Why Did It Have To Be Snakes?
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For March 14, 2021:
Why Did It Have To Be Snakes?
by Chris Keating
Numbers 21:4-9
Apparently, being rescued from slavery is not enough to offset the difficulty of a long journey. Having trapsed around Sinai for years, the Hebrews’ exodus has been one of constant complaint. Even the most amicable among them has decided there won’t be giving Moses and company any five star Yelp reviews.
They are a peevish bunch, crabby and whining about everything from the funky-tasting water to the lack of fleshpots and meat. “We detest this miserable food,” they cry. It’s similar to the complaints they have raised before, except this time they are directing their cries to God.
God’s response is weird, mysterious, and even down-right creepy. Their quibbles are hardly out of their mouths when the ground starts moving. Twisting, turning mounds of poisonous snakes wind around their feet, causing near instantaneous regret.
Indiana Jones’ often repeated question comes to mind. “Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes?”
Numbers does not appear often in the lectionary, and not many preachers are willing to become Lenten snake handlers. But before heading to more familiar homiletical hunting grounds, consider how our own impatience can lead to deadly consequences.
Governors, anxious to please a Covid-weary population, are rolling back restrictions on restaurants and facemasks, while health officials urge caution, believing that new variants of the virus could strike. Meanwhile, those weary of waiting for vaccines are finding ways to jump in line and game the system. And in Washington, DC, progressives are realizing that electing a Democrat president was not a golden ticket to enacting their legislative agenda.
Impatience can become a deadly poison. Fortunately, this text also reminds us that God’s presence is never far from the onslaught of ever-wiggling reptiles.
In the News
Thankfully, there have been no widespread reports of snake infestations in 2020, aside from Florida’s ongoing battle with Burmese pythons. Consider that the good news.
The bad news is that ours is a jittery culture prone to wanton impatience.
“No one can make the world spin faster,” writes Luis E. Romero. “Yet there are people who believe they can, despite having to wait, at the end of every single day, for the Earth to complete its 24-hour rotation. Impatience, especially when it becomes a character trait, is not a virtue; it is a flaw that causes chronic stress, ongoing disappointment, and forces people to overwork or cut corners in an attempt to beat the clock. The result? Incomplete tasks, half-achieved goals, strained relationships, and never-ending rationalizations as to why the costs incurred are not so bad.”
In other words, sometimes there is not much you can do to speed up your trek through the wilderness. But it is hard to realize that, especially when the dangers of wilderness life grow. That describes the impatience of Israel, and it may also describe our impatience with the pandemic and life in general.
Was it politics or impatience that prompted Texas Governor Greg Abbott to rescind his states facemask requirements and other restrictions on business? Citing a decline in hospitalizations and an increase in vaccinations, Abbot revoked a series of public safety orders March 2. Other officials warned that the governor’s actions will undermine the good-faith sacrifices made by health professionals and the general public to contain the pandemic. “It’s mind-boggling, given where we are,” said Austin Mayor Steve Addler.
But the desire the move ahead is rampant. Last weekend, parents and children in Idaho held a “mask burning rally” on the steps of the Idaho Capitol building. The burning masks became a symbol of the impatience of some far-right political groups. At one point, a child tossed facemasks into the fire, yelling, “Hey, fire, are you hungry? Here’s another mask.” It’s not likely to become a groundswell, but the movement does reflect the disconnect between proven science and frustration over the pandemic.
This week President Biden will address the one-year anniversary of the pandemic’s impact on the United States. In advance of his speech, the Centers for Disease Control released new guidance for those who have been fully vaccinated. While the CDC still urges facemasks, it acknowledged that it may be safe for those who have been inoculated to gather in private homes without facemasks. Larger gatherings that include multiple households are still not advised, but vaccinated Americans who may become exposed to the virus do not necessarily need to quarantine as long as they do not develop symptoms.
This may not be the anti-venom for relief from the fang bites of impatience of all forms. Disney, for example, has announced that the company will decrease the time that new movies play exclusively in theaters, partly because of increased “consumer impatience.” Progressive politicians who may have felt isolated in a Trumpian-wilderness have discovered that electing a Democratic president does not mean they will get everything they crave.
The footsteps of impatience marches through the financial markets, too. Some Wall Street analysts believe that the impatience of cocky investors might lead to a crashing market. Meanwhile, “vaccine tourism” is spiking, meaning people are not just travelling for the job, but for the jab as well.
It’s a snake-bite-snake world, and our impatience may get the best of us. Is there a cure for what ails us?
In the Scripture
There are only three Sundays in the entire lectionary that offer Numbers as an option for preaching. In fact, as Dennis Olson notes in the introduction to his commentary on Numbers, there’s been a long tradition of avoiding the fourth book of the Pentateuch. Olson quotes third-century theologian Origen who said the average Christian would judge the book as having “nothing helpful” in it. But taking a bit of a deeper exegetical dive into the text this week may yield especially timely interpretation (Olson, 2012).
Originally titled “In the wilderness,” the book is largely seen as an account of Israel’s wilderness census. But numbers tell a story, and in this case the story concerns the formation of God’s people as they meander their way from slavery to freedom. Numbers is a story of a people under construction, a people living in that space between an old life of slavery and a new life of freedom.
By chapter 21, the first generation of the exodus people are dying. New leaders are emerging, and weariness is on the rise. As in the lyrics of James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the bitterness of the chastening rod and the weariness of the stony road has left the people feeling frustrated and tired.
Things fall apart when Moses receives word that the King of Edom has denied the Hebrews permission to cross through his land (Numbers 20:18). The detour does not sit well, and complaints are on the rise. They have a long history of complaining, but this time the complaints are directed to God. This last complaint in Numbers is a doozie. They include the familiar protests about yearning for Egypt, the dreadful wilderness, and lack of food and water. Appended to this is a direct complaint against God’s provision of manna. “We detest this miserable food.”
This is more than a bad day at the cafeteria. It is a direct affront to the gracious provision of God, a reprimand against God’s faithfulness in offering manna in the emptiness of the desert. You can nearly hear the grousing arising from the dinner tables. “What’s for dinner? Oh, manna. What a surprise!”
God responds by unleashing packs of poisonous snakes. This wrinkle leads to a profound theological question about the nature of God. God, who acted in loving care to release the people from bondage, has now sentenced many of them to death. Elizabeth Webb (workingpreacher.org, September 14, 2014) dissects this question, pointing out that the people of the covenant understood the sort of punishment associated with failure to trust God.
Yet God also provides the remedy. Snakes have a way of changing people’s opinions, and the once churlish Hebrews quickly repent. Yahweh responds to Moses’ intercession, directing him to fashion a sort of snake-on-a-stick. The cause of death has now become a bronze icon of healing, similar to the representation of the caduceus in healing arts. God provides, even when humanity is at its worst.
Snakes and serpents are frequent symbols in ancient literature, including Israel’s own origin stories in Genesis. The Hebrew word here is saraph, or flying, fiery serpent. Apparently, the people’s sins were so bad that not only were poisonous snakes needed, but flying and fiery poisonous snakes! The language requires the interpreter’s discerning attention. This passage is not for the squeamish, though neither is the crucifixion. In both, the symbol of God’s presence is raised in the midst of suffering, offering the reminder to look at it and live.
In the Sermon
Numbers 21:4-9 pairs well with the imagery in John 3:14-21, and may offer fresh preaching possibilities for those who have visited the more well-known conclusion to Nicodemus’ visit with Jesus. John 3:14 offers an intertextual connection that may help alleviate some of the strangeness of Numbers. But if the preacher is not too squeamish about snakes, the Old Testament lection is a poignant moment of Lenten reflection.
The death of the first generation of the exodus people certainly prompts additional complaints and restlessness. After 40 years, the memory of life as Pharaoh’s servants seems preferable than this never-ending camping trip. Their complaints are not completely without merit. Life in the wilderness is hard, dangerous, and full of nasty predators.
The pandemic has created its own sort of wilderness. We are blessed with Netflix and Door Dash, of course. But the virus has made us camp out at home when we’d prefer to be hugging grandchildren or walking along the beach. It’s not just travel, however. I suspect many congregations have been dealing with their own versions of fiery serpents. As Craig Kocher notes (Feasting on the Word, Lent 3, Year B), just about every church has its own version of a “Let’s go back to Egypt” committee. Their meetings open with complaints about not singing and end with whining about cancelled potlucks.
