (from the beginning of the gospel to 2024) our buildings and languages and rituals and rules of membership are all just content that should be carried out in response to that algorithm. If the content that we use as Christians to invite people into God’s world of love works, then great; if the likes and follows we receive enhance the algorithm of loving our neighbours then fantastic; but if we as church try to change the algorithm so we can prioritize our content, if we place more value on who is following us over who is following love, if we prioritize members of our church over members of the kingdom of God, then we have failed, and we need to, in the words of Jesus, cut off and tear out any part of us that wants to divide and separate people from this love and replace it with acts of humble service which reflect who it is that we are really following and scrolling after.

This is not an easy thing to parse out and do. When we are confronted with people who are so different from us, who may seem dishonest and ungodly, (churches) whether unjustly or justly so, it is hard to hold them with this kindness and to see them as a part of God’s algorithm of love. Look at Job, he if anyone was challenged in unimaginable ways to hold steadfast to God’s love in the face of such great opposition. I think we can all think of times we have encountered these types of challenging moments, moments where we think that something else is more important than connecting in God’s love. I can speak from experience of how the challenge of following this algorithm from God can push our limits. I’ve sat at a table with a grandfather who not only believed until his death that homosexuality was a sin but who fought vehemently against the ordination of homosexuals in our church during the 80s, and I sit now at my table with a close family member whose political views are very different than mine, who supports Trump and many of his ideas, and in both scenarios I am challenged deeply to forego the algorithms of this world that tell me I am incapable of sitting at one table with them and to instead embrace the rules of God that tell me not only can I sit at a table with people who are so different than myself, I can love them, and they can love me.

Throughout our lives we are called and challenged to become subscribers to the kingdom of God, and this entails becoming a follower who won’t allow any stumbling blocks to get in the way of our ability to love and to invite others to this love. World Communion Sunday reminds us that in order to really do this, we will have to let go of the parts of us that prioritize the rules of this world and let our only influence be the sacred mystery of love. It will not be easy to do, but the good news is that if we take on this work, then we have a chance to experience what only this algorithm can offers us, peace with one another.

On this Sunday, loving God, we lament our human calculations that have and continue to break us away from a loving union. We hold in our hearts the pain that many have experienced because of tribal mentalities that push us ever into division and devastation and pray that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past. Keep your Spirit close to us so that we may move ever closer to the universal algorithm that seeks to place us all in your peaceful arms of love. Amen.

-Rev. Cynthia Reynolds