Like new variants to the Covid virus, the snake infestation changes everything. The murmuring ends as the people of Israel discover just how perilous things have become. These are not just a few random yard snakes, either. A sermon could take a deep dive into the real experiences of suffering that afflict us this season. Where are we yearning to see signs of God’s redemptive presence?
And, where are we called to look in order that we should live?
Belden Lane, a Presbyterian theologian who has taught at St. Louis University for many years, has written extensively about the spiritual potency of the wilderness. In his book The Solace of Fierce Landscapes, Lane reminds us that Moses’ experience of God in the wilderness “was but a brief interlude in an ongoing struggle.” But that glimpse of glory paves the way toward hope. “It incorporates,” he writes “a theology of hope into a theology of abandonment and loss.”
Lane’s theology emerges from his own experiences backpacking in the wilderness as well as the personal grief of watching his mother slip further into dementia. “The starting point for many things is grief, at the place where endings seem so absolute. Divine love is incessantly restless until it turns all woundedness into health, all deformity into beauty, all embarrassment into laughter. In biblical faith, brokenness is never celebrated as an end in itself.” Later he says, “God can only be met in emptiness, by those who come in love, abandoning all effort to control.” (Lane, Oxford Press, 1998).
In the wilderness, the gift of love greets those overcome by impatience. In the vast and untamed wilderness, filled with fiery snakes and winged demons of every sort, God’s people discover they are not alone.
SECOND THOUGHTS
What Will Save Us?
by Bethany Peerbolte
Ephesians 2:1-10
As we continue to journey through Lent we begin to shift our attention to our need for saving. We have recognized our mortality, from dust to dust, on Ash Wednesday. The full reality is that we will ultimately leave this life for something else. No matter what your theology is about the afterlife the fact that something else is coming is apparent. The charming realizations Ash Wednesday stir within us causes us to take assessment of our time here. We are inspired to become the people we most want to be when that fateful day arrives.
Those of us who were led to make a Lenten commitment either to give something up or add a practice to our lives have failed to follow through a few times already. We are aware that the spirit may be willing to improve, but our flesh is weak. We do not want to reach for the beautifully wrapped chocolate and yet it ends up in our hands, empty, and the treat already in our mouths. With this kind of will power the chances of us becoming the shining pedestal people we hope to be by Easter will never happen. Halfway through Lent and we wonder what will get us through.
This Lent in particular has felt like black hole of hope for many. It was Lent when we began quarantining in our houses last year. Every day is another anniversary. One year of online worship. One year of sterile plastic wrapped communion. One year of sitting on one side of the couch for work and the other for TV watching. Every day we remeasure our year in relation to how we felt this time last year, and what we thought reality would be by now. Maybe the most terrifying measurement of our year ticked past on Monday March 8; 525,600+ Covid deaths in the United States. One death for every minute in a year.
The opening of the Ephesians passage sits as a warning for those of us still on this side of life. Though we still are alive we need to be careful about what is giving us that life. It is easy for us to live for our sins, to use the adrenaline of disobedience to get us through the end of each week. Paul writes nonchalantly about hearts refusing to obey. It is almost reassuring. Everyone falls into ruts, it is what we should expect from this sinful hairball we have all created of the world.
Paul’s solution to the hairball is God’s mercy. While we were still in the rut, full of death, God raised us out and put us back on a level road. Only God’s grace could make such a significant change. We cannot take credit for being saved. It is a gift given to us by God. Saving is not a reward for trying to get out of the rut or even noticing we were stuck. Saving is God’s work. As my favorite translation for verse 10 says, “we are God’s masterpiece” (NLT). God is the painter we are the work.
Being the masterpiece is not easy though. It means we have no control, and we love to have control. We want to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps (a phrase originally coined to mock people who thought that was possible) and be self-made people. These ideals are cultural not biblical. The world tells us work harder, know more, create your worth. Culture tells us if we work hard and if we are the smartest, then we get good things. This demands that we cling to control so we can be the ones in charge of our destiny.
When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry left their Royal Family duties it seemed abrupt to the world. Their move to America seemed unnecessary to some and suspicious to others. This week we learned a little more about what drove those decisions. The couple sat down with Oprah to talk about their lives and their split from royal duty. In the interview, it quickly became apparent that the issue of race was a much bigger sticking point than originally let on by the Royal Family. While it seemed like the royal family had somehow kept up with the times and welcomed Meghan to the family, the reality was they had concerns. The concern that drove the couple to leave was over “how dark skinned their baby would be.” The fall out in the United Kingdom has been splintering.
The reality of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s story is that they were being pressed to fit a standard that was unachievable. As they look back at photos from events, they remember how they looked verses how they felt. When they realized they were never going to reach the expectations of their family they decided to leave. Since their departure from the constant control seeking ways of royal life they are thriving — enjoying the reward their love can give to them and their growing family.
The cultural ideals of work hard, do better, and stay in control do however seep into our theology and practice. When we hear things like “you must repent to be saved” it comes from the idea that we must do the work to get the good thing, aka, salvation. Cultural ideals can be heard in the hateful shouting of one denomination to another “you are not Christians if you believe that.” We must know what is unequivocally right to get the reward of salvation. The theology these phrases grow out of is backwards. Paul is clear — salvation is not a reward for anything we have control over. Salvation is a gift first and foremost, no pre-requisites, no deposit needed. It has been given.
We have come halfway through Lent, or is it a whole year of Lent, clinging to the control we can salvage. Striving to prove we are works of art worth looking at. Struggling to be worthy of the ultimate gift. Researching and learning how to know enough to finally hang the reward on our wall. It is already there. Paul wants us to reject the ideals of this world that say worth is something we build. We are already worthy.
As we venture out of this Lent, let us turn our attention to that which we already have. The things we have despite our control. It’s not right repentance, right belief, or right works that get us to Easter. God is the one who gets us there and we rest assured that gift has come and will come.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Ephesians 2:1-10
Practicing Grace
We know about the gift of grace, and we understand the words Paul is writing to the Ephesian churches, and yet it’s hard to take in the gift of grace and let it settle in our lives. A young man named Tyler found that he had to practice having the experience of grace, starting out very small at first. “Tyler was the product of a nearly loveless home, but somehow he knew he wanted a close, loving relationship… Tyler didn’t know how to open up to a woman he was attracted to. He couldn’t reconcile the feeling that he was not worthy of being loved with the desire to be loved. So he remained stuck and lonely. His main outlet seemed to be his work as a volunteer at an animal shelter. He was gentle and caring, and the cats and dogs responded to him more than to anyone else at the shelter. There was one dog who was frightened and had been abused. Tyler made Barney his special project, and spent more time with him than with the other shelter animals. Within two weeks, there was a noticeable change in Barney, who moped all day until Tyler showed up. The manager of the shelter suggested that Tyler think about adopting Barney. Tyler was surprised. He was used to giving without expecting anything in return. That he might be “allowed” to take Barney home was a foreign concept.”
Tyler decided to start with a visit. “When he approached Barney’s cage with a collar and leash, he was sweating and excited. It felt like an enormous privilege to have this new friend by his side. As he led Barney to his car, he experienced an enormous wave of emotion. Was this what love felt like? Barney jumped into the front seat and Tyler got into the driver’s side. Barney settled into the seat and made himself into a compact ball, head on paws, eyes on the young man. At that moment, Tyler realized that he had opened his heart to this creature and he was loved in return. He was completely still as he absorbed this truth. And he knew he had somehow broken through what he had secretly thought of as his “frozen heart.”… It wasn’t a giant change; it was more like a small secret that was glowing inside of him and would help propel him toward the life he wanted.”
Narrating Tyler’s story, Mary Traina adds, “Grace. These moments of grace, of insight or utter beauty like a pure stream of light, teach us that there is always more to life than we can imagine — and they can occur if we are open to them.” We may have to practice to take it in, and grace is always available.
* * *
Numbers 21:4-9
Learning to Live with Illness
It’s curious that God doesn’t stop the snakes from biting the people of Israel; instead, God gives them a way to live with the snake bites and keep going. Sue Cochrane found a similar way to live through many years of cancer treatment. “Sue Cochrane survived a traumatic childhood to become a pioneering family court judge. Throughout her career she strived to put the heart back into the body of the law. Her first stark cancer diagnosis came when her three adopted sons were little more than babies. In the eighteen years that followed, Sue lived and loved through a series of profoundly serious diagnoses, including Stage IV breast cancer, and a brain tumor that was deemed inoperable. In the midst of intense and difficult treatment regimens, she never stopped learning, or leaning toward the light.”
Sue found the Japanese art of Kintsugi, filling in cracks in an object with gold, to be an apt metaphor for her own journey through a difficult childhood, then years of alcoholism after her beloved grandparents died. Kintsugi, she writes, “embraces the breakage as part of the object’s history, instead of something unacceptable to be hidden or thrown away. This is the opposite of what I was taught. I learned that I was supposed to be perfect, and that I must hide any imperfections.” Looking back, she says, “my greatest wish was to be unbroken pottery, instead of who I was. That caused me so much suffering because it was impossible. When I finally had the courage to show those broken edges to others — to my brother, to dear friends, in A.A., in counseling and in safe communities — I received acceptance, and was loved and respected just the way I was, in the same way my grandmother did. My broken parts were transformed into what students of Kintsugi call “precious scars” which honored my whole life, leaving nothing out.”
Like learning to live with the snake bites, and the healing God offers, Sue learned to live with her imperfections, along with her cancer. Healing, she says, “can be a painstaking practice — mine was not quick or easy, and it is still ongoing — like the skill and care required to do Kintsugi restoration. Through it all, I keep coming back to love as the answer, the golden repair that has lasted. I found that I needed to find unconditional love for myself too, and not just seek that from others. Then I found that I could begin to love others’ whole beings without judgment. I believe this helped me be a far better parent, friend and family member, and it changed the course of my professional life. Best of all, others who are on difficult healing journeys seem to find inspiration when they see my extensive golden scars, and for that I am grateful.” Sue notes an ancient Kintsugi quote that says, “The true life of the bowl began the moment it was dropped.” Perhaps our true lives begin when we are bitten and turn toward God for healing.
* * *
Ephesians 2:1-10
Original Grace
Theologian Serene Jones has written extensively about grace, and she says, “Grace is more original than sin.” Deep in the Christian faith, she says, is the idea “that we may be glorious and sinful, but God’s love is bigger than that. So, the reason we, in repentance, walk in this direction is not because, as sinners, we’ve repented, and because we don’t want to go to hell and want to go to heaven, we’re gonna walk that way; it’s because you actually recognize that the truth of love points you in that direction. Grace is more original, because grace wins. Our sinfulness is not the final word about who we are. And that means that in this theology, which is suffused through Christianity, and we suppress it, is that the love of God, the love of the universe, spirit, however you describe it, is stronger and more powerful and persistent, larger, greater, more eternal, than anything we do. That’s grace. And that’s the grace that changes how we experience everything.”
Looking at her own life, she adds, “So there’s so many moments of pain and trauma in my own story. And at one point, it became clear to me, in my life — it became most clear when I was going through a divorce and felt I had failed to keep my own covenants. How could I believe God kept covenant with me? And I was having a hard time forgiving the man I had been married to. And I realized that the hatred and the trauma and all of these things that we carry with us, we’re not afraid to let go of them because they’re so painful; we’re actually afraid to let go of them because they’ve become so comfortable. Our injuries can be like warm blankets that we wrap around ourselves — and our grief and our pain and our trauma; and they stop us, if we wrap them tightly enough around ourselves, from feeling vulnerable to the world. And I came to see that, until I was willing to let go of those blankets of grief and fear and rage and anger and shame, that I actually couldn’t experience the world. And for me, that letting go is a profound description of what forgiveness is, and that’s the moment that one moves from grief into the transformative power of mourning, in the context of having a future.”
Grace wins, as the letter to the Ephesians proclaims.
* * *
Ephesians 2:1-10
Living Grace
The letter to the Ephesians notes that God “who is rich in mercy” shows us the riches of grace. Most of that comes through each other. In a Twitter thread this week, author Heather Thompson Day shared, “I got a call once from my Vice President. I was nervous when I got to his office and he quietly handed me his cafeteria card. I ate every day on that cafe card. I still don’t know how he knew I needed it. He just handed it to me.” She reminds us, “Give in a way that saves people’s dignity.”
Another woman chimed in and said, “When I was an undergrad my school fined me for living in my car. But a staff member found out and gave me a key to his new home. He wasn't going to move in for some time and told me to come and go, sleep and shower as much as I needed.”
A teacher added, “I show all of my girls a drawer in my desk that’s unlocked and stocked with feminine products. They don’t ever need to ask for permission, and they can share with friends.” Another teacher chimed in with, “I had a 6th grade student who was on free reduced lunch. Every Friday for the entire school year I taped 2 quarters under his desk so he could buy ice cream with the rest of his classmates on Friday.”
A mom reported, “I had a high exec at work quietly slip me a permanent parking pass to the MUCH closer parking spaces when I was pregnant. It was our secret and I will never forget this act of kindness.”
Grace is all around us, given by God and administered through other human beings.
* * * * * *
From team member Tom Willadsen:
Three great sermon titles for this Sunday:
• Numbers 21:4-9 — Snake on a stick
• Numbers 21:4-9 — Serial grumblers
• John 3:14-21 — Nic at Night
* * *
Number 21:4-9
About those snakes…
It has been suggested that this passage from today’s lectionary reading is the origin of the caduceus, a symbol associated with medicine, especially in the US.
Well, no. The origin of this symbol, which was adopted by the US Army Medical Corps in 1902, is in Greek mythology in which the messenger god Hermes is often depicted carrying a staff with a snake wrapped around it.
The Rod of Asclepius, pictured below, is an older and more widely accepted symbol for medicine. Asclepius was a Greek god associated with healing. There is scant evidence that the story from Numbers inspired the Greeks to use a snake to symbolize the god of healing and medicine.
* * *
Numbers 21:4-9
A little more about snakes
St. Patrick’s Day is March 17, a mere three days after this reading appears in the lectionary. You might be tempted to mention that legend has it the St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland after he was attacked by snakes during a 40 day fast at the top of a hill. While driving snakes away, especially poisonous snakes, like those that appear in today’s passage, is certainly a worthwhile public service, there is no evidence that snakes existed in Ireland since the last Ice Age.
* * *
John 3:14-21
Brilliant bumper sticker
God so loved the world that….He didn’t send a committee!
* * *
John 3:14-21
Be careful with this text, please
There is a prominent stream of anti-Jewishness that runs through John’s gospel; we find some of it in Jesus’ words in today’s gospel lesson. “Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (3:18)
This verse has been used as a proof text against modern Jews. It’s as though Jews had a chance to accept Jesus, they didn’t, too bad, so sad.
Context is very important to keep from doing damage with this text. John’s original audience was a deeply divided, but completely Jewish, community. It’s best to regard this text and similar texts in John’s gospel as family feuds that we are overhearing two millennia later. It is not a faithful reading of these texts to apply them to Jews in the modern era. Christian supersessionists believe that Christianity has replaced Judaism; some Christians believe it is an act of supreme kindness to pull Jews away from Judaism to Christianity. You may have some people who believe that in your pews this morning. Try not to reinforce this divisive, arrogant approach to faith.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:
Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21
Living in Hope
Hope is a spiritual practice. It is something you have to remember and try to do everyday. Sometimes when I’m asked about something difficult — “Do you think this pandemic will ever end?” — I answer in such a way that sounds pat, but is in fact something that I’ve been working on — “I live in hope.” I worked for a while as an assistant chaplain at a psychiatric ward. There we would do spiritual assessments to try to figure out where someone was in their faith. One of the questions we asked was “Do you have hope?” One time a woman answered, “No, but I’m hoping to.” She was hoping for hope. Sometimes, you do not know what to do or how to be Christian, so you just follow the commandments as best as you can or try to live a pattern of grace. Sometimes the best you can do is hope for hope, and lean on God, who is rich in mercy, to fill in the gaps.
* * *
John 3:14-21
Patterns of Grace
When you look at a cross-stitch, you see a beautiful picture, lovingly stitched with teeny tiny marks of color. When you look at the back, you can see a messy image of all the work that went into that picture. This is how God’s grace works. The messiness is a part of the work, and the mistakes may be evident when you look back at how you got to where you are, but God can transform your work into a pattern of grace.
* * *
Numbers 21:4-9
Grumbling as Inoculation
I married into a grumbling family. Like Statler and Waldorf — the hecklers from the balcony in the Muppets — there is a lot of commentary on life. What is clean and what isn’t; what is frustrating and what isn’t. However, it’s interesting that this is just a part of my husband’s family’s culture. To be clear, my husband’s family is historically blue collar while mine is more white collar. Their theology is in line with “life stinks and then you die,” and your job is to muddle through. My family’s theology is more about the hopes and dreams of God. My husband explained to me that this is just a way to ease off some of the poison. They grumble so that they can handle the hard and impossible parts of life, they grumble to inoculate themselves against the hardships of life. It’s survival, it’s laughing so they don’t cry. They grumble so they can be happy, and sometimes, I need to remember this when I hear a lot of complaining.
* * *
Numbers 21:4-9
If it was a snake, it would have bit you
Have you found Jesus? Oops, turns out he was in my pocket the whole time. Sometimes looking for Jesus Christ is an exercise in noting what was always present. The Hebrews in exile continually lose track of God. Considering that God has plagued Egypt, negotiated their freedom, parted the Red Sea and fed them with manna and birds it is hard to believe that they cannot see who God is. So, too, is Nicodemus who is a character who is in power and has all of the opportunity and luxury to see who Jesus is. He is a respected religious leader — a Pharisee. However, in John 3 Nicodemus doesn’t have to have an epiphany, he has to be born again to see what was right in front of him. No wonder Jesus says to be like a child. Children are ready to be surprised, to grow, to change. They are open to the fact that they don’t know everything. They wouldn’t pass by the snake and get accidentally bitten. One thing both of these passages have in common is the call to notice that which is in front of you, and to be open to wonder. Thus when you seek Jesus, you shall find him.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
One: O give thanks to God who is good.
All: God’s steadfast love endures forever.
One: We cried to God in our trouble and we were saved.
All: God healed us, and delivered us from destruction.
One: Let us give thanks for God’s steadfast love.
All: We will tell of God’s deeds with songs of joy.
OR
One: God invites us to look to Jesus, our Redeemer and Savior.
All: We turn to Jesus who brings us healing and wholeness.
One: Do not be distracted by others who say they can save us.
All: We will not offer our allegiance to those who cannot save.
One: Receive your salvation and bring others to the Christ.
All: In gratitude for our redemption, we will off Christ to others.
Hymns and Songs:
I Sing the Almighty Power of God
UMH: 152
H82: 398
PH: 288
NCH: 12
W&P: 31
Renew: 54
How Great Thou Art
UMH: 77
PH: 467
AAHH: 148
NNBH: 43
NCH: 35
CH: 33
LBW: 532
ELW: 51
W&P: 68
Renew: 250
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
UMH: 139
H82: 390
AAHH: 117
NNBH: 2
NCH: 22
CH: 25
ELW: 858/859
AMEC: 3
STLT: 278
Renew: 57
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
UMH: 140
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
ELW: 733
W&P: 72
AMEC: 84
Renew: 249
Lift High the Cross
UMH: 159
H82: 473
PH: 371
AAHH: 242
NCH: 198
CH: 108
LBW: 377
ELW: 660
W&P: 287
Renew: 297
Amazing Grace
UMH: 378
H82: 671
PH: 280
AAHH: 271/272
NNBH: 161/163
NCH: 547/548
CH: 546
LBW: 448
ELW: 779
W&P: 422
AMEC: 226
STLT: 205/206
Renew: 189
Hope of the World
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
W&P: 404
Beneath the Cross of Jesus
UMH: 297
H82: 498
PH: 92
AAHH: 247
NNBH: 106
NCH: 190
CH: 197
LBW: 107
ELW: 338
W&P: 255
AMEC: 146
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
UMH: 298/299
H82: 474
PH: 100/101
AAHH: 243
NNBH: 113
NCH: 224
CH: 195
LBW: 482
ELW: 803
W&P: 261
AMEC: 147/148
Renew: 236
My Faith Looks Up to Thee
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELW: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415
Cares Chorus
CCB: 53
Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus
CCB: 55
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is the source of all healing:
Grant us the grace to find in you the power
to overcome all that afflicts us on this earth;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the source of all healing and wholeness. You are the Balm in Gilead. Help us to always turn to you in our afflictions that we may find true healing. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our seeking for salvation in earthly things.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have strayed from the paths you set before us to give us life. We want to be made whole again but we are impatient. Instead of trusting in you and your grace we frantically draw around us ways that we think will make us whole. We find, instead, that we are only more broken and more alone. Help us to look to you that we may find true healing, wholeness, and salvation. Amen.
One: Our God is the God of salvation and it is freely given to us when we are willing to receive it. Receive now God’s grace and make it strong in your life as you share it with others.
Prayers of the People
We lift our hearts to you, O God, our creator and our healer. You redeem us from sin and death.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have strayed from the paths you set before us to give us life. We want to be made whole again but we are impatient. Instead of trusting in you and your grace we frantically draw around us ways that we think will make us whole. We find, instead, that we are only more broken and more alone. Help us to look to you that we may find true healing, wholeness, and salvation.
We give you thanks for all the wonders of creation. We thank you for your presence with us through all of our lives. You have given us physicians, nurses, technicians, and others to bring healing to our bodies and minds. You have given us pastors, teachers, counselors, and spiritual friends to bring healing to our spirits. You are a gracious God and we are grateful.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We know of many who need your healing presence in their lives. Some we know personally, some we just know about, and some are known only to you but we lift them all to you this day. We pray for those who are sick in body, mind, or spirit. We pray for those who suffer in poverty and want. We pray for those live in violence and war. We pray for those who feel they are alone and without hope. We pray for ourselves that we may be part of your healing presence in the lives of those we encounter this week.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
If you want to find a toy do you look in the refrigerator? No, of course not. Do you look for a sandwich where you keep your socks? No. If we want to find something we need to look in the right places. If we want to know how to be happy and to live a good life, we need to look to Jesus.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Grace
by Dean Feldmeyer
Ephesians 2:1-10
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…” (2:8)
You Will Need: A photograph of your parents or someone who loves or loved you unconditionally.
Say:
Good morning!
You have probably noticed that there are some words that we use in church that we usually don’t use anywhere else. They’re what I like to call “church words.”
Words like “Amen,” or “savior,” or “blessed.” (bless-ehd)
Well, today I’d like to talk about another church word and that word is “grace.” (Have children repeat the word “grace” a couple of times with you.”
(Show picture) These are my parents, Donna and Marvin Feldmeyer. They were wonderful people and one of the things that made them wonderful to me was that they loved me not just when I did things that pleased them and made them happy; they loved me all the time.
Oh, they got angry with me, especially when I did things I shouldn’t have done, and sometimes they punished me, but even then, I always knew that they loved me and there was nothing I could do to make them not love me. Their love for me was what we call “unconditional.” There were no conditions on their love; they loved me no matter what.
Well, Jesus taught us that God’s love for us is unconditional, too. Just like my parents’ love was for me. There’s nothing we can do to make God not love us.
And that kind of love, that kind of unconditional love, is what we in the church call “grace.” In fact, we even sing a song in church about that unconditional love, that grace that God has for us. It’s called, “Amazing Grace.” (Sing a few lines if your comfortable doing so.)
See, we don’t do what God wants us to do so God will love us. God already loves us. And we do what God wants us to do because we are so happy that God loves us.
When I was a little boy, I tried very hard to make my parents (picture) happy, not because that would make them love me but because I knew that they already loved me. And that’s why we do what God asks us to do, because God loves us unconditionally.
And that unconditional love is called what? Grace! Right.
Amazing grace!
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 14, 2021 issue.
Copyright 2021 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- Why Did It Have To Be Snakes? by Chris Keating — Impatience can become a deadly poison. Fortunately, the Numbers text reminds us that God’s presence is never far from the onslaught of ever-wiggling reptiles.
- Second Thoughts: What Will Save Us? by Bethany Peerbolte.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin, Tom Willadsen, Katy Stenta.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children's sermon: Grace by Dean Feldmeyer.
Why Did It Have To Be Snakes?by Chris Keating
Numbers 21:4-9
Apparently, being rescued from slavery is not enough to offset the difficulty of a long journey. Having trapsed around Sinai for years, the Hebrews’ exodus has been one of constant complaint. Even the most amicable among them has decided there won’t be giving Moses and company any five star Yelp reviews.
They are a peevish bunch, crabby and whining about everything from the funky-tasting water to the lack of fleshpots and meat. “We detest this miserable food,” they cry. It’s similar to the complaints they have raised before, except this time they are directing their cries to God.
God’s response is weird, mysterious, and even down-right creepy. Their quibbles are hardly out of their mouths when the ground starts moving. Twisting, turning mounds of poisonous snakes wind around their feet, causing near instantaneous regret.
Indiana Jones’ often repeated question comes to mind. “Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes?”
Numbers does not appear often in the lectionary, and not many preachers are willing to become Lenten snake handlers. But before heading to more familiar homiletical hunting grounds, consider how our own impatience can lead to deadly consequences.
Governors, anxious to please a Covid-weary population, are rolling back restrictions on restaurants and facemasks, while health officials urge caution, believing that new variants of the virus could strike. Meanwhile, those weary of waiting for vaccines are finding ways to jump in line and game the system. And in Washington, DC, progressives are realizing that electing a Democrat president was not a golden ticket to enacting their legislative agenda.
Impatience can become a deadly poison. Fortunately, this text also reminds us that God’s presence is never far from the onslaught of ever-wiggling reptiles.
In the News
Thankfully, there have been no widespread reports of snake infestations in 2020, aside from Florida’s ongoing battle with Burmese pythons. Consider that the good news.
The bad news is that ours is a jittery culture prone to wanton impatience.
“No one can make the world spin faster,” writes Luis E. Romero. “Yet there are people who believe they can, despite having to wait, at the end of every single day, for the Earth to complete its 24-hour rotation. Impatience, especially when it becomes a character trait, is not a virtue; it is a flaw that causes chronic stress, ongoing disappointment, and forces people to overwork or cut corners in an attempt to beat the clock. The result? Incomplete tasks, half-achieved goals, strained relationships, and never-ending rationalizations as to why the costs incurred are not so bad.”
In other words, sometimes there is not much you can do to speed up your trek through the wilderness. But it is hard to realize that, especially when the dangers of wilderness life grow. That describes the impatience of Israel, and it may also describe our impatience with the pandemic and life in general.
Was it politics or impatience that prompted Texas Governor Greg Abbott to rescind his states facemask requirements and other restrictions on business? Citing a decline in hospitalizations and an increase in vaccinations, Abbot revoked a series of public safety orders March 2. Other officials warned that the governor’s actions will undermine the good-faith sacrifices made by health professionals and the general public to contain the pandemic. “It’s mind-boggling, given where we are,” said Austin Mayor Steve Addler.
But the desire the move ahead is rampant. Last weekend, parents and children in Idaho held a “mask burning rally” on the steps of the Idaho Capitol building. The burning masks became a symbol of the impatience of some far-right political groups. At one point, a child tossed facemasks into the fire, yelling, “Hey, fire, are you hungry? Here’s another mask.” It’s not likely to become a groundswell, but the movement does reflect the disconnect between proven science and frustration over the pandemic.
This week President Biden will address the one-year anniversary of the pandemic’s impact on the United States. In advance of his speech, the Centers for Disease Control released new guidance for those who have been fully vaccinated. While the CDC still urges facemasks, it acknowledged that it may be safe for those who have been inoculated to gather in private homes without facemasks. Larger gatherings that include multiple households are still not advised, but vaccinated Americans who may become exposed to the virus do not necessarily need to quarantine as long as they do not develop symptoms.
This may not be the anti-venom for relief from the fang bites of impatience of all forms. Disney, for example, has announced that the company will decrease the time that new movies play exclusively in theaters, partly because of increased “consumer impatience.” Progressive politicians who may have felt isolated in a Trumpian-wilderness have discovered that electing a Democratic president does not mean they will get everything they crave.
The footsteps of impatience marches through the financial markets, too. Some Wall Street analysts believe that the impatience of cocky investors might lead to a crashing market. Meanwhile, “vaccine tourism” is spiking, meaning people are not just travelling for the job, but for the jab as well.
It’s a snake-bite-snake world, and our impatience may get the best of us. Is there a cure for what ails us?
In the Scripture
There are only three Sundays in the entire lectionary that offer Numbers as an option for preaching. In fact, as Dennis Olson notes in the introduction to his commentary on Numbers, there’s been a long tradition of avoiding the fourth book of the Pentateuch. Olson quotes third-century theologian Origen who said the average Christian would judge the book as having “nothing helpful” in it. But taking a bit of a deeper exegetical dive into the text this week may yield especially timely interpretation (Olson, 2012).
Originally titled “In the wilderness,” the book is largely seen as an account of Israel’s wilderness census. But numbers tell a story, and in this case the story concerns the formation of God’s people as they meander their way from slavery to freedom. Numbers is a story of a people under construction, a people living in that space between an old life of slavery and a new life of freedom.
By chapter 21, the first generation of the exodus people are dying. New leaders are emerging, and weariness is on the rise. As in the lyrics of James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the bitterness of the chastening rod and the weariness of the stony road has left the people feeling frustrated and tired.
Things fall apart when Moses receives word that the King of Edom has denied the Hebrews permission to cross through his land (Numbers 20:18). The detour does not sit well, and complaints are on the rise. They have a long history of complaining, but this time the complaints are directed to God. This last complaint in Numbers is a doozie. They include the familiar protests about yearning for Egypt, the dreadful wilderness, and lack of food and water. Appended to this is a direct complaint against God’s provision of manna. “We detest this miserable food.”
This is more than a bad day at the cafeteria. It is a direct affront to the gracious provision of God, a reprimand against God’s faithfulness in offering manna in the emptiness of the desert. You can nearly hear the grousing arising from the dinner tables. “What’s for dinner? Oh, manna. What a surprise!”
God responds by unleashing packs of poisonous snakes. This wrinkle leads to a profound theological question about the nature of God. God, who acted in loving care to release the people from bondage, has now sentenced many of them to death. Elizabeth Webb (workingpreacher.org, September 14, 2014) dissects this question, pointing out that the people of the covenant understood the sort of punishment associated with failure to trust God.
Yet God also provides the remedy. Snakes have a way of changing people’s opinions, and the once churlish Hebrews quickly repent. Yahweh responds to Moses’ intercession, directing him to fashion a sort of snake-on-a-stick. The cause of death has now become a bronze icon of healing, similar to the representation of the caduceus in healing arts. God provides, even when humanity is at its worst.
Snakes and serpents are frequent symbols in ancient literature, including Israel’s own origin stories in Genesis. The Hebrew word here is saraph, or flying, fiery serpent. Apparently, the people’s sins were so bad that not only were poisonous snakes needed, but flying and fiery poisonous snakes! The language requires the interpreter’s discerning attention. This passage is not for the squeamish, though neither is the crucifixion. In both, the symbol of God’s presence is raised in the midst of suffering, offering the reminder to look at it and live.
In the Sermon
Numbers 21:4-9 pairs well with the imagery in John 3:14-21, and may offer fresh preaching possibilities for those who have visited the more well-known conclusion to Nicodemus’ visit with Jesus. John 3:14 offers an intertextual connection that may help alleviate some of the strangeness of Numbers. But if the preacher is not too squeamish about snakes, the Old Testament lection is a poignant moment of Lenten reflection.
The death of the first generation of the exodus people certainly prompts additional complaints and restlessness. After 40 years, the memory of life as Pharaoh’s servants seems preferable than this never-ending camping trip. Their complaints are not completely without merit. Life in the wilderness is hard, dangerous, and full of nasty predators.
The pandemic has created its own sort of wilderness. We are blessed with Netflix and Door Dash, of course. But the virus has made us camp out at home when we’d prefer to be hugging grandchildren or walking along the beach. It’s not just travel, however. I suspect many congregations have been dealing with their own versions of fiery serpents. As Craig Kocher notes (Feasting on the Word, Lent 3, Year B), just about every church has its own version of a “Let’s go back to Egypt” committee. Their meetings open with complaints about not singing and end with whining about cancelled potlucks.
Like new variants to the Covid virus, the snake infestation changes everything. The murmuring ends as the people of Israel discover just how perilous things have become. These are not just a few random yard snakes, either. A sermon could take a deep dive into the real experiences of suffering that afflict us this season. Where are we yearning to see signs of God’s redemptive presence?
And, where are we called to look in order that we should live?
Belden Lane, a Presbyterian theologian who has taught at St. Louis University for many years, has written extensively about the spiritual potency of the wilderness. In his book The Solace of Fierce Landscapes, Lane reminds us that Moses’ experience of God in the wilderness “was but a brief interlude in an ongoing struggle.” But that glimpse of glory paves the way toward hope. “It incorporates,” he writes “a theology of hope into a theology of abandonment and loss.”
Lane’s theology emerges from his own experiences backpacking in the wilderness as well as the personal grief of watching his mother slip further into dementia. “The starting point for many things is grief, at the place where endings seem so absolute. Divine love is incessantly restless until it turns all woundedness into health, all deformity into beauty, all embarrassment into laughter. In biblical faith, brokenness is never celebrated as an end in itself.” Later he says, “God can only be met in emptiness, by those who come in love, abandoning all effort to control.” (Lane, Oxford Press, 1998).
In the wilderness, the gift of love greets those overcome by impatience. In the vast and untamed wilderness, filled with fiery snakes and winged demons of every sort, God’s people discover they are not alone.
SECOND THOUGHTSWhat Will Save Us?
by Bethany Peerbolte
Ephesians 2:1-10
As we continue to journey through Lent we begin to shift our attention to our need for saving. We have recognized our mortality, from dust to dust, on Ash Wednesday. The full reality is that we will ultimately leave this life for something else. No matter what your theology is about the afterlife the fact that something else is coming is apparent. The charming realizations Ash Wednesday stir within us causes us to take assessment of our time here. We are inspired to become the people we most want to be when that fateful day arrives.
Those of us who were led to make a Lenten commitment either to give something up or add a practice to our lives have failed to follow through a few times already. We are aware that the spirit may be willing to improve, but our flesh is weak. We do not want to reach for the beautifully wrapped chocolate and yet it ends up in our hands, empty, and the treat already in our mouths. With this kind of will power the chances of us becoming the shining pedestal people we hope to be by Easter will never happen. Halfway through Lent and we wonder what will get us through.
This Lent in particular has felt like black hole of hope for many. It was Lent when we began quarantining in our houses last year. Every day is another anniversary. One year of online worship. One year of sterile plastic wrapped communion. One year of sitting on one side of the couch for work and the other for TV watching. Every day we remeasure our year in relation to how we felt this time last year, and what we thought reality would be by now. Maybe the most terrifying measurement of our year ticked past on Monday March 8; 525,600+ Covid deaths in the United States. One death for every minute in a year.
The opening of the Ephesians passage sits as a warning for those of us still on this side of life. Though we still are alive we need to be careful about what is giving us that life. It is easy for us to live for our sins, to use the adrenaline of disobedience to get us through the end of each week. Paul writes nonchalantly about hearts refusing to obey. It is almost reassuring. Everyone falls into ruts, it is what we should expect from this sinful hairball we have all created of the world.
Paul’s solution to the hairball is God’s mercy. While we were still in the rut, full of death, God raised us out and put us back on a level road. Only God’s grace could make such a significant change. We cannot take credit for being saved. It is a gift given to us by God. Saving is not a reward for trying to get out of the rut or even noticing we were stuck. Saving is God’s work. As my favorite translation for verse 10 says, “we are God’s masterpiece” (NLT). God is the painter we are the work.
Being the masterpiece is not easy though. It means we have no control, and we love to have control. We want to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps (a phrase originally coined to mock people who thought that was possible) and be self-made people. These ideals are cultural not biblical. The world tells us work harder, know more, create your worth. Culture tells us if we work hard and if we are the smartest, then we get good things. This demands that we cling to control so we can be the ones in charge of our destiny.
When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry left their Royal Family duties it seemed abrupt to the world. Their move to America seemed unnecessary to some and suspicious to others. This week we learned a little more about what drove those decisions. The couple sat down with Oprah to talk about their lives and their split from royal duty. In the interview, it quickly became apparent that the issue of race was a much bigger sticking point than originally let on by the Royal Family. While it seemed like the royal family had somehow kept up with the times and welcomed Meghan to the family, the reality was they had concerns. The concern that drove the couple to leave was over “how dark skinned their baby would be.” The fall out in the United Kingdom has been splintering.
The reality of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s story is that they were being pressed to fit a standard that was unachievable. As they look back at photos from events, they remember how they looked verses how they felt. When they realized they were never going to reach the expectations of their family they decided to leave. Since their departure from the constant control seeking ways of royal life they are thriving — enjoying the reward their love can give to them and their growing family.
The cultural ideals of work hard, do better, and stay in control do however seep into our theology and practice. When we hear things like “you must repent to be saved” it comes from the idea that we must do the work to get the good thing, aka, salvation. Cultural ideals can be heard in the hateful shouting of one denomination to another “you are not Christians if you believe that.” We must know what is unequivocally right to get the reward of salvation. The theology these phrases grow out of is backwards. Paul is clear — salvation is not a reward for anything we have control over. Salvation is a gift first and foremost, no pre-requisites, no deposit needed. It has been given.
We have come halfway through Lent, or is it a whole year of Lent, clinging to the control we can salvage. Striving to prove we are works of art worth looking at. Struggling to be worthy of the ultimate gift. Researching and learning how to know enough to finally hang the reward on our wall. It is already there. Paul wants us to reject the ideals of this world that say worth is something we build. We are already worthy.
As we venture out of this Lent, let us turn our attention to that which we already have. The things we have despite our control. It’s not right repentance, right belief, or right works that get us to Easter. God is the one who gets us there and we rest assured that gift has come and will come.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:Ephesians 2:1-10
Practicing Grace
We know about the gift of grace, and we understand the words Paul is writing to the Ephesian churches, and yet it’s hard to take in the gift of grace and let it settle in our lives. A young man named Tyler found that he had to practice having the experience of grace, starting out very small at first. “Tyler was the product of a nearly loveless home, but somehow he knew he wanted a close, loving relationship… Tyler didn’t know how to open up to a woman he was attracted to. He couldn’t reconcile the feeling that he was not worthy of being loved with the desire to be loved. So he remained stuck and lonely. His main outlet seemed to be his work as a volunteer at an animal shelter. He was gentle and caring, and the cats and dogs responded to him more than to anyone else at the shelter. There was one dog who was frightened and had been abused. Tyler made Barney his special project, and spent more time with him than with the other shelter animals. Within two weeks, there was a noticeable change in Barney, who moped all day until Tyler showed up. The manager of the shelter suggested that Tyler think about adopting Barney. Tyler was surprised. He was used to giving without expecting anything in return. That he might be “allowed” to take Barney home was a foreign concept.”
Tyler decided to start with a visit. “When he approached Barney’s cage with a collar and leash, he was sweating and excited. It felt like an enormous privilege to have this new friend by his side. As he led Barney to his car, he experienced an enormous wave of emotion. Was this what love felt like? Barney jumped into the front seat and Tyler got into the driver’s side. Barney settled into the seat and made himself into a compact ball, head on paws, eyes on the young man. At that moment, Tyler realized that he had opened his heart to this creature and he was loved in return. He was completely still as he absorbed this truth. And he knew he had somehow broken through what he had secretly thought of as his “frozen heart.”… It wasn’t a giant change; it was more like a small secret that was glowing inside of him and would help propel him toward the life he wanted.”
Narrating Tyler’s story, Mary Traina adds, “Grace. These moments of grace, of insight or utter beauty like a pure stream of light, teach us that there is always more to life than we can imagine — and they can occur if we are open to them.” We may have to practice to take it in, and grace is always available.
* * *
Numbers 21:4-9
Learning to Live with Illness
It’s curious that God doesn’t stop the snakes from biting the people of Israel; instead, God gives them a way to live with the snake bites and keep going. Sue Cochrane found a similar way to live through many years of cancer treatment. “Sue Cochrane survived a traumatic childhood to become a pioneering family court judge. Throughout her career she strived to put the heart back into the body of the law. Her first stark cancer diagnosis came when her three adopted sons were little more than babies. In the eighteen years that followed, Sue lived and loved through a series of profoundly serious diagnoses, including Stage IV breast cancer, and a brain tumor that was deemed inoperable. In the midst of intense and difficult treatment regimens, she never stopped learning, or leaning toward the light.”
Sue found the Japanese art of Kintsugi, filling in cracks in an object with gold, to be an apt metaphor for her own journey through a difficult childhood, then years of alcoholism after her beloved grandparents died. Kintsugi, she writes, “embraces the breakage as part of the object’s history, instead of something unacceptable to be hidden or thrown away. This is the opposite of what I was taught. I learned that I was supposed to be perfect, and that I must hide any imperfections.” Looking back, she says, “my greatest wish was to be unbroken pottery, instead of who I was. That caused me so much suffering because it was impossible. When I finally had the courage to show those broken edges to others — to my brother, to dear friends, in A.A., in counseling and in safe communities — I received acceptance, and was loved and respected just the way I was, in the same way my grandmother did. My broken parts were transformed into what students of Kintsugi call “precious scars” which honored my whole life, leaving nothing out.”
Like learning to live with the snake bites, and the healing God offers, Sue learned to live with her imperfections, along with her cancer. Healing, she says, “can be a painstaking practice — mine was not quick or easy, and it is still ongoing — like the skill and care required to do Kintsugi restoration. Through it all, I keep coming back to love as the answer, the golden repair that has lasted. I found that I needed to find unconditional love for myself too, and not just seek that from others. Then I found that I could begin to love others’ whole beings without judgment. I believe this helped me be a far better parent, friend and family member, and it changed the course of my professional life. Best of all, others who are on difficult healing journeys seem to find inspiration when they see my extensive golden scars, and for that I am grateful.” Sue notes an ancient Kintsugi quote that says, “The true life of the bowl began the moment it was dropped.” Perhaps our true lives begin when we are bitten and turn toward God for healing.
* * *
Ephesians 2:1-10
Original Grace
Theologian Serene Jones has written extensively about grace, and she says, “Grace is more original than sin.” Deep in the Christian faith, she says, is the idea “that we may be glorious and sinful, but God’s love is bigger than that. So, the reason we, in repentance, walk in this direction is not because, as sinners, we’ve repented, and because we don’t want to go to hell and want to go to heaven, we’re gonna walk that way; it’s because you actually recognize that the truth of love points you in that direction. Grace is more original, because grace wins. Our sinfulness is not the final word about who we are. And that means that in this theology, which is suffused through Christianity, and we suppress it, is that the love of God, the love of the universe, spirit, however you describe it, is stronger and more powerful and persistent, larger, greater, more eternal, than anything we do. That’s grace. And that’s the grace that changes how we experience everything.”
Looking at her own life, she adds, “So there’s so many moments of pain and trauma in my own story. And at one point, it became clear to me, in my life — it became most clear when I was going through a divorce and felt I had failed to keep my own covenants. How could I believe God kept covenant with me? And I was having a hard time forgiving the man I had been married to. And I realized that the hatred and the trauma and all of these things that we carry with us, we’re not afraid to let go of them because they’re so painful; we’re actually afraid to let go of them because they’ve become so comfortable. Our injuries can be like warm blankets that we wrap around ourselves — and our grief and our pain and our trauma; and they stop us, if we wrap them tightly enough around ourselves, from feeling vulnerable to the world. And I came to see that, until I was willing to let go of those blankets of grief and fear and rage and anger and shame, that I actually couldn’t experience the world. And for me, that letting go is a profound description of what forgiveness is, and that’s the moment that one moves from grief into the transformative power of mourning, in the context of having a future.”
Grace wins, as the letter to the Ephesians proclaims.
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Ephesians 2:1-10
Living Grace
The letter to the Ephesians notes that God “who is rich in mercy” shows us the riches of grace. Most of that comes through each other. In a Twitter thread this week, author Heather Thompson Day shared, “I got a call once from my Vice President. I was nervous when I got to his office and he quietly handed me his cafeteria card. I ate every day on that cafe card. I still don’t know how he knew I needed it. He just handed it to me.” She reminds us, “Give in a way that saves people’s dignity.”
Another woman chimed in and said, “When I was an undergrad my school fined me for living in my car. But a staff member found out and gave me a key to his new home. He wasn't going to move in for some time and told me to come and go, sleep and shower as much as I needed.”
A teacher added, “I show all of my girls a drawer in my desk that’s unlocked and stocked with feminine products. They don’t ever need to ask for permission, and they can share with friends.” Another teacher chimed in with, “I had a 6th grade student who was on free reduced lunch. Every Friday for the entire school year I taped 2 quarters under his desk so he could buy ice cream with the rest of his classmates on Friday.”
A mom reported, “I had a high exec at work quietly slip me a permanent parking pass to the MUCH closer parking spaces when I was pregnant. It was our secret and I will never forget this act of kindness.”
Grace is all around us, given by God and administered through other human beings.
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From team member Tom Willadsen:Three great sermon titles for this Sunday:
• Numbers 21:4-9 — Snake on a stick
• Numbers 21:4-9 — Serial grumblers
• John 3:14-21 — Nic at Night
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Number 21:4-9
About those snakes…
It has been suggested that this passage from today’s lectionary reading is the origin of the caduceus, a symbol associated with medicine, especially in the US.
Well, no. The origin of this symbol, which was adopted by the US Army Medical Corps in 1902, is in Greek mythology in which the messenger god Hermes is often depicted carrying a staff with a snake wrapped around it.
The Rod of Asclepius, pictured below, is an older and more widely accepted symbol for medicine. Asclepius was a Greek god associated with healing. There is scant evidence that the story from Numbers inspired the Greeks to use a snake to symbolize the god of healing and medicine.
* * *
Numbers 21:4-9
A little more about snakes
St. Patrick’s Day is March 17, a mere three days after this reading appears in the lectionary. You might be tempted to mention that legend has it the St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland after he was attacked by snakes during a 40 day fast at the top of a hill. While driving snakes away, especially poisonous snakes, like those that appear in today’s passage, is certainly a worthwhile public service, there is no evidence that snakes existed in Ireland since the last Ice Age.
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John 3:14-21
Brilliant bumper sticker
God so loved the world that….He didn’t send a committee!
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John 3:14-21
Be careful with this text, please
There is a prominent stream of anti-Jewishness that runs through John’s gospel; we find some of it in Jesus’ words in today’s gospel lesson. “Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (3:18)
This verse has been used as a proof text against modern Jews. It’s as though Jews had a chance to accept Jesus, they didn’t, too bad, so sad.
Context is very important to keep from doing damage with this text. John’s original audience was a deeply divided, but completely Jewish, community. It’s best to regard this text and similar texts in John’s gospel as family feuds that we are overhearing two millennia later. It is not a faithful reading of these texts to apply them to Jews in the modern era. Christian supersessionists believe that Christianity has replaced Judaism; some Christians believe it is an act of supreme kindness to pull Jews away from Judaism to Christianity. You may have some people who believe that in your pews this morning. Try not to reinforce this divisive, arrogant approach to faith.
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From team member Katy Stenta:Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21
Living in Hope
Hope is a spiritual practice. It is something you have to remember and try to do everyday. Sometimes when I’m asked about something difficult — “Do you think this pandemic will ever end?” — I answer in such a way that sounds pat, but is in fact something that I’ve been working on — “I live in hope.” I worked for a while as an assistant chaplain at a psychiatric ward. There we would do spiritual assessments to try to figure out where someone was in their faith. One of the questions we asked was “Do you have hope?” One time a woman answered, “No, but I’m hoping to.” She was hoping for hope. Sometimes, you do not know what to do or how to be Christian, so you just follow the commandments as best as you can or try to live a pattern of grace. Sometimes the best you can do is hope for hope, and lean on God, who is rich in mercy, to fill in the gaps.
* * *
John 3:14-21
Patterns of Grace
When you look at a cross-stitch, you see a beautiful picture, lovingly stitched with teeny tiny marks of color. When you look at the back, you can see a messy image of all the work that went into that picture. This is how God’s grace works. The messiness is a part of the work, and the mistakes may be evident when you look back at how you got to where you are, but God can transform your work into a pattern of grace.
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Numbers 21:4-9
Grumbling as Inoculation
I married into a grumbling family. Like Statler and Waldorf — the hecklers from the balcony in the Muppets — there is a lot of commentary on life. What is clean and what isn’t; what is frustrating and what isn’t. However, it’s interesting that this is just a part of my husband’s family’s culture. To be clear, my husband’s family is historically blue collar while mine is more white collar. Their theology is in line with “life stinks and then you die,” and your job is to muddle through. My family’s theology is more about the hopes and dreams of God. My husband explained to me that this is just a way to ease off some of the poison. They grumble so that they can handle the hard and impossible parts of life, they grumble to inoculate themselves against the hardships of life. It’s survival, it’s laughing so they don’t cry. They grumble so they can be happy, and sometimes, I need to remember this when I hear a lot of complaining.
* * *
Numbers 21:4-9
If it was a snake, it would have bit you
Have you found Jesus? Oops, turns out he was in my pocket the whole time. Sometimes looking for Jesus Christ is an exercise in noting what was always present. The Hebrews in exile continually lose track of God. Considering that God has plagued Egypt, negotiated their freedom, parted the Red Sea and fed them with manna and birds it is hard to believe that they cannot see who God is. So, too, is Nicodemus who is a character who is in power and has all of the opportunity and luxury to see who Jesus is. He is a respected religious leader — a Pharisee. However, in John 3 Nicodemus doesn’t have to have an epiphany, he has to be born again to see what was right in front of him. No wonder Jesus says to be like a child. Children are ready to be surprised, to grow, to change. They are open to the fact that they don’t know everything. They wouldn’t pass by the snake and get accidentally bitten. One thing both of these passages have in common is the call to notice that which is in front of you, and to be open to wonder. Thus when you seek Jesus, you shall find him.
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship:
One: O give thanks to God who is good.
All: God’s steadfast love endures forever.
One: We cried to God in our trouble and we were saved.
All: God healed us, and delivered us from destruction.
One: Let us give thanks for God’s steadfast love.
All: We will tell of God’s deeds with songs of joy.
OR
One: God invites us to look to Jesus, our Redeemer and Savior.
All: We turn to Jesus who brings us healing and wholeness.
One: Do not be distracted by others who say they can save us.
All: We will not offer our allegiance to those who cannot save.
One: Receive your salvation and bring others to the Christ.
All: In gratitude for our redemption, we will off Christ to others.
Hymns and Songs:
I Sing the Almighty Power of God
UMH: 152
H82: 398
PH: 288
NCH: 12
W&P: 31
Renew: 54
How Great Thou Art
UMH: 77
PH: 467
AAHH: 148
NNBH: 43
NCH: 35
CH: 33
LBW: 532
ELW: 51
W&P: 68
Renew: 250
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
UMH: 139
H82: 390
AAHH: 117
NNBH: 2
NCH: 22
CH: 25
ELW: 858/859
AMEC: 3
STLT: 278
Renew: 57
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
UMH: 140
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
ELW: 733
W&P: 72
AMEC: 84
Renew: 249
Lift High the Cross
UMH: 159
H82: 473
PH: 371
AAHH: 242
NCH: 198
CH: 108
LBW: 377
ELW: 660
W&P: 287
Renew: 297
Amazing Grace
UMH: 378
H82: 671
PH: 280
AAHH: 271/272
NNBH: 161/163
NCH: 547/548
CH: 546
LBW: 448
ELW: 779
W&P: 422
AMEC: 226
STLT: 205/206
Renew: 189
Hope of the World
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
W&P: 404
Beneath the Cross of Jesus
UMH: 297
H82: 498
PH: 92
AAHH: 247
NNBH: 106
NCH: 190
CH: 197
LBW: 107
ELW: 338
W&P: 255
AMEC: 146
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
UMH: 298/299
H82: 474
PH: 100/101
AAHH: 243
NNBH: 113
NCH: 224
CH: 195
LBW: 482
ELW: 803
W&P: 261
AMEC: 147/148
Renew: 236
My Faith Looks Up to Thee
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELW: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415
Cares Chorus
CCB: 53
Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus
CCB: 55
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is the source of all healing:
Grant us the grace to find in you the power
to overcome all that afflicts us on this earth;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the source of all healing and wholeness. You are the Balm in Gilead. Help us to always turn to you in our afflictions that we may find true healing. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our seeking for salvation in earthly things.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have strayed from the paths you set before us to give us life. We want to be made whole again but we are impatient. Instead of trusting in you and your grace we frantically draw around us ways that we think will make us whole. We find, instead, that we are only more broken and more alone. Help us to look to you that we may find true healing, wholeness, and salvation. Amen.
One: Our God is the God of salvation and it is freely given to us when we are willing to receive it. Receive now God’s grace and make it strong in your life as you share it with others.
Prayers of the People
We lift our hearts to you, O God, our creator and our healer. You redeem us from sin and death.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have strayed from the paths you set before us to give us life. We want to be made whole again but we are impatient. Instead of trusting in you and your grace we frantically draw around us ways that we think will make us whole. We find, instead, that we are only more broken and more alone. Help us to look to you that we may find true healing, wholeness, and salvation.
We give you thanks for all the wonders of creation. We thank you for your presence with us through all of our lives. You have given us physicians, nurses, technicians, and others to bring healing to our bodies and minds. You have given us pastors, teachers, counselors, and spiritual friends to bring healing to our spirits. You are a gracious God and we are grateful.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We know of many who need your healing presence in their lives. Some we know personally, some we just know about, and some are known only to you but we lift them all to you this day. We pray for those who are sick in body, mind, or spirit. We pray for those who suffer in poverty and want. We pray for those live in violence and war. We pray for those who feel they are alone and without hope. We pray for ourselves that we may be part of your healing presence in the lives of those we encounter this week.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
If you want to find a toy do you look in the refrigerator? No, of course not. Do you look for a sandwich where you keep your socks? No. If we want to find something we need to look in the right places. If we want to know how to be happy and to live a good life, we need to look to Jesus.
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CHILDREN'S SERMONGrace
by Dean Feldmeyer
Ephesians 2:1-10
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…” (2:8)
You Will Need: A photograph of your parents or someone who loves or loved you unconditionally.
Say:
Good morning!
You have probably noticed that there are some words that we use in church that we usually don’t use anywhere else. They’re what I like to call “church words.”
Words like “Amen,” or “savior,” or “blessed.” (bless-ehd)
Well, today I’d like to talk about another church word and that word is “grace.” (Have children repeat the word “grace” a couple of times with you.”
(Show picture) These are my parents, Donna and Marvin Feldmeyer. They were wonderful people and one of the things that made them wonderful to me was that they loved me not just when I did things that pleased them and made them happy; they loved me all the time.
Oh, they got angry with me, especially when I did things I shouldn’t have done, and sometimes they punished me, but even then, I always knew that they loved me and there was nothing I could do to make them not love me. Their love for me was what we call “unconditional.” There were no conditions on their love; they loved me no matter what.
Well, Jesus taught us that God’s love for us is unconditional, too. Just like my parents’ love was for me. There’s nothing we can do to make God not love us.
And that kind of love, that kind of unconditional love, is what we in the church call “grace.” In fact, we even sing a song in church about that unconditional love, that grace that God has for us. It’s called, “Amazing Grace.” (Sing a few lines if your comfortable doing so.)
See, we don’t do what God wants us to do so God will love us. God already loves us. And we do what God wants us to do because we are so happy that God loves us.
When I was a little boy, I tried very hard to make my parents (picture) happy, not because that would make them love me but because I knew that they already loved me. And that’s why we do what God asks us to do, because God loves us unconditionally.
And that unconditional love is called what? Grace! Right.
Amazing grace!
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The Immediate Word, March 14, 2021 issue.
Copyright 2021 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
